Many folks don’t know they are supposed to track the return on their invested marketing dollars. Here are some things to keep in mind when considering your brand signatures, such as your logo, brochures, business cards, websites, and so on. Your marketing materials are not to be confused with your brand! Branding is a phenomenon that occurs in the mind of the consumer. Branding is not a logo or catchy tagline; these are expressions of the brand. You must take the expression of your brand seriously, for a badly managed brand can erode your image in the marketplace. Ensure your marketing materials are up to par— every time. If it is questionable whether a certain piece of marginal collateral should be used, it is best to not use it.
How long have you had your current logo? Does it still reflect the culture of your organization? Does it still reflect the promise of your brand? Is it time to recreate it?
Remember: Reinventing yourself is a marketable event, which—if it's done well—can help you shed some negative feelings or associations your brand might have picked up along the way.
If you must have a brochure, have it professionally created. Describe the problem and your solution, and include your customers’ testimonials. Avoid technical jargon. Use bulleted lists to enhance readability. Use appropriate graphics to enhance visual appeal.
Consider the signage at your office or facility. Can a visitor find you easily? Can he find his way around your facility easily? Large buildings such as hospitals, office buildings, and malls often suffer from poor signage, creating a sense of unease and annoyance in their patrons. You know that even grocery stores can benefit from clear signage if you've ever had the misfortune of searching for way too long to locate a certain item on your grocery list.
Send greeting cards to mark social events, such as holidays, wedding anniversaries, or birthdays. This adds a personal touch that will be remembered.
Tip 2: You know those custom cards you had printed out? If you had left them blank, they could have become all-purpose, and could have easily fulfilled these applications as well.
Purchase thank-you cards, and send them to your clients, thanking them for their business, patience, and so on. Make sure your company logo is on the card somewhere. Include your business card inside.
Variation 1: Fill out the cards by hand. Doing so adds a more personal touch.Variation 2: Send a thank-you card on their firstyear anniversary as your client or for another notable milestone.
A great rule for a brochure is, "If you can't say it all on a business card, you shouldn't say it at all." (Okay, so it's not really a rule, but it should be.) Distill what you want to say about your product or service and fit it on a business card. Leave off your contact information; that's what your actual business card is for. Instead, list a few bullet points with the message you are trying to convey, and add some nice, simple graphics. By doing this, you are able to leave those you meet with a message that they can carry with them or organize into their Rolodex. (This presumes you made a great enough impact to compel them to keep your business card.)
Example: This idea is currently used by Dreamscape Multimedia with great success. (In fact, as far as we know, we invented the concept.) We place the tagline on the front of the card, and the content on the back, for a playing card–type feel. Also, by utilizing both front and back in your design, you can leave two cards on a bulletin board or elsewhere, flipping one over to create a small, two-piece brochure/billboard effect.
The best and most obvious reason for visiting some tables at trade shows is for the free giveaways. You will find that many people will make the rounds to collect the free stuff. In some cases, the booths without free giveaways may experience lower traffic as a result. It's a cheap ploy, but the right giveaway can gain you exposure you wouldn't have had without it. Of course, you have to question the quality of your traffic if it’s only coming over to steal another one of those great metal pens…
Tip: You can have fun with your giveaways. After all, if it's really good, it will likely end up in the hands of their kids.
Why is it you occasionally see billboards that attempt to be brochures? Is their message so important that it couldn't possibly be distilled down into a couple brief phrases? Is their key message so complex? When you get ready to make your billboard investment, don't insist your billboard become more than a billboard. A message received from a billboard is geared toward the audience on the go—and they're usually going over 70 miles per hour. Keep it eye-catching, short, and simple for greatest impact.
Do you have a client who just had a birthday, anniversary, or baby? Send flowers, balloons, gift or wine baskets, or something else that creatively says, "Congratulations!" It makes a big impression on the recipient, and who doesn't like to be remembered during these times?
Tip: This works with employees as well. Remember: There's the external marketing you do to bring in more business, but there's also the internal marketing you do to increase morale, loyalty, and productivity.
Use the Fortune Cookie Effect. Engage your customers with a collection of cute or hidden messages in your packaging. Chocolates, fortune cookies, ketchup and beer are just some of the products that have successfully used this technique for drawing interest to their branding. The idea is to embed a message into your merchandising to inspire interest and conversation around the message—and therefore the product and, finally, the brand.
Story: When my wife was five months pregnant with our first baby, medical experts told her he was measuring small, and that it was possible he had stopped growing, which of course lent itself to scary self-talk about a myriad potential birth defects. During the course of that day, she was given a Dove chocolate, which came wrapped in purple foil and contained a message inside, as they all do. This message said, "There is greatness in smallness." The timing being perfect, we took it as a sign, and it helped us relax.
Of course, the happy ending is that the next time she went in for an ultrasound, everything measured fine, and we're pleased to say that our boy is a happy, healthy, and complete individual. The foil wrapper has been glued to a magnet and now resides on our refrigerator. That little piece of marketing by Dove will now be a part of our family story for many years.
This can be the power of the Fortune Cookie Effect.
Many a cheap diaper has been bought because of commercials showing it can hold the contents of an entire water balloon. Whether at trade shows or in your TV ads or videos, demonstrations prove your products work. This is why those late-night infomercials are so successful. Even brochures can illustrate a step-by-step series of images that prove success.
What can you do to illustrate your product in action?
How often are you bringing value to your clients? Offer a regular newsletter, article, or column. Ensure that whatever you put out maintains a consistent look and feel with the rest of your image; this assists you in furthering the development of your brand.
Better: You should be collecting the e-mail addresses of everyone who comes to you. Reduce your printing costs, save trees, and extend your reach by offering your network an e-newsletter.
Collect testimonials from your best clients as a regular part of your follow-up survey process. Make sure you tell them you'll be using all or part of their testimonials in your ongoing marketing efforts. Then, incorporate the best testimonials into every touch you have with your clients, such as invoices and marketing collateral (newsletters, ads, and so on). Remember: If you say it about you, it's bragging; if someone else says it about you, it's true.
Tip: Do you have a stellar client who would love to write you a testimonial but is always extremely busy? Offer to write it for her, and tell her if she approves, she may simply sign off on it. This allows you to mention the important stuff. The best testimonials state:
» the problem the client was having, » why the client chose you,
» what you did for the client, and » why others should choose you. What's better than putting a written testimonial into your brochure? Video testimonials delivered on your website. Now your happiest clients can communicate face-to-face with your future prospects, anytime, anywhere. In a sales presentation and a client asks about a problem you know your video testimonial addresses? "Well, Mr./Mrs. Customer, you bring up a good point. It just so happens we also have another client who went through the process you're describing, and he was infinitely pleased with the results he received from us. Let me show you what he said."
Send reminders to refresh your clients’ memory of specific recurring events, such as dental appointments or subscription renewals. If you're using direct mail (postcards, letters, and so on), have your clients fill out the address information for their next reminder at the time of checkout.
Tip: Go one step further and hand them a sticker with the date of their next appointment, for easy placement in their wall calendars.
Example: Oil-change shops are great at this. They are always certain to leave those little window clings on your windshield for easy reference. As a result, you always know exactly when you're due for a visit!
Better: Send them their calendar appointment electronically. (You are collecting their e-mail addresses, right?)
Videotape your event.Step 1: Get quotes from people at several of the local video shops, interview them, and look at their portfolios. Pick the one that you feel best about.
Step 2: Have them videotape your seminar and make it web-ready. Ask them to send you all raw and edited footage. You should have this in case you want to use it later.
Step 3: Have your video folks send the finished product to your web designer/developer so the video may be added to your website.
Step 4: Put the video in a secure place on your website, and ask visitors to register for the free information. Collect their e-mail addresses for future e-newsletter mailings!
Step 5: Repeat. The information on your stationery, business cards, thank-you cards, websites, e-mail signatures, order forms, direct mail pieces, invoices, packing slips, and all other correspondence should include your company name, address, phone numbers, fax numbers, and website address. Your goal at all times is to make it easy for your customers to do business with you.
Using color can be a powerful tool. It engages us, helps establish brand identities and market products, and increases our memory of the brand. The colors we choose to use with our branding efforts carry with them certain iconic qualities. For instance, the color white tends to symbolize purity and innocence. In Western cultures, white is the color for brides, but in Eastern cultures, white symbolizes death. Similarly, the color black tends to translate to mystery, elegance, and sophistication. In Western cultures, black symbolizes mourning. Pay close attention to the colors you use in your marketing collateral.
When your business is the first one that comes to mind as a place to find a product or service, you have achieved what is called top-of-mind awareness. Top-of-mind awareness is built and reinforced through repetition.
If you hold a retail store, 85 percent of your customers live or work within a five-mile radius of your business. When driving to and from work, school, and shopping, they pass your location some fifty to sixty times a month. Your sign should be designed so that it commands their attention every time they pass.
That’s how signs help build top-of-mind awareness and brand your business. To further this effort, make sure your sign is included as part of your overall marketing strategy.