What to do to reinforce your brand
Even in good years, a unique and clearly developed personality is important for businesses selling goods and services. With money tighter than ever and customers everywhere taking extra time to make sure they really need to spend anything, a good brand strategy is more important than ever. Your company must be uniquely focused and on-target so that customers will choose to spend their more limited resources on you. Here are some tips about how to make your brand recession resistant, without breaking your own budget.
- Set clear goals and know your audience. Learn who buys your products or services and target your marketing strategies to this audience. Once you have identified your focus, your brand awareness strategies can follow. Understand their changing needs as time passes – and focus on changing along with these needs so that you don’t lose consumer interest.
- Live your brand at all times. You never know when the person you are talking to will become a potential customer – or even an investor. If you want your product or service to be seen as professional and modern, you have to be professional and modern. Looking for funky and modern? Don’t bee seen as stodgy and old-fashioned. Always remember your employees as well – they are a walking, talking public relations and advertising department. Make sure they stand behind you!
- Use every low-cost (or even sometimes free!) “cheat” available to you. External branding and marketing are perhaps the most important place you can spend your dollars – stretch this money as far as you can!
Most paper manufacturers will offer free samples – take these samples and test your materials on them! Seeing something in real life instead of on a computer screen can make a world of difference during the design process.
Look into “open source” Internet management platforms. This refers to platforms formerly used by bloggers and private individuals for free; they are simple to figure out and can be used by companies to run news magazine sites, photo galleries, portfolios, e-commerce sites, and almost anything else you can dream up as useful for getting your business “out there” and noticed first among your competition. These platforms don’t need web design experts, either – most run on “what you see is what you get” layout programs, so anyone with a head for your product can work on them.
Ask about stock subscription services. Many design companies (including ours) subscribe to several and can pass the savings on to clients. Stock refers to a standard set of photos and graphics that are online and available for purchase – subscribing to a service that collects these images allows you to use them in your own documents. Compelling visuals are important – images stick with a customer much longer than words alone.
Get the most out of your printing contractor. Check the prices on your paper size options, and see if the printer charges extra for custom cuts or per fold. A good designer can create a stand-out design on a common sized piece of media that doesn’t need any extra cutouts to make an impact. Check your proof carefully for errors and then maximize each print run by paying for a bulk quantity – it will save you more than you think in time and liquid assets.