Branding

You can make your own business cards. There. I said it. It CAN be done. They can be made using most programs already on your computer and they can be printed out using perforated card paper right from your printer for a very small amount of money.

In years past, the older perforated card stock looked perforated. You could see the little bumps along the side. The new micro-perf stuff is better, but the stock is too lightweight and results in a flimsy card, but worse than that, you can actually damage your printer using the heavier card stocks.  You want an eye-catching card that has a professional weight to it. The type of printing matters also. A home printed card on an inkjet printer will bleed if it comes in contact with moisture, a dead giveaway. Digital printing, on the other hand, offers good color options which allow a professional to really give it pizzazz!

Brand new baby businesses may print off a handful of cards in a pinch while they wait for the printer, it’s not the end of the world. People usually take this route to save money, but a small run of cards printed digitally at a print shop can be quite affordable. Most print shops let you download right from your computer and then they run them and cut them for you. All you do is pick them up!

Most people who design their own cards want to use clip art, but clip art straight out of the box shouts, “amateur!” While these methods are inexpensive, you never want to appear cheap.

What DOES It Mean To Design Business Cards?

Many things factor into a great business card, and design is definitely one of them. Your content is important, of course, but what does that card say about your ability to do what it is you do? Your card may be the first anyone’s heard of you.

7 Characteristics of Great Business Card Design

• Color selection
• Logo placement
• Contact placement
• Tag line
• What gets placed on the front of the card, and
• What gets placed on the back, if anything
• Overall message, overall appearance

Your logo placement is important to the design elements of your business cards. Our Graphic Designer, Scott Alberts, includes the price of business card design in his logo design rate because when he doesn’t, customers attempt to place his professionally designed logo onto a business card and the transfer is a very poor rendition of his ability. He would rather include business card design and preserve his excellent reputation! His cards are set up with the printer in mind, so many times “prep” or “plate charges” can be avoided.

Concerning contact placement and tag line, what you do has a lot to do with where you decide to place your information. Does your contact need to be the first thing seen? Or your message? Where exactly is that? If you don’t want to have that all thought out for you, try this little exercise:

Take a card out and role play, handing the card to a neighbor and mimic a real life situation.  Where do their eyes go first? Where do they linger? What information do they ask for that already exists on your card?

A professional design takes into consideration what goes on to the front of your business card, and what goes on the back. Your overall message and presentation should be short, sweet, and sticky. The right business card design is your handshake, and a reference to your business possibly for years to come. Check out our Small Business Accelerator Packages for package pricing that is affordable, and still very professional. Our logo and business card design packages begin with our Kick Starter Package and grow from there. Our a la carte options are listed on our services page, and you can learn more about Scott Alberts Illustration And Design on our Meet The Team page.  Call us today for your personal, professional design!

When it comes to traditional print media, you really have some great choices in business brochures. So much to choose from means flexibility and options, so you should take a little time now and again to refresh your memory.

Types of Business Brochures

Flyer Brochure: Usually a one sided, 8.5 x 11 inch brochure designed on the front for inexpensive rendering. These can be produced from sell sheets or direct mail letters that typically sell your idea or promotion strongly through copy, print design, or both. These can be set out in bulk for viewers to grab or they can be handed out, but if folded, sealed, and addressed can be part of your bulk mailing campaign. Smaller fliers are often inserts or hand outs with a dynamic message and contact information.

Two Panel Brochure: Available in sizes 8 x 9 to 11 x 17, these are simple, allow four pages of text and design, and can offer larger text space in the page area than three panel or accordion style brochures. Professional design consideration is a must. With so much space to cover in full glossy, and the expense involved in creating these well, it simply isn’t worth it to self-manufacture when you want professional results.

TriFold Brochure Z-Fold (accordion style): These have style and an interesting manner of information disbursement. Usually a hand out or insert, these are done on a heavier brochure paper and include all pertinent information, relying on short bursts of copy and images.

TriFold Barrel Style Brochure: These are similar to the Z-fold, but fold in thirds toward the center with the left side over the right. Traditional and convincing, these can be direct mailed, handed out, or stacked for bulk disbursement. Once again, deciding what goes where and how makes this a professional endeavor.

Four Panel Brochure: These are sized anywhere from 8.5 x 14 to 11 x 25.5. Larger and dynamic, these are no cheap date. Full glossy paper and professional design are a must to get this right.

Gate Fold: A gate fold is something you might see at an assisted living facility, or possibly a sales vehicle for an expensive exercise machine. Larger backside folds in from both sides to resembling a hug. These are printed vertically or horizontally, always heavy paper, always full glossy.

Remaining are the Double Parallel Fold, Parallel Map Fold, and the French Fold. All are larger and vary only in their viewing and folding sequence. These also require full glossy, heavy paper and professional scoring. After that expense, you wouldn’t want your beautiful brochures to come up flat due to poor copy or graphic design.

Make sure that everything leaving your company represents you in the best possible light. Sometimes you only get one opportunity to invite your customer into a conversational situation where you can influence the sale of your product or service. The right brochure with the right message and graphics can be the difference between that conversation happening, or not. Sales media should be carefully considered. If you have decided how you want to proceed or would like additional consultation about your professional brochure options, contact us today!

The customer may not be infallible (like you or I?), but it’s a safe bet they know a lot more about their own business than I do. It’s my job to help them realize their vision, not mine. We’re building their brand, not my portfolio. As competition gets more fierce (or if you will, as marketing dollars get more scarce), even established ad agencies are acknowledging that customers must have the final “say” in their own brand.

Too many of my business customers have told me how they do not like their logo or their web site, and by extension the letterhead, cards, and all the matching materials … but they’ve already spent THAT part of their budget. (If only I had a dollar — okay, the long-gone thousand dollars — for every time I heard that!)

It has been a running joke between Home Things! owner Andrea Hogan and I, that I just didn’t “get” the logo that we created. But she loves it, her customers love it, and for some reason women in general — her target market — loves it. Why should I argue? A satisfied, loyal customer is a wonderful thing!

A very interesting discussion, “Ode to the amateur logo” is still underway at Before & After. Check it out for a revealing insight into both the designer’s and the customer’s perspective.

View additional logos designed by Scott Alberts.

I’m often involved in conversations with small business owners regarding their marketing materials, and lately I’ve notice a disturbing trend. There’s  an ever increasing gap between companies who hold integrity dear, and the companies that they compete with. Reputable companies competing with their unscrupulous adversaries leave the consumer/client with little to go on but what’s provided in promotional material. Now your potential customer has to dig pretty deep to know who’s good for what, and you’re left with two large responsibilities–business ethics and conveying them.

When you provide a service or product that exceeds client expectation, you increase your competitive edge by a wide margin. When they can see it coming because of the way you present yourself, it’s an even wider gap.

Conversely, if you haven’t taken the time to update your service or product offerings and then market them to the best of your ability, you cheat both your client and your company.

The conundrum in the world of writing copy appears to be the same as in the IT staffing business. Getting your audience to understand your message is the key. Not just ‘putting it out there’ by using the right words and phrases, (of course, that is what we do here at ZTSM!), but taking that extra step to ensure your potential client ‘gets it.’ That actually involves quite a bit of internal communication to accomplish.

I was talking to Mike Hanes, President of ProVisionTech Group , about this just the other day. He stands strong against unethical business practices in the IT professional staffing circuit.

In an effort to boost quota, many recruiting/staffing agencies will pass along unqualified candidates for IT positions. Looking the other way is fairly common within the IT staffing community because:

1. There are fewer and fewer qualified professionals to choose from, and
2. Filling positions accurately depends on every member of the recruiting team understanding the same evolving language.

Mike and I bonded over that element. We both feel our companies operate with integrity and fill a lacking need–effective communication both internally (between co-workers), and externally (from our services to our client base). We agree that one of the largest barriers to serving our respective communities exists when the people we know we can help, have been burned by previous experiences.

How do your potential customers/clients know they can trust you?

Make sure your clients know exactly what you stand for through your presentation. If as a nation we’re ever going to re-establish trust in the marketplace, we’d better make sure we’re holding fast to ethical business practices, and we’d better make sure our clients know it!

Photo Credit: eeekay’s photography on flickr

When sales decline, budgets tighten and typically, the first area to be scrutinized for cutback is promotion and marketing. Part of the magic of marketing is the ability to create perception. Businesses must create and maintain a perception that they are critical, viable and resilient.

An example of this is your local auto dealership. Even when sales are in a slump, they continue to run weekly ads in local newspapers. Why? To maintain their customers’ perception that things are just fine. Of course the automobile is an intricate part of the American psyche. Give the perception that the local automobile dealership isn’t viable and the ripple effect can reach far and wide.

If your business wasn’t perceived as resilient, what would your customers likely do? Keeping customers aware of your products, services and existence is crucial especially during tough times. When the situation improves, you’ll be clearly visible as the “go to” resource that is ready to meet the customer’s needs.

We’re not advocating a continuation of a full speed ahead, spare the expense approach. You will have to adjust and tweak to work within a leaner budget. With the right strategic mix, the perception can be maintained that you are viable and ready to serve. Do not let your customers lose sight of your business. What’s the saying…”Out of sight out of mind.”

Remember that your customers’ perception of you IS your brand. Your brand image is far more than your logo, store front, and marketing collateral. It’s how your customers and potential customers perceive everything about your business.

So when the budget belt tightens, a sound marketing strategy is key to both short and long term business goals. Perception can work for or against your company. Make sure to keep it working for you.

Can you afford not to?

As business owners, we work hard to create the perfect picture of ourselves and our company. Call it branding or call it perception, either way it all boils down to getting the details right. One such detail is your email address.

If you have a company Web site, it is in your best interest to utilize your URL where ever you can, especially in your email address. You’ve invested time and money to build your business, establish your brand and create your Web site, so why not carry that professionalism and pride into your email address?

A recent search in a through a professional directory yielded many names, phone numbers and email addresses, but not a single Web site address. For those email addresses utilizing their corporate URL, this was not an issue. But way too many listed email addresses @hotmail or @yahoo or @aol.com.

When an email address ends in @hotmail.com instead of @mycompanyhere.com, what is the perception of those on the receiving end of your email? One thing is for certain, this doesn’t portray the level of professionalism you’re striving for elsewhere.

When that personal email address is also used on your written correspondence and business cards, it amplifies the problem. Add “missed opportunity” and “technically challenged” to “less than professional.” You’ve missed an opportunity to repeat and emphasize your corporate URL, and made it easier for contacts to forget who you are.

So do yourself a huge favor. Don’t make a business etiquette faux pas by using a generic email address to conduct official business. Set up your email to utilize your website URL.