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 Keep in mind that servers are just like your own computer… if it is overloaded, outdated and neglected, it will perform slowly and inconsistently at best, and crash and fail at worst.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hosting companies are able to offer cheap rates simply by squeezing as many accounts as possible onto a single, often outdated server.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.

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.

•economies of scale (production and distribution)
•lower marketing costs
•laying the groundwork for future extensions worldwide
•maintaining consistent brand imagery
•quicker identification and integration of innovations (discovered worldwide)
•preempting international competitors from entering domestic markets or locking you out of other geographic markets
•increasing international media reach (especially with the explosion of the Internet) is an enabler
•increases in international business and tourism are also enablers

When to Leverage a Single Brand Globally

A company is more likely to leverage a single brand globally if:

•it is already operating worldwide (one brand is more efficient)
•the brand is an extension of the owner and his or her personality
•the brand’s relationship to its country of origin creates positive associations (like a watch brand from Switzerland or a gourmet food brand from France)

Global Brand Constants

At a minimum, when going global, the following elements should remain constant throughout the world:

•corporate brand
•brand identity system (especially your logo)
•brand essence

Global Brand Variables

The following elements may differ from country to country:
•corporate slogan
•products and services
•product names
•product features
•positionings
•marketing mixes (including pricing, distribution, media and advertising execution)

These differences will depend upon:
•language differences
•different styles of communication
•other cultural differences
•differences in category and brand development
•different consumption patterns
•different competitive sets and marketplace conditions
•different legal and regulatory environments
•different national approaches to marketing (media, pricing, distribution, etc.)

Language Translation

A key question in global branding is this: Do you translate the brand name into the local language or keep it in the original language? You should probably keep it in the original language if (a) there is no intrinsic meaning and it is easy to pronounce or (b) global awareness of the brand name is already high. You should consider translating the name into the local language if it is suggestive of a key benefit (that would be lost if the original name were used).

Other key global branding questions:

•Have you identified the relative attractiveness of each market for your brand (and have you identified consistent criteria for doing so)?
•Have you conducted an attitude and usage study in each country whose market you are considering entering?
•Do you know the category and brand development indices in each country in which you operate?
•Do you have a global branding scorecard that can be applied country by country?
•Do you have agreement on which decisions are made centrally and which ones are made locally?

Taking a Brand Global: Other Considerations

•Because of the extended global baby boom, youth marketing is a huge opportunity. Brand names, designer labels, and other forms of status will play well to the global youth market, in general.
•Global advertising needs to consider the fact that, for much of the world, the economy is booming and the context is unprecedented optimism. The tragic events of September 11, 2001 notwithstanding, the economies of many nations continue this growth.
•The world’s consumers are not naïve. Much of the world has access to English language television.
•Start marketing in countries before their spending power is fully realized. Due to media exposure, people are forming their brand opinions now.
•Representing male/female relationships appropriately will vary from society to society. Be sure that you fully understand the local cultures before attempt to do so.
•Using distributors is frequently a good way to break into foreign markets. It is critically important to carefully choose the right distributor when trying to enter a new market.

Ultimately, there is much to be gained by extending your brand globally. The saying “think globally, act locally” makes much sense in this context. The key is determining what elements you will tailor for local markets. That depends upon a thorough understanding of the similarities and differences between the local markets you intend to serve.

Previously published as chapter 16 Global Branding in Brand Aid (AMACOM, 2003) and The Brand Management Checklist (Kogan Page, 2002), © Brad VanAuken. Both books can be purchased through The Blake Project.

If used systematically across your business, design can bring a range of measurable commercial benefits:

• Improved sales and conversion rates
• Improved market position
• Greater customer loyalty
• A stronger and more credible identity for your business
• The ability to open up new markets

Design increases the value of your products and services to your customers. A professional image for your business and its offerings gives customers a reason for buying from you, and not from your competitors. In addition to improving the customer’s impression of the products and services you sell, design can also improve the way your business operates – the efficiency of its processes, the quality of its packaging and the marketability of the business.

Most people think of design as simply “decorating”… covering the outward appearance of products or the graphic elements of things such as your website, packaging and marketing materials. While these things are very important, they are just the tip of the iceberg. Design actually plays a part in nearly every aspect of what most businesses do. For example, when a business creates a consistent look across its brand materials, products, signage, stationery and its marketing activities, they are using design to improve their business and future prospects.

You can also use design to benefit your business in less obvious ways:

• product and engineering design
• graphic design – from manuals and marketing literature to signage and software interfaces
• packaging design
• software design
• retail and point-of-sale design
• interior design and fit-outs
• exhibition and trade show material design
• promotional design
• annual reports and company presentations

It’s a good idea to conduct a design audit – look at key areas of your business such as your brand, your product and service development, your work practices and customer communication and consider what role design plays in them. There may be opportunities to use design to make your business more efficient and to add value to your products and services for your customers.

It’s also a good idea to remember that corporate design is a highly specialized field. The ability to design and build a house does not come included with the purchase of a hammer… it is the same with corporate design. While the tools designers use continue to improve the industry and design products immensely, there is much more to successful design than picking up a software package.

DO:

• review prospective design firms’ portfolios carefully
• ensure the work shown in the portfolios was actually done by the firm or professional
• discuss your project with a senior designer before signing a contract
• ensure the designer is familiar with marketing and sound corporate design theory and standards
• make certain the firm will be doing the work (beware of outsourcers – fronts for cheap unqualified labour)
• ask questions… enough until you are comfortable the firm suits your business perfectly
• trust the professionals to do a professional job – if you were a designer, you would have done it yourself!

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

In less than the blink of an eye, your internet users have already formed an opinion about your website and by extension, your company. Participants in three studies were first asked to rate a series of web pages according to their aesthetic appeal after viewing them for 50 milliseconds, and were then asked to examine each site more carefully and provide a new rating. Confirming the old saying that a first impression is often a lasting one, the researchers found no significant difference between the two ratings. This means that in that first 50 milliseconds, your audience has already sussed you out.

While I’m sure you already knew how important first impressions are, you might not have suspected that your window for making that first impression a good one could be so brief. I would have guessed closer to 2 seconds, personally. But how much weight does this first impression really carry? The HOTlab at Carleton has this in the works, along with studies to determine what effect the site’s first impression has on choosing a site or buying from one, and cues for producing a positive user response. Personal preference seems to be the tick in their side… so what does this say to you?

Know your audience.

Know what they’re attracted to, what they enjoy doing in their spare time, how they shop, and what they look for in a vendor. This knowledge is invaluable for integration into your design plan, and if your designer isn’t asking questions about your audience, you should run for the hills. The whole point of corporate design is to make your company look good to the right people. And you need to make sure that in those first 50 milliseconds, you are making the best possible first impression on your target market.

The article abstract can be found at www.Carleton.ca

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

What’s missed, however, is the fact that much broader market penetration can be achieved through micro-segmentation of the market along all possible people who, in addition to Joe’s distinct shared characteristics, might have hundreds more which are distinct and not shared.

In creating the best possible personae, businesses must invest in determining which distinctive characteristics are the best drivers, the most important and impactful characteristics. These are the items that will motivate the audience to take action, and can be determined a number of ways, including audience-specific navigation patterns on the company’s website.

It’s easy to forget, but important to remember the simple fact that audience perspectives differ along demographic lines. Regional differences, age, gender and occupation will all affect audience point of view. To get and hold your audience’s attention (and keep their impressions of you positive), you need to market to different market segments. The implications of cultural relativity are not just thought fodder for theoretical sociologists. What does your campaign slogan translate to in other languages? If it’s “eat your fingers off” or “it doesn’t go”, you may want to rethink your message!

The use of effective imagery is a powerful marketing tool, but must be carefully considered as with all marketing efforts. Once you have your audience’s attention, you want to make the best possible impression. You’ve invested a lot of time, money and effort in planning your marketing campaign, it doesn’t make sense to cheap out on the deliverables.

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