Marketing Archives - Page 3 of 5 - Prairie Magic Design

Taking the Next Step: Brand vs. Identity

November 10, 2015

In the marketing world, many people use the words ‘brand’ and ‘identity’ interchangeably. Even the best of the best in marketing do this on occasion, but is there actually a difference? Yes.

This blog will be the first in a series of blogs titled, “Taking the Next Step.” If you’re not having success in your marketing, follow us for ideas on how to proceed…

First, let’s discuss your brand. Is there anyone sitting around you right now that is familiar with your brand? If so, ask them (seriously – ask them right now) what words and/or emotions come to mind when they think of your brand? Take notes and really listen without interrupting (even if you disagree). This is your brand. Now, ask yourself, what stories come to my mind when you think about your brand? What about memories? This is your brand. Think about the relationships you have because of your business. This, too, is your brand.

A brand is the specific perception created in the minds of customers about a company’s products and/or services. It is how customers connect and relate to your company. When a marketeer asks about your brand, they want to know what it says about you. Many people understand this concept, but don’t get how their brand relates to the rest of their marketing…

A brand is like the brain. A brand is the driving force behind the marketing in a company, just like the

This is an awesome image we found about the brain and branding on another marketing site from cogent.

brain is the driving force behind many functions in our bodies. A company’s identity is like one of those functions. A company’s identity consists of all the visual devices that are used to communicate, symbolize, portray, and even reinforce a company’s brand. Think about your stationary, business cards, Website, key words, mission statement, colors, and even fonts. These are your company’s identity.

So the bottomline is that you brand is your company’s overall personality, while your company identity is all about the visuals that represent your personality.

How does this help you with a next step? Many customers call us and tell us they need to “rebrand,” but what they really need is help with their identity – collateral materials, Website, positioning. Others call us and tell us they need a new logo. Yet, when we ask them about their brand, it is all over the map and there is no consistent message. They need to start with a branding strategy. Hopefully this blog will help you determine what it is that your company really needs to move forward with a successful marketing plan.

Check back next Tuesday for the second blog in this series…What Comes First the Logo or the Company?

Gone are the days of print…NOT!

November 3, 2015

“Print will be dead soon.” “You need to go paperless.” “Are you still using a printer?”

We’ve all heard something like this at least once, but should you really stop printing marketing materials?

Definitely not.

The world of print is far from dead. In fact, it still serves an important role in marketing. While it is great – and necessary – to take advantage of digital marketing opportunities, to have a total integrated marketing approach, you will still spend some money on print.

So, what can print pieces do that digital marketing cannot?

Flyer designed for Old Town T-Shirts

Because printed pieces are tangible, they tend to hang around on desks and shelves and in homes and offices for a long time. A printed piece now could still be working for you later!
The physicality of a print piece can help establish your brand: weight, texture, look, and feel all say something about your brand. Did you use recycled paper or a high gloss, heavy weight? Did you go with a traditional post card or classic tri-fold or did you use a more innovative die-cut design?
A print piece gives you a few more seconds to get noticed! A Website is often skimmed in about 15 seconds. Some magazines are read for about 45 minutes.
By planning print pieces wisely you can still spend less money on print by driving viewers to your digital content. Integrating your print piece with coordinating landing page can actually get killer results!
Printing collateral is sometimes the only option, depending on your target audience!

Make sure to integrate QR codes and Social Media icons that will drive traffic online. Also, use special landing pages that coordinate with the look and feel of your campaigns so prospective customers will know they are in the right place when they find your page.

Postcard designed for Coupon Chuck. QR Codes are effective for getting people to take immediate action.

If you’re not sure about when a print piece is the way to go, or if you could use some help integrating your marketing campaigns for better results, call us. We want to put the magic in your marketing!

The New Entrepreneur

October 20, 2015

Today I met someone who is starting a new business. They wanted to know when – in the business planning process – is the right time to start thinking about marketing. The short answer is “right away.”

Your marketing is going to be the driver of so many things so the sooner you get started thinking about your brand and what story you want your business to tell, the sooner you can start thinking about some of the logistics like ordering signage, shop layout (if you have a physical location), and budgets.

We have met a lot of entrepreneurs that build their business first and worry about marketing later – this causes a lot of frustration and annoyance for the business owner. They usually end up spending money without thinking through the appropriate marketing processes. When they do finally take the time to execute this step, it is often too late to take back some of the original investments that were made. As an entrepreneur-in-the-making, you have the opportunity to break this cycle and do things the right way! One of the top three things most entrepreneurs claim they would do different if they could do it all over is branding. Many small businesses think they do not need a brand…they do not need a story. They do. We all do…if we want to be successful.

Working with a business-to-be is the best kind of project for us, but not for the reasons you might be thinking. We really like to be involved early on before the business launches because we are able to build a plan from the ground up with no pre-existing marketing decisions and investments to keep in mind. Often times we are asked to work on a rebranding strategy for a company, but we cannot change some of the larger investments until they become damaged or run out (e.g. shop signage, van wraps, stationary, business cards). While we completely understand these limitations (as we are also a small business), they do often require a soft launch of the rebrand. A soft launch is not a bad thing, it just leads to slower results (most people like to see big results right away). With a completely fresh slate, we are able to be as creative as we want and produce the best solution to get fast results.

Bottomline, if you are thinking about starting a business, you should be thinking about your marketing at the same time. It will help you to spend less money in the long run which will make your business more financially stable and consistent in the eyes of your community.

If you would like some assistance in the marketing process for a new business, we would love to learn more about what you are building and get an idea of when you are planning to launch. We will always work around your schedule to make sure we can meet your deadlines.

Know Your Budget (And a Special Offer for 2016)

October 4, 2015

Are you thinking about contracting someone like a graphic designer, web developer, or content expert for a project? If so, make sure you know your budget upfront before you start calling around and here’s why…

Most business owners are reluctant to share their budget with a prospective contractor. We completely understand this. What entrepreneur wouldn’t be worried that someone is trying to swindle all their hard-earned money! This is why you need to make sure you are very comfortable with this person when you hire them. Make sure you feel comfortable asking questions and holding your ground when you disagree. You are the customer.

Back to the importance of having a budget. Good contractors are not trying to just use all your money. If they know what you can afford upfront, they can be efficient in their planning and find ways to maximize your budget. They will be able to make suggestions for tools, resources, and ways to best utilize their time so you get exactly what you need and not what you think you need.

Make sure to save some of that revenue for marketing!

As a business owner, you should have a good idea of what you can spend on marketing. A good rule of thumb is to spend 5% of your revenue on marketing if you want to maintain your current position. If you want to grow, look at spending a little more like 10%. Highly competitive industries – retail, cars, pharmaceuticals – they can spend anywhere form 20% to 50%. It all just depends on company goals.

I you cannot afford to spend 5% of your revenue on marketing, choose the amount you can spend and be upfront with the contractor. If you are thinking about hiring a marketing consultant or graphic designer, they may suggest you start with the redevelopment of your logo and slowly redesign all of your marketing pieces so that it fits your budget over a longer period of time. Or maybe they work with you on a specific customer retention campaign. Depending on the success of the campaign, you may be able to use some of that revenue to fund your marketing needs.

Let’s look at some examples of why it’s important to have a budget…

Example 1:
Customer calls a graphic designer and says, “I need a new Website and all new marketing materials to match. How much will this cost?” Although the designer asks for more information, the customer just “wants a ballpark.” (We hear this often.) With no knowledge of what the customer is really trying to achieve, something like this could cost up to $10,000, depending on how big and complex the Website is and how many marketing materials there are and if there is a rebranding phase that needs to happen. The designer gets back to the customer and quotes $10,000. Customer never calls the designer back because they only have $2,000 to spend. Everyone loses.

Example 2:
The same customer calls a graphic designer and says “I need a new Website and all new marketing materials to match. How much will this cost?” The designer asks a lot of questions that will lead them to the underlying issue which might be that the customer feels their Website is a bit outdated and hard to use, and they think all their marketing materials need to be changed, just because their Website is changing. The customer tells the contractor he only has $2,000 to spend. This helps the contractor put a plan together in the first round that is affordable and provides options for the customer. Maybe the designer can move the Website to a new platform that is more user-friendly for the customer to update himself and the designer can use much of the existing content, saving the customer some money. Also, the logo and branding is not old, just needs refreshing, and the marketing materials could be completed in phases to make it more cost effective for the customer. In the end, the customer received a plan that was more customized to their real-time needs and budget. Because he received a more accurate proposal, the customer can choose to not move forward with the plan, move forward with the plan as is, or maybe even choose to have some new content created for his Website because this is more affordable than he originally thought.

Proposals are much more useful when they are truly customized, but it is very difficult to prepare something like this when you have no idea how much someone is willing to spend.

SPECIAL OFFER from Prairie Magic Design…

Because we’re nearing the end of the year and we know several people are working on their budgets for 2016, we are offering priority placement in our 2016 project schedule for those people who contact us now to start talking about their marketing and branding needs. If we start the dialogue now, we can identify what it is that will help your business grow and you can determine in advance where and how you want to spend that money next year. It’s a great opportunity to help you plan and make sure you get on our VIP customer list at no charge for 2016!

Making Your Website the Foundation of Your Marketing

September 14, 2015

Most entrepreneurs are so busy trying to keep up with the demands of daily customer needs, worrying about marketing and updating a Website often feels like the least important task that needs to happen. The truth is, your Website is the backbone – your foundation – for getting new business. Your face-to-face session might be what seals the deal, but you have to make sure your foundation is holding all the current pieces together while maintaining stability for future growth.

Also, keep in mind that throwing a Website up and not touching it again for two years, is not really a good option either. You need to be checking your Website and making sure it works (that customers are visiting your site and finding what they need). If it’s not working, you need to spend time getting it right (or at least find someone who will).

If you are not finding the time to update your Website or track your visitors, here are some things to consider:
· What platform are you using? Some platforms can be tedious for non-tech savvy people to use. If you think your site is just too difficult to update, consider talking to us about what it would take to get your Website into an easier platform like WordPress. If all your content is usable and working well for your customers, it might not cost as much (or take as much time) as you think. The time-saving payoffs could be a great return in the end.
· Do you have an employee that you could assign this task to? If you are faster at sketching out your Website updates on a piece of paper and handing them off, do it! You might have some young techy on your staff who can make Web updates in the time it can take you to turn a computer on. Don’t be ashamed, just use the resource.
· Is it hard to remember to go out and track your Web stats? Google Analytics can track how useful your Website actually is by measuring a variety of stats. It will even run reports and email you numbers on a routine basis so it’s like having someone send you reports when you need them. If it comes straight to your inbox, it’s a little harder to ignore!

When planning a special campaign, make sure your Website is updated accordingly. Many businesses will throw out some fliers or mail postcards that boast a special for new customers. When the recipient of those materials receives the marketing piece, (if they have an interest) the first thing they do is turn to the Internet! There is nothing more frustrating than going to a Website to learn more about deal and not being able to find anything. Make sure to integrate your marketing and use your Website for everything it should be. This accomplishes several things:
1. It will allow you to create a more attractive marketing piece! Rather than junking it up with 20,000 words on a 4” x 6” postcard, you can actually take advantage of white space and people might pay more attention to what you have to say – there is something to be said for aesthetics. Tease customers with only the information you need to get them to your Website.
2. Use the space of your Website to further explain the special offer. Just make sure the special offer information is accessible from your home page and easy to find!
3. By getting people to visit your Website, you can cross-pollinate them with information! They may not end up being interested in whatever special you are offering, but they might find something else of interest on your Website…something that you would not have had space to mention on the postcard.

It’s been our experience that most people who feel investing in their Website is unnecessary also think the costs are astronomical. We’re here to tell you today’s technology makes it more affordable than you think. If you’re on the fence, call us for more information.