These words came from one of our current clients, during the early wireframe phase of his first website. And although we make the process as easy as possible for our clients, it remains a valid point. Your website is your company’s public face after all, so you really do want to make sure that each and every detail is just right.

The process can be overwhelming for the uninitiated. If this describes you, read on. What follows is a basic, plain-language checklist for getting your organization online.

1. Purpose

Before you do anything else, you need to create a plan… and this plan needs to be centered around the question: What purpose do you want your website to serve?

In essence, you need to develop a proper job description for your website. What do you want it to DO for you? Will it be a simple informational marketing tool and point of contact? Will it serve as an online community, gallery or forum? Do you want an online storefront with e-commerce capabilities? Do you want to position yourself as an authority in your field through the provision of news and resources? The requirements for every website are unique, so you will need to decide which functions best serve your organization’s specific needs.

2. Web Host

A web host is not the same as your Internet Service Provider (ISP). Your ISP simply provides access to the internet. If you want a website of your own, you will need to effectively “rent” the space for it on a hosting company’s server.

A hosting company owns and maintains X number of servers. On each server, X number of websites is stored. With that in mind, there are three common options for hosting:

• • Shared means that you share a server with several other websites, and is the cheapest.
• • Dedicated hosting gets you a server all to yourself, and is the most expensive.
• • Semi-dedicated reserves a server for a very small number of clients.

For most websites, shared hosting with a quality hosting company is more than adequate. If you anticipate high volumes of traffic or bandwidth, however, you will want to look into dedicated or semi-dedicated hosting options. Keep in mind that servers are just like your own computer… if it is overloaded, outdated and neglected, it will perform slowly and inconsistently at best, and crash and fail at worst. Most bargain-basement hosting companies are able to offer cheap rates simply by squeezing as many accounts as possible onto a single, often outdated server. And then there’s the human element… when your email and website are down, quality customer service suddenly becomes very important.

Bad web hosts are a dime a dozen. It is imperative that you do your research, and choose a hosting company based on reliable measures of quality rather than gimmicks, sales or ad campaigns. Widely advertised does NOT equal quality. We both use and heartily recommend the pros at Fused, but always encourage clients to do their own research before deciding on which host best suits their needs.

3. Domain Name

Now that you have a home for your website, you need a relevant, easily identifiable address. The domain name (DNS) is the address that appears in the address bar in your web browser, excluding ‘http://www’ (e.g., our domain name is ‘sagemedia.ca’). Unfortunately, nobody owns a domain name for life. You need to register it (usually through your web host) to start, then renew it every year. If you don’t, someone else can and will buy it up, and your site will be rendered both nameless and inaccessible.

Choosing a domain name is a frustrating, but important process. It is frustrating because of the simple fact that if it is a recognizable word, chances are someone has already registered it… even if they’re not using it. There exists a scourge on legitimate online businesses everywhere known as domain squatters… these people buy up thousands of domain names, and simply sit on them until someone comes along who wants a name so badly that they are willing to pay an exorbitant price to buy it from the squatter. Squatters also buy up versions of existing business names and fill the pages with pay-per-click ads (known as link farms) so they generate ad revenue for themselves by capitalizing on well known companies. Your choice of domain name is nonetheless important – it needs to be relevant to your company (containing your company’s name), easily remembered, and easy to spell. Once you’ve committed to a name, you’ll want to stick with it.

4. Target

Further to your initial plan, it is important to decide exactly who you want to communicate with online. Your target audience should already have been established in your business plan. In planning your website, you need to keep in mind what THEIR needs are. Are they looking for information; Do they need a problem solved (hint: the answer is always yes); Do they want to be entertained, educated, or simply served? Combined with your purpose (and as you’ll see, intertwined as well), a sharp focus on the target audience is central to your website strategy.

5. USP

Following from the previous items, your website will need to emphasize and reinforce your USP, or Unique Selling Point. This is the reason why people will choose to come to your site (and your company) rather than your competitors. Note you can’t get to this point without first developing an understanding of your target audience. The USP is the answer to your customer’s problems.

6. Budget

As the single most important online marketing investment your company will make, you will need to determine a realistic and appropriate budget for the design and development of your company’s website. Plan to invest well into four figures for a properly planned, well designed and expertly executed business website. Rates vary wildly between providers – the web design field is largely unregulated, so be sure that you look for qualifications, reviews and referrals, and know exactly who you’re hiring. This includes confirming precisely who will be doing the actual work, as many ‘design’ companies are simply middlemen outsourcing contracts to unqualified overseas labour farms.

7. Content

Given this article is being written by a designer, it may surprise you to see content weighing in first. The fact is, effective design relies on high quality content to provide context, depth, and relevance. If you think of your design as a restaurant, your content would be the food. Note that content is also not limited to the text within your pages; it also refers to images and brand materials (like your logo, for example). These are things that your designer should be provided with upfront, so they can move forward with context and purpose.

8. Persona

Refer back to the parameters covered in previous checklist items – namely your purpose, USP, and target audience. These items will help guide you in narrowing down a personality for your website. As part of a more thorough consultation, any reputable designer will ask you fairly early in the process to provide them with a mood-board, or a selection of exemplar sites that portray the sort of image you want for your business (in addition to industry relevant examples of what you explicitly do NOT feel represents you). Obviously, the purpose is not to find something to copy, but rather to better define the mood and theme for your online presence.

9. Website Design

This is the fun part, though it doesn’t quite start out that way. Clearly, you’ll need to research and choose a qualified, reputable designer. Find someone you feel comfortable with, review their portfolio, look for customer reviews, learn about their company and philosophies, and enter their name into a search engine. Finally, be sure to review the design company’s terms and conditions. There are many designers whose terms specify that they (not you) retain ownership of all materials in perpetuity, placing restrictions on your usage. Remember, you will be investing a significant amount of time, trust, effort and capital in creating your website, so it is most certainly worth your time to ensure you really are choosing the right professional for the job.

Following your initial consultation and scope development, your designer will generally develop a wireframe for your approval. This serves as the skeleton for your site, establishing general placement/layout and structural presentation of site elements. It’s boring, but it is important. Spending a little time here now will save a lot of time later on.

The wireframe will be followed by a visual concept presentation for your homepage. If all of the preliminary steps have been covered thoroughly and thoughtfully (by both the designer and yourself) and communication has been clear, this will generally serve as the starting point for your site. Of course, you may want to tweak some colours, graphic treatments or images to make the design perfect in your eyes. Remember though, your eyes are not the important ones… it is the eyes of your customers you really need to consider. And it is your designer’s job to communicate your message with your target audience squarely in mind.

The design phase finishes with your visual layouts contained within PSD files. If your designer is also your developer, the transition to the next step will be seamless.

10. Website Development

If your website designer and developer are the same person, they will already have been provided with the required functionality and content for your site. If you are going with a separate developer, you will need to provide them with PSD files for the site (provided by your designer) as well as a detailed outline of exactly what you want each part of the site to do, and an outline of your content. They will then turn your visual design into a fully functional, working piece of communicative art (in code).

Like designers, web developers are not created equal. Not by a long shot. Web development is a rapidly changing and ever-evolving field, with different technologies and techniques being created, updated, and rendered obsolete on a daily basis. Web standards are important to ensure that your website looks and works as it should for the maximum possible number of visitors, though even that is no guarantee. Your developer will also need to test the site for cross-browser and cross-platform compatibility (because not all browsers follow standards). The way your site is coded is incredibly important for usability, accessibility, and will have a strong impact on how your site ranks in search engines. So choose someone who really knows what they’re doing.

11. Launch

While there are certainly other considerations insofar as pre-launch marketing goes, at this point your website is technically ready to deploy. Your developer will want to migrate your site onto your server for you (the one that your domain name points to, provided by your hosting company), and then complete one final set of tests to make sure that everything continues to work the way it should in its new home. This is another reason your choice of hosting companies is important – the software installed on the server needs to be up-to-date so it can support the latest standards in development.

12. Corollaries

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO is an entire industry unto itself, with intricacies that extend far beyond the scope of this article. At minimum, if you want anyone to find your website on a search engine, your developer needs to employ best practices in organic, white-hat search engine optimization. Organic simply means that the optimization is contained within the code, content and build of the site itself. White-hat means that the methods employed are not prohibited or frowned-upon by the search engines themselves. Google et al WILL blacklist any website it finds that tries to circumvent the rules through unscrupulous SEO techniques.

There are additional SEO tactics you can (and should) employ yourself to maximize your exposure. Search engines rank sites higher if they have regular updates with new content, and a good number of quality inbound links. This does not mean link exchanges necessarily, as search engines often penalize sites that offer little in the way of actual content. Basically, the more high-ranking websites you can get to link back to your site, the better.

Social Media

These days, everyone and their mother has a profile on Facebook and Twitter. Professionals will also have a profile on LinkedIn. Setting yourself up with a presence on social media can draw visitors to your site, IF handled properly. In order for this to work, you will need to invest time into keeping your profiles up to date, and you will need to make sure your contributions are relevant, appropriate, and suitably engaging for your visitors.

Offline Marketing

The web is an incredibly important medium for marketing your business. However, you should not make the mistake of ignoring classic offline marketing techniques and resources. Be sure to update all of your promotional and corporate materials to include your website address and branded email. This includes just about everything that has your logo on it, including your business cards, stationery, signage, advertising, packaging, etc. If a customer sees an ad on the side of a bus as it rolls by, they will be significantly more likely to retain a website address than any other method of contact advertised.

Your Browser

While your website will have been tested and developed to function in older browsers, it cannot be optimized for them. Current best practices and up-to-date techniques are simply not supported by many obsolete browsers, requiring secondary options and workarounds. So, open whichever browser you prefer to use, and update it to the latest version. It’s free, it’s easy, and it has the potential to improve your online experience exponentially.

Although this article has been fairly lengthy, it really is just a primer on the most important fundamentals of launching a new website. If an effective result is to be expected, the process becomes an involved one that requires considerable investment and effort on the part of the client and the designer/developer. It also requires a high level of expertise. As always, research is important. Hopefully this checklist will have you well on your way.

Luckily, in amongst the world of digital photo frames and web based magazines, the paper industry is taking notice and finally stepping up to the plate. Recycled paper has been around for a while, but as with any buzzword, use of the word ‘recycled’ doesn’t necessarily mean a whole lot. It could be as little as 10% recycled material, added to the fact that the raw materials are such a small part of the whole picture.

The more clever and responsible paper companies are re-examining their manufacturing processes, from the collection of raw materials right through to the mill floor and who provides their electricity. They’re not focusing blindly on steps allowing them to use the word ‘recycled’ alone, but are taking larger scale steps to manage their overall carbon footprint and corporate contributions to (and subsequent limitation of) greenhouse gas emissions. The quantity and type of energy and chemicals used to manufacture the paper are also determining factors, and the end result is a much wider range of ecologically responsible choices for those of us in the business of designing materials for print.

But how do you know which option to choose? The Environmental Defense Fund is a good starting point. Their online paper calculator takes all of these issues into consideration, and compares the overall environmental impacts of a wide range of different papers across their full lifecycle. While they can’t possibly include all of the paper manufacturers at any one person’s disposal, they do paint a clear enough picture of the sort of questions you should be asking when in the position to choose your stock.

Carbon footprint at EDF is calculated by kg equivalent of C02/MT and broken down into four major impact factors:
• Extraction of Wood
• Transportation / Waste / Disposal
• Manufacturing Energy
• Fibre Procurement

They also provide specific paper comparisons to North American averages for both 100% recycled papers, and standard virgin papers.

You can check out the EDF Paper Calculator at www.edf.org/papercalculator

At minimum, you should be looking for paper that is 100% post-consumer fibre, processed chlorine free, and manufactured regionally using responsible energy. In Canada, look for the Environmental Choice and FSC certification badges.

A successful catalog must be impeccably well-designed, and most importantly, needs to be tailored to convey your company’s image in a way that is relevant to your audience. For example, a catalog intended to sell modern gadgets and electronics should present an appearance and image vastly different to one intended to sell baking supplies.

The Front Cover
Let’s start at the beginning, shall we? The front cover is your first impression, and as in so many other facets in life, first impressions are primarily visual. So, immediately, your front cover must be aesthetically appealing. Depending on your product and market, you may want to present a specific feeling… of refreshment, comfort, or excitement for example. Front cover design follows many of the same premises as ad design… keep the text content to a bare minimum (often just the company name, slogan, and perhaps a catch phrase), use a clean and uncluttered approach, and be sure the cover clearly features your company name.

Try to select an image that is relevant to your audience, and that will make them want to use your products. For instance, if you sell sports equipment, you might want to feature a dynamic image of a cyclist, pushing hard to the finish line or busting a difficult trick, wearing a jersey with your logo, and using equipment offered in your catalog. This type of imagery speaks directly to your audience, and uses a setting they understand and enjoy, allowing them to place themselves into that image (and by association into your products).

Back Cover
The back cover is often neglected space in catalogs and magazines, often reduced to ad space for other companies, or boring blank space with a barcode and address. A surprisingly high percentage of people actually read through catalogs backwards, starting at the last page and flipping to the front. I’m not sure why, but I often find myself doing it too. If you’re publishing a magazine, you would generally use this space for a second lead. Similarly, a catalog’s back cover can be used to feature new products or showcase an overview of major current products (with references to page numbers in the catalog itself).

And like the front cover, the back cover should be easy on the eyes with a simple message… attractive, clean, focused and uncluttered.

If you have other plans for the back cover, you could also position your second lead on the last inner page face within the catalog, since the reader’s eye lands there first when the catalog is opened from the back.

Inner Pages
Primary Focus
In laying out the catalog’s internal pages, as with any print materials, the primary focus zone is the upper right corner of each two-page spread. The reader’s attention will be directed there first as pages are turned forward. Similarly, the upper left corner of each two page spread is the sweet spot for backward flippers. Use these areas for products in your inventory that are the most visually compelling or interesting. Your best selling products can appear elsewhere on the page, unless you’re really trying to further push those products in excess of their current success. Diversify – your best sellers can become boring, in that featuring a product people are already familiar with doesn’t really garner any new interest.

Fonts
Use and treatment of type in any kind of publication is much more important than you may think. If you use a font that is too casual, or clutter your catalog with a dozen different fonts, you risk looking like an amateur outfit, which will sacrifice credibility, which will lower sales. And if your catalog isn’t easily and immediately legible, people won’t bother reading it, no matter how carefully your product images are laid out. Remember, most people tend to flip through catalogs rather than sitting down to read them like a novel… your message needs to be clear, concise and compelling. A few simple rules of thumb will ensure your catalog reads as good as it looks:
• If you want to use different fonts, use no more than 3: say one for section titles, one for product titles, and one for descriptions/prices.
• Vary type usage with bold weight, italics, different sizes and colours, but be sure to keep treatments consistent throughout the catalog.
• Font size should be no smaller than 8pt
• Using all capital letters should be kept to a minimum, and do not underline – use bold or italics for emphasis instead

Remember, consistency and clarity are key. You want the reader’s attention on the product, not a cacophony of conflicting typefaces and font treatments.

Brand Your Catalog
When your catalog arrives in the mail, your customer should immediately recognize it as belonging to your company. Customer loyalty depends on a certain level of predictability, which breeds familiarity and comfort. They know what to expect from your catalog, and they know how to find what they’re looking for within it. For example, everybody knows how to navigate the Sears Wish Book at Christmas time – and you know exactly what it is, even from a distance. It’s familiar, it’s easy to use, and people love it.

For your catalog, you will want to consider finding some kind of hook to differentiate your company from the competition. For example, Ikea catalogs often feature room packages, which show a full professionally designed room layout, with a total price for everything featured in that room, and a breakdown of products needed to achieve that look. It’s very effective for people who need a bit of design help or students on a budget, and is quite good at convincing people to buy add-on items from the same retailer in order to achieve a look they like.

All of your catalogs should follow a consistent navigational and design theme, so your customers will come to be familiar and comfortable with your catalogs. And by creating a “look” for your catalog that is comfortable and familiar for your readers, you will be able to keep their attention even when the products are switched over for new offerings.

Product Shots
Group photos are nice, but featuring individual items in a clean, polished way will sell better. Group shots do have their place, provided you use small groups of closely related products rather than a large pile of random “stuff” that can become confusing for your audience. And if you do use group shots, be sure that products within the shot are carefully and clearly keyed to the individual product descriptions (i.e., a small but clear “A” on the photo should correspond to the product description marked “A”).

When possible, isolate product shots on a stark and seamless white background, highlighting crisp detail and forcing focus on the product itself. If you’re selling jewellery, use professional photomanipulation to maximize the shine, gleam and sparkle in your products. Use subtle effects such as a barely visible drop shadow, or wet surface reflection, as appropriate for the specific product line. Again, if you use a certain effect, keep it consistent throughout the catalog.

Ordering
So you’ve sold them on a product, and now they want to buy it… but how? Be sure to make the order process exceedingly easy. So easy they could (almost) manage an order blindfolded. And though most people will process an order online or by phone, many people still prefer the old fashioned paper and pen order form – do not exclude these people, as they may prove some of your most loyal customers. Even people who order by phone or online may use the order form to work out the details of their order before making the call/visit. It’s also the perfect place to list terms of sale, return policies, and other relevant corporate information.

On your website, prominently list a phone number, email and order area/shopping cart. If you have an online store in addition to your catalog, create a custom order area where people can enter catalog product numbers directly so they do not need to go through the process of finding all their products over again on your site. If you have an order number, be sure it’s manned by a real, living breathing person – nothing turns customers off more than automated phone systems.

The Printed Product
You’ve invested a lot of time, consideration and planning into the effective design and layout of your catalog. Please, PLEASE do not just go with the cheapest print company you can find. You’ll regret it. Trust me.

Be sure to choose paper stocks that are suitably thick, and that feel nice against your skin. A thin, harsh uncoated stock looks cheap, feels rough, dulls colour, bleeds ink onto your hands and generally will not represent your company or products well. Use a proper cover gloss stock for your cover, and a nice gloss stock for the inner pages. 100pt is ideal, but 80pt is also acceptable given the paper feels and prints nicely.

And remember, your catalog is going to be delivered through the mail. Unless you’re packaging the catalog in a sealed plastic coating, it is going to be subject to some potentially harsh weather conditions. Keep this in mind when choosing your paper options.

Catalogs come in all shapes and sizes. The standard sizes are cheaper to print, and for most applications are perfectly suitable:
• Standard full-size (8 3/8″ x 10 7/8″)
• Slim (6 1/8″ x 11 1/2″)
• Digest-size (5 3/8″ x 8 3/8″)

Unique sizes will attract attention, and can be highly effective in building a unique brand image and moving product. However, moving away from the “standard” sizes will add as much as 25 percent to the cost of production. So you would need to evaluate whether the extra investment is worth it for your particular company.

Printing in increments of 16 pages will be the least expensive option, as heat-set web presses print in 16 page signatures. This means that your catalog would be 16, 32, 48, 64 pages long, and so on. The next best option is to design in page increments of eight.

Colour Sells
If you can afford to print your catalog in color, it will invariably make a better impression, and will generate at least 25% more sales than a black and white catalog right off the bat. Colour sells – no question. That said, as with all other elements in your catalog, colour schemes not related to your actual products should remain consistent throughout. You can also use different colours to represent different sections in the catalog.

Bring it all Together
Successful collateral design uses a lot of consumer psychology in addition to professional design theories, and catalogs are no exception. Take advantage of what professionals have learned about how consumers think, react and attach to concepts and visual elements. Consider how the reader’s eye crosses the page, capitalize on primary focus zones, and present your products in the best way you possibly can through use of layout, colour, type, and texture.

When a catalog takes on a personality of its own and becomes something the customer enjoys, then it has achieved a positive brand image. No other kind of marketing collateral targets a niche audience quite as well as a thoughtfully designed and produced catalog, which can either serve as your primary sales vehicle, or as an excellent companion to an online or physical brick-and-mortar shop.

Unless you are in the community being targeted, it can be hard to tell upfront whether the design of your creative is going to be effective. But when you’re part of the targeted community, you get the message loud and clear. The trick comes in when you want to target a niche market to which you yourself do not belong. Bridging this gap between business and niche markets thus often requires a thoughtful cultural conversion campaign

The concept of cultural conversion in the creative field is very important when designing materials for niche markets. Once a base concept is defined, your need to evaluate the viability of your message within the context of your specific target markets. Advertising is about emotion. If something in your concept is offensive to a particular group, it needs to be addressed. Similarly, this type of evaluation can help to highlight latent strengths in your concept, which can be played up to maximize efficacy for that market. If the concept translates well, then you can begin to refine your message, creating highly targeted language and visuals. If it doesn’t, then you have the luxury of reworking the concept at an early phase until it does.

Cultural conversion evaluations have the ability to capture both intellectual and visceral nuances in a concept. One of the core properties of a successful ad campaign is the presence of a direct perceived connection with the audience. More campaigns today are veering away from the staid and safe language of standard sales copy, and are instead delving into the expression of more raw and emotive concepts… and niche audiences are loving them for it. It can be a heady trip, and a tight-wire act… any campaign that leans heavily on emotion is taking a chance. However, when you hit the right note, the rewards are undeniable.

Correctly targeted and expressed emotion in marketing can also lead to fierce brand loyalty – your market connects with you on a personal level… not just a practical one.

As business owners, we always want to make our brands bigger… more effective, more important, and more relevant. The style of marketing you use should excite the people who buy your product. And in order to do this, you need to know who these people are, where they live, what they love and the values by which they live their lives.

Targeting is more than just using photos of your niche market in your advertising materials. A properly composed marketing campaign needs to target for a culture… which is more than just fashion. To target properly, you need to understand your market’s entire mind-set, while avoiding stereotypes.

The approach you choose to take in marketing vis-a-vis its returns can be likened to your investment strategies. You can develop safe, palatable solutions that have a predictable but somewhat lackluster return, or you can aim for high returns by taking a risk, stripping down your brand and pointing that arrow directly at your market’s heart.

Sage Media is an international corporate design firm based in Ottawa, Ontario.

What is Postcard Marketing?

Postcards are a simple, inexpensive, and flexible direct mail marketing tool. They can be used to close sales, generate leads, cultivate return business, or introduce new products. In fact, the use of marketing postcards is really limited by nothing but your imagination. Some creative ideas include:

• Place a screen capture of your website on a card with the URL prominently displayed to generate more traffic.
• Remind customers its time to buy again. Some products become less effective with time and should be replaced regularly.
• Announce an impending price increase to encourage more sales at the current, lower rate.
• Invite your top customers to a private sale or offer them a discount over their usual purchase limit.
• Offer holiday promotions. These can be “two-fers,” buy two items for the regular price of one, or discounts applicable to a given day.
• Introduce new members of your staff and invite customers to come in and meet them.
• Advertise clearance sales and other special events throughout the year.

Benefits of Postcards

The major benefit that attracts users to postcard mailings is the low cost. Although money is generally the “bottom line,” the attractive price point is not the only benefit of postcard use.

• Cards can be used in test-marketing because they can be produced and sent in small quantities before committing to a full-blown marketing campaign.
• Postcards are an excellent way to hit your target market only, achieving maximum “bang” for your marketing “buck.”
• Production and processing of postcards is fast. It only takes a matter of a few days to get important information to your clients.
• The cards are less offensive in your clients’ mailboxes. Most people throw out mass mail offerings with only a passing glance, but postcards due to their size and ease of access generally get more attention.
• Postcards don’t require extra equipment or special services. While you can order cards in mass quantity online, you can also easily churn out 50 or 100 with almost any computer / printer set up.
• Since a postcard’s message should be simple and direct, professional design services are not a necessity.

Tips on Postcard Layout

Although arguably the most simple of all marketing materials to generate, there are still some things to consider in order to create a highly effective postcard.

• Don’t waste space, but by the same token don’t cram information together. Your card should be easy to read and easy on the eyes with a well-balanced and attractive appearance.
• Headlines should immediately catch the eye and make the reader stop and examine the card more closely.
• Use graphics that have a purpose and contribute to the card’s message.
• If you plan on generating a series of cards throughout the year use a consistent element. By the second or third card, people will instantly recognize the fact that it’s from your business.

Writing Postcard Copy

As with any kind of advertising copy, it isn’t so much a matter of what you are saying as how you are siting it. The key words to remember are:

• brief
• specific
• direct
• clear

It just takes a flick of the wrist for your card to wind up in the trash. Consider the following:

• Attract attention with a funny image or statement, the use of bright colors or bold print, or a prominently displayed piece of useful or money-saving information.
• Talk directly to the reader. This is one place where using the word “you” is a definite plus.
• Offer some incentive to take action. This can be a limited-time offer, a request for information, a means to order a product or request a service instantly, or some other call for the reader to do something that is to their benefit.

Standard Postcard Sizes

An important aspect of postcard marketing is to ensure that your production falls within the specifications set by your Postal Service. If the cards are inappropriately sized they will either not be processed for mailing or will incur a higher postal rate.

Good Things Come in Small Packages

For small businesses on a tight budget or companies with a need to communicate multiple times a year with a select target audience, postcards are the flexible marketing tool of choice. Additionally, the open form factor allows your message to be read by anyone who happens to glance at the card as it travels through the postal system or is left lying on your client’s desk or counter top. The power of the casual glance play a significant role in branding. Someone may remember your business name or service and contact you while having no idea where they acquired the information. Postcards are an important aspect of marketing campaigns because they carry the primary benefits of:

• low cost
• flexibility of use
• fast turn around
• tight audience targeting

Postcards no longer cost a penny, but they’re worth every marketing penny you invest in their production and mailing.

Sage Media is an international corporate design firm based in Ottawa, Ontario.

Flexible. Mailings can be sent in a variety of formats, such as letters, postcards, brochures and even in 3-D containers that can accommodate product samples or specialty items.

Tangible. Recipients can touch and interact with a mail piece. It can be kept, displayed, shared, circulated and referred to as often as needed. Deliverable. Mail that is sent to a person who is no longer at a particular company or home address is often passed along to a replacement or current occupant.

Refinable. Various components of direct mail can be segmented and tested to find the best list, offer, creative, timing, etc., and the winning combinations can be rolled out to a wider audience for optimal results.

Measurable. The results of a direct mail campaign can easily be tracked by counting the responses or inquiries it generates.

Cost effective. Because it can be targeted and the waste rate is generally easy to manage, direct mail can make advertising dollars go further.

Repetition & consistency. The advantages of a single mail piece can be compounded when the mailing is expanded into a series of mailers or a direct mail campaign. Multiple mailers allow a message to be reinforced or a series of related ideas to be presented; a campaign allows the advertiser to use a cumulative approach to selling. Alternately, sending multiple, single-topic mailers can be a means of promoting an array of products or services, one at a time. A key element of successful direct mail campaigns is repetition, and it is important that the designer be sensitive to the value in leveraging a company’s identity or brand. Generally speaking, logos and tag lines should be displayed consistently among mailers, and other ways of achieving continuity- such as font and color use-ought to be considered as well. Although it is important to be consistent, care should be taken to avoid being boring or predictable within a campaign.

7 Ways to Improve Direct Mail Response

The strategy used in putting together a direct mail campaign can be as important to its success as the design and copy. Details such as the number of pieces in a series, the range and variety of shapes or sizes of the components, the lag time between successive mailers-all of these and more factor in to the response rate. Here are seven success factors that, when properly addressed, will increase direct mail response rates:

1. How many? While there is no set rule for the number of pieces that constitute a good campaign, two or three mailers seems to be a reasonable amount for a short-term program. Some products-such as high-ticket items or goods with a long sales cycle-may lend themselves to a more extended schedule, such as a year-long monthly mailing. Remember that a campaign may only be as strong as its weakest component, so if adding one more mail piece to a series feels like a stretch-or the concept just isn’t flowing-you may have already found the optimal number of pieces.
2. How often? The timing of the arrival of each mailer is probably as important as mailing frequency. In general you will want to space mail drops to be close enough together that preceding mailers will be recalled by the recipient, but not so concentrated or clustered as to become annoying or seem overly extravagant or anxious. In instances where the objective of a campaign is to quickly generate excitement and attention, a succession of mailers sent within a short time frame can be effective. If the mailers are for items or services that are seasonal, clustering during a particular time frame often makes sense. The cost of postage is typically a consideration in determining how often mailings are sent; while first class postage costs more than standard mail, it also takes less time to deliver to recipients, which can impact a project’s timeline.
3. In what order? For some products, a “buildup” approach works best. This may mean messages accumulate to reinforce each other and lead the recipient to a desired action or conclusion. A buildup method might also mean that the campaign itself is designed to crescendo at its conclusion. For example, in a three-part mailing, an initial, simple postcard may be followed by a more elaborate pop-up piece and conclude with an interesting box mailer. This tactic creates anticipation and can generate a spike in response rates as the program moves forward. For other campaigns, a reverse order might make sense, where an especially striking or innovative mailer is sent first and is followed by pieces that serve as reminders or as a means of extending the interplay between the sender and the recipient.
4. Flat or 3-D? The type of mailers deployed in a campaign will be driven in many cases by budget. Three-dimensional mailers and those that feature a lot of special effects can cost more than a simple postcard or flat mailing, but dimensional mailers frequently yield greater results. One consideration in deciding whether to choose a 3-D design format is the target audience. In a typical business setting, some ordinary envelopes might not make it past a secretary, but when a package arrives it could receive special treatment, granting it a greater likelihood to reach a decision maker.
5. How much variety? This too can be a decision that is influenced by budget. A good campaign can be built using a variety of mailer shapes and sizes but is sometimes expensive since print economies-such as printing the program on one run-might not be possible. On the other hand, an effective campaign can be created out of nothing more than a simple series of clever postcard mailers, as evidenced by some examples shown in this article. Some very effective campaigns have also included a multimedia approach: for example, a mailing that drives the recipient to a website or is followed up with an e-mail.
6. Which response mechanisms? Depending on the objective of the mailers, the inclusion of a response device can alternately be unnecessary, a good idea or absolutely essential. If the sender does not want or need to engage in an exchange with the recipient-for example, with a campaign whose only objective is awareness-no sender contact information would be incorporated. On the other hand, multiple response mechanisms are vital in instances such as catalog sales campaigns. In these situations, providing the options of telephone, fax, e-mail, business reply and web contact info is not just logical, it’s crucial.
7. What about a teaser? Some effective mail campaigns have been built around giving incomplete information or only parts of a message initially. Others work by sending half of a gift-such as one glove or a single bookend-with a message indicating that the missing component will be sent in exchange for the recipient completing a certain action. Care should be taken when using this approach to avoid irritating or annoying the prospect.

All U.S. mail must meet these standards:

• Thickness-Not less than 0.007 in. thick.
• Pieces that are 1/4 in. thick or less must be at least 3-1/2 in. high, 5 in. long and rectangular in shape.
• Combined length and girth-Not more than 108 in.
• Parcel Post may not exceed 130 in.
• Weight-Not more than 70 lbs.

Postcard Rate Dimensions:

• Minimum: 3-1/2 in. high by 5 in. long by 0.007 in. thick.
• Maximum: 4-1/4 in. high by 6 in. long by 0.016 in. thick.

Adapted from original article by Sheree Clark, as published in the December/January 2007 issue of Dynamic Graphics magazine.

Sage Media is an international corporate design firm based in Ottawa, Ontario.

As a design company director, I see this tendency way too often and frankly, I have a hard time understanding how entrepreneurs can so easily discount the importance of how their product LOOKS on the shelves, when they’ve put so much of themselves into building their company, and their product. They have a hard time paying a few thousand to develop their packaging design, when the numbers at stake can reach millions (or even billions if your company is all that). Every businessperson wants their product to succeed, but they don’t seem to understand that consumers are extremely scritinizing and visually oriented creatures. Your bagels could be the best thing since, well, sliced bread… but if the packaging looks like crap then nobody’s going to buy them.

Your packaging (whether you’re selling bagels, books, goggles or windex) speaks directly to the customer when you can’t – right at the point of sale. Thus, your packaging design should be a carefully tailored conversation, not an afterthought.

SO, here are a few tips to consider when developing your packaging (and obviously I would recommend hiring a design firm to facilitate the process)…

• Use the same development criteria for both the product and the packaging. This not only helps the package to work harmoniously with the product, but provides the connection between your product and your consumer.
• Your target audience should be a key element in formulating the design. Develop the package as if it were the product itself.
• The packaging should be an honest reflection of the enclosed product. If the packaging is too cheap or extravagant to support the products positioning, the consumer may be skeptical of the products quality or price.
• Depending on the product, the use of elements that allow the buyer to see the actual product can instill a level of trust. Being able to see the product’s color and construction is reassuring and will often sway the purchasing decision in your favor.
• Consider your colour palette carefully. Although bright saturated colors can be eye catching, making your packaging too colorful can confuse your message (and the result can often be like a bee sting to the eyes). By using color with purpose, your package design becomes thematic, making for a stronger message.
• Don’t cheap out. Your customers will know when you’ve cut corners, and that message will trickle down to direct judgment and assumptions about your company and your product.

Remember, package design is a critically important aspect of sales (and ultimately company) success. Treat the process with respect, and your product’s success will show the benefit.

Sage Media is an international corporate design firm based in Ottawa, Ontario.

The most common implementation questions we come across are often in regards to printing… what finishes to use, what stock, and most often, should we use digital or offset printing?

In the past decade, digital printing has benefited from a surge in popularity… due to a combination of increased affordability, technical advancements, and the availability of more options than were previously possible in digital print. Literally hundreds of new digital print companies have opened their doors online, making commercial print solutions more readily available to everyone. That said, this growth in popularity has also caused quite a bit of confusion for those not “in the biz”, and a few unscrupulous (or plain inexperienced) companies are taking advantage of this confusion… resulting in a large proportion of print consumers walking away with a product that does not meet their needs.

An understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of digital printing versus those of traditional offset lithography, is crucial in making the right choice in your printing company.

MECHANICAL PROCESS

OFFSET: Offset lithography is the most commonly trusted high volume commercial printing technology. In offset printing, the design image is first burned onto a plate, and is then transferred (or offset) from the plate to a rubber sheet, and finally to the printing surface. The lithographic process is based on the repulsion of oil and water. The image to be printed gets ink from ink rollers, while the non printing area attracts a film of water, keeping the non printing areas ink-free.

DIGITAL: If you have a desktop printer at home, you’re likely already familiar with the mechanical process of digital printing. Many of the mechanical steps required for offset printing are eliminated (namely, making films and color proofs, manually stripping the pieces together, and making plates), which results in a much more affordable print solution.

ADVANTAGES OF DIGITAL & OFFSET METHODS

DIGITAL ADVANTAGES:
In general…
1. Shorter turnaround
2. Lower costs for very small print runs
3. Availability of variable data printing (database driven, e.g. mailing lists)

OFFSET ADVANTAGES:
In general…
1. Higher image quality, higher resolution and no streaks/spots.
2. Works on a wide range of printing surfaces including paper, wood, cloth, metal, leather, rough paper and plastic.
3. The unit cost goes down as the quantity goes up.
4. Quality and cost-effectiveness in high volume jobs.
5. Many modern offset presses use computer-to-plate (as opposed to the older computer-to-film system) further increasing quality.

HOW TO DECIDE?

Use this checklist to help decide:

[ ] Quantity
Offset printing has a front-end cost load, which means short runs (low quantities) may have a high per-unit cost. But as quantities increase, the unit cost goes down with offset printing. Very short runs can be more cost effective with digital printing; while larger quantities are likely to have a lower unit cost with offset printing.

[ ] Printing Medium
Do you need or want a special paper, finish or unusual printing surface, or unique size? The options are getting better for digital, but offset printing still offers the most flexibility.

[ ] Colour
Digital presses use four-colour process (CMYK) printing. If you need only black ink or one or two ink colors, offset printing may offer a more cost-effective solution. If you need four-color printing, digital may offer advantages in lower up-front costs. That said, a few progressive modern offset printing companies are now offering rich full-colour printing, with no added plate/setup fees for additional colours.

[ ] Pantone®
If you’re planning to print using the Pantone® Matching System, offset printing will give you the best match, since it uses actual Pantone® ink. Digital printing simulates the color using a four-color matching process, so some digital printers may offer less accurate color matching on projects.

[ ] Turnaround
If you need it fast, digital usually offers quicker delivery. Again though, a few select offset print houses are now offering print turnaround in as short a timeframe as 24 hours.

[ ] Proofing
Digital offers more accurate proofs, since what you see is an actual sample of the printed piece, printed using the exact process as the intended run. For offset printing, if you need hard proofs, stringently accurate colour proofing can become expensive.

[ ] Customization
With the ease of database driven variable data printing, digital printing offers the most affordable way to customize marketing materials, direct mail pieces, letters, etc. with a different name/address or number/code on each printed piece.

SUMMARY

Digital printing can be the ideal solution for some people, but in our experience, computer-to-plate offset lithography (combined with respectably high quality stock and finishing) always yields the superior result in print quality. The trick then becomes finding the right partner.

Over the years, we have sampled the services of dozens of local and global print houses, and have painstakingly hand-picked a small selection of partners who put out consistently high-quality product, on time and in budget… with whom we have since developed trade agreements. Not everyone is able to invest this sort of research into choosing the right print partner, but to ensure the best results, we would strongly suggest that you follow these minimal steps:

1. Leave Nothing to Chance
Be very specific with your print company when communicating which stock you want used, which colours, which process (digital vs offset) and what sort of finishing or coating you want on your cards.

2. Get Samples
Before initiating your print project, request samples from your prospective print companies. All reputable print houses have a standing offer of free samples expressly for this purpose.

3. Proof
If you are managing your own print project, and are working with a local firm, be sure to request a pre-press proof before authorizing the full run. This will allow you to confirm that the company understood your specific instructions outlined in item 1 above. It will also allow you a hands-on preview of the final product, so you can catch any imperfections ahead of time. If you are working with a remote partner, be sure to request a digital proof… while this requires an element of trust in terms of the stock and finish, a digital proof will allow you to ensure all visuals are to spec.

In the end, a good design cannot fully live up to its potential when run on a shoddy print job. If you are as careful and selective in choosing a print partner as you were in choosing a design firm, you can ensure that the physical product that actually reaches your partners or customers is of the highest possible quality.

Because all things considered, high quality is precisely the message you want to deliver.

Sage Media is an international corporate design firm based in Ottawa, Ontario.

On the cover – don’t jump the gun.
Effective sales people don’t jump into the hard pitch on first contact – similarly, it doesn’t make sense to focus overtly or solely on your company on the brochure’s cover. Instead, focus on an idea that will endorse your company in the customer’s mind, and create a connection.

The copy should focus on your customer, not you.
The text in your brochure should make the customer feel that you understand and sympathize with their problems – after all, they’re seeking you out to fill THEIR needs, not to do you a favour. To your customer, the most important thing about your product or service is how it is of use to them. So, allow your brochure copy to answer all their questions and overcome all their objections. The copy should impart that personal touch to the customer. Brochure copy is sales stragety in writing… and in the world of ad copy, you need to build rapport before you can sell.

Hook your readers.
Bait is great, but without a good hook you’ll never bring that “fish” onto the boat. As it’s been said, every page in your brochure presents the reader with an opportunity to stop going on to the next page. Get their attention, and keep it with a combination of design and copy that is attractive, intriguing, and persuasive.

Sell the refreshment, not the drink.
You’ve put a lot of work into developing your company and products… so it will be very tempting to focus in on the details of all the fantastic features your company/product offers. And although it can be argued that brochures exist to explain features, in copy it’s best to sell those features through the benefits. And you can do this by using true to life examples, cases and applications.

Don’t lose your readers on technical points
This is one of the strongest reasons to seek out a professional copywriter. All too often, business owners find it too difficult to simplify their message for general consumption… because you’re so close to the product, it’s too easy to inadvertently drown your readers under a flood of technical jargon. Please, don’t do that to your prospects. If technical information is important to your particular product, it should only be presented in proper technical style (as a table chart or diagram) and not pushed down the throat of your reader through bewildering, incomprehensible language.

Establish credibility
Obviously, you want to make the best possible impression on your prospects. From a copywriting perspective, you can do this through tone and content, and by providing expert answers in simple English. Your grammer should be perfect, your composition well-considered, and your content relevant and genuinely compelling.

Keep it concise
Aside from those clients who come to us with no content ready whatsoever, perhaps one of the most perplexing problems we come across is those clients who provide us with a short novel of text to squeeze into six small brochure panes. If your prospects wanted to read a whitepaper on your company, they would ask for a whitepaper. The purpose of a sales brochure is to present a compelling, easy-to-digest overview of your company – it is not a medium in which to detail your overall business plan. Decide which points are the most important to present, and focus on those… if they are well written and presented in an artful way, they will compel your prospects to seek you out for more.

End with a call to action
Always, always end your copy with a call to action. You’ve built a rapport, you’ve outlined the benefits of your company to the customer – now simply and clearly tell the customer what you want them to do. In other words, if you want them to purchase, say, “Harold’s Widgets”, simply ask them for their order.

Writing good quality content for brochures is a vital requirement for any credible corporation. Remember you are not just selling brochure paper, you are selling yourself.

Sage Media is an international corporate design firm based in Ottawa, Ontario.

As a general rule of thumb, you have three seconds to make an impression on those walking past your display. Your overall design that includes each trade show booth graphic and sign must be simple and meaningful enough to compel attendees to walk in and learn more.

The content on your signage should simply and very clearly communicate — in as few words as possible — the benefits of your product. It is also wise to consider the impact of other important elements such as lighting, and even smell.

If you are hiring a professional design firm to create your tradeshow graphics for you, you should look for the following:

1. A style of creativity that is both engaging and clean
2. Understanding of materials and how they are best used
3. Ability to communicate ideas clearly and precisely
4. Understanding of structure
5. Understanding of graphic techniques (typography, photography, etc.)
6. Understanding of technical requirements for large scale print
7. Awareness of marketing trends and their relations to your objectives
8. Ability to effectively research your target market for the event
9. Trade connections in the print industry always help!

Of course, if you’re doing it yourself, then you should have the above all confidently checked off in order to come away with a successful result.

Sage Media is an international corporate design firm based in Ottawa, Ontario.