Color is a magical element that gives feeling and emotion to art, design and advertising. By understanding the symbolic meaning of color you can choose the right color to support your marketing message and emphasize your design. You should always use color as a functional design element. A dominate color or overall color scheme can determine the tone of your message. Certain colors will help your product, marketing piece, corporate document or advertisement attract specific target markets and evoke desired responses. The information below will give you some generally accepted guidelines on the symbolic meanings of color and how you can use…
This article on Outrageous Business Growth was written by marketing expert Debbie Bermont and is used with her permission. Could you build a wildly successful business today without a website and a large marketing budget? Of course you can. In fact people have been building successful businesses for centuries of time without the tools we have at our disposal today. Go back in time before the age of technology when business deals were done using the “gentleman’s agreement” method. Two people would shake hands to signify that each one would deliver to the other a specified good or service on…
Are you confused by what these letters mean? Can you define RGB and CMYK? Do you know how they affect your desktop publishing and website files? These letters represent two different color models or systems, (which are types of color definitions). RGB stands for Red, Green and Blue, with the first letter of each word represented in the acronym. RGB is an “additive color” system. Red, green and blue beams of light create the colorful images on your computer monitor. Where red and green light overlaps, you see yellow (see diagram at left). When red, green and blue mix together, you…
Do you have dismal results from your direct mail campaigns? As a small business owner, it can be frustrating to spend time and money on a postal mailing and not understand why it failed to deliver. If you want to increase your postal mailing response rates, I recommend you follow these 12 proven tactics. Know your objective. Do you want customers to place an order, call you, visit your website, or return a reply card? Create an eye-catching design or theme for your campaign. Use the same theme for every piece in the campaign. Explain the benefits rather than listing the features. Make the…
by Pat Hassett, President, SalesNow! You may find some of these tips to be familiar. Maybe you practice some of them now. Or maybe they have slipped from your memory and your daily routine. Others may even be new to you. Whatever your circumstance, they’re just as valid now as they ever were – and perhaps more relevant today than ever before. Put them to regular use and watch your sales, your profits and your customer loyalty increase to new heights. 1. Employ a consultative approach to selling. Learn about your customer’s business and find out how you can help…
If you’re a speaker, author, or small business consultant with recorded presentations, teleseminars or workshops, you should think about leveraging your knowledge and expertise into products. You can create audio CDs, video DVDs, VHS and cassette tapes and sell them on your website or after your events. You may want to sell them separately, bundled together or consider doing a joint venture product with someone in a complementary field. You can hire a service to transcribe your recordings and create an ebook or printed workbook. The quality of your products start with your recordings and ends with your packaging design….
My ebook, “Turn Eye Appeal into Buy Appeal” Wins an APEX Award! I just found out that my ebook won an 2006 APEX “Award for Publication Excellence” in the Web & Electronic Publications category! There were over 5000 entries in the whole contest. The award was based on excellence in graphic design, editorial content and in achieving overall communications effectiveness and excellence. P.S. See that envelope icon below this posting? If you click on the envelope you can email this posting to a friend.
On June 17th, Colorado Independent Publishers Association (CIPA) held their annual “EVVY” Book Awards Banquet. My company was a part of the design team for 3 publishers who received 1st Place awards for their books. It was a privilege to share the honors with these outstanding writers. This brings the total book awards for clients of MacGraphics Services to 21 in a five-year period! Randy Chapman, Esq., and Mary Anne Harvey of the Legal Center accepted multiple awards for their book, “The Everyday Guide to Special Education Law.” The book won a 1st place CIPA EVVY award in the “How-To”…
Suppose you meet someone who could hire you for your expertise and services. In the spirit of getting to know you, that decision-maker asks, “What do you speak about?” or “How do you help organizations?” or “Which groups have you worked with?” These questions become your opening to convey how you assist people and why you’re the one experienced to do so. That’s exactly what a marketing one-sheet does, too. To convey that you’re a “must-have” expert, your one-sheet needs to be written and designed effectively. Answers Key Questions Your one-sheet, in effect, succinctly answers these seven questions that decision-makers…
A wonderful, hardworking marketing tool is a giant postcard! With colorful eye-catching graphics on one side and your promotional copy on the back, it will grab attention faster than an email, ad or sales letter. Make it BIG A giant postcard, also called an oversized, jumbo, or #14 postcard is a low-cost, effective device for branding your business and creating prospect response. Start with a 6″ x 9″ or larger size postcard and print in full color to make it stand out from the stack of white envelopes in today’s mail. Postage is the price of a first class stamp….