Suite 201 business cards. The Digital Dept. updated an existing card, added a backside and made coordinating signage.
Suite 201 business cards. The Digital Dept. updated an existing card, added a backside and made coordinating signage.
While this post is geared toward the beginner, the tips here are used daily by beginners and professionals alike. They are intended as a guideline for you to get started. There are many other issues to be taken into consideration. For example, paper choice, use of stock designs and size are all things to think about. Please visit our website at www.digitaldept.com to see more brochure options.
If you’ve created a brochure for yourself or someone else, I’d like to hear from you. Please add your tips or comments below and I’ll try to address as many as I can.
I was recently asked “What kind of business card gets noticed now? Flat, multi-colored, embossed? I want our card to stay in my clients’ possession longer than our competitor. Have you noticed a trend? Any tips?” Which got me thinking, do you really want people to keep your card? I say no. You want them to call you.
Sure, they need to keep your card in order to have it when they are ready to call, but we really want action from that card. If they keep your card because of a unique design or a special shape, most likely it will sit in a drawer with a pile of other cool cards that barely get looked at again. Don’t misunderstand me here, great design can be part of it. In fact it should be part of it. Get noticed, stand out and be different. But that’s just the first part of it. Now you need a call to action.
Adding marketing oriented text and graphics to business cards pays off. Some companies like to put phrases like:
“Visit Today!”
“Stop by and see us!”.
I ask, why? Why should someone visit you? People are busy. They know you want them to come see you, check out the lated models and leave hundreds of dollars poorer. Give them a reason to come in.
These phrases are much more powerful:
“Present this card for a free ring cleaning.”
“Ask for Steve to get your first oil change free!”
“Log into MyWebsite.com for special savings!”
The last two can tend to be overused and are almost meaningless. What are they really saying to your customer?
Do you promise to return calls within a given time? Do you offer free loaner cars while theirs is being serviced? Do you offer free watch battery replacement while you wait, or a free warranty extension with every purchase? You need to say it on your cards.
Using a business card to simply exchange contact information is just plain wasteful. Your business card can be the most powerful, affordable and versatile marketing tool you have. And it’s convenient size fits in a purse, wallet or pocket. It’s portable!
Designing a full color business card that gets attention, appears more valuable and has a call to action will get you more business. Your customers will love them and you’ll enjoy handing them out.
What works for you? Please leave your comments below.
We’re facing one of the most critical economic times in our history, and a complacent business is one that could fail. Now is not the time to sit back and hope for the economic recovery to come to your rescue. As a business owner you should begin new marketing strategies to engage current and prospective customers. You need to muster up the courage to invest in your business. How can this be done?
These are just a few ideas to get you to kick start the positioning of your business for the economic recovery. I encourage you, whether a sole proprietor or have several employees, to think in certain terms during these uncertain times. You will definitely position your business to be even stronger once the economy rebounds.
We provide printed marketing collateral including cards, brochures, flyers, mini-brochures, business cards and more. To start your business, contact us today. Your competition did.
When choosing a style of photography for your products, you need to consider the potential buyer’s opinion of what they find interesting and appealing; what one buyer finds professional, another may find bland or boring. And if you are doing this to improve your SEO score, I would recommend you have a peek at these guys, as the content to learn there is in abundance. So in a world saturated with banal and boring imagery, making it increasingly difficult to get noticed on the web, the goal is to maintain a balance between creativity and professionalism while still producing a flawless photograph of the product.
Poor photography will communicate to the customer that you don’t care about your products. Unique photography is the key to standing out and showing customers that you’re serious about how you look and what you’re selling. Each product has traits that need to be emphasized and therefore every picture should be customized per item. If all your product shots are the same one after another, the customer will tire of looking and move on, however, if you use interesting photos and give the customer an opportunity to interact with or use their imagination to affect an image, it will stimulate a more responsive reaction. People notice time and effort, and they will be more willing to expend energy paying attention to details of each photograph if someone else did as well.
Poor preparation is obvious and can make or break a picture. Whether it’s ironing t-shirts, cleaning off glass or rearranging lighting, every product needs to be properly prepared before it’s photographed. Beside proper preparation and technical acumen, there is really no way someone can say that one style is right or wrong, but what is best for the customer and product.
Photographing a t-shirt on a person can be better than putting that t-shirt on a mannequin, but it has to be a fitting model. It wouldn’t make sense to throw a Bob Marley tee on a metal head, unless it was in jest. In the same vein, it also wouldn’t make sense to have a female college student wearing a fairy princess necklace for adolescents.
It’s very important that your photos makes sense and are appropriate for your target demographic. When a 14 year old girl sees another teen wearing something that piques her interest, while in a setting she can relate to, her impulse is to buy or at the least consider. So in addition to the product, the surroundings are an important element of the photo, creating an organic selling environment to entice buyers with this pre-designed lifestyle image. In the end, customers want to feel that others are buying the same products they are; and a photo with said product in an appropriate setting is a good way to create that illusion.
Great photos let you show your customers and clients the benefits and key features of your product. Remember, a picture is worth a thousand words, but a great picture is worth ten times that when it increases sales, promotes your brand and distinguishes you from the competition.
Seen a great photo lately? Share it with us!
Yes, that’s right, I said increase your marketing. When hard times hit, the natural tendency for organizations is to cut marketing budgets to the bone. That’s just backwards thinking. Marketing should be positioned as an investment rather than an expense.
Advertisers need to understand that during hard times, it is especially important to be bold and even increase your marketing budget. Harvard business professor John Quelch writing in The Financial Times of London suggests the following about marketing during recessionary times:
● Research the consumer. They are redefining value and responding to the recession. Price elasticity curves are changing. Consumers are willing to postpone purchases, trade down or buy less. Trusted brands are especially valued, interest in new brands and categories fade.
● Focus on family values. During hard times we tend to retreat to our village. Family scenes in advertising gain purchase with consumers.
● Maintain marketing spending. According to Quelch, it is well documented that brands that increase advertising during a recession when competitors are cutting back can improve market share and return on investment than during good economic times.
● Gimmicks are out, reliability, durability, safety and performance are in. New products, especially those that address the new consumer reality and thereby put pressure on competitors, should still be introduced, but advertising should stress superior price performance, not corporate image.
● Adjust pricing tactics. In tough times, price cuts attract more consumer support than promotions such as sweepstakes and mail-in offers.
● Stress core values. Adapt marketing strategies to economic realities. CEOs should spend more time with employees and members.
Organizations that acknowledge the consumer’s need to retreat or flight to safety will win, according to Lisa Renner, CEO, Beyond Marketing, LLC., Lenexa, Kansas. She noted the more than two million people who took advantage of Denny’s free breakfast offer recently—demonstrating the need for comfort food, as another form of flight to safety.
“We have to change the way we think about marketing and advertising,” she said. “The winners are those that shift their thinking to solving consumer problems by looking through the consumer’s lens rather than through their own.”
What do you think? We’d appreciate your thoughts…How are you approaching marketing during these hard times? Please post a comment and let us know.