Filed under: Marketing Tips
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Now that it’s 2010, where is all that new business that everyone says is just around the corner? Well it’s not going to come to you; you have to go out and get it. And this is how to get started…
Start talking to people. It’s true people are ready to get back in the saddle, make plans, spend money, do business – but it won’t be in partnership with you unless they’re reminded that you’re game too. So, call people and say hi. Send out emails. Make referrals. Schedule client lunches. Invite people to events. Or, better yet – send out an eblast!
Remember, it’s all about timing – being in the client’s mind at the precise moment they need your services. And the right moment is usually now.
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Filed under: Marketing Tips
Not counting Amway reps, don’t you have a list of old friends and colleagues you wish you could re-establish relationships with? Holidays are a great excuse to get back in touch with people who may be potential clients for your business.
Sending greetings for Christmas, Hannukah and Thanksgiving are ok but you run the risk of reaching folks who don’t celebrate them. You could say “Happy Holidays” or “Season’s Greeting” to avoid mishaps OR you could also choose more “culture-neutral” occasions which are usually more fun anyway. New Year’s, the 4th of July or even better — April Fool’s Day, Groundhog’s Day or Talk Like a Pirate Day (I kid you not). The more novel the holiday, the more memorable an impression you make.
How do you get back in touch? Google them, do a Linked-in search, check Facebook or rifle through old business cards. So find those old e-mail addresses, fire up that email blast interface and strike up those old friendships!
Filed under: Marketing Tips
Sending out holiday cards can be pretty hard on the pocket. You have to buy the cards or have someone design and print them and then you have to pay for postage. Not so bad if you’re sending out a few dozen, but what if you’ve got hundreds on your mailing list? The solution – go electronic! It’s practically free and there are some added advantages.
Make it Memorable
A good way to off-set the impersonal nature of e-cards is to make it as memorable as possible. Make it funny or clever or just down right unusual. Here are some examples of all three.
1. Funny Election-themed Holiday Poem – Something we sent out to our clients during all the presidential campaigning and debating back in 2007.
2. Clever Animated Card- Using their logo, we designed this quick but cute online card for one of our clients.
3. Unusual Multicultural Holiday Video – In the tradition of all these holiday wishes from the TV networks, we decided to make our own.
Other Advantages
Aside from the “novelty-factor,” what’s great about using an e-blasting service is that you can track who opened your email, who junked it, and who clicked on which links. A good way to keep abreast of your clients’ needs and interests, wouldn’t you say?
Okay, let me qualify that headline. Don’t hire your friends for tasks they don’t do professionally or as a business. Regularly, I’m a big advocate of hiring your friends, but not if they’re not qualified.
I know this seems like common sense, but when people start a business, they often try to cut costs by hiring people who will do it for less or as a favor instead of paying higher fees for a professional. But what often happens is that you end up with bad results and have to hire a real professional to fix things. And then you’ve paid twice. Here are some examples from real life…sort of.
The Edible Logo
Logos are an interesting thing. Everyone thinks it’s easy to create one. But the truth is, it’s not. At least not if you want a good one. There are a lot of things you need to consider. Case in point: A client of ours wanted us to create some stationery using a logo created by his 11 year old daughter. ‘Said it would break her heart if we didn’t use it. Anyway, the pre-teen designer used crayons and macaroni shells which made it almost impossible to scan. But scan it we did, but because it was multicolored, it looked really bad printed in black and white for his invoices, and was practically unreadable when printed on his business cards. It didn’t look too bad on the side of his delivery truck but the macaroni shells kept getting soggy in the rain. In the end, we had to dump the logo and create a new one because Prego was threatening trademark infringement. Thank God. Since then, we’ve instituted a policy that only WE get to design the logos on branding projects.
The Website That Almost Never Was
Building a website is one of the more complicated thing you can contract for. A client came to us after they went to a guy someone knew who could do it for cheap because he had a full-time job and just did this on the side. But because the guy only designed websites and never actually “planned” or “managed” a website project, the whole thing took several months and endless revisions. When the designer realized he was putting in more hours than he had budgeted for and was now practically working for free, he became really resentful causing him to eventually lose his insecure girlfriend. What she had to do with any of this, I don’t know. But the point is, he wasn’t happy, the client wasn’t happy and by the time we got involved, the designer was in therapy and in debt, the client was suing the designer and had realized that the product he wanted to sell on his website was now obsolete (Leather accessories for Palm TREOs, remember those?), and the girlfriend was dating Eliot Spitzer. I admit this is an extreme case.
The Unprintable Publication
One client, a disgraced former NY governor who shall remain nameless, wanted to save money by having us design the cover for his tell-all book and simply use the MircoSoft Word document he had laid out himself for the inside pages. Well, let me tell you something we learned about MSW files that week. Traditional offset printers don’t know what the hell to do with them! They can take QuarkXpress files, inDesign files, PDFs even Illustrator EPS’. But give them an MSW file and all hell breaks looks! Fonts don’t translate well from PC to Mac or vice versa, text shifts, page numbers go all out of wack and the pictures wouldn’t stay on the centerfold. So remember, don’t use MicroSoft Word to do pre-press page design.
Okay, maybe I’ve embellished a little on the facts, but the lesson is true. Use professionals (like us) for your communications materials, graphic design and marketing needs. It’s usually easier (and cheaper) to do it right the first time, than to have to explain to your wife why the FBI is asking her for receipts. Well, you get the picture.
One of my designers sent me this link the other day (http://www.makemylogobiggercream.com/). It’s a brilliant spoof of all those infomercials that claim to have a break-through product. Except in this case, it’s a cream that makes your logo BIGGER, among other things!
Now if you watch the video on the website, you may realize that this was created with advertising designers in mind as a way of making fun of clients who always want to make their logos bigger, use more of the white space or add a starburst to jazz up the ad. I forwarded the link to all my designer friends but held off on sending it to clients because it may hit a little too close to home for some of them.
But then I thought, why not address the legitimate issues raised by this mock infomercial. It’s a chance to help educate business people on why designers do what we do. So here goes a product-by-product rebuttal to some common client/design issues:
1. Make My Logo Bigger Cream – There’s actually a scientifically proven ratio of what percentages of elements on an ad works best. It’s 75% primary image, 15% text and 10% branding. You have to have a primary image to grab people’s attention so that they will even look at your ad. Then the text informs them, then the logo reminds them of who you are. If you were to equally distribute the 3 elements, then nothing will stand out and no one will stop to read your ad. And if you make your logo the biggest thing on the page….well, no one really stops just to look at a logo. Would you?
2. White Space Eliminator – Sometimes, clients feel like they are paying for space on an ad or for space on pages in a printed piece and therefore feel the need to fill it up with content. But here’s why that might not be a good idea. One of the most effective tools designer’s use to grab people’s eyes is “contrast.” If you’re going to have a big thing on the page, then you should have a little thing to contrast it. If you’re going to have a bright thing, then you need a dark thing. And if you’re going to have positive space, then you should have some negative space. If everything was the same (size, brightness, spacing) Nothing would stand out and nothing would grab people. So white space is usually a good thing to have. Also, white space evokes class and elegance. If you compare the store windows of a 99cent store and that of Saks Fifth Avenue, one has a ton of items on display, and one has 1 or 2 items. So which one looks classier to you?
3. Starburst Dust – Starbursts are great when you’re having a bargain bin sale, but the fact is, if you don’t want your company or brand associated with any kind of bargain bin, don’t use it.
4. Flouresencizer - Sure florescent colors or a lot of bright colors draw attention, but is it appropriate? And more importantly, does it reinforce your brand? When you see Red & White what cola drink do you think of? When you see Red & Gold, what burger chain? When you see Brown, what shipping company? Get the picture? Pick your official colors and stick to it and eventually those colors will be synonymous with your company. Did you know that Mattel officially patented a Barbie Pink?
5. Emotionator – This was probably the only product advertised that was spot on. But the trick is to make sure you’re evoking the correct emotions. In advertising, you don’t want to sell the “features” that a product has but the “benefits” those features can give to your customers. And sometimes, that benefit is the fulfillment of an “emotional need.” Volvos fill people’s need to feel “safe.” LL Bean fills people’s desire to appear “rugged.” Nike fills people who prefer to look “athletic.” But like I said, you need to tap into the correct emotional need. So don’t show a cute puppy if you’re trying to sell computers.
Though I must say, I’m amazed at how much auto racing equipment is sold by using images of bikini-clad women.
