Xtreme Creative Systems » business

Marketing Project Creativity and Management – Part One

radzi — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 17:46:02 +0000

The longest project is the one you don’t get started, and frequently where to begin is a problem. Knowing where to start is a boon, so here we’re going to cover some structure to provide over the creative process and which will help you manage the whole process while keeping it on track to help your business. It doesn’t matter whether you are creating a marketing brochure or a humble flyer, the principles are all the same, however you will need more of these basics applied when you deal with more complicated or larger projects. The Marketing Blueprint Establish a blueprint and then stick to it – this is your guide through the desert, so while you may exercise flexibility, you also should be careful that everyone is sticking to the plan too. A blueprint helps you be effective, stick to budget and be able to measure the results against your benchmark standards. Review Examples Find examples of work which has already been done, either by you or by someone else, especially competitors. Look at how this has been approached in the past and what has worked and what has not

Effective Company Newsletter Tips

radzi — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 17:32:47 +0000

Customer newsletters are one way of keeping yourself connected to your customers and prospects. Good newsletters inform and educate and bring interesting information and opportunities to the reader. Just as there are good newsletters there are bad ones, so take a look at these fast tips to ensure you create the former and not the latter. Be Relevant, Be Meaningful We touched on this briefly; to be interesting you need to be relevant and give meaningful information. Readers will follow what you have to say, but to be sure you are not simply sending tomorrow’s trash complement the promotional, sales orientated aspects of the newsletter with practical tips and advice or Q&A’s. Use Templates You don’t have to re-invent the wheel and there is no need to have journalistic or editorial experience.

Effective Company Newsletter Tips

darkN — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 17:32:47 +0000

Unique Logo Design Issues

darkN — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 12:11:47 +0000

Logos are an integral part of creating your business identity and they are especially valuable when it comes to creating a brand. You need to have a logo which is unique and the reasons for this are two-fold. First, a unique logo will satisfy the desire of many people to have a visual representation of your business

Business Card Design Tips

radzi — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 12:06:53 +0000

The humble business card is probably the most important and powerful business stationery tool for promoting your business and yourself. Making the most out of this extremely popular and never-sleeping salesman is essential for your business, so while there is no hard and fast set of rules to designing them, here are some tips and guide pointer to help you.

Uniformity of Message

darkN — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 05:31:19 +0000

The most important element of your business printed material is not the presentation; not the graphics; not the layout; not the paper; not the fonts and colors. The most important element of any business print job is the message – the printed word. “Uniformity of message” simply means that all of your business communications relay the same message

Calendar Print Tips

radzi — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 06:31:33 +0000

Calendars are a great promotional tool for use with clients and prospects – they follow one very important sales rule – they are in front of the client all of the time! If you print calendars up for use with your clients and prospects there are some simple rules to follow when putting the design together. Use Good Quality Materials You need to have a superior print finish for a calendar to be used by a customer. They are not going to hang something on the wall if it made from poor quality paper or has a poor print finish. Do not skimp on the cost of the materials and work with your print partner to deliver the best result for your budget. It is better to reduce the print run and be more selective in handing the calendars out to people than have a larger print run of poor quality (as many will never be used). Include an Appointment Book Making sure there is adequate space to include appointments and key dates is a good tip – make sure you include all the key dates that you can think of

Focus on One Message at a Time

radzi — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 14:10:45 +0000

Whatever the business communication you are working on, even if it is not something for business use, the art of getting your message across is to concentrate on putting into words and images what is in your head. This is what writing is really about – conveying your thoughts into a message which will be understood in someone else’s head and as a print design tip, it is one of the most powerful. Two things come out of this – firstly, that it is important you think clearly and are able to visualize what you intend to have as a finished product to offer your audience; this includes conceptualizing the entire process from first encounter with a prospect, the anticipated journey through the buying process and the final delivery and after-sales care which you want to deliver.

Secondly, while you want to conceive of a clear message from your side of the divide, you want the prospect to understand your message – for them to understand the problem they have, for them to realize this can be tackled and that it is in their interests to act, and when they decide to act, that they understand you are the provider of the solution above all others. This is a lot to take in but we can boil this down to very simple concepts and the most important is to focus your ad, your section of a brochure, your chapter in a white paper – whatever the print project is – to focus on selling one thing at a time! Let’s take an ad – how many times have you seen an ad which has a great product or service with a fantastic price, but you can’t see where you have to call or email or what you are supposed to do? There is just too much information being thrown at you from the piece that you suffer overload? In fact, you probably are not aware of any such ads because your brain has automatically shut them off from your consciousness - it is only when you go looking for bad examples that you will become aware of them.

The rule is – one ad – one message. This does not preclude you from exercising your creativity – it is not enough to say, “Buy this one now! Call 800-800-8080!” Pick one of your products and then reverse engineer; look at what the product is able to do, what purpose does it serve, what unique problems or applications does it have? Once you have identified these, what are known as Unique Selling Points or USP’s, you can then identify the target market which this problem afflicts; you can now craft your ad very specifically and very deliberately telling this target section that you have the answer and they need to buy your product. This is important as if you leave focus, your ad, your brochure, even your simplest of business cards, will become muddled and incoherent and this reflects on your business and you.

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Focus on One Message at a Time

Insist on Quality Images and Design When You Are Using Them

darkN — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:42:43 +0000

Using images and designs in your document can make or break the impression it creates. With the advent of desktop publishing, anyone with a printer and computer felt they could now take their monthly newsletter in-house and wow their staff and colleagues with computer know-how.

Unfortunately, many have felt that they can add some X-Factor with clients and prospects and this is a one-way road to disaster. Clip-art has its uses but client facing documents and any document which is being used outside of a business is not one of them. Clip-art is cheap and can be fun when it is being used for the club newsletter or to announce a family event such as a house move or a party. Clip-art has no place in a document you seriously expect a potential customer to pick-up, read and then contact you with the intention of doing some business. Clip-art is free for a reason – it doesn’t sell your document, your business or your services and products. Using photographs is a double-edged sword.

Good photographs and images are usually not free; many images have a copyright restriction attaching to them and if you do not own the rights to the image or have permission to use it, you are in for a legal shock. Using photographs without the copyright holder’s permission can lead to legal action for damages and compensation. It can even lead to you having to go through the expensive exercise of throwing your document away in the trash because you cannot get permission at all. Very embarrassing and not recommended – always make sure you have permission or own the image. If you are taking the photographs yourself, makes sure they are of appropriate quality. Nothing speaks “amateur hour” more than a slightly out of focus shot or one where the subject is not properly positioned. Using a photograph of a product is important because this is establishing the visualization in the mind of the reader – it pays to take the time to get the product positioned in the proper setting and to ensure you are capturing the detail necessary.

It is usually cost effective to hire a professional photographer to perform the shots for you. Getting the photographs wrong may render your entire document ineffectual and force you to incur extra expense and delay in getting the shots done again. Frequently, design projects are up against deadlines and tight schedules, and making this mistake leads to additional costs elsewhere in the production process which will more than outweigh the cost of a professional. You must also ensure that the images produced are available in a format which will allow your print and design partners to manage and manipulate effectively. Poor or incorrect resolution, ill-lit images or incorrect format can all lead to a significant deterioration of the finished product and may render them unusable when it comes to the final production run.

This just underlines how important it is to make sure that everyone involved in the creation of your document knows what they are doing and what is expected from them as well as the consequences of missing deadlines.

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Insist on Quality Images and Design When You Are Using Them