Help Wanted...

A picture really is worth a thousand words so I will let this image of a “help wanted” listing in a local newspaper do the talking for me in this post.As you may have already guessed, this is not a real ad. Anyone who reads this realizes almost immediately that it is absolutely ridiculous to think that any company would presume they could hire a top-quality, fiercely loyal key salesperson for a single $8,900 paycheck. And $24.95 per month… sheesh… that wouldn’t even cover their gas bill for a week!

So, if this I such a ludicrous scenario… why do I hear this request literally every single week from prospective clients? It’s true! The story usually goes some thing like this...

“I want to focus my marketing efforts to the web. I want my website to become my best salesman, I want everyone to go there first. I want to be able to take orders on my website and take credit cards and everything. I want all other marketing materials to direct traffic tour website. I think we are missing out on a lot of revenue don’t you? I mean… look at what Brand X is doing across town… I heard they are making money hand-over-fist on their website. We need to really get going on this!” This all sounds great until you get to the one-time paycheck part. Can you design build a small website with a few products and an online store for nine grand? Sure you can… but that’s only the beginning, and bare bones at that.

If you want your website to be your best salesperson… you better treat it like one. A website is absolutely a work in progress. If you are doing it right, it never ends… I promise. But it’s worth it… worth every last penny! Let’s take another look at most client’s criteria for their website, it’s a TALL order to say the least. Let’s see…

It must become my leading sales generator
It will eventually be the first place my customers go to find me
It will become the customer’s main contact with my company
It needs to become the main source of product information for our customers
It must take some of the work load from other staff by answering question
It will take most of the orders from my customers
It will also handle the invoicing and paperwork
It will handle many of our financial transactions
It should begin to generate additional revenue maintaining steady growth
And my favorite ones of all:

• I want to rank at the top of the search engines

• How to you get to be one of those little ads at the top of Google… or the ones over on the right?

I’ve noticed that when a client decides to put an effort into creating a web presence, there are usually two different motives that bring them to that point. We tend to categorize our web clients into two distinct groups. The first group is mainly interested in getting general company information up on the web for two reasons; to gain credibility and have an easily accessible contact point for consumers. The type of site they want is really more of an online brochure that they can send customers to for more information.

The second group wants action. They want websites that transform their business and literally take it online. They want the site to WORK for them. Not just to work for them, but potentially become their hardest working employee. Once again and I quote, “If you want your website to become your best salesman or employee, treat it like one!”

This means a steady salary and commitment to providing it with the training and tools necessary for the site to do it’s job effectively. If you wan to be able to hold your website accountable for it’s performance, make sure you invest in it the same way you would your star employee or salesperson. Yes… that means a monthly salary… and not just for a few months. Websites take time to gain momentum, just like that new salesperson.

Before jumping in with both feet I recommend learning all you can about how the web really works. Learn about organic growth in search engine ranking, learn about paid online ads, learn about search engine optimization and how the various online media works together. When you're ready to make the commitment and you stick with it consistently, you’ll be amazed at what your website can become over time.

Our Best Work...

Once in awhile, I find myself wishing I’d never taken on a certain design project. After a few years, I discovered that most of these projects a had one common denominator… “the client wanted to play designer and thought they were better at it than we were.” These projects always start off great. The client sees some of the other work we have done and schedules a meeting with us where they proclaim, “we love what you did for Brand X, we want you to something like that for us… we need help, so we’ve come to the professionals. We know our products, you guys know design, we want you to make us look good.”

How flattering… they love our work… right?! So we put our heads together and present our best work a couple of weeks later. “Hmmm…” they say… “what if we did this? Yeah… or how about this…” Uh, oh… and so it begins.

Three months later… revisions round 23…

Our work has been watered down to the point that any of our work is camouflaged behind the numerous fingerprints of the client and their grim, left-brained committee. The answer is always the same for us… smile, and deliver the finished product. Then, mock-up the original design and photograph it for our portfolio.

Bottom line… “you just CAN’T DO GOOD WORK for some clients.” We came across the quote below a few years ago. Truly inspired if you ask me…

Free Teeth Cleaning...

I had seen this direct mail piece before. Actually I had seen in several times in the last few months. Who was this guy? How was he so successful at talking every dentist in town into doing the same direct mail campaign? “I wonder if he knows how upset all of his clients are,” I thought to myself.

These direct mail pieces all looked so much alike. I mean you had to really look close to even find a difference in the logos. They shared the same color palette, the same photos of a desert scene with a saguaro cactus on the front, (a real novelty for Arizona… not). They even all had the same product offerings. FREE INITIAL EXAM, FREE TEETH CLEANING, HALF PRICE TEETH WHITENING… they were virtually identical. The sad news was that local dental practice were dropping these mailings to tens of thousands of Phoenix area residents at significant expense with little to no return on their advertising investment.

It is not my intention to go direct mail bashing here. For certain products, direct mail campaigns are still very effective if they are well executed. Here’s the strange common denominator with all the doctors that were involved in these mailings. When I asked them what set their practice apart from competitors, they all mentioned office amenities, friendly staff, attention to detail, pleasant experience, “we care,” great stuff. I went on to ask each of them, “when you run into an old friend or new neighbor who might be a potential patient or family of patients for your practice, what do you tell them?” The answers were all very similar. “I tell them that we take the fear stigma out of dentistry,” or “I tell them that we treat all of our patients like family.” This is good stuff, I thought but where was it? Would anyone read hear these statements in any of the practice’s advertising?

So I asked each doctor, “that’s great stuff, it makes me want to consider your practice, why doesn’t it show up anywhere in your advertising. What did you want this mail piece to specifically do for you.” This time the answers were exactly the same in all four cases. “We want to gain more steady patients, we want entire families to make us their regular family dentist and then go tell their friends.” I then asked the hard question, “what were the actual results of this mailer, did you track them?” In each case, it was really hard for the dentist to admit just how ineffective these campaigns had been, and I don’t blame them.

The practice that experienced the best result stated the following. “We sent out 50,000 mail pieces over five months and only received seven phone calls.” I then asked, “what were the callers most interested in when they called?” “Five wanted the free teeth cleaning, one wanted the half-price whitening and one wanted the free exam.” I wondered if any of these callers became regular patients, so I asked. “No… none of them… they just wanted the free stuff!” Still holding a sample of the mailer in my hand I reluctantly say, “so, you pretty much got exactly what you asked for in this mailer, right? People who were interested in the offers for free teeth cleanings and such.” This is when their eyes get big and that little light bulb goes on. As ineffective as those mailers were, the few prospects that did call, were interested in exactly what the practice had to offer. Can you blame them… from the mailer, how would they know any different?.

If you have a reputation for treating your patients like family and want to become the prospects regular family dentist because you care about them… TELL THEM!

In advertising, be careful what you ask for… you just might get it!

Gru Ram Bim...

“But we know what we want” I kept explaining to the architect. The problem with being a designer AND a client is quite enlightening. When we were in the design phase of creating our new office space in Mesa Arizona a few years ago we ended up in a real communication funk with the architect we hired. He had a thick Russian accent that was very difficult to understand at times. But the one thing I did understand was that he was adamant above adding a big gru ram bim to our office in a very prominent location. No matter how hard we tried to communicate our design ideas to him, he always brought up the gru ram bim and what an important element of the overall design it was. My business partners, Paul Howalt and Ivan Jones and I would just smile and nod our heads every time he brought it up.

There were other design issues that we were able to get him to listen to us about… but he was so persistent about the gru ram bim! It was very puzzling to me…? I was really getting frustrated when the light bulb finally went on for me. He brought in a photo of another space with a big gru ram bim in it… I was so excited to finally figure out what the heck he was talking about. As hard as I looked at this picture… I couldn’t find it! The time had come for me to swallow my pride and admit that I had no idea what a gru ram bim was? But whew… he saved me from the embarrassment when he pointed it out and said, “see this is big gru ram bim is just like the one in your space.” I tried to hold back chuckling as I said… “Oh, you mean glue lam beam.” All this time he had been referring to the huge beam in our building that was manufactured by laminating many smaller pieces of lumber together. The really sad part of the story is that I know exactly what a glue lam beam is, and I still didn’t put two and two together!

This experience made me stop and think how important communication really is. How often am I really being understood by my clients or are they just nodding their heads and smiling as I wax philosophical about branding or design? I think us so-called communication experts need to take a page out of our own books sometimes and make sure we are talking to our clients and not ourselves.

Something to think about…

The Laundry List...

“I want to take my business to the next level,” an anxious client proclaims, “I want to get serious about branding, I have always hated my logo.” We stare at each other for a moment across the conference table… I know what’s coming next… it’s “the list.” The list names all of the items, business forms, stationery, marketing collateral, website ideas, signage applications and display concepts that the client envisions carrying the new “image” that he wants to create for his business. Following the list comes the sample collection of competitor’s materials.
This is how the majority of initial client meeting start out for me.

This is exactly where I started some years ago when working with a local contractor.
We’ll call him Gary. As soon as Gary felt that I had digested the overall scope of the work he wanted done, he wanted a ballpark price and timeline right off the bat. His laundry list was HUGE!

* A new logo design and corporate identity
* New letterhead, business cards and envelopes
* A nice corporate brochure
* A presentation folder with inserts for salespeople
* Three smaller, tri-fold product brochures
* A fairly extensive website
* Signs for his building and project locations
* Branded equipment labels
* Vehicle graphics
* Uniform shirts
* All internal office forms
* Invoices
* Work orders
* A trade show booth backdrop
* Etc. etc.

How do you answer a question like that? First of all, a project like this is important and it takes time. Re-branding your business is one of the most important decisions an owner will ever make. So… I looked over the list and estimated that the design and production of everything he wanted could easily run between $50k and $100k. His eyes bulged a bit as they always do at this point in the meeting. “Whoa” he said, “can you give me an idea of what some of these pieces run individually?” So we proceeded to break down some of the individual costs in order to help him make a decision. Almost immediately we were up over the $50k mark and he realized what it would really take to create an image that would compete with his competitors in the local Phoenix market.

Now there was less urgency, and he was half glad that the timeline I came up with was longer than he had once hoped. We decided that we would implement his new materials over a 12-24 month period and began to prioritize our plan. I was a little shocked when he came back and told me that he had decided to NOT do a new logo?? “I just want to use the existing logo and have you guys design some great materials around it.” “But wait, I thought you hated your logo,” I said out loud. “Yeah,” he said, “I really need all of the other stuff and I just don’t want to spend the money on a logo right now.” This made no sense to me and I pled the case for the logo to no avail. “Maybe we’ll do a new logo down the road sometime, but not now.” Wow, I couldn’t believe my ears… but hey, he’s the client right?

We went on to design and produce most of the materials that he needed and he indicated that he was experiencing success with the new pieces in his marketing arsenal. So when he walked in my office door about 18 months later I was completely unprepared for what he was about to say. I couldn’t tell if he was angry or sad when he reluctantly admitted, “you guys have done some really great design for me, but I blew it… I have regretted not doing a new logo ever since you delivered the first brochures… now every time I see one of our trucks, a business card or anything I regret it.” I didn’t know to respond… he actually had tears welling up in his eyes when he went on to say, “We have spent over 50 thousand dollars reproducing a logo that I have never liked… all to save the $3,500 you were going to charge me to do it right… I am sick,” he said. “What do I do now… I can’ tafford to re-do everything.?

I wish I could say that Gary was the only client I have that had to go through a similar discovery process when creating their corporate image. This conversation had such an impact on me that I tell it to every client I meet with if they are unsure whether or not they want to “spend the money on a new logo.”

There is one unavoidable fact that we all need to remember… YOU WILL SPEND MONEY REPRODUCING YOUR LOGO! The laundry list is always long, so make sure you get right. Your logo is the foundation that your entire corporate image rests upon. Morale of the story… don’t invest tons of money, time and effort over the years reproducing an image that you don’t even like just to save a few thousand dollars… it will forever haunt you… I promise.

Famous Last Words...

“We can increase your revenues by 30% in the first year” or better yet “Your revenues will increase dramatically once you hire us.” Stupid statements like this are what give marketing professionals a bad name. (Notice how I didn’t use the term ‘consultant’… people run from consultants… and rightly so) The art of over-promising and under-delivering made popular by politicians is now manifesting itself in the business world amongst many self-proclaimed marketing consultants.

If any advertising, design or marketing person ever makes one of these bold statements to you… RUN! The truth is, nobody is going to increase your revenue but YOU… the business owner. Even the best laid marketing plan will wither and die if the captain of the ship isn’t all-in. Your marketing firm cannot make your people implement and follow the plan. They cannot go out prospecting and generating leads for you and then turn around and close the deal too! You and your team are responsible for your own success. Great designers and marketers can craft beautifully targeted marketing tools but it is up to you to put them to work for your company and drive the overall success.

I can’t count the times I have interviewed with a potential client who was still seething and feeling burned by an ad agency or marketing firm that promised them the moon, took their money and left them wanting. Don’t ever get caught in marketing’s “big-lie.” It takes a lot of commitment and effort to launch and sustain an effective marketing plan. If you aren’t ready to do your part, accept your responsibility and work… then you better think twice before spending a dime on marketing. Believing the big-lie is like buying a home gym, doing nothing to implement exercise into your life and being mad at the equipment because you don’t lose weight and aren’t in any better shape.

Maybe pick up a few lottery tickets on your way home if you want effortless “magic” results.

Plain White Trucks...

His voice was almost shaking when he said it… “ You were right, I should have listened! Nobody knows who I am… they love our work but they don’t even know the name of my company. I don’t have a brand… you warned me.” I was a bit overwhelmed and didn’t know quite how to respond?

Eighteen months earlier this client had come to me with a familiar request. “I’m expanding, we just moved into our new location and I would really like to upgrade my image and take my business to the next level.” Not an uncommon statement, in fact, most of my client meetings start with a similar request. Another common statement with local entrepreneurs is “I want you to help make us look bigger than we are.”

After reviewing all of his business forms, and existing marketing materials (or lack thereof), he decided that he “really didn’t need a logo” or any “fancy signs” on his trucks. After all, he had run a successful plumbing business in this town for 12 years without all that stuff. He didn’t want to go to the expense of designing a new logo or put any real effort into building his brand. So, we printed all of his business forms and a laundry list of other materials with the new address, he put up a generic sign and purchased several more new trucks and continued to do business as usual. He decided that his new trucks didn’t even need signs!

I thought it was very strange that he spent several million dollars on a new facility and expanded workforce, but didn’t find it important to invest in his image and public perception? But just as my clients continue to teach me new lessons every day… he came to learn something very important from some of his customers. “The reason he was standing in my office” he went on to say, “is that I decided to get our and call on some of our customers because things were stating to slow down and in a one week period, I heard several disturbing comments.”

The first came when he visited one of his oldest and most loyal customers who in turn wanted to introduce him to his staff. When he turned to his general manager and said, “this is John from Acme Plumbing” she looked confused and shook her head. He went on to say “this is the owner of our plumbing company… you know?” Still nothing… Then he said, “you know, the guys with the big white trucks… they’re here several times each month?” Ah, now she remembered… the big white trucks… yes.

Then, on another visit to another long-time customer, he received a very similar response during his introduction. This time the comment was, “are you the guys with the plain white trucks with no logo on them?” he admitted that he half stammered in shame as he answered, “yeah, that’s us.”

The third time was the last straw, a nearly identical situation AGAIN! This time, he introduced himself to an office manager that he had never met before and she responded with the same puzzled look. Then she looked at his shirt and said, “oh, you are the guys that don’t even have a logo on your shirt or your truck… yeah… I was really nervous the first time you guys showed up… I didn’t know what to think. Somebody shows up in a plain white truck, it could be anybody, you know?”

My client looked me square in the eye after relating these stories to me and said. “You were right, branding does happen. I realized at that moment that my brand was the guys with the plain with trucks with no logo.” He had just visited three loyal customers who didn’t know what to call him or how to find him. They even admitted that most of the time they had to go to accounting department to find out whom to call when there was plumbing issues in the complex.

Your brand will happen whether choose to manage it or not. Your customer’s perception will ultimately define who you are to them… and that will become your brand… like it or not.

Branding Happens...

Get involved in any conversation about marketing or advertising and it wont be long before everyone starts to throw the word “branding” around like they know what they are talking about. Rarely will these conversations end in a consensus of what branding really is. We all agree on the importance of branding, but have our own ideas of how to implement a strategic branding platform and where each piece of the branding puzzle fits into place… Did I just use the word branding five times in three sentences?

All cows look the same… right? Many years ago ranchers realized that they needed a way to identify their livestock when mixed with a neighboring herd. Each ranch developed a mark or symbol that identified the name of their ranch and began “branding” their cattle. It wasn’t long before buyers started associating these brands with the livestock’s quality or lack thereof. So… what sets your company or product apart from the herd? What makes a prospect choose you?

I have been involved in graphic design and marketing my entire life… I literally grew up in the industry. I have witnessed the success and failure of hundreds of start-up companies on both a local and national level. You can take classes and read books… but nothing beats getting into the trenches and experiencing that hand-to-hand brand combat!

It is easy to get de-railed in your branding efforts and the best way to stay on track is to avoid costly mistakes. My continuing years in the trenches lead me to my own conclusions and I hope the pages on this blog help make your brand building efforts more effective. Let’s start by addressing branding definition points that I think most of us can agree on.

Solid branding will achieve the following results:

• Identify your product or service

• Communicate your message clearly

• Establish and/or confirm your credibility

• Connect emotionally with target prospects

• Motivate the buyer/user

• Solidifies customer loyalty

Now for the “Branding Happens” story… I believe that your brand will happen in the hearts and minds of your customers, clients and prospects and your “perceived” brand will occur whether you try to control it or not. In fact, you can’t hide from your brand even if you try! Everything your people do or say is as much a part of your brand as your logo and marketing materials.

Be careful that you don’t become “the place with the rude receptionist” or “the guys with the plain white trucks.” Left unmanaged, your brand may become all about the things you DON’T DO instead of the ones you DO.

Your brand WILL happen… you can choose to manage the way it happens or not… it’s up to you.

Only Perceptions...

“There is no reality… only perceptions.”

Referring to this little phrase has served me well over the years in the design business. We must never forget who composes our final jury. It’s not about what we the designers think, or even what the business owner think… it’s all about what “they” think. And “they” are the end- users, the consumers of the products we are branding. After 25 years of working with ad agencies and entrepreneurs, we have simply decided to share some of our experiences from the design battlefields. Yes… battlefield.

We don’t presume to for a minute to be know-it-all bloggers, standing on the virtual podium, telling the industry what’s up. This is not a “we’re right and everyone else is wrong” editorial. It is simply our sincere attempt to share our career experiences as designers specializing in business identity and marketing collateral. We simply feel compelled to share some of our thoughts, stories and yes… the occasional rant about “what works for us” in the design business. We have been lucky enough to work with some of the greatest clients in the world… we owe all of our success to these brave souls courageous enough to trust us with their most prized professional possession… their brand. We would not be here without them.

Some times we laugh, sometimes we cry, maybe even get a little angry… uh.. I mean passionate… about what we do. But every once in awhile… we feel like Rocky Balboa did when he conquered that long flight of stairs. If you’ve never thrown a triumphant fist high in the air and done a little dance after a design victory… you haven’t lived.

Man I love my job…