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Blessed
09-18-2008, 08:41 AM
Over in the managing your business section there is a thread about trying to look bigger than you really are and SteveB mentioned that he goes out of his way to make sure that he has high-quality, professional looking marketing materials.

With a nod to Paul Elliott who has been posting his fatal marketing mistakes in this forum I'll say that, in my opinion, one of the worst marketing mistakes is having inferior marketing materials. This includes your business cards, stationary, fliers, coupons, newspaper ads, brochures, posters, signage, etc...

I wonder how many small businesses fail not because of bad customer service, inferior products, borrowing too much to get going, not doing enough research ahead of time, and etc... but because of punch out business cards that you buy from the local office supply store, tri-fold brochures that are not laid out properly, and "look ma, I did it myself" fliers and ads.

I realize that these materials can be expensive but if small business owners are willing to look beyond corporate advertising agencies or the services their local quick print offers for freelance designers like myself they would find that they could get quality materials designed affordably. Also I'm sure I'm not the only freelance designer that brokers printing too and I can get high quality, full color printing a lot cheaper than you can buy from Kinko's - just an example, I can have 1000 full color, 8-1/2" x 11" fliers printed for $125 plus shipping.

This really is a pet peeve of mine so I'll stop my soap boxing with one last personal opinion - when I see tri-fold brochures either full color or black and white on colored paper that don't fold properly I automatically loose respect for the company, even if they are someone I've done business with. If you will cut corners on the materials that represent yourself to potential clients where else are you cutting corners?

OK, what do you guys think? Am I too tough on people? Am I a graphic design snob?

orion_joel
09-18-2008, 09:44 AM
I don't think that you are to tough at all. The biggest problem that i have had with actually going through with much marketing material is that i cannot decide what i want to include in it.

As i am sure you know IT can be a very diverse and constantly changing market. Price's change in some cases almost on a daily basis. Product's can have specifications change from one order through the supplier to the next. This can often be quite painful when you start working on marketing material and then suddenly you find out half the products you were going to include are now discontinued, so you have to get the stuff changed by which time another product has changed. It gets totally frustrating.

Even the stuff i do have like my website, and business cards i worry if they are maybe a little to cheap looking. Even though my business cards were done my a professional printer they are a plan black and white card. I dont know marketing is where i want to put some money, i just have to figure out what i want to market.

Blessed
09-18-2008, 10:14 AM
Joel - instead of marketing specific products you need to be marketing the fact that you know what you're doing, you stay up-to-date on market trends, you've been doing this for a long time, you offer the best prices and etc... that information could be portrayed on your business card and in a small brochure - they don't have to be tri-folds, you could have a single fold brochure, if that is the kind of thing you need to send to potential clients and etc...

In a market like yours it is perfectly acceptable to do small quantities of a half-sheet flier or a full size flier/combined with a letter that you send out to people to say - look at this great new product, or for the next 30 days I can get you special pricing on this item... that you send out to people on your mailing list - people you've done business with in the past and etc...

It sounds like your business cards may need some sprucing up but at least you aren't using the print it on your inkjet printer and then punch them out along the perforated lines kind.... figure out how you are going to market yourself and then get them redone. A well-done business card could very well be the most important marketing piece a business has.

Oh and one other thing - I've done several catalogs for companies who were wholesalers that sold to retailers or retailers whose industry prices weren't stable and they would publish catalogs without prices, then either send the prices along on a nicely done separate sheet or simply quoted everything. It works - gets quality printing done and doesn't make catalogs obsolete a week after they leave the printer's dock.

KristineS
09-18-2008, 10:56 AM
I think quality marketing materials are very important and they should be professionally done. Spending some money to hire people who know what they're doing will pay off handsomely.

I'm with Blessed, I lose respect for companies that have obviously homemade business cards or promotional materials. I feel the same way about web sites. If you have a need for the particular item, get it done by someone who knows what they're doing. My guess is that the ROI on what ever you have done will exceed your expectations.

Whether we like to acknowledge this fact or not, image does matter. It is worth it for all of us to put out the best image we can.

cbscreative
09-18-2008, 11:12 AM
If you will cut corners on the materials that represent yourself to potential clients where else are you cutting corners?
I have said this exact same thing many times, and no, you are not being too tough. There are many people who come to the same conclusions, so you are right on in your assessment. If you want to call that "graphic design snob" then consider me a fellow snob with you.

I think it was SteveB who told a story a while back on this forum about an experience he had with a lawn care company that was in his neighborhood. He received a very unimpressive flyer they were handing out. If it had not been for the fact that the company handing out the flyers was next door, he would have pitched it without giving it a second thought.

As it turned out, they had nice trucks, nice equipment, uniformed employees, and did high quality work. They probably killed off several opportunities with the flyer. They may have saved a few hundred or so on having it professionally done, but it likely cost them thousands in lost opportunities. When you figure the lifetime value of one customer, bad marketing is no bargain at all. It is exactly the opposite.

I'm glad you mentioned all the other things a successful business must do right, because I would never claim that professional marketing materials are much good without backing them up in every other area. But to do all those things and then skimp on presenting yourself properly with nice materials is like talking to people with crusties hanging out of your nose.

I would take this one step further with another common mistake made in business. Production places like sign shops, screen printers, print shops, etc. are focused on production. They offer "design service" as a courtesy. Although there are exceptions, the general rule is you will not get any decent design this way, they don't have time for that. They need to "knock out" your design to get it ready for production so they can move on to the next customer. Production artists generally know nothing about marketing. If they do, they won't be in that job very long. That's training ground; it's good training ground, but still training ground.

I consider this to be like the common practice of getting "free design" when you take out a publication ad. That is very close to a scam IMO. If you get one of their free designs, your ad looks and sounds like all your other competitors because the same production artist is doing everyone's ads. If you want your marketing to be the most effective, you need to be smarter than your competitors who take advantage of the free (worthless) design.

Blessed
09-18-2008, 11:51 AM
...I would take this one step further with another common mistake made in business. Production places like sign shops, screen printers, print shops, etc. are focused on production. They offer "design service" as a courtesy. Although there are exceptions, the general rule is you will not get any decent design this way, they don't have time for that. They need to "knock out" your design to get it ready for production so they can move on to the next customer. Production artists generally know nothing about marketing. If they do, they won't be in that job very long. That's training ground; it's good training ground, but still training ground...

I completely agree with you here!

I'm going to take it one step further and say that anybody who designs marketing materials should spend 6 months as a production artist/prepress tech. When I worked in this type of job I was amazed by the things I would get that were supposed to be "print ready" that looked fine but took 3 hours to make printable. The customer was not happy about having to turn around and pay for work again but had no choice if they wanted their stuff printed quickly.

We had a degreed graphic designer come work for us (he got the job because he was the VP's son, but anyway...) it took me about 6 months to teach him all the stuff he should have learned in school about making files printable. Of course, that's one of my selling points - when I give you a finished file, the print shop will be able to use it!

cbscreative
09-18-2008, 12:02 PM
Amen, Amen, and Amen again, Blessed! We are so much alike. I think production work should be required in getting a graphic design degree. Production artists put up with a lot of frustration from "professionally designed artwork" and their clients are frustrated when the production artist has to charge to make it useable. Like you, this experience is a great selling point for my service. It's just too bad that so many schools are turning out people with degrees that know almost nothing about real world design. Even worse yet are the ones who can't be taught because they have a degree. I used to work with a guy who dubbed them duh-ziners.

Paul Elliott
09-19-2008, 03:00 PM
Over in the managing your business section there is a thread about trying to look bigger than you really are and SteveB mentioned that he goes out of his way to make sure that he has high-quality, professional looking marketing materials.

Jenn, this is very important. It is a part of effective branding. Nearly ALL of the effect occurs at the subliminal level--98% below the conscious level--yet it very effectively ratchets down the impression others have of you and whatever you are offering.


With a nod to Paul Elliott who has been posting his fatal marketing mistakes in this forum I'll say that, in my opinion, one of the worst marketing mistakes is having inferior marketing materials. This includes your business cards, stationary, fliers, coupons, newspaper ads, brochures, posters, signage, etc...

<nod acknowledged> You are very correct about this! It's all about "Perception is everything!" (From the "88" below) If you mess up that initial perception that you/your product/your services are worth what you're asking, you are probably kissing that sale--and any sales that would devolve therefrom--good-by!


I wonder how many small businesses fail not because of bad customer service, inferior products, borrowing too much to get going, not doing enough research ahead of time, and etc... but because of punch out business cards that you buy from the local office supply store, tri-fold brochures that are not laid out properly, and "look ma, I did it myself" fliers and ads.

"Perception is everything!"


I realize that these materials can be expensive but if small business owners are willing to look beyond corporate advertising agencies or the services their local quick print offers for freelance designers like myself they would find that they could get quality materials designed affordably. Also I'm sure I'm not the only freelance designer that brokers printing too and I can get high quality, full color printing a lot cheaper than you can buy from Kinko's - just an example, I can have 1000 full color, 8-1/2" x 11" fliers printed for $125 plus shipping.

See Steve's post below. Designers offering printing is much better for you as the customer needing brochures than printers offering design services.


This really is a pet peeve of mine so I'll stop my soap boxing with one last personal opinion - when I see tri-fold brochures either full color or black and white on colored paper that don't fold properly I automatically loose respect for the company, even if they are someone I've done business with. If you will cut corners on the materials that represent yourself to potential clients where else are you cutting corners?

OK, what do you guys think? Am I too tough on people? Am I a graphic design snob?

<SET SOAPBOX MODE = ON><JOINING JENN'S PLATFORM>
Yep, Jenn, you did fumble the ball . . . your amplifier volume wasn't turned up enough! You rock! Keep it up!

WORD OF WARNING--
Most people would rather fail than spend a little more for professional advice and the guidance to become truly successful.
<SET SOAPBOX MODE = OFF>

Paul

Paul Elliott
09-19-2008, 03:06 PM
I think it was SteveB who told a story a while back on this forum about an experience he had with a lawn care company that was in his neighborhood. He received a very unimpressive flyer they were handing out. If it had not been for the fact that the company handing out the flyers was next door, he would have pitched it without giving it a second thought.

As it turned out, they had nice trucks, nice equipment, uniformed employees, and did high quality work. They probably killed off several opportunities with the flyer. They may have saved a few hundred or so on having it professionally done, but it likely cost them thousands in lost opportunities. When you figure the lifetime value of one customer, bad marketing is no bargain at all. It is exactly the opposite.

The Lifetime Value of a customer is so important and valuable a business can and should spend more to acquire the right customers. Again, "Perception is everything!" (From the "88" below)

Great points all, Steve!

Paul