Strong Business Card Design

The business card is the most powerful weapon in your arsenal. It leaves a remembrance of you and your business (good or bad) to those you have made contact with.

When having your cards designed, here is a tip I use consistently. Always use both sides. Use one side for just the logo and the other for your contact information. Normally people associate the side with the contact information on it as the 'front' of the card. I would like for you to reverse that thinking. The logo side is the most effective side for branding your name. Here's why: if you hand someone a card with the contact information up the fist thing they look for is a name (your logo gets neglected) and then have no reason to turn it over. They may not even realize it's two sided. If you hand them the card with the logo side up they are forced to see the logo which is immediately branded to their memory. In an effort to find your contact information, they must turn the card over. The key is to make your contact spend as much time with your card as possible. And by using this tip, you gain much more. Above you will see an example of my business card.

Another thing I want to stress is quality. I see a lot of glossy, four-color business cards out there that really don't do much for one's image. Sure, they're inexpensive but it's well worth a few extra dollars to have your cards professionally printed on quality paper. Many people feel that four-color is the way to go but I'm sure you would be amazed what a quality designer can do with just two. If you run the type of business where you give away tons of cards, it may be in your best interest to have two separate sets. One inexpensive set for mass mailings and one quality set used for networking and sales meetings. This would help cut the cost of doing large runs of the more expensive cards.

Psychological Properties of Color

Color is a very powerful and versatile beast. When utilized properly, color can convey emotions and responses far beyond words. I’ve always found the psychological traits of color an interesting subject. Below are some properties associated with some primary colors and some interesting international and historical significances.

Blue
Often considered a safe global color, blue represents peace, stability, unity, trust, security and technology. Because of this, blue is often used in business to reflect trust.

• Blue is often associated with immortality for the Chinese.
• In the Jewish faith blue is attributed to holiness.
• To protect themeselves against eveil, ancient Egyptian pharaohs wore blue robes.
• Today, Police and other public servants of today wear blue which began in ancient Rome.

Red
Red is the first color that the human eye responds to making it virtually unignorable. It is for this reason that we use red for emergency and directional signals. The color can stimulate all kinds of senses including warmth, hunger, aggravation and passion. We associate red with love, danger, desire, speed, strength and blood.

• Red is the color most commonly found in national flags.
• In China red symbolizes celebration and luck and is used in many cultural ceremonies.
• In India red is the color of purity.
• For the ancient Romans, a red flag was a signal for battle.

Green
Most-often cited (internationally) as a favorite color, green represents environment, health, good luck, youth, vigor, generosity, fertility and jealousy. Green as the color of nature is regarded as a healing color.

• Studies indicate green is not a good color choice for packaging in France or China.
• In ancient Greece, green symbolized victory.
• In some tropical countries green is associated with danger.
• In China, green hats mean a man's wife is cheating on him.

Purple
In ancient times, purple was regarded as an extremely noble color as it was very hard (and expensive) to produce. Today the exotic color represents royalty, spirituality, ceremony, mystery, wisdom and enlightenment.

• Purple robes are an emblem of authority and rank.
• Leonardo da Vinci believed that the power of meditation increases 10 times when done in a purple light, as in the purple light of stained glass.
• Purple in a child's room is said to help develop the imagination according to color theory.

Yellow
Yellow represents joy, happiness, idealism, imagination, hope, sunshine, gold, spirituality and friendship. Within the animal kingdom, the combination of red or black with yellow is a highly visual warning to predators to be considered lethal.

• According to studies, most American's prefer yellows that are warmer in hue.
• In Asia yellow is sacred, and imperial.
• In India, yellow is the symbol for a merchant or farmer.

Black
The color black represents power, sophistication, formality, wealth, mystery, anonymity, and depth. Black, or the absence of light, is a versatile color as it can represent both highly positive or negative attributes depending on it's context.

• The ancient Egyptians and Romans used black for mourning, as do most Europeans and Americans today.
• Black is associated with sophistication and elegance.
• The ancient Egyptians believed that black cats had divine powers.

White
The color white represents purity, simplicity, cleanliness, peace, humility, precision, innocence, youth and winter. Due to white's representation of purity we tend to associate it with good as oposed to evil.

• A white flag is the universal symbol for truce.
• The ancient Greeks wore white to bed to ensure pleasant dreams.
• The ancient Persians believed all gods wore white.
• The Egyptian pharaohs wore white crowns.

Guerilla Marketing Through Timing

When the economy slows and business expenses are forced to reduction, it may seem that your advertising budget would be the easiest to cut. But cutting this will reduce or eliminate the very activities that will bring in new customers. Likewise, it is at this time that large companies start pulling their mass advertising in order to cut budgets - and advertising budgets are usually the first to go. This is the time when small businesses should pump up or at least maintain their advertising efforts while the large companies are losing audience. When high-dollar advertisers cut back on spending, advertising rates are forced to drop in order to attract small business. This window of opportunity gives small businesses a chance at advertising positions that may have previously been financially infeasible.

There are generally specific times of the year that large companies intentionally increase or decrease their advertising. The purpose is to reduce costs during slow periods of the year so that more money can be devoted to advertising budgets during more prosperous seasons. For instance, notice how department stores such as Target will saturate the marketing with advertising in August (for back to school promotions) and again before the holidays. This activity will increase advertising costs across the board during those seasons.

This is true for all industries although the seasons can be different. Being in the vacation and tourism industry our promotional seasons change not only by periods throughout the year, but also by destination. For example, summer is a peak vacation season for Orlando. But other destinations such as the Smoky Mountains or Park City peak in fall and winter.

Every industry has these time fluctuations and knowing them can give you a huge competitive advantage. The key is to use the slow periods to your advantage.

The Four P's

Back in college, as with most young students, I thought quite frequently that much of what we were learning in school would never be used in the real world. The irony of this is that much of what I learned in the most basic of marketing courses keep coming up in brainstorming sessions. Just this morning, as a matter of fact, I was reminded of The Four P's while discussing strategies for the roll-out of new vacation package promotions.

It got me to thinking that sometimes we do need to go back to basics when conceiving business strategies. Many times we get hung up on promoting our products while neglecting other important factors that could affect sales.

An important strategy in maintaining a healthy balance is called The Four P's which stand for Product, Price, Place and Promotion. Allow me to break it down:

Product
Concept, development and implementation of the best product possible that will generate demand from a given target market.

Price
Determining the best possible price in order to maximize profitability while maintaining a competitive advantage.

Place (or distribution)
This refers to both the location of the sale whether it be a physical location or through virtual channels. This also refers to the distribution and delivery channels by which the customer purchases and receives the product or service.

Promotion
Promotion refers to the development and delivery of messages designed to call customers to action with regard to purchasing or following a product.

Think of every 'P' as a leg of a stool. When one leg is cut short, the stool becomes unstable. Most businesses tend to focus more on the promotion part and neglect attention to the other important areas of the business. All the promotion in the world may not make up for a badly priced, low quality product. The key is to maintain focus equally to all four legs in order to remain fully competitive in the market.

Being Logo Wise

One subject that keeps coming up among designers and business owners alike today is the subject of inexpensive logo houses. For those of you who are unaware, there is a recent sprouting of companies known to crank out logos at an alarming rate for a very inexpensive price - some as low as $25. Some of the bigger ones include: logodesignpros.com, execulogo.com, logotwister.com, thelogocompany.net and the most infamous of them all logoworks.com.

These sites hire or put jobs up for bid to a list of members that typically include young students and internationals who can afford the time and effort for a small cut of the price. For instance, LogoWorks charges customers between $299 and $749 for a logo. They put this job up for bid to their member designers who will compete to receive $50-$70 if their logo is chosen.

Unfortunately, this has even worse side effects that are extremely detrimental to the client. Because these members are making only $50 per logo it has become a common practice to copy existing logos on the market. So, the end result is either low quality work or one that has been copied or recycled from existing trademarks. For a small, start-up business, that is bad news indeed as it will drop you in court faster than you can say, "trademark infringement".

Below is an excerpt from an interview with a member designer from LogoWorks.com who shall remain nameless:

"I know for a fact that a regular practice is to find a logo that already exists and merely change it a bit and send it off. The sheer number of logos moving through there essentially forces most designersto resort to this sort of behavior in order to make working for logoworks a cost-effective job. I'm also aware that designers work together outside of logoworks/arteis to share their logos, so as to merely 'recycle' their own logos amongst clients."

To the left is a few examples of logos designed by LogoWorks that (believe it or not) actually show up in their logo gallery. The one labeled 'Original' is a previously-existing trademarked logo. The one labeled 'Hack' is one designed recently by LogoWorks. You be the judge.

CLICK the image for a larger view.

Logos Speak Louder Than Words

For my first tip, I thought I would start with logo design and how it affects your business. I thought this was fitting as it typically is the first step in developing a business. Below is an excerpt from an article I wrote recently for a national trade magazine, Plumbing Perspective.

"Successful marketing is central to a prosperous and profitable business. Accomplishing this means giving your business a voice that speaks great volumes in terms of branding and advertising. This voice is spoken through many forms of communication including the company logo, business cards, print ads, web sites, packaging, brochures, sales presentations, commercials and anything else that can be seen or perceived by potential customers.

Many companies are learning quickly that a credible brand image is the pillar to a successful organization. Consumers are interested in benefits associated with a product rather than the product itself. Despite popular belief, this is even true during a recessive economy when consumers and businesses with purchasing power are growing more fickle about vendors they choose to work with. They want the comfort of knowing they are dealing with a solid organization backed by stability, integrity, and professionalism. Your brand should be one that not only symbolizes what you do, but what your business stands for and how you conduct business. This brand must shine brightly as a leader in the industry and be consistent throughout all of your marketing materials starting with the logo.

Your logo is the first tool used by audiences to develop an opinion about your company, thereby, making it the point of first impression. This initial impression can either make or break the sale. Take a look at your current logo for a moment, if you have one, and answer these few questions. Better yet, ask someone who knows nothing about your business to answer these questions for you. What does this logo say about your business, if anything? When compared to competitor logos, would you be drawn to choose your company or the competition? Is it powerful enough to attract your target market? Does this logo represent what you do? Does it offer a sense of stability, integrity and professionalism?

If you don’t feel strongly about how you answered these questions, it may be time to reevaluate the logo’s effectiveness for your organization. Because of its importance to your business integrity, you should feel comfort in taking the time and resources necessary to develop and maintain a powerful brand identity. Hire a professional agency or designer who has a firm background in marketing since this process should involve extensive market research and an understanding of your business. Do not simply hire an illustrator, as they may not have the experience necessary to understand what will work within your target market. It will be well worth your money in the long run to hire the right people for this job."

Welcome

First I'd like to welcome you to my new blog. I decided to start this archive as a resource for small business owners and those starting a new business. I hope to make this a useful tool for you in finding new and powerful ways of marketing and advertising your business. With over 10 years of experience working with small business and Fortune 500 businesses alike, I have gained much knowledge in helping those businesses take the next step to success.

Here you will find daily tips (as often as possible anyway) on marketing and advertising for your small business. I find that every day brings about new ideas and concepts that I feel this will be a good outlet for.

Stay tuned, and feel free to let me know if there are particular subjects you would like more information on along the way.

Thanks and take care,
Shawn Porter
Creative Director & Owner - Regal Studio.com