The Less You Know…

Good graphic design is about building and maintaining the right image for your business. It’s an integral part of brand building and it’s vital to the success of your advertising. On the same token, our success as a design firm lies in your satisfaction as our valued client.

There was a time when clients hired graphic designers — more commonly referred to as commercial artists back in the day — to develop a concept, work out the design, and produce the final visuals. The client simply provided the scope of work and made decisions. However, with today’s technological advancements, many clients have gotten their hands dirty in software like Photoshop and played around with fonts to some degree. Because of this, the notion of design as a specialized skillset has been greatly diminished. Even so, design today remains as it always has been — a process of problem solving and the execution of business-driven solutions.

When a skilled designer positions your logo in a certain manner on the page, she does so for reason. When she selects a particular font, she does so for a reason. Designers utilize white space for a reason. Designers select certain color combinations for a reason. The reason in all of these cases is to communicate effectively and to maintain brand integrity for the benefit of your business. A good designer can back up his aesthetic choices with fact and theory. It’s also true that any designer you hire will bring his own style and experience to your project and not every designer is a good match for every project. When you make the decision to hire a specific designer, his individual style should play a huge part in why you hire him. Keep this in mind throughout the design process and remain aware that this is the style you chose and this is the style that you are going to get. A good client sets personal taste aside and focuses on making sound business decisions. A good designer gets past technology and implements sound design principles.

The old adage that someone knows “just enough to be dangerous” really holds true in this age of blurred lines between computer graphics and smart design. The worst thing that you, as the client, can do is to dictate aesthetic things like fonts and colors and positioning. The less you know about such things, the better off you will be in turning out a successful design project.

Resolutions In Focus

Scour the Internet this time of year and you’ll find post after post offering guidance on New Year’s resolutions for marketers and entrepreneurs. The typical ideas usually fall into the realms of budgeting, customer relations, branding, strategies and SEO and social media. Some of these suggestions can get pretty specific about setting goals. I’d like to be a little more vague this year.

I’d like to suggest that your number one resolution for this year should be to get focused. Focus on what you do best and delegate the rest. This means investing all of your time in the things that you can do better than anyone else. Are you the founder of a company with an innovative product? Perhaps your time should be spent almost entirely on product development. Does your strength lie in crunching numbers? You should be focused on budgeting and fiscal planning. Or maybe you’re a top notch people person? You should be leading the sales force or out in the field rubbing elbows with consumers. Whatever the case may be, the thing you do best is the thing you should focus on doing.

Focus also means to stop stretching yourself thin with tasks that someone else could do better. Delegating the tasks that are not your specialty will help you get everything done more efficiently and more effectively. This could mean giving your administrative staff more responsibilities or hiring a personal assistant if your are self-employed. It might also mean hiring more specialists for your staff and farming out more work to independent contractors or partnering with specialty firms.

Being focused will result in being more efficient and, in turn, more productive. More productivity always helps the bottom line.

Why do you exist?

Normally at the end of year I would write a post about getting your marketing plan and budget in shape for the coming year. Not this time. This time I’m going to ask a simple question… Why do you exist? Or, more specifically… Why did you start a business in the first place?

The obvious answer for most is to make a profit selling a product or service. Some may even say it’s to make a profit doing something they are passionate about. But, that’s not really why your business exists. As Simon Sinek describes it in his book Start With Why, why your business exists is “The problem it set forth to solve or the change it wanted to make.” It is not your strategies or your goals, it is your reason for being.

This reason must lie outside the business itself. It must lie in society, because business is a major force in shaping society. No, I’m saying that all businesses must be philanthropic in nature — but wouldn’t that be wonderful — what I’m saying is that your reason for existing as a business is to make an impact on society. This impact may come in the form of helping underprivileged children get shoes on their feet. It may be that you intend to change how the world uses computers. Or it may be something more practical like helping dog owners find a good place to eat. Whatever the case may be, this is the reason that drives your business. this is why you exist.

Why does Catch Light Productions exist? That’s an easy one. We want to help small businesses stop settling for less when it comes to their marketing — to fill the gap between modest budgets and outstanding results. We achieve this by remaining lean and pulling together specialized teams to match the specific needs of each individual client.

So, as the new year approaches take some time to think about why you exist. When you realize your reason for existing, the game changes. Your marketing efforts will seek to fill a valid and well defined need rather than simply persuade a consumer to make a purchase.

Working With A Creative Marketing Firm

Working with a creative marketing firm for the first time often prompts a few concerns. How successful will they be in interpreting your needs? How can they meet those needs most effectively? How can they do it most efficiently? How much will it cost?

Laying The Foundation. The first thing most firms normally do after being assigned a project is to schedule an information-gathering session with you and your key staff. They’re interested not only in scheduling, budget and job specifications, but also in your competition, target audience, and objectives. And they want to know all the features and benefits of your product or service. This will help sharpen the focus and objectives and in turn, ensure that the solution they produce is not only creatively excellent, but strategically targeted.

The Right Ideas. It’s best if you designate only one or two key decision makers at your company to work directly with your marketing firm. This way everyone stays focused on real solutions and are not distracted by too many personal opinions. Expect the creative team to present only two or three initial concepts showing completely different approaches to the project at hand. Many clients ask for five, six, seven or even more concepts, but offering too many solutions up front only complicates things and usually results in a poorly developed marketing piece.

The Schedule. Despite popular misconceptions, good creative work doesn’t normally come in a flash of inspiration. It usually comes from much trial and error. This is why the creative team needs to take the time to consider several approaches, work them through, and revise them. In addition, your marketing firm usually needs to address budgeting, printing, media placement, scheduling, and other issues relevant to the success of the project. All this, plus the need to perform in a businesslike fashion, means that your promptness in providing materials and making approvals is crucial if your deadlines are to be met.

The Budget. All companies, all industries, all products have different marketing needs — and different methods of determining budgets. Introduction of a new company or product requires heavy spending based on anticipated results, while an established business might implement an annual marketing budget based on previous year’s sales. Although your creative marketing firm can’t tell you how much to spend, they can certainly help you maximize the return on your investment. You should leverage this expertise.

1-2-3 Design For Clients

A simple 3 step process to a more successful graphic design project.

1 Get Organized.
Waiting until the last minute to get that big project rolling? Figure you can throw together some basic info and work things out after you see a proof? Be prepared for wasted time and money. Working in haste increases the likelihood of mistakes, and pushing things to the last minute will usually result in rush charges. Tight deadlines are to be expected in this business, but if you’re generally prompt and thorough about handling your end, your graphic designer will be much more willing to go the extra mile when you really need it.

2 Follow The Leader.
You’re hiring a graphic designer to perform a very specific task which usually doesn’t have very specific rules. To prevent creative energy from going astray, let them establish a strict schedule and focus on results. In a perfect marketing world it would go something like this:

Meeting-Proof-Revisions-Approval-Results. Yay!

In reality, the point between “revisions” and “approval” tends to get a little crazy. Making revisions in as few steps as possible will save lots of time — and money.

3 You’ve Hired Them. Now, let them do their job.
As the client, you are the decision maker. You must make solid business decisions and then step back. You have to forget about your favorite color or that cool font you saw on the menu at lunch. Tough to swallow? Just consider that micro-managing design projects can create a negative and counterproductive work environment and will often compromise the integrity of the finished marketing piece.

There you have it. A simple process to make your next design project easy as 1-2-3.

What Makes You So Special?

Unless you operate in a highly specialized industry where there is virtually no competition, you are probably constantly trying to one-up your competitors. Whether you get sucked into price wars or the "why our product is better than their product" game, it's draining and endless — and honestly, not a very good way to expend your energy or your budget.

Let's try something new. First, take a look at your competition. Pay attention to what they do and do not promote. Pay attention to what they do and do not offer. Pay attention to how they operate and how they interact with consumers.

Next, start paying attention to positive consumer reactions to your product or service. Really pay attention. We're not talking about surveys and focus groups here. We want a real world perspective. Keep records of everyday encounters. This could reveal something they are value in you, but not in your competition. Pay attention when someone says they were referred to you or that your product was recommended by a friend. Do they find a specific feature of your product to be an especially nice touch? Do they value the level of courtesy and support they receive from your customer service staff? Do they find your sales people to be particularly helpful and a pleasure to work with? What is that one something that makes people buy from you instead of your competition? It might be something you intentionally designed into your product or your brand strategy, or you might find it to be something unexpected that reveals the true nature of your company. Whatever it is, this is what makes you special. This is what will help you rise above and beyond the reaches of your competition.

But, just knowing is not enough. This special something must be decidedly integrated into all direct customer interactions, all social media efforts, and all paid advertisements. This is nothing short of a complete rebranding.

When you figure out what makes you so special, you raise the bar. You no longer have to view your marketing as a competitive activity. You can simply focus on being the best at being you. Be special and success will come.

There Is No Box

It happened again. A client came to me about doing a new direct mail campaign and said, "We need to start thinking outside the box." The problem is that most people don't really get what outside the box means and they tend to use this phrase either out of frustration of not having an immediate answer to why their marketing efforts have been sub-par, or as a way of covering the fact that they are simply lost and don't know how to approach their marketing needs.

The non-existent box as explained in The Matrix…

Boy: Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible. Instead only try to realize the truth.
Neo: What truth?
Boy: There is no spoon.
Neo: There is no spoon?
Boy: Then you'll see that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself.

Thinking outside the box requires a willingness to take new perspectives and to create value in new ways. The problem is that people tend to approach this without looking inside first. The results are generally off-the-wall ideas that get everyone excited but miss the mark and are really little more than a gimmick. So instead, let's try focusing on who we are, where we fit in, and how we relate to our intended audience…

* What is our key opportunity?
* Who is our target audience?
* Where do we want to be?
* How do we get there?
* What is our primary consumer benefit?
* What should the consumer's net impression be?
* What support do we have?
* What are the mandatory facts that we must communicate?
* How do we want the consumer to respond?

Thinking outside the box creates a separation between our brand and our audience. Just as Neo must become one with the spoon, you must become one with your brand. Once you've done that, you begin to realize that there is no box and that your brand can interact freely with your audience. You will development more creative — and more effective — ideas to bend your marketing in the right direction.

Catch Light Productions
http://www.catchlight.com

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