Marketing to millennials can be tricky. Here are a few tips to help you in your marketing endeavors.
Denese is a lover of knowledge and puts her research skills and creative eye to good use with her infographics. When she’s not researching and designing visuals to present data, she spends time volunteering in her other passion–health education.
As a business owner, there are two important concepts that should be identified when creating your overarching plan – branding and marketing.
At first glance of the words, they seem like they could be interchangeable. But, as we take a deeper dive in to each, you may possibly need to adjust your strategic plans.
Let’s think of branding as the cohesive glue that holds your marketing campaigns together. It is the core of the business and who it is, represents and values. This can encompass:
Branding will also include a detailed use of your business’ design standards – such as:
A few components are wrapped up in to this piece. Determining if the logo needs to be in color versus black white is a first step. Is it more vertical or horizontal? Do you need multiple versions to fit different types of collateral?
Where will the logo be primarily placed? When placed with other logos, is there an order of hierarchy? Will it require specific size requirements pending placement? If this is being used within a footer of an email, what is the smallest size the logo will be allowed to be at?
Choosing the main colors for the logo is very important, as this will need to adhere to the overall brand strategy and represent the company correctly. There also needs to be thought on what other colors can be used if the marketing material clashes too much with the main logo. How else can this be represented?
In tandem with choosing your colors for the company and logo, the font chosen to be used in the logo will be as important. This will be the main representation of the company. Making sure it’s how the brand should be portrayed, it’s legible, and clear to the consumer is key. Also including in the brand standards similar fonts that can be used when speaking about the company will be beneficial when used on different materials.
The above items are pieces that a professional designer can help build out that supports and easily conveys your company’s mission and goals. From initial meetings for the designer to understand what the company does to deeper discussions about how the company should be portrayed – both elements fall under the building company’s brand identity.
You should be very detailed in how you express the needs of what the brand guidelines should entail. This will allow you to deepen the relationship between the different pieces of your company and why you are, who you are.
Long-term visions of the company should be included your brand identity. Without this aspect determined when building your business, you can’t fully understand what the business should accomplish and how those goals will be reached. You want to stay true to why the company was formed in the first place.
This is the marketing piece and how you execute the mission and vision of your brand. This will be ever changing and evolve as your products and services change, but will always refer back to core identity of the company.
Examples of marketing efforts to promote certain products or services are:
This includes newspaper, brochures, postcards, catalogs, posters, banners, etc. Though digital marketing efforts are extremely effective and cost efficient, print is still a main and valuable aspect of business operations.
This will not include any visual creative, but the tone and message for a radio ad still must reflect the brand’s strategy in how it wishes to present itself to potential consumers. Note: different markets are more expensive than others and will depend on the station for the demographic you would like to reach.
This form of marketing will be the most expensive. Not only will there production costs (location, actors, shooting, etc.), but there are also the costs of the actual advertising spot (differing per station and market). However, this can be very effective to reach a wide audience and to be able to use visual and emotional cues combined.
The following marketing tactics have not only become the workhorse of current marketing strategies, but also the most cost effective – they include: mobile, social media, search engine optimization (seo), email blasts, content marketing (blogs, videos, etc.).
Overall, marketing can be thought of as in what’s “in-season” and broken up in to campaigns – trends and channels that will help dictate how your message is delivered and to what audience, all while referencing and adhering to your brand standards.
Now that the two pieces have been hashed out, which one do you start with?
The brand should always be thought of first and then incorporated in to how a certain marketing tactic can be best used to solicit and engage current and potential consumers.
Branding and marketing have been broken up above, but that doesn’t mean that they do not ever work together. There are two areas on where the brand and marketing overlap: the company voice and imagery presented.
When developing your brand, you should have a specific tone to the company and target audience in which your products and services may be best suited for. Not only does this impact what you wish to offer to the market, but how your mission and culture are influenced. An ivy-league school operates and speaks differently than how a tech start-up will. There is no one way that is better than the other, but needs to be carefully determined to help structure how the organization speaks to its consumers and even their employees.
The other area where the two practices meet is when you determine what imagery, colors, etc. you will use. As mentioned earlier, this can be done with the help of a professional designer that will help guide the thought process to determine your logo and colors, but when executing different marketing campaigns, it is important that those are adhered to and any other selected images represent the company in the best light and in-line with the set brand guidelines.
When determining your brand and marketing efforts, contact Colleen Eakins Design to set up a consultation to learn how we can best support you.
I received my Bachelors in Marketing and Certification in the Pastry Arts. I have managed a wide array of printed and digital marketing needs.
Denese EakinsDenese is a lover of knowledge and puts her research skills and creative eye to good use with her infographics. When she’s not researching and designing visuals to present data, she spends time volunteering in her other passion–health education.
Denese is a lover of knowledge and puts her research skills and creative eye to good use with her infographics. When she’s not researching and designing visuals to present data, she spends time volunteering in her other passion–health education.
The current time is a fantastic time in the history of modern logo design trends. High-end illustration programs and experienced designers are pushing the envelope for corporate branding.
There’s no doubt that branding is crucial to business success. The world’s most famous companies all have instantly-identifiable brand elements. Powerful images help consumers make strong associations with products. The best logos “sum up” the corporate vision perfectly
In the present time, logos are always changing to meet new needs. Trends change monthly, but everything from minimalist themes through cartoon style branding is available. Most designers look for a way to incorporate the company’s mission into a synthetic glyph.
A robust visual representation for a brand is one that’s recognizable and conveys at least some sort of meaning. The symbolism doesn’t have to be intense, but anything that helps people remember the company is always useful.
Tech companies lead the way with logos with reductionist glyphs that cut straight to the point. Think of the “tweeting bird” icon for Twitter.
If you think about minimalism for logo designs, it makes a lot of sense. The less ornate the image, the smaller the chance of making a mistake. Precise artwork adds a stronger emphasis to branding and is often the result of extensive experience.
Logos are design elements that can easily go awry, when ‘thinking outside of the box’ and taking a design direction that is unsual. In fact, taking the safe bet and sticking with industry-popular colors, fonts, and messaging has a strong correlation with success.
Geometric shapes are a logo option for any business. It’s essential to research the final creation, especially if you’re hoping for an all-original finished product. These shapes are well-traveled territory for graphic designers, for the simple reason they are building blocks for polished logos.
Building a final presentation for a branding element means coordinating the tagline, logo, graphics, and font into a cohesive composition. The company has to be happy with the work and it’s worth testing it with end users. The whole process may be a bit time-consuming, but utilizing the correct design elements are essential. Do it right the first time and the investment in quality graphics will yield a significant return.
Since fonts dominate logos, typographic designs are a reasonable choice. There are many fonts available these days and making a new one can be an option with some designers.
Some of the most famous logos of all time are typographic and the trend has been gaining recently.
Black and white logos are elegant and striking. Black lettering on white backgrounds is one of the most straightforward graphics to read. For clarity, few other options offer the same wallop.
A distinct advantage for this color scheme is that it matches well with just about everything else. Blending and mixing and matching your current branding elements is more convenient. For companies considering plugging a new logo into an existing network of digital assets, a black and white logo is an option.
If you have an unusual configuration of letters in your corporate identity, you may consider letter-stacking for your logo. This technique is an excellent way to add styling in a subtle and sophisticated manner. The best way to see if you like this look is by experimenting.
Stack a few different fonts and go from there. You’ll know when you hit upon a theme that’s usable and crisp. Modern logos are almost always appealing and few methods are more stylish than this one.
Your brand should have room to evolve. That’s why there’s no reason to tie too much literal meaning in your art. For example, incorporating the year “2018” into your design will present a problem for you soon enough! Be wary of overly-trendy ideas because they may not be hot tomorrow.
Convey your core values and mission. The imagery you select will need to get the point across clearly to potential and current customers and partners. The better you present that idea, the more likely they’ll respond favorably. Missing the mark could have disastrous consequences.
Be precise to avoid confusion. There are laws against being too similar to someone else’s logo. These rules exist because similar logos and graphics confuse consumers to no end! Being on-target is not always easy, but it’s still worth it because the opposite causes significant problems.
Logo design is another form of communication. That’s why there’s no need to go off on a tangent. Your logo serves as a central representation of all your other marketing assets. As such, it has a central role in your organization, so you should choose it carefully.
Armed with fresh knowledge and a plan, assembling the final pieces for a fantastic logo should not be a problem. The power is in your hands to create a compelling, lasting image that is an accurate reflection of your organization’s goals and experience.
I’m a Digital Marketer & Freelance Writer with a penchant for all things forward-thinking and positive. I’m a fan of abundance and progress.
Denese EakinsDenese is a lover of knowledge and puts her research skills and creative eye to good use with her infographics. When she’s not researching and designing visuals to present data, she spends time volunteering in her other passion–health education.
Denese is a lover of knowledge and puts her research skills and creative eye to good use with her infographics. When she’s not researching and designing visuals to present data, she spends time volunteering in her other passion–health education.
©2018, Colleen Eakins Design
©2018, Colleen Eakins Design
©2018, Colleen Eakins Design