A recent article on a trade blog that I subscribe to addressed the issues of legibility and readability in type. These are important factors when designing any marketing materials. They can be extremely critical in the successful communication of the message.
Although these two traits might seem to address the same issue, they actually are different. [...]
Posted on June 12th, 2008 by Richard
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If you want your direct marketing piece to pull in buckets of leads and fatten your wallet, it is important to remember this simple rule: YOUR MARKETING PIECE IS NOT GOING TO BE PRESENTED IN AN IDEAL SETTING.
Your ideal target may be making dinner, talking with his or her spouse, or cleaning the house as [...]
Posted on June 6th, 2008 by Richard
Filed under: Design, Marketing | No Comments »
Great salespeople don’t sell products, they sell the way the product makes the customer feel, or how it will improve their life. In other words, great sales people sell benefits, not features. This is an important rule to remember when designing marketing materials.
Great marketing is visceral and then supported by facts. To craft a message [...]
Posted on June 5th, 2008 by Richard
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Research shows that static mail-piece response rates are about 1-2 percent. Variable Data Publishing (VDP) claims an 8 percent response and higher. Using specific consumer preference data, VDP can be an effective way to produce unique targeted communications that capture attention and inspire a customer to respond.
If you think VDP means a mailing that simply [...]
Posted on June 4th, 2008 by Richard
Filed under: Design, Marketing, Production | 3 Comments »
If a marketing piece only needed to look good on the designer’s screen, it would be a much easier job to design. Reality is that most designs are printed using one of a variety of techniques on numerous types of equipment. Each printing press and process has different capabilities and limitations.
To achieve the best results, [...]
Posted on May 27th, 2008 by Richard
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The world of design is teeming with a myriad of techniques, processes and technologies. One such technique that I recently became aware of is HDR (High Dynamic Range) photography. Now, HDR is not a new process — it dates back to the 1930’s, but it has in recent years become more popular in creating photographic [...]
Posted on May 12th, 2008 by Richard
Filed under: Design | 2 Comments »
The savvy purchaser of marketing services understands a novel concept — even in today’s economy — Price is not everything. While calling for quotes and comparing prices and quality provided are important, it is also important to realize the value in developing a long-term relationship with key vendors.
The relationship you develop with your designer, printer, [...]
Posted on May 9th, 2008 by Richard
Filed under: Design, Internet, Production | 1 Comment »
Stop! Now re-read the title of this post—at least 3–5 times—then let it sink in before continuing.
You should note that the sentence above illustrates the proper use of the hyphen and the two main types of dashes—the en dash and the em dash. They must not be confused with each other, nor should they be [...]
Posted on March 29th, 2008 by Richard
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Can you risk their customer-facing materials on a designer who has little else to offer but K-Mart pricing? Customers respond to quality presentations and they eschew companies that look cheap or unprofessional. Can you afford sloppy, lazy, or boring customer-facing materials? What will your customers think?
When purchasing design and marketing services, it is important to [...]
Posted on February 8th, 2008 by Richard
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A primary consideration when designing is what paper stock to use. It seems like such an easy choice, but it is really quite complicated. Paper can speak softly and calmly or be loud and right in your face. It can be smooth and shiny or enhance your printed piece with its rich texture. Paper, without [...]
Posted on February 5th, 2008 by Richard
Filed under: Design | No Comments »
