Filed under: Print Place General | Tags: advertising, branding, brochures, business cards, marketing, printing
Whether you are a new company looking for ways to make sure your brand is successful or a company that has tried and tried again but just can’t seem to get your brand to stick, there is a solution. When a brand flops, it is usually due to the same few mistakes. Your business can create a successful brand simply by knowing the most common reasons for branding failure and know how to correct them.
No Memorable Image – Some companies make the mistake of creating a logo without a memorable image. Make sure that the image in your logo is something that is uniquely yours and is appropriate for your company. Think of the Nike logo – the swoosh image is not only one-of-a-kind but also appealing to their target audience. The swoosh looks athletic.
Inconsistency - In every single item that is associated with your company, whether color posters or packaging materials, consistently use the same core branding aspects. The same logo, company name, tagline will reinforce your brand over and over to the public. For the same reason, you will need to give employees the same business card design for further branding consistency.
No Focus – What do you do best? What do you want to be known for? Whether it is one-on-one personalized service or the newest technology, constantly reinforce this unique offer. Also, know who your company appeals to. Know your target market so that you don’t waste your branding efforts on an audience that doesn’t have a need for your services. Knowing your target audience will further help you fine tune your company image to fit your customers’ needs and lifestyle.
Unbelievable Message – Your tagline and core message should be believable to customers. If you advertise like Verizon Wireless that “we never stop working for you,” you’d better follow through and never stop working for a customer when they come to you with a complaint about your service or product.
Poorly Constructed Message – In order for your customers to both remember and believe your message and tagline, they need to be able to understand what it is you are offering. If your message is jumbled with too many technical terms, your customers will get frustrated and give up trying to understand you. Be clear with your words and phrases so that customers know exactly what you offer and also what sets you apart from your competitors.
Poor Maintenance – Ever heard the phrase “keep on keeping on?” Don’t just stop with one marketing campaign, one run of color posters, one printing of brochures. Your marketing campaigns should be ongoing and constantly putting your brand in front of your target market. This concept is at the heart of successful branding. Most brands are successful simply because they become recognizable because they are always in the public eye.
Poor Customer Service – Train employees on your mission and goals. If your employees don’t know the image your company wants to portray, how can you expect them to portray this image to your customers? Employees should know the reason for your tagline; they need to be excited about making your brand known to customers.
Old Marketing Materials – Keep your look fresh by re-designing your marketing materials, including flyers, brochures and postcards every so often. While it does save money to order larger quantities, don’t order too much or you’ll bore your target audience with the same materials year after year. Just remember to keep your key branding items the same.
No Word of Mouth Advertising – One of the most common reasons for customers to switch companies is through referrals from their friends and family. Give existing customers referral postcards with a 10% discount for new customers, and give your existing customers the same for every postcard with their name on it that gets used. When you get positive feedback from customers, ask if you can use it in your brochures or place it on your website. Referrals help to reinforce the integrity of your brand.
No Plan for Testing – Your business needs to keep track of marketing efforts so that you know what works for getting your brand name to your target market. Track the return on investment (ROI) of your direct mail campaigns, research the best locations to hang your color posters, ask new customers how they heard of your business. Testing your marketing efforts will help you to build a tried and true campaign that will work for you year after year.
Filed under: Print Place General | Tags: advertising, marketing, online printing, posters
Poster printing can be customized to advertise any product, service, or special event. Here are the five tips to remember when advertising with posters.
#1 Know what you need to tell viewers – Decide the main point of what viewers need to know and stick to it. Don’t lose focus or your poster will lose impact. Whittle your copy down to just the essential information that the viewer needs in order to know who you are, how to contact you, find your shop/event, choose you over the next guy. Remember: keep it simple.
#2 Organize info – Organize the information in a way that will make sense and get viewers from one point to the next. Draw them through a chronological order of events: statement of problem/issue, statement of solution, statement of why you provide the best solution, how they can reach you.
#3 Sell with benefits – Sell your product, service, or event with the benefits to the viewers in mind, whether they will benefit as your customers, by the entertainment value of your event, or perhaps there are environmental benefits to be gained. Let viewers know the outstanding benefits that you provide in a way that no one else does. Or how you are working together with other organizations to provide benefits. Your stance will depend on the nature of your product, service, or event.
#4 Use high quality images – Great images are an ideal way to attract attention. Images should be high quality and pertinent to the subject matter. Don’t use too many images. One large, high resolution image for your poster printing project that makes an impact is better than too many small, busy images.
#5 Use a professional printer – The quality of your poster prints will make a huge difference to passersby. Find a printing company who will create high quality poster prints at a reasonable price. You shouldn’t sacrifice quality for price, but good quality poster printing should not cost a fortune either. Request samples of the printer’s work and get quotes. A good professional printer should guarantee your satisfaction. Online printing companies are a great choice for poster printing because of the many options usually available at a relatively low cost.
Filed under: Print Place General | Tags: advertising, branding, environmental ads
Metaphors, shock tactics and Photoshop tricks all have their place in advertising. These environmental ads from Ads of the World use these techniques, as well as old fashioned brain-powered creativity, to produce ads that make you stop and think. Some are quite powerful and are likely to get even those who don’t care about the environment to at least take pause.
In an oh-so-not-subtle move, Bund, a German environmental and nature conservation group, shows the effects of too much CO2 in the environment (below). Of course, cars produce carbon dioxide, but not as much as cows do when they fart. Are they going to attach these balloons to cows’ butts as well? I’m not trying to downplay this idea – it’s a great one, very creative – I’m just saying if they’re going to point out one originator, they should point out the other big one. And the image of a balloon on a cow is pretty funny, and funny almost always leads to a great ad!
Shock tactics work well too. I have to admit I was slightly appalled that anyone would put a spin on the 9/11 tragedy, but this ad definitely made me look twice.
I didn’t realize how much I knew about the images of 9/11 until I saw this ad and thought about the placement of the fire and smoke. Then I read the fine print which reads “For nature, every day is 9/11” and I thought “Whoa!” Someone’s got guts here! This ad has enough shock value that I want to show other people – which is exactly the point. A good ad gets passed around and gets attention.
The next ad is great because it has two meanings. Take a look:
To me, the first thing I thought was “if a monkey can put in a low-watt light bulb, so can I.” But the text says “If you don’t preserve nature by using low-wattage bulbs, who will?” which is definitely less insulting than what I thought the ad was saying. I wonder if anyone else thought the same way I did. It makes for a brilliant ad – people insulting themselves without the advertiser having to do it.
And of course, Photoshop magic is still alive and well, as seen in the next ad.
At first glance, you might not even notice that the “fish” are bottles and trash floating in the sea. The colors of the ad are beautiful and reflect what people normally think of the sea. But then seeing the bottles makes you do a double-take. The text also hits home since people supposedly respect the sea and the wonderment it can bring. It’s a bit of a punch in the mouth, huh?
These ads are inspirational in that they make me want to do something for the environment, and they all made me stop and think. Beautiful colors were used and Photoshop was adeptly applied to create new images from the norm. The environment can be a hard thing to sell, and these ads do it very well. How inspiring is that for those of us with actual products to sell?
Filed under: Printing Help | Tags: advertising, marketing, print advertising, printing
Historically, companies that continue to run ads during tough economic climates come out ahead of their competitors who stopped advertising when times got rough. Procter & Gamble, Chevrolet and Camel cigarettes were just a few brands that continued advertising though the Great Depression, and came out ahead of their competition. For instance, during the 1920s, Ford outsold Chevys 10 to 1. Chevy continued to advertise and even expanded their advertising budget during the depression, and as a result, in 1931, Chevy was the top-selling car maker, outing Ford. Camel did the same thing – except Camel started out on top before the Depression, but was ousted out of the high spot in cigarette sales by Lucky Strike. Camel increased ad spending during the Depression and took its top spot back in the cigarette category.
Why You Need to Continue Advertising
1. Less competition: With companies scaling back or eliminating their ad budgets, that leaves room for you to get into more markets with less money. Low competition means lower ad costs.
2. People are looking for deals: If you can offer consumers a deal on your products, they will come. People still spend money during a recession (which we still aren’t quite in yet, according to experts), they just don’t spend as much of their money. Of course, those people that are always frugal still have money to spend.
Frugal Advertising Techniques
Flyers: This is an oldie, but a goodie. You can print flyers or brochures with black ink on colored paper to give your flyer some eye-catching punch, while keeping your budget way low. Even color brochure printing isn’t that expensive, and the more you buy, the more money you can save. Try printing flyers with a message that will last you through the holidays so that you can order a large number and continue using them for the next few months. Bulk discount and longetivity sound good to me!
Write a great press release: If you can get the media to do a story about you, whether in your local newspaper or magazine, that’s free advertising right there. It’s even better than running an ad in the publication because people will know that you didn’t pay for the coverage!
Word-of-mouth advertising and referrals: This is one I turn to when times are tough and it works well. Offer an incentive that you can afford to give to current customers who drive new customers your way. Whether it’s one free item or a discount on a service, as long as the referral will end up covering the cost of the free item for your current customer, you’ll build goodwill with current customers and get new ones!
Find an advertising partner: This is a business or person who offers a product or service that complements yours. You can either split ad costs with this person and offer customers a two-for-one type of deal, or you can simply exchange business cards and brochures to set up in each other’s store. Either way, it’s cheap advertising for both of you.
If you need more ideas, you can look up “guerrilla marketing techniques,” which are cheap ways to market your business that rely more on time and imagination than money.
Filed under: Printing Help | Tags: advertising, blog, blogging, branding, brochures, business, business cards, economy, flyer printing, forums, marketing, website
Even though the economy is sinking into a recession or into a “recession-like” economy (“what’s the difference?” I’d like to ask the experts!), you don’t have to slash your marketing budget down to nothing. There are plenty of low-cost or no-cost marketing techniques you can use if your marketing budget isn’t overflowing. Here are some ideas to try:
1. Create a Web site or blog. You should already have a Web site, but just in case you don’t, make one. Or, if your Web site host is charging you hundreds of dollars per year to keep your site up, try finding another host. You can get a free site through Mysite.com or Freewebs.com. You’ll have to allow the Web host to run ads on your site, but you can also get low-cost hosting services for as little as $20 per month.
If you don’t have a blog, I’d suggest starting one of those too. (In fact, a lot of companies create blogs that function as their Web site. That’s not a great option, as you can’t create Tabs and nice graphic design like you can with a Web site host, but in tough times, you can make it work.) Either way, you should have a blog so that you have some way of communicating with your customers and prospects. A blog is a great way to get your personal side out there for your customers to see, and it’s also a great way to establish yourself as an expert – by giving advice on your products and industry.
2. Post on forums and article sites. Staying online, you should also post expert answers on forums, or at least join in a conversation about something going on in your industry. You can include a link to your Web site on these forum posts, which will drive more traffic your way, and increase therefore business. There are plenty of article databases that you can post free articles to, but make sure that your articles are informative and give the reader something of value. People want to buy from a business owner who is seen as expert; no one wants to buy from a business owner who has nothing to offer.
3. Hang some printed flyers. Yep, getting back to basics is not a bad way to drum up some business in hard times. People still have to go the grocery store and the bank, so hang up your printed flyers there. And in hard times, more people will be getting to the store by bus, so hang some flyers at the bus stops as well. Be sure to either design your flyer so that you have some tear-offs with your contact info at the bottom, or make a pocket on the flyer (simple as attaching an envelope) that has your full color brochures or custom business cards in it.
4. Word-of-mouth marketing. Simply ask current customers to spread the word. People believe their friends and family over marketing materials anyway, so use that to your advantage. You can sweeten the deal for current customers by creating some referral cards that current customers can give to new customers. The incentive? A discount on the current customer’s next purchase. This is a proven way to get new business and at the same time, show your current customers that you care about them, too.
