Recently, one of my clients came to me with an easy and practical idea to develop his network on Twitter and Facebook – such a great idea that I thought I would share it all with you (with his permission of course.)  Spencer Beck is the owner of Heaven’s Best Carpet Cleaning in St. George.  He is an excellent marketer, and he also does an outstanding job cleaning carpets.  Remember when we discussed using the back of your business card in one of my posts from a few months a go?  (The Bare Facts About the Backside)  Well, this is an example of how to put the back of your business card to excellent use.

Spencer came up with a great offer/incentive to join his Facebook and Twitter network, and put all the necessary information on the back of a business card making it simple, easy and rewarding for his customers to stay in touch, how can you apply the same or similar idea to yours?

In business, you cannot afford to allow your professional image to become outdated, it is important to keep up.  Here is an example of a logo from “The Drawing Room” that was ready for a makeover.  The client (who is a talented and professional home designer I highly recommend if you are in need of one) asked me to update her logo with the suggestion that I do something  3-D, which is a great idea, as, if you spend any time on the internet you will see that the “bubble”, “shadow”,  “3-D” look is very hot right now.  See the two examples, both which happen to be from Skype.

Ideally you don’t want to completely change your logo.  If you are trying to brand your business as part of your marketing plan (and who isn’t?) then it is important to maintain continuity and you certainly don’t want to lose the past progress you have made getting your identity/logo recognized.  An update such at this one for “Drawing Room Plans” maintains the original concept but gives a fresh and current look.

If you would like to reach Amy Trujillo at Drawing Room Plans please visit her website here.

This is the first draft of a logo I designed for a client after a conversation about what she had in mind.  This particular logo idea came to me right away (I wish it were always that easy!).  We wanted to do something that would convey the concept of writing, hence the “keyboard” look (and “type” style font).  Also, I wanted to give it an up to date look by making the “keys” look a bit 3D or “bubble” look.  I also wanted to give a friendly, low key feel without losing the professional look.  This was achieved by using a comic book font in the “thought bubble.”  But the whole thing just looked a bit boring without some color so I added the bright, fresh green background.  I am very happy with this logo!

But as it turned out, my client (who also happens to be my very talented friend Julie) decided to change the name of her business.  She decided to call it Write-On, rather than Write Thoughts.  Ah, back to the drawing board!  The keyboard concept can stay, as that still applies but now we want to use something that will work with “On.”  Julie suggested a stamped look – which is a great idea.  Then we added a check mark – which of course suggests the “correct” place – or the right (write) answer.  By placing “ON” at an angle and overlapping a bit we retain that casual look and also create some interest (symmetry is kinda boring).  We needed to add some “weight” to the word “ON” also, as it is so much shorter than “WRITE,” so we added the border around it.  Then to give it a more “stamped” feel I weakened the red color in some areas.  Finally, we switched from the green to red as the third color and added some shadowing to help the whole thing pop a bit more.  And here we have the final design on both a white background and red! Finis!

One of my earliest memories as a child was studying the monkey bars.  There was a way to go across from rung to rung without really letting go of one to reach for the next, and there was the true “monkey style” which was swinging from rung to rung – perhaps even skipping a rung to reach for a further one.  I was envious of those who were brave enough to swing – it seemed very daring to me.  Finally I screwed up the courage to try it, and wonder of wonders – I did it!

It is difficult to stray out of our comfort zones, (we might fail, and there might even be witnesses) yet we look at those around us who seem to effortlessly glide through territory that seems very daunting to us.  We have a choice to make – stick with safety or reach out for that next rung.  I am still not much of a risk taker by nature, but I have discovered that when I feal fearful, and out of my depth the best thing I can do is say to myself  “Hm, I feel scared – that’s okay (and nothing new) – I am going to move forward anyway – in small steps.”

Small steps are manageable and create momentum. I have been pleasantly surprised at what a difference they can make.  For example, the biggest client I currently have was acquired from one small step.  I was a vendor at a very slow trade show with not much traffic.  So, I decided instead of sitting there waiting for people to come to me, I would get up and network with other vendors at the show.  This was a scary step for me, I would have been much more comfortable staying right there in my seat than approaching perfect strangers, but I made myself do it anyway -  I limited it to only seven people, that was manageable, then back to my seat.  The one small step I took that day formed a relationship that has paid off in spades.

The common expression is “don’t sweat the small stuff.”  But my advice – going ahead and sweat the small stuff – push yourself and take those small steps. You never know – you could be swinging “monkey style” before you know it.

I have just a few points to add.

1.  Think very carefully about your customer’s perspective and what is going to be most appealing to them.  Sell the sizzle, not the steak.  I am not saying to be deceptive, this is usually a matter of emphasis, for example  “John’s Expert Massage – I am trained in all types, I am very experienced!”  vs. “Shed Your Stress! Spend just one hour with John and you will depart feeling relaxed and rejuvenated.”  Can you see how different the two approaches are?  The former is you telling them about you, the latter is addressing what benefit is there for them. (Go with the latter!)

2.  Spice up your headline and copy if possible.  In my example here I changed the headline from “How to Create an Effective Poster” (yawn) to “How to Create a KILLER Poster” (I know I have this scary theme going on, but what can I say? Halloween is coming!)  You want to try to come up with some wording that will create a emotional reaction, that will get more attention.

3.  Be sure you have a “call to action”.  In my example, I want them to “visit our blog”.  Maybe you want them to “call now”, or “stop by and see our new widget”.  And, of course, be sure to include your contact information.

4.  Don’t go crazy with your colors either.  See the example – I used black and red – throwing a bunch of random colors in will create a chaotic look. (We already discussed this in regard to fonts and artwork in earlier posts, but the same is true of color – less really is more.)

5.  Get some feedback.  Show it to a few people and get their feedback – they may catch something or have some great suggestion  you haven’t thought of.

Well, that about covers it!  By the way, the info in this series of posts is going to apply to most graphic projects, it is not really limited to just posters and flyers.  If you study and apply these general principles they will take you far in improving and evaluating your next design project.  Let me know how it goes!

I charge exactly the same price to print both sides of a business card as I do to print one, other printers may charge slightly more – but you are getting twice the marketing space – use it!

Suggested content for the backside of your card:

1.  If the front of your card is getting crowded or busy then put some of your info there.

2.  List your services or products.

3.  Put your mission statement.

4.  Put a referral incentive there (i.e. give this card to a friend and receive a free widget or discount on your next service, etc.)

5.  Put your favorite quote on there (business appropriate of course).

A business owner won’t always hire the prettiest applicant for the job (tempting as it may be) he hires the one that is qualified to get the job done. It might be helpful to evaluate your marketing materials from time to time the same way you would your employees.  Ask yourself some of these questions:

1.  Is my employee past her prime? (Are my materials up to date and fresh looking, or do they look old fashioned and boring?)

2.  Is my employee trained to do their task most efficiently. (Do you have the right content presented in a way that is easy to absorb by your customer?)

3.  What is the history of this employee? (Have they been successful in the past, if not – why?, if so – why?)

4.  Does this employee present the image I want to project for my company? (See, looks do factor in here to some degree!)

5.  What kind of feedback have I received about this employee from my customers – how can he improve? (You may want to ask your clients directly for feedback  – what is memorable? what stands out? A fresh perspective can be very valuable, especially if it comes directly from your target market.)

Depending on how you have answered these questions you might have to “fire” your current printing/marketing/advertising materials if they are not performing to your expectations, or perhaps you only need to freshen them up and revise – just make sure they are pulling their weight and doing their job.

Your best contrast is going to be black on white or white on black, of course.  Let’s take another look at our “scary” poster.  I wanted the all text at the top to be readable from as far away as possible, so I made the very top text white, but I wanted the “Horrors” to be in red.  Instead of just using red by itself and losing some of my contrast, I put a white outline behind the red which makes it “pop,” or gives it extra contrast, (see the example below on the left.) Notice, I did not try to make the whole poster readable from a distance, I am putting my money on the word “Horrors” as a hook to pull someone over to find out more, that is where the emphasis is.  The rest of the text is smaller because I want “Horrors” to be like a magnet for the eye – I don’t want the rest of my text to compete with it.

A tip for photocopying – I see a fair amount of flyers which have been photocopied black on red paper.  While red is a good color to stand out, it doesn’t give you very good contrast with black.  Try using a bright pink or other lighter fluorescent color instead – that will work better.

Simplicity involves the “KISS” rule.  Keep It Simple Stupid, (which my good friend digitalmarketingdiva covered in her recent blog in regard to digital marketing here.)

Think carefully about what you need to say and trim your copy down to the bare essentials – you are not trying to tell your whole story here, you are just giving enough of the facts to get them to contact you or attend your event.  PLEASE, I BEG YOU, resist the idea to put in more than one piece of clip art or use more than two different fonts.  This is a common mistake inexperienced designers make.  It seems more “designerish” to use lots of different elements – don’t do it.  One large piece of art is much preferred over several small. I would generally avoid borders also, they tend to close things in and make them look cramped.  (Think of how you feel when you walk in a house with vaulted ceilings, as opposed to low ceilings, see?)

People read from top to bottom and left to right.  Decide what is most important and put that at the top and make it bigger.  Decide what is next important and put that next.  Then put your artwork in.  Whatever is left to say, try to make smaller and put it at the bottom.  This composition is just a general rule of thumb, and you can play around with variations.

Small print is okay, if you can capture their initial interest it is more likely people will become intrigued and will look for more information.  Usually you will put this at the bottom.  Here (left) is a good example of a great simple poster.  It is eye catching and has some white space (breathing room).  On the right is a good example of a bad example.  Too busy, too many pictures, too many fonts, and poor composition.

Which one catches your eye?

The first thing I consider when designing a poster for my client is who is my client trying to attract?  Who is their target market?  I ask them and listen carefully to their response.  A great example is the Halloween flyer for a haunted house featured in my last post.  This client already had some artwork , which she shared with me and it was very nicely done (see example) but, who goes to haunted houses…?  Teenagers that’s who.  Teenagers want to be really SCARED, so to get their attention and entice them to come to the haunted house, the artwork chosen needed to be scary.

So, I went to istockphoto.com (a great resource for stock photos) and typed in “scary.”  Instantly a variety of images came up for me to choose from.  I wanted something eye-catching and horror based, but not bloody or in poor taste.  Several pages in I found the pictured artwork – aha perfect!  This photo is scary, but probably wouldn’t put off other potential customers who aren’t teenagers (like adults, or younger kids) because even though we are aiming at teenagers, we also want as broad appeal as possible.

Next I chose a nice bold Halloween font (see more about that in my last post).  I decided I wanted to emphasize the word “horror” so I made that word larger and red (I also stretched the font and made it longer which is one of my favorite tricks for emphasis.)

Here we have a sample of progress so far, what do you think?  Will this poster do it’s job?