For Web-only designers, you know what platform you’re going to be working on. You know that no matter what you do, it’s going to be on the Web. In the print world, you need to first decide what kind of print material you’re going to design. Does the company need a direct mail postcard, brochure, poster or flyer?
Selecting Your Printing Pleasure One thing you have to consider with print design is portability. What will make people pick up this piece of paper and take it with them? Print does encompass including URLs, but you need to gauge where exactly the best place to put the URL is on the printed piece. And with no search engine or reviews to guide people to pick up a brochure, your design is that much more important. It has to follow the same design idea of the Web to grab someone’s attention in precious few seconds (the most time you get to capture attention is 5 seconds according to research).
You also need to consider what you want the printed piece to accomplish. What is your goal, or objective, for the direct mail postcard? To drum up new business, to announce a sale or to direct people to your Web site? All of these objectives lend themselves to different types of design and could be achieved by multiple paper sources, like flyers, postcards or sales letters.
Your Natural Competition
Once you choose what type of printed material would work best for your objective, you have to think about where people will be viewing your printed material. If you’re sending a postcard to people’s homes, there’s not much to think about there. But an item like a poster outside your building has natural competition, such as weather ruining your print job or trees blocking the view of your billboard.
Depending on if it’s the rainy season or if your item will be in direct sunlight will influence your choice in paper and ink selection. UV- and water-resistant paper and ink will help weatherproof your work and will keep it fresher longer, but it might also change the way your colors look. That, in turn, could affect your design. Another factor is finish: a high gloss finish will stand up to weather conditions better than matte, so you’ll need to design accordingly.
You’ll also need to drive by the location your printed item will be hung – are there tree limbs in the way? If you’ll be hanging it on a red brick building, you won’t want to use rust red as a background color for your poster. Also, look at the location at night to figure out how street light will affect your printed material at night.
Another biggie is that in print design you have to catch people’s attention from everything surrounding your item; on the Web, people search you out and you convince them to stay. Be sure you use colors and an eye-popping design that stands out from surrounding elements.
As long as you take into account what will get a human’s attention, rather than a search engine crawler’s attention, you’ll have success going from Web design to print.
NBC has said that it still has eight 30-second spots advertising spots still open for the 2009 Super Bowl. Most of the 67 spots were sold in September, but the spots that weren’t picked up then are still open. Super Bowl ad regulars FedEx, Garmin Ltd. and General Motors Corp. won’t be seen during next year’s game held February 1 in Tampa, Florida.
NBC says it is negotiating with other potential advertisers for the open spots. Of course, at a time when many companies are struggling to keep budgets afloat, the nearly-$3-million spots are hard to fit into the budget. Brian Walker, senior director of communications at NBC Sports in New York, said “This is a time to show strength and confidence in their brands in a challenging economy.”
Check out this video for last year’s Super Bowl Commercials:
Of course, everyone knows the time to unveil your greatest, funniest ad is during the Super Bowl. The NFL championship is considered to be the “premier advertising event” of the year. Walker doesn’t seem worried – the spots can be sold up to the last minute before the event. He didn’t comment on whether NBC is facing any pressure from advertisers to discount rates.
GM has reported that although it has bought ad spots for almost 10 years now, the current economy and request for federal funds is not the reason for not buying a traditional ad spot. GM is saving the ad money as part of a restructuring plan that has been in place for a while now – before the request for bailout.
FedEx didn’t give a reason for not buying a spot for the ’09 Super Bowl. FedEx has been a Super Bowl advertiser for a dozen years and has plans in place to grow revenue by 10 percent and earnings per share 10 to 15 percent per year. Is the $3 million part of that 10 percent? FedEx isn’t saying.
Garmin’s spokesperson Ted Gartner said that although Garmin bought ads in the past two Super Bowls, it won’t in ’09 because its strategy has changed, not because of the tough economy.
Among returners: Monster, Inc. and Anheuser-Busch. Monster hasn’t bought an ad in the Super Bowl since 2004, and A-B keeps on buying – it bought 10 30-second spots for ’09, some of which will run back to back, to run as 60-second spots.
According to CNNMoney.com, the United States is obsessed with Super Bowl ads. Many people hype up the new ads just as much as the game. USA Today has the most well-known Super Bowl ad critique. But a study by Los Angeles-based consumer research firm OTX found that consumers that watched what they were told were Super Bowl ads commercials were not “very informative about the company,” although the consumers felt more emotionally connected to the ads just because they were told they were Super Bowl ads. Super Bowl ads are expected to be funny, outrageous and better than any other ads viewed at other times of the year. If you don’t have the budget for a Super Bowl spot, it might not be such a bad thing after all – you’d have to have a homerun, or I mean, have a touchdown of an ad for it to even be worth it.
Are you proud of your business card? Do you think it’s the best designed card in the world? How many people have commented on the design of your card when they received it? If you’re like most people, no one has said a word. Although good design means different things to different people, designers can agree on the following 4 business card design mistakes. You should avoid these in designing your business cards and if your printed business cards contain one of these faux pas, seriously think about redesigning and printing new ones.
1. A cluttered business card: Appealing cards don’t use up every inch of the cardstock. People get overwhelmed when they see a lot of info in a small space. Too much print looks unprofessional. Keep the vital info – name, your title and company, address, email, Web site and phone numbers. If you have room, you can include a tagline. Use the back of the card if you’d like. Just be sure to leave some white space, which is a design term for empty space.
2. Small print: If people need a magnifying glass to read your name on your business card, it’s too small! Obviously, people aren’t going to take the time to squint their way into understanding your text. Don’t sacrifice readability just to get a tagline or extra info on your card. A good rule of thumb is to make your name 9 points in size, your company name 12 points, and the rest of the type no smaller than 7 points. Using a hierarchy of sizes will also help your design look clean and uncluttered.
3. Having a plain white card: White cardstock with black printing. How original! So many people use this format for a business card that if you do, yours will be hard to find in the sea of white. Make your card a nice cream cardstock, or gray, or go crazy and go for black or some other color that still fits your brand’s image. I love the colors of this card and the design is still simple with the bright blue.
4. Crazy shape: I actually like creative business cards that aren’t rectangles. They look good. But it can be a big design problem because then where do recipients put your card? If it doesn’t fit in a wallet, your business card has a much higher death rate (e.g., being thrown away). Rounded corners are okay because the card will still fit in a wallet or Rolodex, but beyond that you’re pushing it. This business card is almost pushing it, but I think it would still have a high “keeper” rate because it’s the traditional size with rounded corners.
If you wait to redesign and print new cards when your current stash runs out, will it be worth it to lose a few new clients along the way? Clients that you might have gotten if your business card had been more impressive? I don’t think so. Business cards are one of the cheapest marketing tools you’ll ever use, so think of new cards as an investment in your business.
In a time of dwindling budgets, many people go back to what has always worked. And business cards are one of those marketing tools that always work because they’re simple and people know how they work. Techies might disagree and think email and contact info on a computer is better than a business card. But you have to have a computer to access your email and your contacts’ info. A business card can be carried with you everywhere and no one needs special equipment to read it.
Business Card Design Basics Less is more is the mantra of good business card design. You don’t have much room, even if you use the back of the card. That means you must use clean font that is easily readable, colors that don’t make people’s eyes hurt and a design that is logical. People should immediately know what to look at first (your name) and what to look at next (usually your title or your company; it’s up to you which you’d rather focus on next). The basic info you need:
Name
Title
Company Name
Address
Logo
Phone/fax numbers
Email address
Company URL
(Optional: tagline)
I put tagline as optional, because in my opinion, it’s not a deal breaker when it comes to business cards. And, I don’t think people will really remember your tagline from seeing it on your business card. Plus, if it’s longer than a few words it could really take up some prime real estate on your card. If it’s short and people know the tagline, though, I would include it. Everything else is essential.
Design Ideas Now, the reason I’m bringing up this topic is to share some interesting business card design ideas. Anymore, white cardstock with black ink just won’t do it. That’s boring. Black cardstock with white writing, now that’s more interesting. If you want people to keep your card, it’s best if it’s interesting. You’ll seem more innovative, as will your company and brand. If you have a boring card, your company and brand will seem boring. Your business card is a direct reflection of the personality of your business.
A simple turn of the direction of card to vertical could be all you need to make an impact. I love this card, not only because it’s turned, but because it’s also clear. That’s different. That’s something people don’t expect. It could possibly cause confusion if it’s laid on top of a dark surface, but I’ll bet that whoever takes this card will keep it in their wallet or somewhere organized so that they can reference it.
If there’s a way for you to capture the essence of your business with your card design, by all means do it! That could mean a carpenter creating a card made out of a thin piece of wood, or cardstock colored to look like wood. For a photographer, it could mean using film, such as this card. Film is an integral part of a photographer’s life, and the design is still simple, clear and effective.
Another one I like is this envelope supplier’s card. It’s simple, yet effective because it represents a part of her job, and makes it look professional and innovative. If she has a great card like this, what else can she do?
That’s the kind of thinking you need when designing your business card. You need to impress people into wanting to contact you for more information and to find out what you can do for them. Use interesting textures, fonts, and shapes, but keep it clean, simple and clear. A confusing business card or a card with bright colors that don’t coincide with your brand will just confuse people. Think about your brand’s personality first, and then design from there.
If you choose the wrong color for your marketing materials or Web site, it’s possible you could be turning potential customers away before they even read a word. There’s much psychology behind color, and knowing how to use colors to get the feelings you want people to experience will help you get the marketing results you want.
Understanding Color All color comes from two basic colors: red and blue. Browns come from a mixture of both. Purple, indigo, green and others on that side of the color wheel come from blue. Orange, yellow and pink all stem from red tones. The eye focuses on blue colors in front of the retina, which means blue tones move away from the eye. This makes them seem non-threatening and can make people feel drowsy or relaxed. The eye focuses on red tones behind the retina, which means red tones move toward the eye. This makes red tones seem energetic, aggressive and excited.
Color Psychology
So, from how we see color, it’s easy to speculate that blue tones will make people relaxed and red tones will energize people. And that’s exactly what color studies have found. In one study that was featured on the ’70s show “The Human Body”, colicky babies in a hospital room lit by red lights cried more often and more intensely than when the same room with the same babies was lit by blue light. The researchers switched the lights of the room from red to blue and back again, and when the lights were red, the babies cried more than when the lights were blue. The blue lights actually quieted the room.
Blue shades and tones emanate feelings of stability, logic, relaxation and professionalism. A spa or a doctor’s office would do well to create a blue motif in their marketing materials. Since red tones get people excited, red would work well in marketing materials created for a sports items, money, motivating products and cars.
Of course, each color on the color wheel can produce different feelings. For instance, black is seen as a color of authority and seriousness. White implies cleanliness, which is why surgical gloves, and doctors and nurses wear a lot of white. (Notice white, blue and green scrubs and items in many hospitals? This combination produces a feeling of cleanliness and calmness.) You can check out more color meanings at InfoPlease.com or do an Internet search for “color psychology.”
As you can see, colors can mean all the difference in whether your marketing materials are read with an open calmness or a distrusted aggression. The right color for your marketing materials depends on your brand message and what you want consumers to feel. There is no right color for everyone, but there is a right color for your brand and your product.
Avner Offer, professor of economic history at Oxford University, has said that “today’s rapid pace of innovation includes developments in science and technology, a widening range of consumer goods and services, and the powerful effect of media, advertising and the Internet—all pressuring us to make choices….”
What does this lead me to believe? That the affluent influence the marketplace – for themselves and for other classes below them. The middle-class and lower-class are offered what the affluent class decides is needed or wanted. The rich people are those that drive the marketplace offerings. People can afford to get high-end cars, which makes other classes of people get high-end cars, but it leaves the lower classes in a debt situation. This leads to more and more people taking out loans and using high-interest credit cards that they can’t afford. This leads to our tough economy where people can’t pay back what they’ve borrowed so the government has to step in.
Now I’m not saying that the affluent are bad in shaping the wants and needs of the lower classes; I’m just saying it’s a fact that we should be aware of. As marketers and consumers. The younger generations are used to getting what they want without having to pay for it. Mommies and daddies are charging everything for their precious little ones. And there are even games like Electronic Monopoly in which you charge things on a credit card instead of buying them with cash. Now what kind of message is that sending?
And as packaging and production methods get cheaper with outsourcing, we’re just filling up our landfills with last year’s products.
Of course, there is also global warming. With all of this extra production of products that people are just going to throw away, the factories are working year-round, 24/7 producing lovely smog clouds that are tearing up our atmosphere and killing us underneath.
And, one last effect of our affluent tastes – we’re getting fat! Obesity is at an all-time high due to the processed foods and easy access to drive-thrus every few blocks.
So what does all of this mean for marketers?
Market your line of products to all classes. Market your more affordable items to the middle- and lower-classes so that they know they have a choice. Two widgets sold at $20 each is just as much money as if you get an affluent person to buy your $40 widget. The lower classes shouldn’t be ignored – they have spending power.
Green your production methods. Whether that’s just for marketing – using recycled paper or using more online initiatives – or whether you can talk the CEO into using greener inks, greener packaging or whatever, you can then tout your greener methods to consumers. Everyone is concerned about the environment now, and you can get customers from all classes by showing how earth-friendly your products are.
Market to the affluent responsibly. While marketing to the tastemakers of society, use your marketing prowess for good. Tout all of the socially responsible things your company is doing so that the affluent will tell their friends and family. This word-of-mouth marketing will trickle down to the lower classes and encourage them to buy products that are more socially responsible.
I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of Jerry Della Femina, but I hadn’t until today. As I was perusing through advertising articles (as is my usual), I came across an older Wall Street Journal article that asked Della Femina to list the top five books on advertising. I was thinking, who is this guy and how is he qualified to answer that?
Turns out the guy has been named as one of the most influential advertising people of the century by Advertising Age (#71, by the way). Interesting. He called himself a “publicity slut” – even more interesting. He has made other outrageous comments throughout the years that’s gotten him some headlines. (Good work for the ad guru!). He also wrote an anti-establishment book in 1971: From Those Wonderful Folks Who Gave You Pearl Harbor, which was a best-seller. He’s owned a few advertising agencies since 1967 and is still going strong.
So, now that I’ve established for myself and for you what Della Femina’s credentials are (and someone should probably shame us both for not knowing) let’s move on to his expert opinion.
1. The 100 Greatest Advertisements 1852-1958 (Julian Lewis Watkins, Dover, 1959)
A collection of the best print ads that produced remarkable results, such as spots from Coca-Cola, “The Pause That Refreshes” and RCA Victor “His Master’s Voice.” It opens with a classified ad published in London in 1900: “Men Wanted for Hazardous Journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in case of success — Ernest Shackleton.” He got a ton of responses! And yet, we can’t get enough recruits in the U.S. Army, which spends millions on advertising that promises an education and a future.
2. Confessions of an Advertising Man (David Ogilvy, Atheneum, 1963)
And of course, no list would be complete with a book by David Ogilvy. This is the ultimate how-to book on advertising from the “Father of advertising” who reigned from the 1940s to the 1970s.
3. Bill Bernbach’s Book (Bob Levenson, Random House, 1987)
Written by Levenson, whom Bernbach mentored, about “the man who changed the face of advertising.” Bernbach earned Advertising Age’s top spot of the most 100 influential advertising people of the century. Bernbach changed the way ads were designed and influenced the advertising world into what it is today.
4. A Technique for Producing Ideas (James Webb Young, Advertising Publications, 1940)
A short read at 60 pages, this is a great resource for learning how we get ideas, and the steps everyone “must take to stimulate their minds and produce ideas.” As Della Femina says, “Without ideas, there would be no advertising.”
5. Reality in Advertising (Rosser Reeves, Knopf, 1961)
You’ve heard of a USP (unique selling proposition). Here’s a book by the man who created the term that helped his ad agency, Ted Bates, to sell more candy, cigarettes, toothpaste and breath mints than any other agency in the world. Ever heard of this one? “Melts in your mouth, not in your hand.” Reeves was a serious man in his ad agency, but he allows some humor and flair into his book.
When it comes time for business owners and CFOs to cut budgets, marketing and advertising are often the first places they turn to. As a marketer, you need to be able to recognize why this isn’t such a good idea and be able to voice your reasons. It’s tempting for businesses to try to cut money from something in which they don’t see immediate results, but doing so could spell disaster for the business in coming months and years.
By evaluating how effective your marketing is, you can present a strong argument to the CFO about why marketing and advertising budgets are not where cuts should be made. Or, maybe you can at least lessen the cuts and allocate the marketing budget into areas that will prove to be stronger than others (like moving money into the successful direct mail budget from the unsuccessful billboard budget). But evaluating your marketing is hard to do if you don’t first do research into who makes up your target market. Once you know that, you can measure the effectiveness of your marketing campaign more accurately.
Do Your Target Market Research
Traditionally, marketing involves four broad steps, which all have their own sub-steps: planning, creative development, execution and measurement. I’d like to talk more about the planning step, because I think it’s most important. Good planning sets the stage for the rest of your marketing campaign.
The insight you get from knowing your customers and their preferences will impact your marketing position and distribution channels, your media selection, the price of the product or service and your advertising offers.
Of course, researching your target market could go on for months, and can get as detailed as you want (and as detailed as you can afford!). But there are three absolute basics you must know about your customers:
Demographics: This consists of age, gender, occupation, education, income level, location and family circumstances (kids, single, married?). Lifestyle factors can also be included here. Do people have a long commute? Do they spend a lot of time outdoors? What roads do these people generally drive on?
Behavior: Is your target market full of people who love the outdoors? Are they spenders or savers? Do they like to watch TV or read magazines? What do you they like to do and what do they spend their money on?
Needs: What do they need? Why would they need your product or service? Do they know they need your product or service? Do you need to have late hours for those that work or can you be open during the day for stay-at-home moms? How can your product or service fulfill a need?
These three basics will help you create a rough sketch of what your target market looks like. Knowing these basics will allow you to create and product effective print brochures and color posters, choose the right colors in your logo and choose the right distribution channels for your marketing efforts. You have to know your audience before you can create a product or service that they’ll want to spend their hard earned money on.
When it comes time to map out a new ad, whether for a billboard, brochures, a magazine spot or any other multitude of media, it’s hard to come up with something creative that people can just look at and instantly “get it.”
And creating a creative ad doesn’t automatically mean success. If your target audience doesn’t understand it, or if the content isn’t relevant, no amount of creativity will bring in sales. It’s easy for designers to forget that the purpose of the ad is to bring is sales when all they want to do is be creative. Likewise, it’s easy for the ad account managers to see the positive attributes of a really creative ad if they don’t see the sales potential right off the bat.
But, a creative and effective ad can be done. There are plenty of successful, creative ads out there that prove it. Get inspired by this Exposed SEO blog post that showcases 23 interesting, creative ads that don’t need to be contemplated to be understood. Many of these use the environment or an existing venue to play the ad off of (check out the bus exhaust coming out of a person’s mouth like cigarette smoke). Creative, clear and motivating.
And creative ads don’t only come from pros. Students show just as much, if not more creativity, in these ads on Advertnews.com. These feature an ad for Toblerone using what looks to be a bike rack and an ingenious, yet so simple, Windex ad.
To get a creative idea, you have to look outward, I think. Yes, inward is where the creativity flows, but you have to look outside yourself for ideas. And not stealing other ad ideas, but just looking at a tree and seeing it as a palette for something bigger, like a landing spot for a blown piece of gum (see the Exposed SEO blog).
There are four key elements of making an effective, yet creative ad:
1. It must be relevant to the customer.
2. It should contain a promise to the customer.
3. It should be well understood by the customer, yet not talk down to the customer.
4. Always put the product in the center of the ad.
Many creative ads get the creative part down almost too well, which means the product gets ignored. A number of studies have shown people remember a certain TV commercial, but they can’t remember what product the ad was selling. This is referred to as vampire creativity. If your ad is too entertaining or too involving, it obscures the product.
As you can see, there’s a fine line between being effectively creative and obscurely creative. By having your creative mind(s) working with the business-oriented mind(s), you have a better chance of achieving the right balance for a great ad. Teamwork is what it’s all about, just as in any other business.
The Washington Post article “Direct Mail Ads Have Become Mostly Negative, Experts Say” caught my eye, what with me being in marketing. I must say I was disappointed when I read the article and it was all about political direct mail ads. No mention of politics in the headline, just something interesting that marketers and advertisers would all want to read. If I would have seen the word “political” somewhere in the article’s title, I would have thought, “yeah, what’s new?” Which I’m sure is precisely why the newspaper left it out.
But, hey, it’s still interesting to me even though I feel bamboozled thinking it was an industry-wide theme.
A review of 24 direct-mail ads sent from Obama’s campaign and McCain’s campaign shows a “below-the-radar battle in which the public message of the candidates becomes something more spiteful, more exaggerated and often more ominous.” The candidates are trying to get the swing states on their side, obviously. That’s where all of these direct-mail ads were sent to. The Democratic Party warned voters that McCain is “hiding something he doesn’t want us to know.” The Republican National Committee sent the message “Barack Obama: Not who you think he is” to 6 swing states.
Both candidates say the other is being unfair with all of the lies in the mailings, even as they approve their own direct mail attacks. Direct mail has a 30-year history of swaying voters late in elections, so it’s not likely that they are going to slow down in the next few days.
Direct-mail ads can be more alarmist, more negative because they aren’t produced for the masses. Direct mail is more focused, you know the neighborhoods and the way certain counties have voted in the past, so the direct mailers can choose a well-placed negative ad to give that county or that city the slightest push it needed to vote red or blue.
Direct mail has been used in campaigns since the late ’60s. And now it’s becoming more influential. Candidates feel like they can be more candid in direct mail because it’s proven to be less damaging to their image to attack through mail than on TV or radio.
The North Carolina Republican State Executive Committee sent out a picture of Obama next to the quote “I don’t regret setting bombs. I feel we didn’t do enough.” Most people would assume that Obama said that, but in fact it was Bill Ayers, a ’60s radical whom Obama later met in Chicago. Of course, the brochure didn’t attribute the quote. That’s just plain out lying if you ask me.
But, unfortunately, some court decided long ago that political ads were part of political speech. And political speech is covered under the First Amendment, so it’s okay to have lies in political ads. Is that ridiculous or what?
Obama’s camp has sent out flyers saying McCain’s campaign is run by “seven Washington lobbyists.”
The Wisconsin Advertising Project conducted a study that found that McCain’s ads are 74 percent negative while 60 percent of Obama’s ads are negative. (These numbers are for all ads, not just direct mail.)
And the reason they keep sending out the negativity? Because that’s what people remember. They don’t remember the good deeds. People don’t even want to hear about the good stuff; they just want to hear the bad. That’s why newspaper headlines are always negative; people complain, but negative headlines are what sell newspapers and are what people respond to.
How can we break this negativity cycle if that’s what the people want?
What is it about certain ads that make you remember them? A great jingle? “Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is!”
Or is it a great saying: “Whassup?” The Budweiser commercial featuring the Whassup guys has been updated and remade by 60Frames, who makes original Internet programming.
Now though, it’s turned political (surprise, surprise!). The commercial shows the same guys, but the economy has gotten to them and one guy is watching a political commercial or speech on TV. It’s a sad update of what’s taken place since the commercial aired 8 years ago. The thing is, even though I haven’t thought about that commercial for years, as soon as I saw “Whassup” I knew exactly what commercial was being referenced. So the first thing to make your ad memorable is to make up a word or someone change a word so that everyone wants to copy you.
There were no cute animals, like in the other Bud commercial with the talking frogs. Now, I’m not a beer fan, but Bud seems to have some pretty good commercials. The Bud-Weis-Er frogs came on the scene during the ’95 Super Bowl and ranks at #5 on the MSNBC list for best Super Bowl ads ever. So, include talking animals. That almost always works!
The Federal Express commercial featuring fast talker John Moschitta Jr. is ranked #1 on New York magazine’s list of “The Most Memorable Advertisements Madison Avenue Ever Sold.” And isn’t Moschitta Jr. lucky – his fast talking got him at least 10 spots on VH1’s “I Love the ’80s” show. This is memorable because it still applies today to everyone’s “hurry up and wait” mentality. Plus, it aligns quite well with Federal Express’ brand. So, pick an idea that brings your brand to life. (If only it were that easy, right?)
And we love little old ladies who don’t act like little old ladies. Maybe you should add one to your next ad for some memorability. I’m sure you remember the old lady asking “Where’s the beef?” in the 1984 Wendy’s ad. I was just a little kid then and didn’t even know what Wendy’s was and I know that saying. “It’s arguably the best line in a commercial over the past 25 years,” says David Apicella, a vice-chairman at Ogilvy. When Homer Simpson repeats your slogan or quotes your commercial, you know you’ve got a winner!
Even though this is a logo and not an ad, I couldn’t leave out the “I [heart] NY” logo. And what about the “I [heart] NY” T-shirts that are still all the rage? I didn’t know the logo was over 30 years old, but believe it or not, it was created in 1977. And, it was created for free. That’s right, Milton Glaser created the logo for New York tourism for free. New York magazine says the logo “is among the world’s most recognizable, initially concocted to boost tourism to New York State as the city teetered on the brink of insolvency.” So that goes to show you that you don’t have to pay thousands of dollars to create a great logo. Just give it a simple design with lots of meaning. You can do that, right?
In a rough economy, the time to increase (or at least, maintain) marketing and advertising is now. I know it seems counterintuitive, but you need to keep up your presence with the public and your customers so that when the economy rebounds, they’ll be right there at your door.
Even if you have to cut back on your marketing budget, that doesn’t mean you have to cut it out completely. There are still many cheap marketing techniques you can use until you get more money in the bank. And these marketing techniques will be part of the reason why you get money in your bank – because you keep on marketing!
Here are some ideas you can use that won’t cost you thousands of dollars. Most won’t even cost hundreds of dollars!
Start a Web site or blog. You should already have a Web site, but if you don’t, now’s the time to start one. If you do have a Web site, you should start a blog. You can get them for free from WordPress.com or Blogger.com. There are plenty of other blogging sites, but these are the most popular and easiest to use. Blogging is a great way to build a relationship with your customers and prospects because you can start a conversation with them.
Participate in forums. Here’s another free way to get online. You can give out your expertise for free on forums and direct people to your Web site. People like to buy from experts. Also, you get a dialogue going with customers, who will get to know you, and then want to be loyal to you and your business.
Give something away. Something else that seems counterintuitive, but what you give away doesn’t have to be expensive! It just has to have value for the customer. If you have an auto repair store, you can give away an inexpensive tire gauge. A dentist could give out a free teeth cleaning (which is how I found my current dentist!). Give away something that is low cost to you, but is of high value to the customer. That will get them in your store so that you can build a relationship with them. And that’s what it’s all about.
Host a charity event. If a charity is looking for a venue, what better place than your store! If you don’t have the room, sponsor something in the charity event. A DJ could provide the music for free, or a caterer could provide the snacks or dessert for free. This gets your name in the program or on a sign at least. You could also provide a door prize or a bigger prize in lieu of holding the event at your place. Get your name in there somewhere! People like to do business with companies that help out charities.
Remember that customers buy from people they know and trust. That’s what your marketing campaign should do during tough times – remind people that they can trust you. You probably have many competitors with similar products, so establishing a relationship is key to having people spend their money with you over your competitors. Competing on price alone won’t work, even in a recession.
Everyone has those days when you just can’t get creative. It’s like every creative bone in your body has been replaced with a boring bone. Well, I’ve got some sites here that will help stimulate your creative side.
Web Sites 101+ Places to Get Design Inspiration – The Aussie that runs this blog is only 20 or 21 and still in college, but he’s already a great designer. He’s been working since he was 16 for professional clients, designing logos, flyers and everything else a business needs.
Abduzeedo – Very interesting ideas, very unique. Not for the traditionalist.
Freelance Switch’s 60 More Places to Get Design Inspiration – Online and Off – Freelance Switch has a blog with advice for all kinds of freelancers, including this article with Web sites and books recommended to help you get your design on.
Books (all at Amazon.com) New Masters of Poster Design: Poster Design for the Next Century – This book shows top poster designers’ artwork of now, which has proven that the poster can still serve as a worthy communications tool. According to Amazon: “In doing so, they’ve brought the poster back to prominence. In this book, the author has compiled the world’s finest new work at the height of this rebirth. There is currently no book on the market that can claim it features a ‘definitive’ poster collection.”
Making and Breaking the Grid: A Graphic Design Layout Workshop – A “comprehensive layout design workshop that assumes that in order to effectively break the rules of grid-based design, one must first understand those rules and see them applies to real-world projects.”
You get to find out about how top designers’ processes work and their rationale while designing. “Projects with similar characteristics are linked through a simple notational system that encourages exploration and comparison of structure ideas. Also included are historical overviews that summarize the development of layout concepts, both grid-based and non-grid based, in modern design practice.”
Typography Workbook: A Real-World Guide to Using Type in Graphic Design – “[This book] is part of Rockport’s popular Workbook series of practical and inspirational workbooks that cover all the fundamental areas of the graphic design business.” It contains loads of info on type without a lot of extra fun facts you don’t need to know about so that designers can get the information they need quickly and easily.
Other books on typography are more technical or showcase oriented, but this book actually gives you ideas and inspiration through real-life examples that show successful uses of typography.
It also offers “a variety of other content, including choosing fonts, sizes, and colors; incorporating text and illustrations; avoiding common mistakes in text usage; and teaching rules by which to live (and work) by.”
Layout Workbook: A Real-World Guide to Building Pages in Graphic Design – This book doesn’t only have great examples for inspiration; it also helps you understand design. “The book illuminates the broad category of layout, communicating specifically what it takes to design with excellence. It also addresses the heart of design-the how and why of the creative process.”
According to an Advertising for Peanuts blog post, ads should be entertainment. The author, Jim Morris, even comes up with a new definition of advertising: “n. Entertainment with some commercial message or agenda of some sort in there somewhere.” Morris believes that the advertising industry should stop trying to fight the fact that ads have to be entertaining first.
But I say, if advertising is firstly entertaining, how does that translate into higher sales? Isn’t the point of advertising to get info out about a product, and to sell the product? I’ll agree that entertaining people is a good way to help them remember info about a product, but I think that selling a product should be the first goal of advertising, not entertaining people. That’s what sitcoms, drama shows, books, magazines and movies are for!
In a CNNMoney.com article, Paul R. La Monica states “It’s a disturbing trend for many large corporations, who may find that instead of boosting sales, they are wasting millions of dollars on advertising campaigns that simply boost the egos of marketing executives and ad agency types who dream of being the next Martin Scorsese or Woody Allen. Advertising is increasingly morphing into another form of entertainment, and not as something that effectively conveys a company’s brand message.”
Why Advertisements Need to Be Entertaining
In an age where people can TiVo their favorite shows and skip the commercials, people need a reason to watch the commercials, and entertainment is that reason. Others argue that people see all kinds of media on the Internet and on TV, so to really stick out, you have to be funny, which is what “entertaining” translates to in this conversation.
But some people take it too far in this YouTube era where all entertainment all the time reigns. “There are some spots on TV where people say, ‘Gee, that was really cool. But what was the product?’” Neal M. Burns, professor of advertising at the University of Texas at Austin, told CNNMoney.com.
Why Advertisements Need to Be Informative Ad agencies are taking the entertainment factor too far that their message is totally lost. If there was even a message at all. After the 2007 Super Bowl, CareerBuilder’s new entertaining, funny TV ads were poorly rated. For the sake of entertainment, CareerBuilder’s ad agency, Cramer-Krasselt, changed CareerBuilder’s lovable monkey motif ads to a jungle themed ad. The ad flopped and was poorly rated in many Super Bowl commercial reviews. CareerBuilder put its ad account up for review, which angered Cramer-Krasselt, which also created the monkey ads. Peter Krivkovich, president and CEO of Cramer-Krasselt said he was disappointed with CareerBuilder and told CNNMoney.com: “People have gotten confused between what is entertainment for entertainment’s sake and what is actually smart marketing messaging. The YouTube generation of advertising has forgotten that,” he said. “You can have a brilliant, unique, funny ad, but if it’s not coupled with insight it will be forgotten.”
We Need a Balance of Entertainment and Info
All entertainment ads don’t work because people don’t know what the ad is for. All informative ads don’t work because they’re too boring for people to pay attention to. So, as with just about anything in life, moderation is key. Add a moderate dose of entertainment and a moderate dose of information that people can use about your product, and there’s your magical dose of the “just right” ad.
For you to be able to achieve success in business, 4 things must not be neglected:
A great product/ service
A decent ad copy
The right targeted market
Repeat!
When you are out to explore avenues in marketing for your business, one of the core basics is to have a good ad copy. Once you are sure that your product or service has been perfected for a release in the market, it is vital that you put up an ad that is “unmissable”. Most businesses already know this, right? But do they know the ingredients for an excellent classified or ad copy that can show results. NO! The following tips shall give you insight as to how wonderful classifieds can be created for a deeper impact on your audience:-
Any classified in the world has to have 3 basic things in it:-
The Heading
The Body
Call to Action
Let’s take a closer look at how all of them can be effective!
The Heading: This is the single most important factor in an ad. Headings are the first thing that will strike your audience’s attention. Ether it will grab enough attention that they go ahead and read the rest of what you have to say or just step out of it without bothering at all. So make sure your heading has some strong words / symbols depending upon the space you have. Only if there is a spark between the ad and the customer, will he move forward to take an action. It should be strong but also believable. Some examples:
“Earn $5000 from your home, now!”
“Save $X on daily shopping”
By the end of your heading, you must have created enough interest in the customer that he reads the rest of your ad. Once you get this done, have the work is over!
The Body: This part will explain and expand on what you have offered through your headline. Make sure you don’t stuff it with a lot of heavy nerdy terms and words. This might take off the interest of your potential customer. Try not to exceed more than 25 words. Apply the KISS rule: Keep it Simple, stupid! What makes it worse is the use of abbreviations. Try not to use them as your message should come across very clear. If our ad has been designed well, it will provoke the customer to make the next move.
Call to Action: This is the final stage of your ad. It is the last line of your ad where the basic motive is to provoke the reader into taking an action. This can be achieved easily with coupling your contact information with action words. To get a solid response, you must put some use some action words like “call now” along with your telephone no. or web address. It has been researched a no. of times and has been proven, that for customers to respond or react to the ad, they must be enticed with the help of words. Some foolproof examples like these can really work :-
“For FREE information, call now! 1-800……”
“Call Toll-Free! 1-877….”
“Visit our website for a free demo of….”
Remember the purpose is to invite your potential customers to try out what you are offering if not ordering at all. To achieve this, you can also apply one of the oldest strategies of all, which is to give out a special offer or a discount. When people realize that NOW is the best time to call, they will do it, at least pay a visit of not much. For better results, make the offer a “limited time” one or a “week only” offer. Mission accomplished!
Apart from having great content on your classified ad, it is vital that it is published at the right time and at the right place. Make sure you use your local directories well. There are plenty of options available. Buying a space in the local yellow pages in bulk can save you a great deal of money. Following these tips before printing your ad can double your response in no time.
Branding is one of the most crucial aspects of a business. In fact, clothing for humans can very well be compared with branding for businesses. It hardly matters if your business is big or small, what really matters is to have a unique identity in the market so people can recall easily. You have to reach the stage where people see your logo and instantly connect with the business or the company name. Remember everything that the public sees is your brand. The small businesses often lose help thinking, they can never match the grounds like big ones. But this is an absolute misconception. They just need to follow a few simple rules to make it happen like the biggies. Some of them which are essential are as follows:-
1. The design of the logo is not all: A coffee lover will not prefer Barista over Starbucks, JUST because of the logo! Its not that logos are not important but it is not really required that you spend a fortune on it. You can hire a professional if needed but don’t be misguided by the fact that it will have a strong effect on your sales as well. Your logo is great as long as people get the message of your company and can recollect the name of it. Feel free to put it wherever you can, including business mails, business cards, yellow pages, local directories, websites etc.
2. Do not underestimate the power of a good website: It is important that people understand the importance of a good, professional website that can carry the message of the business well. There will be infinite instances where you will be approached by people through your website and the last thing you would want is to spoil the impression through your website. So make sure you change as the world changes, and keep your website new & updated. In terms of time, make sure you update the features and the look at least every 2 years.
3. Don’t forget to blog: Well, looking at the statistics, this is one form of marketing you cannot afford to miss in the current scenario. If you cannot continuously provide content you might just lose out on valuable customers. There are information-hungry people out there and they NEED experts. Blogs will help you maintain that image of an expert. It is simple to publish blogs and with the help of a little SEO and tweaking here and there, you can reach out to a lot of people you might miss had there been no blog. This way, the conversation would not just be one sided as the customers will be able to follow the company more closely.
4. Be seen, heard and felt: A recent survey proves people need to be shown the brand (logo, face of the company etc.) at least seven times before they actually buy the product. So don’t single out your marketing strategy with blogs and move in and around different circles as well. Trade shows, events, conferences, unconferences, sponsoring local events etc. will ensure more visibility followed by more “talking about”. If you are not keeping yourself active like this you may probably be wondering why you’re not getting the results.
5. Quick overview: The only reason why people may not be interested in your company could be because of lengthy paragraphs just mentioning the highs and lows of it. Adopt the KISS rule here: Keep it simple, stupid. Make sure that the page with your company’s overview is not overflowing with words. Use short paragraphs and sentences. Just give a small intro with your value proposition, target audience benefits etc. with a case study. All of this should be done with in one page, so your customers do not have to flick in between a lot of pages.
6. Stick to your words: You may already be aware that brand loyalty can exist only if the customers are given a consistent experience. Make sure you fulfill what you say. If you give people a date, make sure you stick to it. Be professional. Unfulfilled expectations can leave a bad taste in your customer’s mouths. But if the same customers have had a good experience, they might just refer to others. Although this comes with no guarantee. But still increases your chances of being heard.
There are several other things that you one can do to get your brand give tight competition to the already famous ones. McDonalds is just one example for a crowd of thousand others. Devise a strategy to understand your customers well and give them what they want. Your brand and image will go down the drain if you fail to provide what you are considered to be the “best” at. Remember, experts are not good at a lot of things but the best at one. So stick with it.
The world has gone digital. Everyone loves technology – even kids! It amazes me how much kids know about technology when they are only toddlers. I think having a toddler computer is a little ridiculous, but that’s just me. My point is the world is going digital in all facets.
I don’t remember the last time I wrote a check. Read the “real-life” newspaper – the offline version? Not recently. Went to the movie store to rent a movie? Got Netflix for that.
With everything, including marketing, going digital, the best thing to do is to adapt print marketing to the digital realm. People still like to read printed items like magazines and newspapers. It’s much easier to tote around a brochure or postcard instead of sitting down at a computer to print out the brochure info while you’re shopping. Then again, there’s nothing that says you have to even leave your house to go shopping anymore.
Expert Opinion #1
Two experts weighed in at DMNews.com about the subject. Pamela Girardin, President of Q2 Marketing, says the print industry has many advantages – notably, the touch-and-feel advantage. That’s part of the reason why I like my magazines so much – I like feeling the pages. I like smelling the perfume samples. I like being able to take my magazine on the plane, to the beach, or wherever I want without having to worry about Wi-Fi access or a laptop battery running low. Plus, looking at a computer monitor all day would hurt my eyes. She says the biggest hurdle for the print industry is rising costs.
I agree with her that rising costs are a factor. I would also note that as more consumers are becoming more “green” and concerned about the environment, the print industry needs to take note and offer more green options. Many printers already offer recycled paper and soy inks, which is a great start. I think a key to integrating print into digital is to offer people a choice: do they want the online version of a brochure or a print version? Do they want to get their bank statements by email or by regular mail? I think that giving people a choice will help to integrate print and digital.
Expert Opinion #2
The other expert that gave his two cents at DMNews.com was Jeremy Knauff, CEO of Wildfire Marketing Group. He says that technology has reduced the need for print jobs, but marketers can use printed materials to follow up with people that clicked thru to your Web site. He also mentions that people love customized products geared specifically for them. He advises to use short-run printing and customize marketing materials for specific clients.
I think that he has a good point of using both digital and print to market to the same people. I don’t think people will see a postcard and an email as being too “in your face” because they are different media. You could follow up sooner with an email or postcard than you could with another email or another postcard the following week. I think using all the different media available could really be successful when integrating print marketing in a digital world.
Many companies are taking advantage of the fact that catalog printing can reinforce and boost online sales while reducing other costs across the company. Catalog printing puts your products and services in front of your customers while the internet provides ease of access for ordering and further research. This one-two punch of catalog printing while also making your catalog available online has been generating increased online sales for companies who use both catalog formats.
But there are some important pitfalls to avoid. Both catalogs have to be tightly integrated across a number of levels. How can you avoid these potential catalog catastrophes? Read on for an overview of some areas where your online and printed catalogs must be closely connected.
Product information
The information you provide in your printed catalogs must be identical to the information you provide online. That is not to say the words have to be exactly the same, but there should be no contradictions. This is an especially easy mistake to make with technical specifications. When catalog printing, take extra special care to maintain this equivalence across your printed and digital catalogs.
Product pricing
When including prices in printing catalogs, you must be careful as your customers may also check your online catalog. If there is a price discrepancy, then this can cause confusion for your customers. One way to avoid this issue while catalog printing is to put a “call us for pricing” note instead of an actual price. This can be especially effective if some of your products and services are subject to volatile pricing.
Branding
Finally, your branding efforts must be similar across your physical and digital catalogs. Branding includes logos, color schemes, font types, and page layout, to name a few. Branding across both physical and digital catalogs works to reinforce your brand and reassure your customer that they are working with the same company.
Greeting card printing is a fairly easy process because of the simplicity of the layout. A greeting card has only a few parts to it, but taking the time to put the elements together correctly will provide for engaging greeting cards that connect you with the recipient. Whether the purpose of your greeting card is to connect with customers, employees, or family and friends, make sure that your design contains the necessary elements.
On the front of the greeting card, include either a photograph, text, or a combination of both. Spend the most time on the front of the card to make sure that it sets the mood for the rest of the message. The greeting can be serious, witty, funny, or romantic.
You can leave the inside blank for writing a personalized message or you can include a reply to the message on the front of the greeting card. For cards that open vertically, typically the text is printed on the bottom flap. Horizontal greeting cards contain the main text on the right flap. You might also decide to include a poem or joke on the top opposite flap. Including an electronic signature is necessary when mailing the cards directly from the print shop.
On the back of the greeting card, you can print your logo, company name, and contact information if your purpose is promotional. Or for personal use, create your own personal mark, print your name, the date, or simply leave the back blank.
Even with the many online greeting cards available, printed ones are still widely used and appreciated. Nothing shows someone how much you care better than a simple greeting card containing a short handwritten note. Just be sure to order a large quantity from a greeting card printing company so that you have enough and at a discounted cost.
A logo is one of the first things you should design when you start a new business. Your logo is what customers look to when they remember you or identify your business. Your logo also gives customers more faith and trust in you as a business. A business that doesn’t even have a logo is not yet a business in many people’s eyes. That’s why you gotta get a logo first!
A logo contributes to your credibility, memorability and visibility. You might want to put off designing your logo until you get more money, but the longer you wait, the longer you’ll have to wait to create marketing materials, including your Web site. That’s because your logo needs to go on every piece of marketing material and your product packaging too. That’s how important it is.
Your logo should be unique and heaven forbid, please do not use ClipArt! ClipArt screams amateur and unprofessional. Besides, if you use ClipArt, your logo could end up looking just like your competitor down the street.
The first step: design or text? The first thing you want to decide on is whether you’ll have a design represent your company, your company’s name as your logo or a combination of both. There’s no right way to design a logo: all of these choices are equally good. It all depends on what’s needed for your company.
Design
If you decide on design, try to think of a way to incorporate your industry or your product into the design. I saw one clever logo for an airline called Peace Air, and its logo looked like a peace sign – the plane’s body was the vertical line that makes up the middle of the peace sign and the plane’s wings made up the two smaller lines that go out to the side of the peace sign. That’s pretty clever if you ask me.
Of course, you can’t always incorporate something from your industry into your logo. But it’s always nice if you can!
Text On to text. If you decide to use purely text as your logo, here are some font tips:
1. Choose a font that fits your business’s personality. Serif fonts, the ones with “feet” give off a mature and established feeling whereas a sans-serif font (without feet) looks more modern and young.
2. Use a font that no one else uses. You can buy fonts online and download them, and some you can even download for free. I’d advise against the free ones, because those are the ones everyone else will be using. Buy a good, wide-ranging set of fonts so that you have less of a chance of looking like some other business. You can also create your own font by hiring a designer or buying software that lets you create fonts, like CorelDRAW. There are plenty of other software options out there, so just Google “create fonts software.”
3. Modify the font if possible. If you choose a font that looks similar to others, or if you just want to add a little bit of flair, modify your font just a bit. You could add longer serif “feet” or stretch the font to make it look wider. You could even just modify one letter of your logo to make it look different. A slight modification can make your logo look unique and add visual interest.
If you are reading this blog, then I can assume you are affluent and young. I’m not just complimenting you here; that’s just what the statistics say: the younger and more affluent a person is, the more likely that person is to be on the Internet. Most non-Internet users are older, poorer and more rural.
Knowing where your target audience is Knowing who is online can help out marketers and advertisers. Online advertising is rapidly growing. And with traditional marketing, everyone from cigarette makers to clothing designers targets the young and affluent. And now all these prime targets are congregating online – it’s a ripe area for more advertising.
In an IrishTimes.com article, “Reaching an affluent market in a digital world,” marketing pros must adapt to the changing tides of online marketing. JP Donnelly, chief executive of the Ogilvy Group in Ireland, says, “Perhaps more than any time before, brands have to truly differentiate themselves. They have to stand for something and they have to walk the talk, not just in their traditional routes to market, but across all touch points with the customer. That means there is both a challenge and an opportunity.”
Marketing must engage consumers Donnelly goes on to say in the article that it’s not about just sending out a message to consumers anymore, you must now engage consumers. Other marketers have found that engaging consumers means to interact with them on some level. Whether that’s through an online chat, a video steam or online game, you need to get the consumer in on the action. And this action must also showcase your brand.
Or, this action must showcase your company, depending on who you talk to.
Martin Bailie, strategic planning director of digital advertising agency Glue London, disagrees with Donnelly. Bailie believes you must focus not on your brand, but on your company. Bailie says, “By focusing on what people think of a company, you open out the debate to the products, chief executive, share price, etc. Marketing needs to help guide the reputation of companies so they sell more product more profitably, rather than get fixated on brands and image.”
Bailie says marketers need to think of consumers having a herd mentality rather than “passive, isolated customers.”
“Herd mentality is alive and well and, if you don’t address what people are saying to each other, you are missing the majority of the truth of the situation,” he says.
The bottom line: marketing is changing It seems to boil down to the fact that the marketing game is changing. No longer are people looking to marketing materials and marketing pros to figure out what’s good about a product; now people are finding out from their peers. Companies are starting to lose some power in influencing what people think about their brand. Instead of fighting it, companies need to find a way to embrace this and use it to their advantage, through blogs, forums and other online outlets.
As a branch of PrintPlace.com, this blog aims to provide useful promotional tips and printing guidelines to online users in need of simple but effective solutions.
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