I was recently driving home to Illinois from South Dakota and noticed a string of billboards along I-90 for a furniture store.  Not really that unique right?  I’m sure we’ve all seen furniture store billboards.  What struck me with these particular billboards though, was where they were.  For anyone who hasn’t driven across South Dakota, it is beautiful but relatively unpopulated, with 100 miles or more between “major” cities.  Most of the billboards are for services appealing to the people driving by (restaurants, hotels, tourist attractions, the occasional repair shop).  The billboards are meant to get people to come in once they hit that exit, because most of the people driving these somewhat desolate roads aren’t driving by on a regular basis.  In short, the billboards on this strech of road aren’t going to do a very good job at building name recognition since people won’t see them day after day like they would on a well traveled urban commuter route.  Since most people driving the 50 miles between the billboards and the town where the furniture store is located aren’t going to decide on the spur of the moment to buy furniture, these billboards also aren’t going to do a very good job at serving the other possible purpose of driving immediate traffic to the business.  Basically, these billboards are most likely an expensive waste of valuable marketing dollars.

Does this mean that furniture stores should never use billboards?  No.  It just means this business owner should reconsider where to place their billboards.  When customers do decide to buy furniture, the name recognition of the furniture store will play a key part.  Therefore, this furniture store should be advertising where people will repeatedly see it, not out in the middle of proverbial nowhere. 

All of our businesses need to consider carefully not just the type of advertising we are doing, but also where it is placed.  Do you have examples of advertising you’ve seen in an ineffectual place?

Well, it turns out that this “little” business card project was actually only a very small part of what this client really needed.  They also needed letterhead, a new website and potentially a mailing campaign in the near future.  Additionally, they were in the process of creating a spinoff company.  And this spinoff company needs all of its marketing materials, a logo, business cards, letterhead, website, brochures, postcards and vehicle wraps.  And because this bigger company didn’t think they were a large enough client to merit their attention, who do you think gets to do all that work? 

So whatever business you are in, remember the next time that “small” project comes in that it deserves just as much of your attention as your dream client, because the reality is that little client could in fact be your dream client.

The same basic principle applies to the look of your company’s marketing materials.  If you are a one person operation that wants to land larger, more lucrative clients (or increasingly even some of the smaller clients), you need to do what you can to look the part of a professional organization.  You don’t need to spend thousands on overly fancy corporate brochures, but the materials you do put out definitely need to be clean, well organized and professional in appearance.  Handing out something that looks like you put it together at home doesn’t help the appearance of your company and it can actually hurt when you’re trying to land that client.

Your marketing materials, just like your wardrobe, should reflect the company you want to be.

(For a look at a variety of these intros, check out the following on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9PtpALF_3w&feature=BF&list=PLD25EE797D1D52470&index=6

If you’ve been watching movies for any length of time, you can probably recognize the intro to most of the main studios: MGM, Disney, Paramount, Universal, Dreamworks, Lions Gate, etc.  And you will most likely continue to recognize these intros almost immediately, regardless of how much these intros have in fact been updated over the years.  The reason for this is that even though these “video logos” have evolved – adding animation here, updating to new sharper graphics and colors there – the basics of the logo are still intact.  Dreamworks, for example has taken the static picture of the kid fishing on the moon and added animation.  Disney’s iconic castle logo has evolved into a flowing movie intro following a train to the castle, which is now beautifully done in 3D.  Even the old MGM lion now actually roars and moves.  The evolved intros are decidedly modern, and for the most part don’t look like they are up to 50 or more years old, but they are definitely rooted firmly in their iconic past.  And thus, their brand recognition continues to build.  (These intros are, in fact, so recognizable that as I was looking at the various intros on youtube, my four year old recognized them from across the room and could name various movies associated with each.)

For anyone looking to update their existing logos, it doesn’t hurt to take your cue from these movie giants.  If you have an existing clientele who recognizes your logo, but still feel the need to update it (either to enter new markets or simply because it’s becoming dated), make sure it is really an update, but still maintains the brand recognition of your existing logo. 

What are your favorite movie studio intros/intro updates?

For GAP, it appears the logo change was meant as a way to garner attention and bump up lagging sales.  While a new logo can get your company new attention, it isn’t necessarily worth it just for that reason.  The result of GAPs logo change was the customers and critics jumped online to pan it.  Turns out it wasn’t the old logo that was hurting sales.  In fact, people liked and were attached to the old logo, and turned off by the attempt to modernize the timeless, classic existing logo.

For Starbucks, the logo change is meant as a way to not only update the recognized siren logo, but actually give the company the ability to expand beyond just coffee.  By updating the existing logo and taking out the text, the company is making the logo more versatile.  And although the new Starbucks logo has its own critics, there isn’t nearly the uproar as there was for GAP.  I think the reason why, is that in this case it’s a logo change that makes more sense. The old logo isn’t completely gone (it’s a revamp).  And there’s a real logical reason for the change.

So what is the lesson for us small businesses who do not have huge marketing staffs and budgets to figure out when to change our logos?  One, make sure it’s a really good reason.  Two, make sure that your clients aren’t super attached to the existing logo.  You don’t want to alienate current customers.  And three, don’t completely scrap the old logo if you do decide to change.  By keeping elements of the old logo, you can help minimize upsetting current customers.

http://money.cnn.com/2010/10/08/news/companies/gap_logo/index.htm

http://www.thestreet.com/story/10964054/starbucks-new-logo-sleek-or-bleak.html

The moral?  Be careful with humor in  your advertising.  Even if you (or even someone else seeing the advertising) thinks it’s funny, does it make an association you don’t necessarily want to make.

What are some of the humorous, yet really ineffective ads you’ve seen or heard?

On the way back to Illinois, we passed through the same area in bright sunshine with what would usually be a very pretty blue sky, but it didn’t compare to what we had seen a week before.  That cloudy sky had made the landscape so much more interesting and beautiful that an otherwise perfect blue sky day seemed dull in comparison. 

What does this have to do with business or graphics?  Well whether it is your life, or your business, remember when those “cloudy skies” come, both literally or figuratively, to take the time to notice how it changes the landscape.  Does it make the colors pop? Does it make you realize something you hadn’t otherwise noticed about either the scenery or your life?  In your business, when those cloudy skies come, make the most of them.  Learn from them.  Is there a new marketing tactic that you can come up with to go along with the rain?

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time in Michigan and have made great friends and business connections that I hope to maintain.  The exciting part of this (other than moving to the outskirts of Chicago – which is arguably one of the coolest cities in the US) is that my business is flexible and virtual enough that I am able to take it with me, without interupting the work and relationships I’ve developed with my clients.

For example, I have one client for whom I’ve designed a logo, business cards, webpage, blog page, an ad and for whom I am doing regular marketing duties – and I’ve met him once, after doing most of this work.  And the face to face meeting wasn’t technically necessary, but more of an it would be nice to put a face to the name type thing.

So… I look forward to continuing to grow Green Otter, and continuing to get to know all of you even as I meet new people from Illinois.  And maybe I should figure out what you call people from Illinois…

One of the sections of my “Down and Dirty Marketing Plan” involves spelling out what  good or service you provide your customers.  And when it comes to answering this question, you need to dig a little deeper.  You have to know not only what literal good or service you provide, you need to know what your customers actually get.  Do your customers get a widget, or do they get what the widget does?

Once you can frame what you do in terms of what your clients actually get, it becomes a lot easier to market yourself.  Once you know what your clients get from you, you can better speak to the benefits of your product or service, rather than the features.  Because when you’re marketing, discussing benefits always has a better impact on your potential clients than features.  Example… which would you be more interested in… a widget with 3 splurgity gurgs and 200 whatchamacallits, or a widget that makes it easier to clean your bathroom?

So what do you do?

The moral… pay attention to the color of your text in relation to the background.  If you’re using a light color for your text, make sure there’s enough contrast between it and your background.  If there’s not, change the color.  Or add an effect such as drop shadow (in moderation) or an outline.  The same applies to dark text.  If your text is dark, don’t put it on a dark background without some sort of highlight or outline.

While most of the ads or print pieces you put out won’t have the ability to cause car accidents as speeding motorists squint to try to decipher your text, you still don’t want to make it any harder for your potential customers to read your message.

What are some problems you’ve seen with billboards or other materials making them hard to read?