Article :: What Should You Review Now?

Are you a businessperson who ‘sets and forgets’ your marketing or do you regularly assess the effectiveness of your marketing and make adjustments to approve its efficiency? Not everything should be changed with broad strokes. After all, you want to maintain your brand identity. But, sometimes, alterations will enhance a brand and the type of marketing you do may change as your strategy, clientele and focus are fine-tuned.

In its history, Coca-Cola has had at least nine logos and many more when you consider the sub-products like Diet Coke as well as specialty holiday graphics. The way they market has also changed with the times. One of the more current updates for Coke concerns their ‘Share a Coke’ bottles which has been a resounding success. After all, who doesn’t love looking for their name on a product with the exception of people like me whose name is always spelled differently?

Geico is another company that has had many different ways to brand their company including the Gecko, Maxwell the Pig, the Cavemen and many more. This shows there are many ways to reach people depending on your target market and audience.

For smaller businesses, one of the first things to consider is whether your marketing truly reflects you and your business. Here are a few things to consider:

• Do the colors always print consistently and are they attracting attention for the right reasons?
• Is your use of fonts professional and do they complement each other or conflict?
• Are your business cards printed on economy paper or are they printed on a more substantial weight that shows professionalism?
• Are your brochures text-heavy with few or poor-quality graphics or are they designed so the pages are properly balanced between text and images?
• Do your branded pens run out of ink in a few weeks or are you using high-quality ink that will last longer in your clients’ and prospects’ hands?
• Is your look consistent between your marketing pieces? This means everything from business cards to signage.
• Are you using every opportunity to brand with your logo; i.e., note cards, stickers for envelopes, Social Media, signage, banners?
• Are you clearly communicating your message?
• Do your clients and prospects absolutely understand what you do?

That last item hit home for me when I realized prospects and even some clients didn’t realize that I design and print more than just business cards. So now I have a branded booklet which shows the magnitude of my product lines (small format, large format and promotional products). What I hear now is, “I didn’t know you did….” If your message is not being effectively communicated, you’re missing a great opportunity. It’s certainly worth a conversation.

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