1. What marketing platforms fit your business?
Every business is different, and because of that not every marketing platform is a great fit for every business. You don’t need to market yourself across the county if your business is very local. Look at what your business requires, then choose your marketing platforms accordingly. There are many of different options: direct mail, flyers, internet, social media, telephone marketing, mobile marketing, word-of-mouth, viral and many more. Choosing the right mix for you will help lead you to great success!

2. If a print or internet marketing campaign is a good choice for you, what are the publications, newspapers or websites that best fit your target audience?
Don’t simply choose to advertise in a magazine because it is local. There may be a better choice that is more targeted to the real buyers of your products or services! If you are a dog walker, and you have the choice of advertising in an expensive county-wide newspaper or a popular (and cheap) local pet-owners newspaper, which do you think is the better choice to try first? The same goes for magazines and websites. Know your target audience and what they are the most apt to read. Advertise accordingly.

3. If you use the internet for marketing, have you weighed whether display banner advertising is better for you than search marketing?
Banner advertising can be very expensive, and if you haven’t done your homework on what websites work best for your business, you may be wasting your money! Search advertising, on the other hand, costs you nothing unless a person clicks on your link via the search ad. But to be successful with search advertising, it takes daily work on your part! You need to be up-to-date on search terms that are trending and the popularity of those terms. The popularity affects the price you will pay per click. Consider the ramifications of both internet marketing techniques, and choose what works best for you.

4. Do you have a website up and running?
No matter what your business is, you need to have an online presence. Not only is it great marketing, but it also acts as a legitimacy chip for when you are being vetted by potential clients. If a potential client can’t find any information about you, they will be less apt to purchase. Take the time to develop a professional looking website. It doesn’t need to be big, it just needs to show you are for real, that you are professional and that others have trusted you before.

As you can see, there are a lot of questions to consider when beginning your home business marketing. Make sure you do your homework. When you do, and you have a targeted campaign at hand, you may be very surprised at the results!

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1. Take the time to learn about each social network.

Social media is more complex to market with than people immediately think! Every social network is different. They target different audiences, different lifestyles and different messaging styles. And as you know, people can belong to multiple social networks. They may expect different types of information based off of the network they are using at the moment. Taking the time to understand the social network landscape can better prepare you and keep you from making costly errors.

2. Test the social networks yourself and stay on top of new options.

Reading about social networks can only take you so far; you need to get in the trenches. Join the social networks yourself and see what they are all about. By experiencing them first hand, you’ll learn a lot more about how to use them as a marketing tool. Also, be sure to keep up with what is up and coming. There are numerous niche networks that pop up that may be perfect marketing vehicles for your business!

3. Make quality brand homes on the social networks.

One of the worst things you can do is decide that a social network is important, start a page, then leave it half done for its life cycle. If you are serious about social media, be serious about your home page. It is your calling card to the community, and it should reflect the passion you have for your business.

4. Market exclusive discounts and sales to the social community.

Social networks as a platform thrive on exclusivity. Being a member of a group is a big thing, so exclusive offers scratch that same itch. When you make an offer that is only available to your followers, you make your followers feel important and that your brand cares about the relationship. That’s the kind of trust building that makes customers loyal to your brand!

5. Update your home page consistently.

Even a completed page can feel stagnate if there is no posting or content made available on a regular basis. Remember, social media is a living organism. It thrives on change and new information. Those that succeed in social media marketing understand this and post status updates and content on a daily basis! Build the time to update your social networks into your daily schedule. It can really pay off.

6. Find the right social network for you.

As mentioned, there are a lot of niche social networks out there and more coming online every day. Find the social networks that befit your brand. With these niche networks, you may find an opportunity to really come forward as a thought leader in the community, a very powerful position for your brand to be in.

Social media is a very powerful tool when used properly. Look into your options, experience the networks yourself and be consistent in your communication. Your efforts can lead to a new customer base that you would have never found before!

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What is the purpose of your business? What is the market situation for your product or service? What is the problem area that you need to address? What is your overall marketing strategy? What is your marketing plan? Who are your competitors and what is their strategy? What are your priority markets? Whom do you wish to target? What budget do you allocate to promotions and advertising? What would be the role of Internet advertising? What are the goals you wish to accomplish through your web site? Do you wish to have the web site just for the sake of having it? Or do you have a clear vision and purpose to have the web site? Do you take the web designing seriously?

Ideally one should have the clarity of thoughts and action on all the above areas to come to the decision of designing a web site. The web design should be such that it serves the basic purpose of your business and it appeals to your target audience wherever they are there across the globe. You need to know your target audience, and keep them in mind throughout the web development process. Say clearly what you want to convey, concisely and focused on what they want and plan to give them all the information they need.

Your web site content is the most powerful aspect of your website?s presentation ? more than anything else. Creating effective text will bring you the response you expect from your visitors. If your website is well written, it?s guaranteed to be more successful than sites that rely on mediocre writing, no matter how amazing their graphics may look. It takes some work! Please note one thing ? if you expect success, your text needs to be clear by each and every word!

Presentation Of web site: When you start to develop graphical concepts for your site, remember the benefits of simplicity. It?s easy to get carried away with web graphics, but having too many flashy visuals can be very distracting ? and they can take ages for browsers to load. You are developing website to give information about your company not to show the designing skills of your web designers. Even limited use of images and graphics can create a wonderful site if used smartly.

Smooth Surfing: Avoid links that makes the visitor to leave your site. Make the links for only those pages that are very important for you to promote your business or visitor must know. Good web navigation helps people to orient themselves in your website and find what they?re looking for. Each page should also give your visitor easy access to all of the features of your site. There are many options for laying out your menus for the web site design but it?s vital to keep your navigation simple, clear and consistent throughout your site. The visitor should be very comfortable with your web site whether he reads or navigates through your site.

No page counters: Page counters do nothing except make you look like an amateur, mess with your design and tell competitors about your site you probably don?t want them to know! If you want to know how many people are visiting your site, just ask your web hosting company for the server stats.

Focus on result orientation: You are more concerned with the result, regardless of the technology used by your designer. Avoid using back ground music on web page as music file is pretty heavy and takes time to down load. You should focus more on content on web pages to generate inquires rather than entertaining visitor by placing undesired flash, music, marquee, animation etc.

search engine optimization
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Find out helpful info about phone number trace – make sure to read the page. The time has come when proper info is really only one click of your mouse, use this possibility.

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Entice life-style dreams

Appeal to what tends to make a individual purchase

Occasionally individuals purchase to fill a need but generally individuals purchase as a result of want. They’re buying some thing they desire simply because they imagine feeling better, far more fulfilled once they have traded their hard-earned cash for the product or service you have to offer. The skill of generating the motivation to purchase is appealing to the customer’s wish to achieve a certain life-style. Show the purchaser the life-style they’re able to achieve and want and you’ll sell a lot more merchandise.

Pictures, content and page components

Consequently, orient all of the components of your catalog around promoting life-style. Repeat this at all levels. Your catalog may have a general life-style design whilst the specific items may have alterations and even mini-lifestyle designs of their very own. The written text and content shouldn’t only explain the product or service in plenty of detail that the buyer can certainly create purchasing decision nevertheless it ought to explain to your reader how this product can help them get the life-style they really want.

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Design for your target audience

Customize your catalog design to fascinate your target audience. A business-to-business catalog (B2B) ought to be totally different compared to a business-to-consumer (B2C) catalog. Catalogs for young adults should have a different look than a catalog for more mature people. Make the design of your catalog fit the style dreams of your respective target audience. You will get a lot more appreciation and therefore a lot more product sales.

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Make the product or service the focal point

A rule in catalog design is the larger the product image the more the product’s sales. Accordingly we normally make an effort to capitalize on the dimensions of the product’s photo, particularly in partnership with each and every product’s profit value – the greater overall revenue an item produces the bigger the item photograph needs to be. Then aid the item with persuasive copy.

Some catalog providers try to save cash on pictures and printing by grouping products together in images. This frequently translates into terrible product sales since in this particular photograph no item stands out to draw the customer in.. It is much better to exhibit products separately or perhaps in very compact, related groups. We would rather display most items without any background and with a subdued drop shadow. This enables the item to stand out from the clutter on the page. Then we include life-style photos using a understated background to provide variety to the design and communicate life-style moods.

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Use terrific product photographs

The Risks of Scrimping on Product Photographs

Developing a catalog is costly and everybody wants to reduce expenses when feasible. Nevertheless probably the most powerful catalog component – the product photo – is frequently the place where customers trim initially and it injures their results each and every time.

Vendor provided photographs

In certain sectors and with some suppliers you can aquire superb photographs of their items to use inside your catalog. And so can your competition. Nevertheless most supplier photographs are simply just not that great to start with. Virtually all are lacking clipping paths necessitating work and expense on the catalog design side to utilize them effectively. This decreases the perceived cost savings of these free photographs. And unfortunately your catalog won’t have a one of a kind look all your own.

Internet photographs

About 50 % of our new clients started life as a web-based business and the pictures they’ve produced thus far are low resolution web images. In other cases the pictures obtained through the vendor are web resolution photographs. These pictures aren’t adequate for print catalogs! They’re significantly less then 1/4 the resolution and possess no clipping paths. If you utilize them your items are going to be blurry, the design will suffer and so will profits.

Shooting your own photographs

Another way customers wish to save cash is by taking their own photographs. The physical process of shooting the picture is but about 1/3 the money necessary for preparing a digital image to be used in catalog design but is essential to the resulting quality of the finished picture. We strongly suggest utilizing a volume product photography service like ourselves or one of the numerous others available. If you think you have to do your own digital photography we offer a short article with tips on producing the very best picture possible but expect to spend extra at the design side to prepare those photographs for publishing.

What a terrific photograph can do

A terrific photograph is “worth a thousand words” but an inadequate photograph can convince a client not to purchase your product. Don’t risk it by scrimping on great digital photography. It might be far better to display fewer products on fewer pages to save money on printing than to reduce your product sales with very poor photographs.

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Place essential elements on the outer edges of your page

Visitors normally look to the top right initially then sweep over the page to the other side. When they don’t see some thing engaging they’ll turn the page. Consequently place your most captivating items (which are generally your products or services that create the most profit) on the outside top corners. Make these elements powerful – bigger in size – than the remaining products on the page spread.

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Use the opportunity to cross promote

Between products

Recommending companion products can raise product sales an additional 5-15%. Take every advantage of cross promoting within your catalog. This can be achieved from the product copy or with call-outs, or by putting companion products together on the page.

Between your website

A marketing principle is several types of advertising run at the same time can lead to increased response compared to same types of advertising run individually at different times. Consider a store running some tv advertisements and a few radio advertisements. If they did a campaign with the tv advertisements one month and a promotion using the radio advertisements the following month, they’re going to have less impact than if they ran the same advertising on both tv and radio simultaneously. Essentially one feeds off the other. This holds true with your catalogs. Take advantage of cross media merchandising by advertising your site within your catalog as well as your catalog on your site. Post your print catalog in pdf format for individuals to download.

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Use consistent type styles and restrict their quantity

Restrict the quantity of fonts and/or weights to 2 or 3

To maintain a clean and consistent look use a maximum of 2 to 3 fonts throughout your catalog. Additionally, keep text spacing and placement next to pictures consistent. Utilize the same style of text consistently for frequent components for example product name, product description, etc.

Keep fonts to within your style and function – don’t get too fancy unless of course your style calls
for it

Pick fonts that are easy to read and whose style matches the life-style you intend to express. Be careful with fancy fonts. You can actually decrease legibility, the professional look and possibly result in printing problems if the font is low quality.

Type must be secondary to product pictures

Again the product is the focal point and much of that as a result of the product photograph. The text must support the reader to make a buying decision and never take away from the impact of the photograph.

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Keep the style consistent from issue to issue strengthening your “brand” image

After a effective look has been established avoid the impulse to change. REI (Recreational Equipment Inc.) has maintained a antique border style for the past 5yrs. The look of their catalogs and sale promotion catalogs is easily identifiable by their clients and it has created a brand image. One advertising principle is when you’re tired of the look of your catalog (since you’ve seen it repeatedly) your customers are beginning to recognize it as your look. Safeguard your investment by retaining your theme for many years and if you choose to change, do it in small increments over quite a long time. Repetition produces brand identity recognition and brand recognition brings approval and sales.

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Give products the room that they need – and evaluate the outcomes

Give your top sellers more room than your less significant products

When first creating your catalog give your products which produce the most profit – the most total profit over time, not specifically products with the most profit margin – more room inside your catalog than lower profit products since the general rule is the more room an item has inside your catalog the higher the sales are going to be.

For example take two products. Each cost $5 and make a profit of $2.50 for each item sold, but product A made you $5000 in profit last year while product B made only $2000. Thus product A needs to have more room and exposure inside your catalog. And here’s why: let’s say giving more room to a product will increase sales 10%. In the event you give product B more space you could possibly increase profits by another $200 but if you gave product A that space it would increase profits by $500.

Evaluate the outcomes

About two months after your catalog has been sent out evaluate the profit results using square in . analysis. Using this type of analysis you calculate the total cost of the catalog (design, printing, mailing) divided by the total square inches of available selling space. Then determine how much each product cost to show in your catalog by multiplying the cost per square inch times how much space each item received inside the catalog. Compare this cost against the total profit earned on each item. For the top 20% of most profitable products give them more room inside your next issue. For the bottom 20% give them less. By doing this repeatedly you will continue to improve your catalog costs and maximize profits.

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Design for economy

The new Slim Jim benefits

The 2007 postage rate increases are creating a dilemma with traditional Standard size catalogs and an chance to reduce expenses using the Slim format called “Slim Jim”. Rates for standard catalogs rose 40% while for letter rate only 9%. Due to the extreme disparity the Slim Jim format will net a savings of 15-20% for the same physical printed space over the Standard format.

Standard catalog formats tend to be more affordable.

Formats such as a standard full-size, Slim-Jim or digest-size catalog in whole signature page counts usually are the most affordable catalog designs to print and mail. Spend time with your printer and also the Postal Service to determine an efficient trim size.

Not only do standard catalog formats lower your expenses, they also have a tendency to “fit” better. This really is both a positive and a negative. A catalog design that’s too unusual in format might not fit the customer’s environment and could get discarded pretty quickly. However a standard format may seem plain and boring, not receiving the notice you would like.

16-page count increments tend to be affordable.

Heat-set web presses print in signatures of 16 pages. Printing in even signature page quantities, such as 16, 32, 48, 64, etc., will produce the most pages for the dollar. In the event you can’t hit increments of 16, then your next smartest choice is increments of 8 pages. This will include page counts of 8, 24, 40 and 56.

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The value of a corporate website is the ability to keep up-to-date information online at a realistic price. The main purpose of a corporate website is to collect prospects that may be converted into buyers.

The meta-data in a corporate website is actually geared towards the requirements of the internet search engines, together with the objective of improving web traffic. In today’s economy a corporate website is recognized as a revenue generating element of the business.

The average turn-around time for a corporate website is actually 5-8 weeks, but our team can complete this within a couple weeks! It is not only important to reflect the company strategy of a organization through its web site but, it is just as important to engage your prospective customers as well as partners into conversation. The corporate website is normally a Jack of all Trades.

One Source Graphics, Inc. Corporate web styles are of highest quality for those corporate professionals and Small businesses, anticipating great return on their Internet solutions investment.

Each and every visit to a corporate website is a opportunity to acquire one more client and a chance to improve company earnings.

We measurably improve interaction between both you and your prospects with our corporate web designs, and we reduce costs as well as generate product sales using tailor made website solutions that are just as distinctive as your company is.

For pennies on the dollar, your corporate web design can be a billboard advertisement on the world wide web super highway. A corporate web design can certainly focus on your ideally suited client base and persuade them to look for additional company details about the products and/or services you provide. Our Corporate website portfolio consists of several of the largest to the smallest corporate and small businesses web sites we have designed with every type of budgets. Every great business idea takes wings with the launch of a professionally design and developed website.

The difference between Newspaper and Magazine Advertisement

Newspapers have been around for centuries and they have been a consistent part of every day hold up of most people. Newspaper ads are the oldest form of advertising. Advertising started with newspaper ads and today has grown so much that even internet advertising has become a reality. The good thing about the newspaper ads is that though the costs have increased tremendously, they still are reasonably priced as compared to other form of advertising.

Newspaper ads are printed and priced on per square basis. The cost of color ads is higher as compared to black and white ads. Ads that have color as well as design or graphical representation or a photo in them cost more. Large color ads with designs are the costliest newspaper ads.

Magazine ads are also very good way of advertising and marketing. Since many people read magazines, it helps capture a larger audience. It caters specific market; designer clothes, high performance cars, luxury living, etc. It can directly feature a product or services of a specific firm. Magazine advertising can also be viewed as an advice giver, and their potential for pushing a product is huge. It can market a product to millions of people through recommendation in the magazine.

In a magazine, the front cover ad and the rear cover ads cost more than the ads that are printed in the middle pages. In a magazine, poster size ads can also be printed, but are costlier than the normal as well as the cover ads. Magazine ads are generally colored ad. Hence the minimum cost would be the same as the maximum cost a color news paper ad.

Things to consider in choosing the right Designer

Selecting the right man for the right job at the right time is an extremely difficult task. Clients, who are looking for graphic designers to do their work, often do not know how to select the appropriate graphic designer. Since the selection of a graphic designer is a very daunting and tiring process, clients tend to get frustrated and select the graphic designer they can easily locate.

There are several ways a clients could go about searching for a graphic designer. Some of these include: 1. Checking design companies and freelance graphic designers. 2. Contacting established companies and their hired graphic designers. 3. Asking your business associates and relatives who have previously hired a graphic designer. 4. Posting free classified ads on online design forums.

How to Choose a Professional Graphic Designer

Many clients have difficulty choosing a graphic designer, simply because they aren’t sure what to look for. Here are some things to consider when choosing a professional graphic designer:

• A strong portfolio. The imagery should be memorable as well as appropriate for each project. For instance, an ad directed at senior citizens should not include very small type.

• A strong sense of marketing. Pretty images are a dime a dozen. The designer should be able to clearly articulate the goal of each piece and how it reached its audience. Good design communicates and motivates; it does not merely decorate. Designers should be able to tell you how their work translated into higher sales figures, greater attendance at clients’ events, or some other concrete result of their work.

• Excellent business skills. A good designer stays on top of all the details of your project and makes the best use of your time and money.

• Formal education in graphic design, not just software skills. Graphic design is an art and craft with foundational principles that have a direct impact on the effectiveness of printed communication. A designer’s software skills have little impact on their ability to translate your brand.

• Personable and professional demeanor. Since you choose whom you’ll work with, hire someone you’ll enjoy partnering with and who provides professional service.

While it can be helpful if a designer has experience with the particular product you envision, it is not always necessary. Good design skills can transcend most media and good designers will tell you up-front if they aren’t right for the job.

So why choose a Professional Ad Design over a Free Lousy Design?

It’s simple! It’s quality that matters, not quantity!

Most magazines and newspapers offer a somewhat attractive scheme to their clients. Their In-house designers offer clients free ad design to allure them to take the offer. The risk is, since it is a free ad design, quality is an issue. Poor quality produces poor results.

Whereas, professional designers understand the client’s financial commitment to their design project. They are skilled in selecting the appropriate and effective strategies. Quality and efficiency are key factors. By using a professional designer to create ideal concepts for your business, both time and expense are greatly reduced and great results expected.

A good advertisement takes part in building the legacy and credibility of a business. So don’t let people with “some software skills” play around your business. Hire a PROFESSIONAL!

If you want success, let’s talk!
Our most experienced and highly qualified professional designers at One Source Graphics are more than happy to talk about your business! Our passion for quality and dedication to our work assures 110% satisfaction guaranteed! The success of your business is our success!

To learn more about One Source Graphics’ design and Advertising services, Please contact us today for a no obligation consultation

eMail: tonymack@onesourcegraphics.org

Phone : 1-800-974-5580

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Difficulty: Average

Time Required: 2 hours

Here’s How:

1. Describe your company’s unique selling proposition (USP).
2. Define your target market.
3. Write down the benefits of your products or services.
4. Describe how you will position your products or services.
5. Define your marketing methods. Will you advertise, use Internet marketing, direct marketing, or public relations?

Tips:

1. Your Unique Selling Proposition sets you out from the rest, don’t try to develop a marketing plan without one.
2. It’s important that you have a budget developed for your marketing plan. Marketing is an investment.
3. Revisit your marketing plan at least once every quarter. Are you on target? Do you need to revise it?

What You Need:

• A place to concentrate.
• A pen or pencil.
• A notebook or journal.

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Laura Lake
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