Not Just Pretty | Building An Effective Small Business Brand

Wordle

I've seen these on several other blogs I visit, and figured that it was about time to create my own. Wordle.net is basically a site that takes the content of your blog and creates word art from it, that you can then customize the font and color palette on. Neat!

Designing and writing

I get a lot of calls from people who are looking for someone who can design, code and write their websites. Or, who can design and write their brochures. Or, design their logo and write their tag line.

And they're hoping that I can fill both needs for them.

I don't write for clients for a couple of reasons:

1. Writing and designing are two very different skills. Even if they're not your strong point, think about how drawing something feels as compared to writing something. They're just different types of activities.

Now, I know that there are designer/writer combo people out there - or teams of people, dynamic duos, who do both. But, I've chosen to be a one-person firm, and I don't have a writer who works with me. But I do work with freelance writers that I can refer you to.

2. It would take more time for me to get to know your business. And, then the design project would get more expensive. I try to keep my design prices as low as I can so that the project stays affordable for small businesses. I trim my prices back as much as I can - counting getting to know your business and your design preferences, surveying your competition's designs, doing the creative work of coming up with a unique design, going through revisions, and then preparing the job for print or for the web. It's a lot of work!

Writing is easier than you think - and you can string words together. If you're worried about making what you have to say sound professional, and making sure that your commas are all in the right place, then an editor can help with that at a reasonable rate.

3. I wouldn't be able to write in your voice. Really, any outside writer wouldn't be able to get your voice into the writing for your marketing materials. For a lot of small businesses, the entrepreneur's voice, views and personality are central to the personality of the company. If you write your own materials and use your own voice and point of view in the writing, then your customers will be able to get a better idea of your personality and your company's personality more quickly. And that can be priceless when it comes to making a connection with your clients.

So, that's why I don't write. What I can do is to help you figure out a basic outline of the types of information you might consider including in your site or materials. And once you have an outline, it's often easier to fill in than you think with enough words to make your marketing piece.

The winner is...

I chose the winner today (randomly) for the blog-comment contest I was having. And, the winner is Melanie!

Melanie... step right up and claim your eBook prize. And, thanks for playing, everybody!

Giveaway: Reminder

I just wanted to remind everyone that I'm doing a little giveaway this month:

So, I'm going to giveaway the eBook of your choice from my selection of products. That's right - the winner gets pick the product that they want most from this page:

http://www.elf-design.com/products.html

All you have to do to enter is to comment on any past post from this blog before July 28th - I'll choose a winner from all the comments between now and then. Find a post, and leave a comment or question to qualify!

Is there anyone out there?

I'm feeling a bit lonesome here, and want to check in and see if I'm just writing to myself.  

I figured there was no better way to get everyone to pipe up than to offer a little prize.

So, I'm going to giveaway the eBook of your choice from my selection of products. That's right - the winner gets pick the product that they want most from this page:

http://www.elf-design.com/products.html

All you have to do to enter is to comment on any post from this blog within the next week and a half - on July 28th I'll choose a winner from all the comments between now and then. Find a post, and leave a comment or question to qualify.

I look forward to finding out who's out there!

Why do-it-yourself design is sometimes less-than-successful

It may seem simple to design a logo, marketing materials or a website for your business. After all, you've seen billions of logos. And you see marketing materials and websites every day.

So, you know what looks cool, and what you like to look at, right? So, you can just take what looks cool, and combine that with what you like to look at, and transform that into your marketing stuff?

There are a couple of issues with that:

1. What looks cool is typically based on trends. And, trends aren't a great way to design your small business's materials, because trends typically come and go over the course of a small business's life cycle. You want to build a brand that will last - and that won't look dated or out-of-fashion in a couple of years, or even a decade. You'll be basing all of your business's marketing on the designs that you create - and if you spend a few years with one look, and then suddenly change it all, you can lose your customers' trust quickly.

2. Brand design is actually based on more than what looks good. The best brands are based on creating designs that connect with your best customers. Creating that connection is based on symbology - the language of what shapes and symbols mean to a customer - and psychology - how your customers' minds work, and what associations they immediately and subconsciously make. You want to pick shapes, symbols, colors and fonts that are directly connected to the message that you want to communicate to your audience. And, unless you really study both your business and the elements of design, translating your business's Brand Definition into these shapes and colors can be really challenging.

A brand designer can make the process of creating a brand that won't fall apart when the trends change and that will communicate with your best customers easy for you - and can let you concentrate on running your business and creating products or providing your service!

7 Tips for Amateur Type Designers

Here's a great set of tips from Seth Godin on using typography well in your designs - this is a great few things to know if you design your own materials - Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, flyers, web pages, etc.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/06/7-tips-for-amat.html

Large-format Trifold Brochure

Here's a trifold brochure that I created for Women In Consulting. I head their design committee.

This is a larger-than-normal trifold brochure; instead of folding out to 8.5" x 11", it folds out to 14 inches wide, which gives more real estate for copy.

My big fat website update

So, I spent a bunch of time this weekend updating the portfolio over at my website. Especially these sections:

Web Design
Blog Design
Stationery Set Design

And, I just thought someone ought to know about it.

Thanks for listening!

What Order To Design In? Part 2

Once you have your Brand Definition, Logo and Business Card, here are the next steps for a small business to consider:

4. Do you need a letterhead? Not all small businesses will need a letterhead as a first step, but some will. It all depends on how you plan to correspond with your customers. If you do want to create a letterhead, then think about whether you'll want to have sheets preprinted, or if you'd rather have your letterhead as a digital file in Word, that you can print out one sheet at a time. If you only print letters occasionally, and email more often, a Word letterhead may be all you need. And, you can use the header from your Word letterhead in Quickbooks, to brand your invoices.

5. Web site. These days, a website is going to be an important part of your marketing and sales strategy. I recommend that a small business start their business literature by creating their site, because it's a great way to work out the text for your other printed marketing materials (there's nothing worse than ordering 1000 brochures and realizing that they don't really say what you want them to!) The text on a website is easy to change, so you can test different messages out before committing to print.

Additionally, a website gives you an active piece of marketing collateral. The website's going to be out in the world, answering prospects' questions, which makes your sales cycle easier. And, if it's Search Engine Optimized well, the site will in new prospects also.

6. Printed collateral. Sales sheets, brochures, packaging, etc. should be the last pieces that you design. And, what you need will depend on how you're planning to market and promote your business. If you plan this section carefully, and make sure that you design pieces that you'll use (meaning that you'll give them out instead of letting them gather dust in your office) and that your prospects will read (instead of throwing them in the trash. So, think of marketing pieces that are going to be helpful to your prospects, so that you'll get the most benefit from giving them out!