Marketing | - Part 2

Archive for the ‘marketing’ Category

When to Hire a Professional Copywriter

Wednesday, March 16th, 2011

Maybe you think it’s odd that I would be writing about hiring copywriters, but it’s not so out of my scope as a designer. I’ve worked on many projects that I’ve made look great, but the best design in the world isn’t going to sell if the copy isn’t clear, is written poorly with incorrect grammar and punctuation, or isn’t written with the intended target audience in mind.

Sonja Simone on copyblogger has written an excellent post on when it’s better to hire a professional writer. When you add carefully crafted copy to strategic design, it adds up to the best possible combination!

Tags: copywriter, writing for web sites
Posted in marketing, Small Business | Comments Off

I Love You Just The Way You Are or, When NOT to Rebrand

Wednesday, January 19th, 2011

In my previous post, I highlighted five signs it may be time to rebrand your business. However, there are times when staying the course might be the best course of all.

When might a brand makeover NOT be advisable?

You have recently rebranded, but now you don’t like it or don’t think it’s working fast enough.
Branding is a long-term investment of time and money. You need time for your message and brand to stick. Rebranding frequently only confuses your customers. And, remember, it’s less important that you personally like it than it clicks with your customers! The best thing to do is to do it right the first time, but some busnesses don’t because…
You can’t afford it.
Make sure you have the resources in time and money to invest (branding is not a cost) in the future of your business before you start. If you can’t do it right, don’t do it at all, or wait until you can afford it.
Strong recognition for your brand already exists.
The GAP – just the most recent example of a business “fixing” something that wasn’t broken, to their own detriment and ridicule. People form emotional attachments to a visual brand, so you have to be careful not to mess with that.
New management, but no changes.
It may be tempting for new management to put their mark on an organization, but if there’s no change in how a company does business or what it offers, it makes no sense to rebrand.
Internal issues.
If your company’s issues are not market-related, then rebranding cannot fix what ails you. Postpone rebranding until internal problems are solved and you have a stronger business to present to your customers.

Tags: branding, logo design, Logos, marketing
Posted in Corporate Identity, Logos, marketing | Comments Off

Are You Ready for a Brand Makeover?

Tuesday, December 21st, 2010

It can be difficult this time of year to concentrate on the business of your business. But the new year is just around the corner, and giving some thought now to improving your business in the year ahead will pay big dividends.

Branding is sometimes thought of as just the look and feel of a business, but it’s more than that. It also encompasses its value proposition and core offering. The decision to rebrand is a serious one and can have far-reaching consequences, both good and bad.

So, what are some signs that it may be time for you to consider a brand makeover your business?

Decreasing customers and sales?
If you’re losing customers to your competition and/or you’re not attracting new ones, it’s time to think about how customers view your business. Have your offerings become irrelevant to your customers? Is your visual identity out-of-date and no longer attracting customers? Or are you …
Attracting the wrong kind of customers?
Rebranding can help your business make the switch to highlighting new benefits you will be offering a different target market. Your business also may be attracting the wrong customers if…
Look and function don’t match?
We’ve all seen the man or woman who dresses inappropriately for their age- it’s a real disconnect. It’s important to “dress” your business to attract your target customers AND reflect what your business offers.
Management change?
If this change means a new way of doing business, then it is an opportunity to show your customers that something is new and fresh.
A function or philosophical change?
If your business has a new way of doing business or a new offering (such as a hair salon now offering spa treatments), it may be a good time to consider rebranding.

Tags: branding, logo design, Logos, marketing
Posted in Corporate Identity, marketing | Comments Off

9 Quick Tips for More Usable Web Content

Friday, November 12th, 2010

By some estimates, 95% of web users don’t read 80% of web site content. How, then, can you improve your site so that your visitors will have a better user experience? According to Gail Anastas, GMA Writing Services, “The most important thing you can do to ensure the success of your web site happens before you even pick up a pen. Ask yourself, ‘What do I want to accomplish with this site? With this page?’ The design and the content should naturally flow from that.”

1. Break It Up

Present relevant information in small chunks for easier reading and comprehension. Remember that visitors to your site have much to distract them…emails, IMs, ringing phones…you name it. Create it so that if they get called away from your site, when they return they can easily find where they left off.

2. Emphasize What’s Important

Use relevant subheads. Since people scan web pages rather than read word-for-word, subheads will help them find the information they want quickly and easily. If there is something within the content that you don’t want readers to miss, use visual cues to draw attention to it. Bold or italicize or use color to make it pop, or pull the information out into a sidebar.

3. Use Readable Fonts

Fancy fonts may stand out, but if your visitors can’t read your content, what’s the point? A sans serif font like Helvetica is very legible and won’t strain your reader’s eyes. Unique fonts work in banners or graphics, but the actual content should be clean and crisp.

4. Don’t Be Afraid of White Space

There’s nothing more discouraging than facing a web page filled with dense copy. White space gives your readers a place to rest their eyes, and makes your content easier to scan through.

5. Follow the 10% Rule

One of Stephen King’s best tips in his book “On Writing” is that your “Second Draft = First Draft – 10%”. Make your copy concise and to the point. Less is more when it comes to writing for the web.

6. Use Links for More Information

Using links for readers who want more detailed information not only keeps your content from becoming too long and complicated, but also draws interested visitors deeper into your site.

7. Make It Easy to Ask Questions

Provide readers with a way to contact you for more information or clarification, and have it available on every page of your site. It can be a link to an email address, or a link to a page with a contact form.

8. Update Content on a Regular Basis

Maintain your web site as a unique and dynamic path to connection with your clients. Announcing new products, services and speaking engagements will keep your site fresh, raise your position in search engines, and generate more traffic.

9. Proofread!

Typos and grammatical errors can be incredibly distracting and can immediately take the focus off of your content, not to mention make your business look unprofessional. Spellcheck can only catch so many errors, so have a fresh set of eyes read the content before going live with it.

Tags: web sites, writing for web sites
Posted in marketing, Web Design | 1 Comment »

Eight Steps to the Best Logo for Your Business

Thursday, November 4th, 2010

I’ve been asked by clients if logo design ideas come to me in a “flash of inspiration.” I wish! But like most other jobs, design is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration. The process of designing a logo requires logical steps of listening, research, development, feedback and refinement to achieve the best results.

DEFINING THE CHALLENGE & UNDERSTANDING THE GOAL
Answers to questions like, Who is your target audience?, How does your company differ from the competition?, What words would you use to describe your ideal logo?, What other types of logos appeal to you?, help designers and clients get on the same page regarding what is expected of the new identity.
RESEARCH
Armed with this information from the client meeting, looking into what competitors are doing and getting a better feel for their market is the next step. This helps to understand what might and might not be appropriate for the overall message and feel that the successful logo will need to convey.
INSPIRATION
Here’s where the 10% happens! Often, after fact-gathering, designers “let it be” for a few days. Brainstorming, changing environment, asking Why?, and What if? help look at the logo challenge in new and different ways. It’s hard to be creative and critical at the same time, so the good, bad, and ugly are all included. Only when many concepts have been worked up do we proceed to…
REFINEMENT
This is when a critical eye is used, refining some ideas and rejecting others, going off on a tangent with another, and taking the viable sketches and translate them to a digital format. We present at least three different design approaches to the client for their initial feedback. All initial concepts presented are black-and-white, concentrating at this point on the form of the logo. A successful logo needs to work well in black-and-white as well as color.
CLIENT REVIEW & FEEDBACK
Client feedback should be implemented early and often in the design process. Collaborating with the client assures designing a logo that best represents them and their company.
REFINEMENT REDUX
After a client’s initial feedback, it’s back to the drawing board! Changes based on the feedback, possibly including a new approach as a result of reviewing the initial ideas, are all incorporated for the next client review.
ADDING COLOR
Once the final logo design has been agreed on, color palettes are developed for the logo. Again, it’s important to understand the client’s audience and industry in choosing appropriate colors for their identity. A client meeting is held to review the color concepts, and further color refinements are made if needed.
CLIENT FILES
Hooray…we have a winner and now it’s time to deliver the appropriate file formats to the client. These are what you should expect to receive from a designer: an EPS file of the logo in black-and-white and color, suitable for any reproduction use; a JPG and/or GIF file that is suitable for web use; a TIFF file (higher-quality than a JPG) and can be used in Microsoft Office programs. We also include a Logo Standards Guidelines, outlining the best practices for using the new logo in different situations.

Tags: branding, Corporate Identity, design, logo design, Logos
Posted in Corporate Identity, design, Logos, marketing | Comments Off

Five Tips for a Better Trade Show Exhibit

Wednesday, October 27th, 2010

“Um, so what is it that you do?”

Yikes! This is not the question you expect visitors to ask you at your trade show – can’t they see you have a booth with displays and pictures and handouts and swag? What more can you do to get your message across in a way that will connect better with your audience? Consider the answers to these five questions before your next trade show:

Does your display clearly convey what your business is and how it benefits those who use your products or services? Clear messaging will bring you more- and more qualified- visitors.
Are you saying too much? Attendees walking the aisles only have time to look at graphics and read a few words before they move on to the next booth. Bold images and concise copy are more effective in capturing interest than paragraphs of copy and complicated graphics.
Are the graphics you are using for your booth legible? Most people will be looking at your display from a distance as they are walking, so make sure text is large enough, photos and graphics are big and sharp, and fonts are legible enough, with enough contrast, to be understood quickly.
Do your booth graphics reinforce the look and feel of your brand? Consistent marketing communications will help reinforce who you are and what you do and make your business more memorable.
Do you leave getting your booth graphics designed until the last minute? Effective graphics come from careful preparation. Last minute preparation doesn’t leave time for a thoughtful approach, can incur rush charges that add significantly to your bottom line, and leaves no time to correct any mistakes or avoid production delays that may crop up. Nevermind the stress for all involved. Two months before a show is not too soon to get graphics preparation underway.

And for more insight on how NOT to follow up with prospects after your show is over, read “Stop Exhibiting at Trade Shows If…”

Tags: branding, marketing, trade show
Posted in Advertising, design, marketing, Small Business | 1 Comment »

Stop Exhibiting at Trades Show if You’re Going to Act Like This

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

New England Xpo for Business held it’s 2010 event on May 18 in Boston. I had attended in 2009 but I decided not to go this year. Big deal, right? But wait…

A week or two after the event, I began to receive follow-ups from exhibitors—emails and direct mail—saying they hoped I had enjoyed this year’s show and thanking me for visiting their booths. Huh?! HELLO…I WASN’T THERE. I didn’t sign up and then not go…I never did anything to suggest that I’d ever been in attendance. So why then am I getting these follow-ups? (And yes…they’re still coming!)

I have decided that they come from lazy businesses who never collected real attendance data from their exhibits, were working off the event’s mailing list, or worse, the attendance list from the previous year. It smacks of a basic lack of appreciation of the purpose of exhibiting in a trade show, or how to effectively follow up with those who actually showed interest in their goods or services. What a waste of their company’s time and resources!

On the other hand, if using a show’s general mailing list WAS their intent, what a lack of understanding of basic marketing to think that a “one-size-fits-all” approach to follow up would be an effective tactic. A piece targeting an actual visitor should be very different than a piece sent to someone who was invited. By all means, follow up with everyone if you want, but pay attention and target accordingly—it’s not that hard. Otherwise, all you really tell your prospects is that your attention to detail is lacking, or that you don’t care enough to even bother to find out who really visited you.

Unfortunately, trade show exhibiting is the Rodney Dangerfield of sales and marketing. Too many businesses don’t give it the time and effort it deserves in order to make it effective. As someone who’s worked with companies getting ready for trade shows, I can tell you that the usual process is to get a frantic call anywhere from a week to a month before the show, looking to get displays, collateral, etc. designed and produced in time, even if the show has been on their schedule for months. More effort is put into decided what swag to offer instead of training the staff manning the booth how to interact and draw in visitors. (Hint: it’s not standing with arms crossed, talking to the other person “sentenced” to manning the booth with you, and ignoring everyone else.)

Exhibiting at trade show doesn’t have to be like this, but it takes planning, strategy and commitment to make it worthwhile. There are companies out there who can help you with this; one that I know of is ExpoVantage. Exhibiting at trade shows isn’t cheap, so you want to make the most of it.

And to the exhibitors who’ve included me in their follow-up for the visit that never was: all I’m remembering is what a lame company they must be! Probably not the effect they were going for, huh?

Tags: marketing, trade show
Posted in marketing, networking | 1 Comment »

Ten Tips for Building A Better Web Site

Thursday, May 13th, 2010

Are you considering updating your business’ web site? What’s that you say…you still don’t HAVE a site for your business? Whether you’re planning a re-launch or a brand new site, here are some things to consider to create a better experience for visitors and a more successful web presence for your business.

Identify What Your Site Will Need

Structure and Appearance

Visit competitors’ sites and browse sites that visually appeal to you for ideas.

Functionality

Decide what functionality you would like your site to have. Forms, shopping carts, analytics, etc. ideally should be incorporated into your site at the outset.

Graphics

Will any graphics need to be specifically created for your site? Do you have files available for your logo and any other existing graphics you will need?

Keywords and Search Engines

Think about what keywords people might use to search for your product or service. Sites like wordtracker.com provide information for search engine optimization. Use their free trial for an idea of how appropriate keywords will work with search engines. These words should be incorporated into your content and your page titles.

Maintenance

With a Content Management System, you can make content changes to the site yourself rather than relying on the designer to make changes.

Web Site Dos and Don’ts

The most effective web design is one that utilizes quality content as a foundation. A beautiful-looking web site can only do so much if the content is not relevant or well-written.
DO provide an intuitive and consistent interface. Visitors shouldn’t have to guess how to navigate through the pages of a website. If you doubt it, check out this site for Sprint.
DO make your information easily accessible. Organize content into logical pages that are easily identifiable. Many visitors will get discouraged and leave if they can’t find specific information for which they are looking. Visit this site for Dell Laptops and see how long it takes to find useful information.
DO Minimize Clicks. Create a chain between the user and the information on your website in as few clicks as possible. See Bow-WowBooks as an example of what not to do.
DON’T use an “Enter Site” link or a Flash intro page that makes a visitor work to get to the heart of your site. Many viewers won’t even bother clicking the link, instead navigating to another site. And, aside for user experience, Flash does not play well with search engines! To get a flavor of this type of frustration, visit jones, partners: architecture.
DON’T use distracting animation, graphics or sound. Excessive Flash animations, animated GIFs, blinking text, music, etc. contribute to an unprofessional look. If you don’t believe it, check out this extreme example at Fabric Land.

Tags: design, marketing, web sites
Posted in marketing, Small Business, Web Design | 4 Comments »

Tips to Becoming a More Colorful Character

Friday, April 23rd, 2010

Feeling blue? Seeing red? Know someone who’s yellow? Colors evoke powerful emotions and have meaning far beyond simply being a decorative afterthought. Color is a very important tool in successfully delivering your message to your customers. Are the colors you’re using in your message helping or hurting the story you want to tell your audience?

Sending a Message with Color

According to Leatrice Eiseman, consultant to the color industry leader Pantone, eighty percent of human experience is visual. People respond first to color, then shape, numbers, and finally words. Additionally, response to color can differ depending on the viewer’s age, gender, cultural background-even educational level. So you can see the importance of knowing who your target audience will be when you choose colors to use for your message!

A Little Color Commentary…

Did you know that red is the first color identified in every culture after black and white? Red stimulates the appetite (making it a good color for restaurant decor) but while it is seen as enticing and sensual in our culture, it is the color of mourning in South Africa.

Children 3 to 6 years old prefer orange to any other color, while their parents respond more favorably to subdued colors. Your color choices in this case would depend on whether your target market was kids or their parents.

If you are trying to appeal to an older audience, you need to know that cool colors such as blues and greens are perceived differently by people over 50 due to changes in their eyes.

The list goes on and on…every color has associations and emotion attached to it. Proper color selection is much more than choosing colors that are your personal favorites…they need to resonate with your audience in a meaningful way.

Tags: color, design, marketing
Posted in color, design, marketing | Comments Off