Archive for the ‘Branding’ Category

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Do your marketing tools focus on YOU or your PROSPECTS? Take a quick quiz!

Tuesday, November 29th, 2011

December 2011

A client pointed out that the projects my team and I create – websites, one-sheets, and other marketing tools – successfully “encapsulate” what the target audience really wants; they don’t simply describe the product or service being sold. In other words, the copy focuses on the benefits and results the target audience receives. I asked my team member Patrice Rhoades-Baum to address this idea. Patrice is a marketing consultant specializing in branding for solopreneurs and micro-businesses, and she’s an expert copywriter for websites and one-sheets.

Do your marketing tools focus on YOU or your PROSPECTS? Take a quick quiz!

By Patrice Rhoades-Baum

Decades ago, I learned this marketing maxim: Your customers are always listening to radio station WIFM: What’s In it For Me? It’s a well-worn phrase, but it’s right on the money.

Throughout my 30-year marketing career, I’ve held onto this adage like a touchstone in a pocket. Why? Because WIFM reminds me to focus on the prospects and their needs or challenges. WIFM reminds me to look for the top benefit or result that prospects receive, whether I’m branding a client’s business or writing copy for websites and one-sheets.

Remember: It’s about THEM. It’s not about you.

Weirdly, the key messages in your brand, on your website, and in your marketing tools shouldn’t place the emphasis on you, your services, or your products. Instead, the focus should be on the prospects’ needs and how your services and products meet those needs. For many solopreneurs, this is a 180-degree shift in thinking.

Why is benefit-driven copy important?

Copy that clearly states the top, resonating benefit helps prospects quickly connect the dots and answer their key question: “What’s in it for me?”

Example 1: Let’s say a corporate manager seeks a teambuilding expert, visits a consultant’s website, and sees this tagline: “We Are the Teambuilding Experts.” The prospect’s response: “Hmm, I know what this business offers, but can this consultant successfully address my challenge? I need to spend more time at this website – or go to another website.”

Example 2: The manager visits another consultant’s website and sees this tagline: “Create a Dynamic, Inspired Team of Leaders.” The prospect’s response: “I’ve landed at the right place! This consultant gets my immediate need – and my long-term goal. I’d like to learn more.”

Is your marketing copy YOU-focused? Take a quick quiz!

Go to your website and print out your Services page (or your Home page, a landing page, or an article you’ve written). Now follow these two steps:

  1. Circle the words we and our in red, count them, and write down the number.
  2. Circle the words you and your in blue, count them, and write down the number.

How did you do? Ideally, the words you and your appear more frequently than the words we and our. If not, rework sentences to shift the focus to the prospect.

Here’s an example:

  • WE-focused: We have provided reliable, award-winning products since 2003. Plus, we offer our customers 24×7 customer service.
  • YOU-focused: Since 2003, customers like you have turned to us for reliable, award-winning products. Plus, if you need assistance, our 24×7 customer-service reps are here to help you.

With benefit-driven marketing tools, your prospects will instantly grasp the top benefit without puzzling out “how does this relate to me?” And they can immediately answer their key question: “What’s in it for me?”

About Patrice Rhoades-Baum, Branding & Website Expert

Specializing in Small-Biz Branding and Expert Copywriting for Websites and One-Sheets

Backed by 30 years of strategic marketing communications, Patrice teams with professional speakers, authors, and consultants to clarify their brand and write copy for their new website and one-sheet. An expert copywriter, Patrice has been published in Fortune magazine. She is creator of the forthcoming product Nail Your Brand: A 5-Step System to Brand Your Business. Learn more at www.BrandingAndWebsites.com.

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Karen Saunders is the owner of MacGraphics Services, a unique graphic design firm for today’s entrepreneur. Get your copy of her free audio: Put the Bling Into Your Brand and free eCourse: 5 Deadly Design Mistakes that Could Kill a Sale and How to Avoid Them by visiting http://www.macgraphics.net/FreeStuff.php You can also contact her at 888-796-7300, or Karen@macgraphics.net.

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Posted in Branding, Marketing, Uncategorized, Website Design, Websites, tag lines | No Comments »

Branding, Website and Book Covers: Tying It All Together

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010

August 2010

My team has just completed a series of projects for our new client, author and speaker Bill Young. The posted portfolio samples and case study information show you how we created a new brand and worked together to keep the graphics consistent throughout his website, book covers, CD label and stationery items.

An accomplished business and community leader, Bill Young has created and sold businesses, is spearheading efforts to raise millions of dollars to fund a healthcare start-up company, and has led teams of volunteers to raise millions for Denver-based charities.

Given his expertise in raising funds for non-profit organizations and start-up businesses, Bill decided to create a consulting and speaking business to share his fundraising expertise and generate revenue. To launch his new business venture, he turned to our team for help. Here’s how we did it:

First, Patrice Rhoades-Baum teamed with Bill to clarify his new company’s services, target audience, their challenges and needs, and Bill’s top benefit message. They selected a new domain name:

BillYoungInspires.com

Next Patrice wrote his taglines and website copy. His tagline reflects both the value he provides and the benefits his clients receive:

Inspiring you to raise more funds & achieve your vision

In addition, she created a longer “descriptive tagline,” which also serves as Bill’s elevator pitch:

Inspiring entrepreneurs and not-for-profit leaders to create relationships, raise more funds, and build a great organization.

After creating this brand foundation, our team tackled multiple projects simultaneously. Lauren Klopfenstein designed his logo and website. Kerrie Lian also created his CD label, two book covers and interiors. I designed the business cards, letterhead and envelopes. Please note, the images below are not actual size.

Bill is ecstatic about the results. This marketing and collateral package creates a solid foundation – truly a launchpad – for his new business. “Your team was fantastic,” Bill says. “Your process made it easy for me to connect my new brand, content, and service options, keeping all assets consistent. More important, this will help me create revenue.”


Logo with Tagline:


Business Card Front:

Business Card Back:

Website Home Page:

First Book Cover:


Second Book Cover:


CD Label:


Letterhead:

Envelope:

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Karen Saunders is the author of  Turn Eye Appeal into Buy Appeal: How to easily transform your marketing pieces into dazzling, persuasive sales tools! Learn more about her book and get free instant access to her eCourse:
5 Deadly Design Mistakes that Could Kill a Sale and How to Avoid Them, and audio class:
Put the Bling Into Your Brand” at www.macgraphics.net/

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The Yellow Brick Roadmap to Develop Your Brand, Website and Marketing Materials

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010


March 1, 2010

This month I have something very special for you.

You are invited to hear my presentation at the Virtual Women’s Economic Summit. It is entitled: “Branding, Logo, and Website, Oh My!” The Yellow Brick Roadmap to Develop Your Brand, Website and Marketing Materials.


This is a FREE 60-minute audio recording in Q&A format.

First I will describe how a branding assessment clarifies the fundamentals of your business. Then I’ll show you the most important key elements and why you definitely need a brand. Finally, I’ll explain how to leverage your time, effort and dollars by creating a solid brand foundation for your “brand volcano.” Sound intriguing? You’ll also receive a 16-page color handout with lots of graphic samples. How cool is that?

But you’ll have to hurry, the Virtual Women’s Economic Summit 2010 will take place next week!

That’s March 1-5, 2010. Here’s the link to register:

http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?Clk=3548045

Do you every wonder why a competitor’s business get more attention than yours? Why do they sell more than you do? Convert more traffic?

The answer may have to do with the elements that go into how memorable the business is, defining your target market, and clarifying the key benefits your clients receive. And that has to do with branding.

But exactly what is branding, anyway? And how do you take your business through the branding process? What comes first, the brand, logo or your website? Do you need really need a logo? Are you totally confused and don’t know where to turn or invest your marketing dollars? Are you about ready to say . . .

“Branding, Logo, and Website, Oh My!?”

Here’s my presentation outline:

A. Definitions

  • What is a Brand?
  • What is a Logo?
  • What is a Branding Assessment?
  • What is a Business/Corporate Identity Package?

B. What are the Key Elements of Your Brand?

C. Why Do You Need a Brand? What are the Benefits?

D. The Yellow Brick Roadmap

E. The Brand Volcano: A visual image of the process

F. Why Use a Team?

You really owe it to yourself to register for this event.

Although the content is directed to businesswomen, they tell me no one will be checking ID’s at the (virtual) door, so the men out there can listen in on the strategies that will be shared.

http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?Clk=3548045

Here is a partial list of the other fantastic speakers and their topics:

Patricia Drain: “Monetize Your Gifts!” . . . and begin creating multiple streams of income today!

Margie Zable Fisher: “Get National Publicity - Quickly and Easily”

Katie Gutierrez: “Secrets to Increasing Your Productivity & Income”

Denise Hedges: “Market Like a Pro” . . . The Secrets You Don’t Know!

Janet Macdaniel: “Keeping You on the Right Path” . . . Avoiding 7 Deadly Mistakes in Internet Marketing

Lynn Pierce: “Blueprint for Success” . . .Live Your True Passion and Wealth

http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?Clk=3548045

If you have all the business you want, no need for you to register. If you don’t, you’ll want to register to find better ways to market, sell and propel your business to where you’d like to be.

By attending this virtual tele-summit, you’ll get loads of innovative ideas and strategies for generating new business –  all from the comfort of your home or office.

Check it out for yourself. I know you’ll agree with me.

This is a not-to-miss event!

http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?Clk=3548045

See you there,

Warmly,

MacGraphics Services

“Where your ideas become distinctive designs”

Website: http://www.macgraphics.net

http://www.BuyAppealMarketing.com

Toll-free: 888-796-7300

MacGraphics Services

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How to brand your business and launch your brand online . . . without losing your money or your mind!

Wednesday, May 27th, 2009


June 2009 Issue

How to brand your business and launch your brand online . . . without losing your money or your mind!

A great idea can hit you anywhere. It can wake you at 2:00 a.m., so compelling that you jump out of bed, put on a pot of coffee, and begin outlining your business plan.

Remember, though, in the heady rush of dreaming up the business, to build a launching pad for it. In other words, a presence on the Internet. Because in today’s buzzword search-engine climate, a website is the most powerful marketing and sales tool available to any company, large or small, cottage industry or inspired solopreneur.

You don’t need to be a cyber-genius to go online and get results. But unless you have a clear business objective and message, you could waste a lot of time and money without accomplishing much. Here are seven steps to guide you in developing your website. Use this system as a clear roadmap, so you don’t find yourself wandering in circles. Don’t lose your mind — just grab a grande latte, sit down and think things through; ask yourself questions you probably already know the answers to.

Step 1: Strategize

Talk strategy with your website designer — clarify how your business goals and objectives translate to a website. You can’t create an effective website design if you don’t know what you want the website to do for you.

Step 2: Define Your Target Market and Niche

What overall customer base do you serve? — that’s your target market. Who are they? Any particular field or industry? What characteristics, interests, or needs do they have in common? Within that customer base, find a smaller group that’s a more specific fit for your product or service, and which may not be served by your competitors; or both — that’s your niche. If your target market is people in job search, for instance, your niche might be people in job search, over 50, who don’t just want to change jobs, they want to change careers.

Why do you need to define your target market and niche? Because: (1) you can’t be all things to all people; (2) you and your customer base need to find one another; and (3) the more specific you get, the more your niche will feel you understand them and can serve their specific needs.

Step 3: Position Yourself

If you’ve done your homework, then you’ve researched the competition. Who are they? What sets you apart in terms of customer base, quality, service, and other aspects? What makes you unique? Look for gaps in the market that aren’t being served – those gaps will help you position yourself and define your niche. Plus, it’ll help you hone your offerings, making you the expert who is sought out for your know-how.

Step 4: Describe “What” and “How”

Whether you’re selling a product or a service, what you’re offering has to solve something or offer something for your customers. How it does that is key to making them choose you — delivering the goods. If you can’t describe the “what” element, your customers won’t know you have a product or service that might benefit them. If you can’t describe the “how” element, your customers won’t be clear that it is doable, usable, and of value. The “how” element also gives, in precise terms, the ways in which the product or service will provide the results customers want. It is a descriptive roadmap from Point A (their need or want) to Point B (the results or benefits).

Step 5: Brand Yourself

Let’s say you’ve already named your business. Now you need images, words, feelings, to make it distinctive. To make it a brand. Branding involves several elements:

• Perception – How do you want your customers/clients to think about your business? How would your customers describe you and your business? What value do your products/services provide, and how do you want the world to perceive that value?

• Logo – Clarify your message based upon the perception you want your customers to have about your business, your niche, and how you want to position yourself. Distill that into an image that will be the visual representation of your company: your logo.

• Tagline – Then translate that into a powerful, compelling tagline. Keep it brief (3-7 words). Make it memorable. Be sure it fits your business. The best taglines are evocative, meaning they conjure images, thoughts, and feelings.

• Graphics – Choose visuals that best express and integrate with your logo and tagline. Support your message with every visible aspect: colors, typeface, styles, and other graphic elements.

Step 6: Create Your Website

The nature of your business will drive and designate your website by topic — e.g., content, features, directions, contact info, blogs, links, biography, photos, itineraries. Then start writing your copy, making sure its tone fits the website design. State the key benefits clients will receive, the key values you deliver, the key concerns you share.

What topics your does website needs to cover? — use that list to create your website pages. For example, a lecturer or public speaker may need a:

• Home page
• About page
• Who We Serve page
• Presentations/Keynotes page
• Workshops, Classes, and/or Retreats page
• Products (books, CDs, DVDs) page; Shopping Cart
• Meeting Planners page; Contact page
• Blog page; Resources page; E-zine; Special Reports
• Media page/Press room

Design and develop your site using your visual brand elements (logo, color). Review and test it before going live, to make sure everything works, error-free. Offer a free report or e-zine that provides value to website visitors, while building your list at the same time.

Subscribe to an auto-responder program, to make it easy to follow up with prospects and send out broadcasts to your clients. Then go live and do a final testing to ensure accuracy on all platforms.

Here are a couple of websites we’ve recently created for speakers:
www.FlairForGenius.com
www.ClearPictureLeadership.com

Step 7: Optimize, Market, and Network

First, identify your search engine optimization (SEO) goals and your return on investment targets. Hire a specialist to do foundational search engine optimization with meta-tags and images. With your specialist, set up monthly, robust search engine optimization strategies, driven by your specific goals.

Next, establish search engine marketing (SEM). Set up pages on and participate in social networking sites. Post comments on blogs that relate to your business, customer base, and overall market. Write and publish articles offline and online for inbound links.

These seven steps aren’t simple, and they take work, but they generate results and this year you just might watch your business take off. With a powerful brand, backed up by a website that delivers.

Are YOU ready to create a powerful brand and produce a website that delivers? Visit my
website to receive a FREE 60-minute audio “Put the Bling Into Your Brand” and to learn more about our extraordinary branding, graphics and website design services: www.BrandingAndWebsiteDesign.com. Or call me toll-free 888-796-7300 to discuss your project. My team and I would be happy to give you an estimate of costs.

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What if YOU could know more secrets from an award-winning graphic designer that would help you create amazing marketing materials in a few hours, would you want to know how? Find out now at www.BuyAppealMarketing.com

Karen Saunders is the author of Turn Eye Appeal into Buy Appeal: How to easily transform your marketing pieces into dazzling, persuasive sales tools! Hundreds of business owners have used her simple do-it-yourself design system to create stunning marketing materials that really SELL their products and services! To learn about this indispensable book, click here: www.BuyAppealMarketing.com

P.S. See that envelope icon below this posting? If you click on the envelope you can email this posting to a friend.

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How To Make Your First Impression Last — Part 2

Sunday, August 26th, 2007


September 2007 Issue
How To Make Your First Impression Last — Part 2

In Part 1 of my “First Impression Last” story, I told you about my quest to find a contractor to landscape my backyard . . . and the trouble I had figuring out who’s who with the generic batch of business cards I brought home from the local home show! I finally did get in touch with the right person for the job, but it was almost like finding a needle in a haystack. It shouldn’t be that hard to figure out what your specialty or niche is.

I was at a Chamber of Commerce mixer a few weeks ago, which can be a great place to network for small business owners. And for someone who specializes in marketing (i.e. me), it’s also fun to take a gander at business cards, brochures, and other promotional materials to see what’s going on out there. It’s amazing how many people are out there to network, but they hand you a business card that leaves you saying, “OK, so, what is it that you do?”

Take Angela, for example. She owns a candle shop. She has candles that look like cakes, candles that smell like your mom’s apple pie, and even some with therapeutic aromatherapy. I learned all this from talking to her at the mixer. Which is the only way I would have learned it, because her card left a little to be desired. It had the name of her shop and her name, title, address and phone number. Boring! A good logo coupled with a clever tag line, a font and color scheme that complements the soothing mood that burning candles create, and she would have a card that not only gives people the pertinent information, but also the feeling of being relaxed. She wouldn’t have to talk so much, because her card would do the work for her!

Your business card is your introduction, so make it a good one! Here are 7 more topnotch tips to keep your card out of the wastebasket and into the rolodex! (The first 7 are in Part 1, the August issue)

The First Top 7 Tips:

1) Don’t get too crazy with the fonts. Make it appropriate for your business, without the trendy or overly embellished versions that are available out there.

2) Keep a tight rein on your text. Think small and compact, and your text will have a much more professional look.

3) Avoid using all capital letters, because THEY ARE HARD TO READ. It looks unprofessional, not to mention it implies that you are shouting at the reader. You don’t want to scare anyone off, do you?

4) Use a grid. It helps you to align texts and objects to each other in a way that you just can’t do with the naked eye.

5) Any illustrations that you use should be bold, not delicate. When you try to print all that detail at the small size of a card, it just looks muddy and you lose the look you were going for.

6) I said bold, not amateur. Illustrations from clip-art are usually out-dated and campy. Find a good quality resource for your illustrations, and stay away from the I-did-it-myself look.

7) Don’t forget the back! That’s wasted real estate back there. Why not put a special offer, photo or something else enticing to encourage people to call. Be creative! The following are the 3 business cards I’ve designed for Alpaca ranchers. Notice how I used the front and back sides of the card.


OK, now you are all set to let your little business card do big things for your business! If it’s the first impression people get about you, you want to make sure it’s a memorable one. Your success depends on it!

Karen Saunders is the owner of MacGraphics Services, a unique design firm for today’s entrepreneur. Whether you outsource your promotional pieces or are a do-it-yourselfer, Karen takes the mystery out of marketing. Learn the Top 5 Mistakes that can cost you money by signing up for her FREE e-course, available for a limited time. To take advantage of this e-course and find out how easy it can be to attract more clients, click here: http://macgraphics.net/freestuff.php. You can also contact her at 888-796-7300, or karen@macgraphics.net

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Visit my website to see portfolio samples of book covers, brochures, logos, ads and speaker one-sheet designs: www.MacGraphics.net

If you enjoyed reading my ezine and posts, you will LOVE my ebook, Turn Eye Appeal into Buy Appeal: How to easily transform your marketing pieces into dazzling, persuasive sales tools! This organized guidebook has short chapters, over 200 hyperlinks and full-color graphic examples. Hundreds of business owners have used my simple do-it-yourself reference guide to create stunning marketing materials that really SELL their products and services! To learn how you can get this indispensable book, click here: www.BuyAppealMarketing.com

But wait, there’s more . . .

To sign up for FREE audio classes, articles or an eCourse on design and marketing tips click here:www.macgraphics.net

P.S. See that envelope icon below this posting? If you click on the envelope you can email this posting to a friend.

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Posted in Branding, Color, Graphic Design, Logo Design, business cards, fonts | No Comments »

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