Let me tell you about the last home show I went to. It was your typical home show with lots of booths, pretty displays, loads of freebies. But I wasn’t interested in all that. I was on a mission. I needed a landscaping contractor to take my dismal, ordinary backyard and turn it into Fantasy Island. Not too much to ask, right? I was prepared to spend all day, if necessary, talking with every last landscaping contractor there in order to find someone to make my dream come true. So I grabbed a tall mocha on the way in, took…
Think of any large company, and I’ll bet you can picture its logo. It seems like they must have been born with it, but they weren’t. Every logo had to start somewhere. And you can start building recognition right now that will continue for years when you create a strong visual brand. To do this, you’ll need to learn how to create a distinctive logo. A good logo will be visually captivating, and will tell people what your company does and what it stands for. And then you can carry that logo onto just about everything that leaves your office, from…
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….
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….
Color is a magical element that gives feeling and emotion to art, design, and advertising. By understanding color meaning, (or the psychology of color) you can choose the right color to support and emphasize your design. A dominant color or overall color scheme can determine the tone of your document. Certain colors will help your product, corporate document, or advertisement attract specific target audiences and evoke desired responses. The information below provides generally accepted guidelines on the symbolic meanings of color and how you can use color more effectively in your marketing pieces. The meaning of the color yellow (including…
Everyone’s got ’em. You likely see the “Nike swoosh” logo everywhere you go. And you know the Texaco station at the corner by its distinctive “star.” So, you’re thinking, “My company needs a logo, too.” Maybe you want to design your own logo too. Why create a logo for your company? Because a logo: — visually represents your company in a graphic form (a picture is worth a thousand words, remember?) — instantly communicates your company’s essence: what it does and what it stands for — complements your company’s ongoing identity package so your customers can recognize it year after…
Have you ever asked yourself why a competitor’s business gets more attention than yours? The answer just may have to do with the elements that go into how memorable the business is. And that has to do with branding. But exactly what is branding, anyway? Think of branding as predefining what a company is all about in the minds of its clients. Good branding differentiates your products and services in a positive way that really sticks in the minds of potential customers. Let’s say you have been traveling around town without your morning coffee and are getting just a little…
Do the marketing pieces you send out lack pizzazz and personality? Are they capturing the clients you want to work with? As your company’s in-house graphics person–perhaps more by default than by intention–you’re pressed to be a jack/jill-of-all-trades. You want to do a great job of producing promotional pieces, but you have little time to learn advanced design and marketing skills. Your ongoing challenge is learning to do a little more to get a lot better results–quickly and painlessly. How can you improve them? What Techniques Can You Apply NOW? Take these 5 design/marketing tips to heart. Using them consistently…