Four Ways To Make Your Printed Colleteral Stand Out

,

Even in the digital age mailboxes are flooded with flyers, trade shows are filled with brochures and desks are covered with business cards. In a sea of paper, is your print collateral getting noticed, or is it getting tossed into a recycling bin without being read?

 

Create a Visual Identity

 

Have you ever looked at someone and remembered their face but not their name? While it would be wonderful it every potential customer remembered your business the first time they “met” you, it doesn’t usually work that way. Most people need repeated exposure to your marketing materials before they act. Consistent branding is the memorable face of your business. Your printed collateral should work as a unit, along with your online presence, rather than as individual pieces. The most basic way to create a visual identity is to prominently display your logo on each piece of collateral. In addition, repeat the same color scheme, fonts and overall feel. While it seems counterintuitive to stand out by staying the same, a consistent brand helps consumers recognize you in the flood of information they see each day.

 

Less Is More

 

From your mission statement to your upcoming sale, there are dozens of things you want a potential customer to know. It’s tempting to try to squeeze them all in while you have the opportunity. But, no one wants to read a wall of text. Print collateral that is crowded, boring and text heavy will likely get overlooked. Decide on a clear message for each piece of print collateral and drill it down to it’s most basic. Make text easy to skim by using bullet points and simple, casual language. Then, use larger, bold fonts to emphasize the key words and ideas. Surround it all with ample white space and you have a message that people actually want to read.

 

Get Graphic

 

Words aren’t the only way to communicate; photos and graphics often speak louder. Charts and graphs are here to stay, but infographics are the trendiest way to both grab attention while also communicating large amounts of information. Photos are also an important way to command attention and highlight your message. But, skip the stock photography since it is instantly recognizable as being generic. Instead, use high quality, professional photographs taken at your business or of your products.

 

Consider the Paper

 

While what you say and how you say it is important, so is what you say it on. Basic paper and cardstock is fine, but not likely to capture attention. Make your printed materials feel special by using textured, recycled or glossy paper, vellum or even fabric. Think outside the box and go beyond basic square and rectangular shapes. Why not try and unexpected round poster or a die-cut brochure? Also, dark paper with white print is sure to garner attention in a stack of plain white mail.

Web Design 101: The Basics

Every successful business knows that a website is the gateway to making online sales happen. Yet few understand what is involved with the creation of a website. Understanding the basics allows you to know what to place on the web page that will appeal to your readership to entice them to become loyal customers.

Web design is broken down into 3 main categories: layout, written content, and graphics. Each part needs to complement each other and have a continuous flow so that visitors are engaged at every angle. Here are a few basic tips for each category.

Layout

The layout controls the flow of the entire website design. It will also control what graphics, advertising and written text is on the page. Before you choose a layout, you have to decide how the visitor will be viewing the page. What is the most important sections that you would like the visitor’s eyes to go to first? How do you want the visitor to interact with the page? Choose a simple layout and build onto it, leaving white space so visitors have an easier time viewing all of the content.

Written Content

Whether you will be writing in detail about all your services or providing snappy captions to a product page, the written content is what will entice the visitor to read more of what you have to offer. Engaging and original content focused on what the visitors want, not what topics you want to read about, is vital to have a successful web page according to TechRadar.

Also, avoid the common mistake of using multiple fonts for headers, subheaders and text. Too many fonts just hurts the eyes and makes the content confusing. Select 2 to 3 different fonts and stick to them — Sans-Serif and Serif are popular ones because they are easy to read on different size screens.

Graphics

Graphics help break up large blocks of text, making the content easier to read. Keep in mind that the larger the graphic size, the longer it will take for the page to load. This issue can affect people with slower broadband speeds. Stick with smaller graphics that fits in with the content of your page.

How to Incorporate Current Events Into Your Strategy and Avoid Controversy

Often, topical current events used in a marketing campaign can be a great way to entice a targeted demographic. Not only does the audience immediately associate with the current event being highlighted, they also subconsciously associate the marketing strategy with something new; new ideas, new products and services, etc.

One of the main questions when using current events in a marketing strategy is: where do you draw the line when it comes to subject matter, and how can you avoid backlash and controversy from the intended audience?

There are a few rules of thumb when it comes to avoiding potentially sensitive topics.

  • Avoid religion- regardless of the light in which religion is portrayed in a marketing strategy, it can polarize the target market and turn customers away. Just ask the people at Federici Ice Cream.
  • Don’t mention politic unless the campaign is political in nature- This one might be harder to navigate than religion. Not only should you avoid favoring a political party or candidate in your strategy, but you should avoid directly aligning with any political platforms as well. People are often very passionate about their political affiliations, and the best way to turn a potential client away is to offend their sense of right and wrong.
  • Try not to make light of death- People are sensitive about death, and taking it less than seriously is an easy way to turn off the target audience. For example, try to recall the Priceline commercial with William Shatner where he scales a hotel to find his daughter and a young man in a room. After a sly insinuation by the young man, Shatner tosses him out of the hotel to seemingly plummet to his death. The creators of that commercial knew they couldn’t leave the scene on that note, and ended the ad with a shot of the young man landing, alive and intact, in the hotel’s swimming pool. Without that shot, the ad might have been taken as gruesome and violent, but the shortest of clip of the young man landing in the water makes all the difference to the audience.

There are certainly more areas that should be considered off-limits when creating a marketing strategy and campaign, but they are more common sense than these. Avoid religion, politics, and death, and your marketing strategy will run much smoother and intrigue a larger target audience.

How to Move Up on Search Lists

Search lists are the proverbial bread and butter for businesses of all types in today’s modern landscape. Thanks to how easy it is to develop a high quality website for your business, the online marketplace as become more crowded than ever. One of the fastest and most efficient ways to stand out from your competition is to make sure that your site is ranking highly for relevant keywords in your area. If you sell small electronics in Toledo, for example, you need to make sure that your company’s site is ranking as close to the top of the list as possible when people search for “small electronics” and “Toledo” in your area. To move up on search lists, you need to keep a few key things in mind.

Search engine giant Google uses a very specific algorithm to determine the order in which sites appear in search lists. That algorithm is largely confidential, which helps prevent certain businesses from taking advantage of the system. There are, however, a few proven methods that you can use. One of those methods involves making sure that you’re updating your site with not only high quality content but with new content on a regular basis. Doing so will attract more visitors, which will reflect highly on your site and increase your ranking as a result.

Another way to move up on search lists is to make sure that relevant keywords are actually in the copy on your site. When Google’s digital spiders crawl your site looking for keywords, they use that information when search rankings are determined. If you were a small electronics dealer, you would want to make sure that “small electronics” and similar keywords are present in the text on your site in the most natural way possible.

Best Types Of Posts For Businesses To Share On Social Media

, ,

This is business marketing, not personal chat. That is what you don’t post for marketing and promotion. The function of social media for business purposes lies in nurturing the ability to enter into new relationships relevant to your business. The objective is not specifically to directly push a product or service. It is to expand reach.

As in all relationships that you want to nurture, you provide what they want. Promotion of your brand with social media is about providing content that has value to your audience. They will make the connection and your brand will be enhanced without any direct sales attempt on your part.

But while you do not want to support personal chat, you do want to be social, in as much as you contribute to relevant conversations. The most important factor in the success of this marketing strategy will be in how frequently you interact and post content.

Post benefit-based information that draws the reader to your business website. Information about new features or changes to your product/service is excellent. So are pricing discounts and special offers with promotional codes to be entered on your site.

Provide informative content or link to external content to offer needed information in your industry. That may seem to be a monumental task, but finding such information is no longer all that difficult. As they say, there’s an app for that.

Look to any of the following for help in finding relevant content on the Web. SproutSocial.com, Mention App, and Feedly.com all locate content for specifically targeted subject areas. You can also contract with content professionals to provide content that you specify. Whatever you post, know that the important part of this process is in the establishment of trust and ongoing relationship with your clients. The conversation is of paramount importance, not individual sales. Those sales will follow. You need to focus on developing a community.

Most Important Pages On Your Website

,

In today’s modern climate, it’s difficult to do business without some type of web presence. Having a website is hugely important, as it allows readers and potential clients to find out more information about the product or service that you’re offering even if someone isn’t physically in your business to greet a walk-in customer or answer the phone for a sales call. Understanding the most important pages on your website, however, will go a long way towards helping you improve your design and get the types of responses that you were expecting all along.

Home Pages

These are some of the most important pages on your website because they are often the first thing that potential customers and clients see when they attempt to make contact. There’s an old saying that goes “you can only make one first impression, so make it a good one.” This is especially true in the world of business-related websites.

Your home page should always include information about the product or service that you’re offering, as well as about your objective. It should be clear and concise and should have an introductory paragraph that allows the reader to first experience what you have to offer in a way that is pleasing to them.

Landing Pages

Landing pages are the parts of your website that you use to convert leads into sales. A lead is someone who arrived at your site from an external destination. While they’re there, you want them to buy whatever product or service that you’re offering. That’s where a landing page comes in.

A landing page should always have a clear call to action and should include some type of offer. A successful landing page will be solely focused on that one thing above all else: the offer in question. It should include headlines, plenty of white space and a large number of action words to entice the reader to make the sale in question.

Marketing Campaigns: Your Recipe for Success

The goal of every marketing campaign is to be successful. In order to actually be as successful as you would like, there are a few factors that you will want to think about. This will help you to have the best results from your next marketing campaign.

Diversity- the Heart of the Marketing Campaign

No marketing campaign can be successful when there is only one method of advertising. You need to find different ways to reach out to your prospects. This could be in the form of landing pages, Facebook advertisements, direct mail and many other aspects. The more you do, the greater your audience will be.

Make Sure You Target Your Campaign

The worst thing you can do with a marketing campaign is make it too generic. While this may seem that it will make your product or service appealing to more people, it can actually be detrimental. Think about who your target market is. The more detailed you can make this, the easier it will be to not only create a targeted message but find the correct ways to reach them.

Continuity

You also want to make sure that all the different advertisements you are doing for your marketing campaign work together. It can throw off the consumer if seems like you have different calls to action. By creating something that is uniform throughout the entire campaign, you will find your return on investment is greater.

Know What Success Means to You

Before you can determine the success of your campaign, you need to know how you will measure this. It is different for each campaign. It could be capturing information for leads, it could be sales or it could even be increasing traffic to your website. This will allow you to properly gage the success.

Professionals are Your Friend

The best thing you can do if you want to get the most success is find a marketing professional to help you with the campaign. Make sure they are knowledgeable with your industry so you can get the best results.

Getting Referrals for a Small Business

,

Getting referrals for your small business is one way of growing your company. In order to benefit from referrals, you need to build your customer base. This can be accomplished by providing excellent services and products.

Building solid business relationships is the foundational block of any small business. Any one of your current contacts can refer you to others. Rather than wait for them to volunteer, make an effort to ask for the referrals you need. The following offers more practical advice on how to build your referral network.

Developing Referral Building Habits

According to Ray Silverstein, President of PRO (President’s Resource Organization), it’s to your advantage to develop good referral-building habits. You can do this by revamping your thinking about asking and being more aggressive in your referral pursuit. Proactive referral habits include:

Integrating referrals into your initial agreements with new customers
Asking for referrals every time you receive a customer compliment on your services
Using client meetings as opportunities to ask for referrals
Setting weekly goals for getting referrals
Being specific in the type of referrals you ask for
Capitalizing on your networking opportunities to get referrals
Give and it shall be given

As your small business grows, you will come in contact with highly potential people whom you can refer to others. Giving referrals generously yourself when the opportunity arises will open doors for others to respond in kind. Be on the lookout for occasions to bring contacts or business associates together for mutual benefit and see how it reciprocates in your favor.

Another way of giving is to offer rewards to customers who provide referrals regularly such as special discounts, free services or products, etc. Don’t forget to thank every customer and referral for their time, trust and support. Showing genuine appreciation to your customers and treating them with care will win their confidence and trust as loyal clientele.

The Importance of Responsive Design

Most business owners are not aware of the positive impact responsive web design can have on their business. The way customers are searching for products and services is changing. Consumers want a response to their questions, and answers to their problems. Modern technology such as the internet provides consumers with quick responses in record time.

Mobile technology is perhaps one of the quickest and most effective ways for businesses and consumers to communicate. Consumers can respond to emails, job requests, and conference calls regardless of where they are.

What Does This Mean for Business

This means that more and more customers are using the Internet to find what they want. These customers range in the category of business people, students, professionals and everyday housewives. Very few people are confined to a desktop computer. This is the age of technology.

Businesses Need to Invest in the Future of Their Business

There is “Office on the Go” which is what many people are using to keep in touch with their jobs and to keep an eye on their competitors. Nearly every mobile device being introduced to the market today, offers some type of responsive web design software. Consumers are able to make purchases, pay bills, and schedule their next dental appointment, from their mobile devices.

Responsive web designs allow consumers the freedom to search the website, request assistance and ask questions. Open communication is the key for businesses that rely on customer responses. This means that customers can enter a website from any mobile device and use any screen size. Businesses that are not using responsive web designs are losing out on customers, sales and profits.

Should Your Company Be Using Direct Mail?

, ,

The marketing strategies that work best for any company depend on the dynamics of the business, but direct mail is a useful way to capture the attention of potential customers. Most companies can benefit from using direct mail, regardless of the products or services that are provided by the business.

Focusing on the Target Audience

A key reason that direct mail works for any business is that it focuses on a particular group or target audience. That means that you are only sending out mail to appropriate individuals on your mailing list or in a particular area.

Targeted marketing is an effective way to obtain new customers because the flyer, brochure or coupons that you are sending out are reaching people who need the products or services that you provide.

Adding Personal Elements

The problem that many companies can face is providing a personal element to the business. If your company is struggling with personalization, then direct mail can be a realistic solution. When you send out a postcard, you can put the name of the individual at that address. It automatically makes the advertisement more personal and reaches out to individuals who may feel that businesses are lacking a personal touch.

Easy Measurements

The personal element and the targeted mailing is only the beginning. Direct mail is also easy to measure based on the number of homes that receive the mail. You can determine the effectiveness of your marketing strategy based on the inquiries and sales that you receive.

Every business can benefit from direct mail, but the decision to implement the strategy depends on your goals and your understanding of how the process works. Direct mail is an effective way to reach your target audience with an element of personalization, and it can help improve your sales.

[Source: USPS]