Branding

Blog (Exhibit Insight), Branding, Marketing, Technology, Trade Show

ADM Two Among Initial Founders of Gasparilla Interactive Festival

The first Gasparilla Interactive Festival will be held on March 6, 2015 at Port Tampa Bay, Cruise Terminal 3. The Gasparilla Interactive Festival (GIF) is Tampa Bay’s showcase for cutting-edge technologies, digital innovation and entrepreneurial inspiration.

The Festival features compelling presentations and forums from the brightest minds in emerging technology, interactive media, and disruptive entrepreneurialism and will include exciting networking events hosted by industry leaders. The event will have a series of speakers and an expo. Confirmed speakers include Faris Yakob, Joanna Lord, Savannah Peterson and Peter Shankman.

The festival is a community event and is made possible through the collaboration of Tampa Bay’s public, private, non-profit, and academic institutions. Partners include AAF Tampa Bay, Ad 2 Tampa Bay, Hillsborough County, EDI2, University of Tampa, Port Tampa Bay, Visit Tampa Bay, Collaborative Technologies of Tampa Bay, Schifino Lee, The Publicity Agency and the Gasparilla International Film, Art and Music Festivals.

“We are so excited about the Gasparilla Interactive Festival,” said ADM Two CEO, Susan Canonico. “Technology is a key to success for any business, and especially for the trade show and museum fabrication industry. We are looking forward to being a part of the festival and seeing how it evolves over the next few years. It’s an exciting time for Tampa Bay.”

The festival is organized by the Gasparilla Interactive Festival Inc., a Florida non-profit organization that was founded by leadership members of the American Advertising Federation and Ad 2 Tampa Bay chapters.

Attendees may register for $150 or purchase a Founder’s Club membership for $1,000. Founders and sponsors will be invited to an Opening Reception the evening of Thursday, March 5. Visit www.gasparillainteractive.org to register and for more information.

Follow the Gasparilla Interactive Festival on Facebook and Twitter for updates.

Blog (Exhibit Insight), Branding, Marketing, Sales, Technology

Custom Rentals

Why you should consider renting custom furnishings for your next trade show

screen-shot-2014-04-04-at-12-27-44-pmThe word “custom” implies something personally crafted; something designed specifically for you, with your needs and desires in mind. “Rental” on the other hand, can bring to mind expressions such as temporary, generic, standard and basic. In a world where furnishing trends change every year and marketing targets can shift with a popular tweet, it stands to reason that the new “custom” might actually be a “custom rental”.

Here are three reasons to consider a Custom Rental for your next show:

1. Not Your Generic Show Rental

Choosing a “custom rental” is significantly more than selecting a few pieces for your booth from a GSC. The pieces available through these resources are frequently basic and predictable. Exhibit houses that provide custom work are often your best resource for rental furniture. They stay current on the trends and know how to make your booth look custom, even on a rental budget.

2. Perfect for Establishing Function

Rather than contemplating the look you would like to establish for your booth, try considering the function first. What do you want your visitors to do? How do you want them to feel? An educational setting might call for a more structured space with tabletops and hard surfaces for jotting down notes or perusing sales literature. If your desired goal is to encourage visitors to socialize, plush armchairs and comfy love seats can create an inviting space. The pieces within your booth can determine the function of your space, while the flexibility of a custom rental allows you to maintain the branded continuity of your space while adapting the functionality show to show, as needed.

3. Budget Options

Depending on your company’s budgetary guidelines, rental furniture can be listed as a per-show cost compared to an upfront cost. Per-show costs can often be expensed and evaluated for cost-effectiveness. Rental furniture doesn’t have to be stored, cleaned, or refurbished by the renter, thus cutting down a significant number of fees associated with a custom purchase.

Blog (Exhibit Insight), Branding, Marketing, Sales, Staff

The Importance of the Front Desk

hotel-front-desk1You may have heard of the marketing expression for one of the largest grocery store chains, “Publix – where shopping is a pleasure”.  I, personally, enjoy shopping at Publix because it truly is a pleasure when I am acknowledged as a valued shopper and  greeted with a smile when going through the checkout line.  The friendly greeting that is offered and the genuine interest and eye contact is so refreshing!

Whether you are shopping for food at a large grocery store or walking into a company where you are greeted by a person at the front desk, your level of satisfaction and entire experience can be made or destroyed by the method in which you are acknowledged. It is critical to ensure that your front desk has the right person sitting behind the desk at all times.  Secretary, receptionist, administrative assistant or office manager are just a few titles that are assigned to this critical position.  The employee sitting at the front desk most often helps set the tone for your clients’ visit and can turn away potential clients with just a few ill-chosen words or make them feel they have truly come to the right place for their needs.

A front desk employee with a friendly disposition and a genuinely eager-to-help attitude in any company (large or small) is vital to its’ overall success.  This person is the face of the company whether it’s through answering in-coming calls, placing calls to clients or ensuring that everyone walking through the front door is greeted in a positive and welcoming manner.  Providing eye contact lets them know they are special and that it matters that they walked through your doors.  The same holds true for when they leave your offices.  The time they spent at your business and the manner in which they are acknowledged upon departing makes a lasting impression.

Just as important as the fashion in which your clients and guests are greeted, is the knowledge that the person at the front desk is equipped with about your business.  Whether greeting a vendor stopping in to drop off a business card or guests who are inquiring about your products and services, this person has to be able to provide clear direction and offer valuable assistance in a confident and timely manner.

Blog (Exhibit Insight), Branding, Marketing, Sales, Technology

Five Reasons You Should be InTouch This 2014 Trade Show Season

119InTouch is the revolutionary line of products that creates a fully interactive and engaging experience for your trade show visitors.

The major component of this system: an attractive, resilient, touch table, comes with plenty of technical support and can not only demonstrate your products and services in a unique, engaging format, it can interact with all social media outlets, create back-end reports and metrics, and draw visitors to your booth.

You need this InTouch system in 2014 because:

  1. It provides you with detailed attendee analytics.  You can ensure your ROI by evaluating the quality of leads, not just the quantity.  Who you spoke to, where their interests lie, etc; this information is now available to you with this technology!
  2. No longer are you confined to simply demonstrating products and services.  You can integrate interesting and engaging surveys as well as connect socially with your guests on multiple platforms.
  3. InTouch empowers you to show all your digital assets in one place.  Imagine never having to tote and unpack boxes of brochures, drawings, photos, videos, and video equipment.
  4. The work is done.  The technology is there.  InTouch will integrate your information in a highly developed, sophisticated manner that has already been proven successful.
  5. InTouch can be purchased or rented.  Not sure if you’re ready to commit to this amazing opportunity?  Rent this system for a trade show, lobby, conference room, or function.  It’s a no-brainer.  You will love it so much you will be ready to rent it again or purchase one out-right.

There are many trends in the exhibit industry that integrate technology.  This particular one interests us because it is proven, supported and reasonably priced.  If you are looking to develop your brand to its fullest in 2014, take a look at this engaging, revolutionary product line.

Blog (Exhibit Insight), Branding, Marketing, Sales

It’s About the Nail: How to figure out what your client REALLY wants.

unknownA humorous and socially germane video has been circulating social media sites.  If you haven’t seen it, it’s worth a quick view (click on the picture above) and will most likely provide you with a chuckle or two.  In the video, a woman speaks to a man about the problems in her life. As the camera pans out, you realize that the woman has a nail sticking out of her forehead.  The man repeatedly tries to point out this nail in her forehead as the source of her irritation. This causes her to snap sharply: “It’s not about the nail”.  She accuses him of trying to fix everything without really listening and understanding what her problems are.

The relationship of client/service provider can be equally complicated.  How much a service provider can read into a client’s true needs and desires is often the make-it or-break it-moment for the business relationship.  So how does one know whether or not it’s about the nail and if the nail should even be pointed out?  Here are some suggestions:

1.  Have a Nail Identification Plan that tactfully includes services beyond what you offer.

In the world of marketing materials some clients don’t like your product because their message is ineffective.  No matter how much you provide them great stuff or dress up their idea, there is no fixing the overriding problem:  their message isn’t working for them.  Asking specific, guided questions can help identify problems that might need addressing prior to your involvement.  It also shows that you care about the whole company brand and not simply your portion of it.

2.  Listen, Really Listen

This may sound like a no-brainer but can actually be quite difficult when trying to close a sale.  Often we come to the table with products, campaigns or services that have worked successfully in the past for other clients.  While these might be items we are comfortable with, they may not be the best solution for every specific situation.  Find out a client’s needs and consider asking them for the time to research solutions that will be best for them.  They will appreciate being heard and you might discover some new items to add to your portfolio

3.  Know When to Agree and Stay Silent

Sometimes a client doesn’t realize they have a nail in their forehead or, if they do, they certainly don’t want to hear about it.  I have been in many meetings where a client is painfully set on what they want from their provider and closed off to any creative suggestions, no matter how horrid their current idea is.  Although this can be extremely frustrating, if it doesn’t compromise your artistic integrity, give them what they want and let them ignore the nail.

So whether it is developing a general survey to identify a client’s needs prior to meeting or simply taking the time to read them face-to-face and react appropriately; it’s worth the relationship to handle the nail, with care.

Blog (Exhibit Insight), Branding, Marketing

Spring Cleaning for Your Business

Out with the Old, in with the New, Repurpose and Rediscover
…lessons from a messy kid.

kid-teacher-300x199I was a creative child.  My room was always a jumble of toys, stuffed animals, clothes, and games strewn about in whatever haphazard position I had left them.  On many evenings, my mother would ask me to “clear a path” from my door to my bed just in case there was an emergency in the middle of the night so I wouldn’t have to awkwardly hurdle the cluttered heap to get to safety.  There were those times, however, that she would require me to clean my room completely; meaning I was not allowed to stuff everything under the bed and in the closet.  Little did I know the seeds of insight this would bury in my budding creative consulting mind.  Here are five tips from this, now highly-organized, messy kid:

1.  Discover overlooked treasure

Nine times out of ten, while cleaning the chaos of my room, I would discover a treasured item that I had completely forgotten about or a missing piece to a toy that would now become usable or more fun once reunited with its original content.

Chances are you have marketing tools or hard items you are not using to their fullest capacity.  Take a look at your hard items: pamphlets, promo materials, work stationary…stuff.  Are these items collecting dust because they are stored in a box somewhere without a set purpose?  Pull them out and assign them a time and a purpose.  For example, look into placing a banner stand or promotional pamphlets at an event you attend.  Purpose to attend a certain number of networking events, hand out a certain number of cards and go old-school by following up with a letter on that business letterhead.  If you have an item in your office or storage area, know what it is for and when you will use it or get rid of it.

Facebook, Linkedin, Blog Sites and Twitter are all free ways to get your message out to your customer base and partners.  Are you using these tools to their full effectiveness? Blended marketing: using several of these tools together to reiterate a slightly different version of the same message, can bolster brand loyalty and serve as a nonintrusive reminder to your clients of who you are, what you have to say, and how your company or product can benefit them.

2.  Let your brother clean your room

My brother and I, to combat the agony of childhood labor, would often “switch” cleaning rooms.  It was more fun to put away someone else’s stuff and a nice surprise to find your own room clean and items placed in a way you might not have thought of.

Give a trusted friend or colleague that is not a part of your day-to-day business activity, access to how you operate, organize, market, etc. Similarly, organize targeted discussions with those whom you value within your organization to generate and explore fresh perspectives.  Marketing plans get stale, logos and images can become outdated, and procedures can become inefficient over time.  Sometimes a fresh perspective, a new approach, or simply a “you’re doing this right,” can encourage and foster restructuring that can benefit your company exponentially.

3.  Appreciate the trash and the recycle bins

I might have been messy, but I was no junior hoarder.  The trash was my friend.  Throwing away broken toys and re-gifting items I didn’t need made room for the new and created shelving space for what I already had.

Consider “gifting” a non-productive employee back to the business community.  Evaluate current positions for effective use of time and resources.  Consider redefining positions or defining more clearly the scope of work expected within said position.

Clean out shelves, drawers, offices and storage spaces.  Organize everything into usable categories.  Get in touch with your shredder and make some space.  Eliminate multiple records, taking the time to ensure proper digital and hard copy backups.  Donate usable, but-not-by-you-anymore items.  Teachers love extra scrap paper for the classroom; centers and non-profits often welcome books or office supplies.

4.  Divide, Conquer, Reward, Repeat

When you’re seven years old and you find yourself standing in a foot-high sea of toys that all need “homes” somewhere in your room, you are forced to strategize.  I was very creative with this.  At times I would race the clock to see how fast I could clean certain sections, at times I would clean by category:  stuffed animals, then records, then games, and at other times I would simply start at one corner and work toward another.  Once I accomplished a set “chunk”, I’d take a break, get a snack, etc.  This was surprisingly successful and rewarding.

Make a list of spring-cleaning projects and divide them into chunks with assigned timelines.  For example: Week one might be to reorganize the storage area and research two new marketing strategies.  Week two might be to re-evaluate the web site or clean out old mail files.  These tasks can be addressed in as little as five minutes each day if need be.  Adjust the schedule as necessary and reward yourself with little items; new file folders when cleaning out the supply closet or your desk, for example.

5.  Evaluate and Restructure

My bedroom was eventually exchanged for an apartment, an apartment was eventually exchanged for a house, and a messy kid eventually grew into an organized adult.  Each Spring and every so often, I list, tackle, and attempt to improve the sectors of my world.

As you make your list of items to address or “clean” this spring, make sure to assess the effectiveness of current personal strategies as well as company strategies. Look for applications that can assist.  Project management tools, such as Wunderlist, are free and easy to navigate.  Marketing bundling sites, such as Hootesuite, can combine your twitter, facebook, and other social pages into one accessible page.  How you organize yourself:  your office space, your to-do lists, all play a role in your company’s and your personal success.

Make a list and methodically consider the effectiveness of your work habits, your mission statement, your business plan, your staff, plans/programs/services that you pay for, your use of technology, your web presence, your printed materials, your management and your connections.

Blog (Exhibit Insight), Branding, Marketing

Making Trade Shows a Worthy Investment

64553_483885808322213_514947921_n2Today’s advertising specialists are faced with an overabundance of promotional options.  The decision of where to invest precious marketing dollars can make or break a brand.  The difficult choices involved in meticulously balancing online, print media, and face-to-face advertising can intimidate even the most seasoned marketing professional.  These factors, combined with the necessity of justifying spending and tightening up budgets, can make a pretty complicated cocktail.

Event marketing, particularly business trade show attendance, shifts in popularity as the industry and economy fluctuate.  Deciding how and where to cut trade show costs can be tricky.  It is imperative to constantly evaluate and re-evaluate expenses and reductions associated with trade show involvement.  Here are a few questions and suggestions for doing just that:

How do you define a successful event?

A clearly spelled out event marketing plan that includes definitive numbers (traffic counts, reaches, sign ups, facebook “likes”, new business leads, etc.) can help you regulate your event’s success and keep expectations realistic.  These hard numbers, once refined, can then be attached to marketing budgets to determine the cost effectiveness of the entire experience.

How clearly defined is your target audience?

Does you ideal customer tweet?  Are they social?  Artistic? Conservative?  Analytical? Emotional?  Extravagant?  Trade show gimmicks have proven highly successful; however, proceed with caution.  The latest and greatest gimmicks, 3D technology or augmented reality for instance, can be great at driving traffic to and through your trade show booth. However, if they are not reaching and connecting with your ideal customer they can be a budgeting mistake.  A game, a branded gift, a perfectly placed inviting graphic might be just what your consumer wants.

Have you enlisted the help of a design professional?

When downsizing line items this is one area worth your material investment.  Your booth space can invite or deviate.  A well-designed space is crucial to your event’s success.  Most design professionals offer free evaluations of your current space and can make suggestions that will keep you within budget.  It may be that your booth simply needs a little updating or a restructure to target your ideal customer more directly.  Remember, you know your product, you know your target customer; design professionals know the trade show market.  They can help you put the right tree in the right place in your forest of marketing.

How much time and effort can you realistically put into the planning and coordination of trade show events?

If you have never considered a trade show management company, now is the time to re-evaluate.  In this case, a dollar can save you hundreds of nickels, literally.  Electric service order forms, advanced freight deadlines, set up regulations that differ from show to show and state to state, coordinating giveaways, reconfiguring your exhibit to fit alternating booth sizes, storage options, broken or incomplete structures arriving on site, are just some of the headaches that can cost you time and money.   Professional management companies are already familiar with navigating the paperwork and avoiding unnecessary costs and problems associated with late or incorrect paperwork as well as damaged or delayed shipments.  Most offer a range of services from a-la-carte assistance to full show coordination.

Knowing where to cut, where to adjust, where to divert, and how to balance trade show dollars is not an easy task.  We have watched industry trends come and go and there is one thing we know for certain:  Face to face events, such as trade shows, are indispensable to most businesses.  Never underestimate the power of a handshake and a smile.  Don’t be afraid to invest in this manner of marketing, just choose wisely and under skillful guidance.

Blog (Exhibit Insight), Branding, Marketing

The Making of a Moonbase and the Dilemma of Triangles

42

Triangle tips discovered through one company’s experience:

In the world of Museum Design, education, creativity, and budget can often collide in a Bermuda triangle of sorts.  Many of our incredible museum clients have creativity and quality educational content that are in danger of disappearing when the budget numbers enter the trio.

It has also been said that one can:

  • Design something quickly and to a high standard, but it will not be cheap.
  • Design something quickly and cheaply, but it will not be of high quality.
  • Design something with high quality and cheaply, but it will take a long time.

This triangle is often referred to as the Triple Constraint or the Iron Triangle and is familiar to most project managers, if not by name then at least in practice.  So how does a museum or company deal with these triangular traps?

I’d like to introduce you to a third triangle designed to contend with the latter two.  It’s what we humbly call the ADM Triangle.  The ADM Triangle works like this:  Applaud the creativity, Determine the priority, andManage accordingly.

For example, one of our favorite clients has currently contracted us to fabricate a futuristic Moonbase exhibit.  The content is fascinating, the team is incredibly creative, and with an unlimited budget the sky wouldn’t be the limit (pun intended). As with so many projects, we’ve had to employ the ADM Triangle to avoid the triangular traps.

Here’s how that looks using our Moonbase example:

1. Applaud the Creativity.  If you are working with a creative team or clients, allow them to brainstorm as if there were no budget constraints.  We may not be able to ship a guest to the actual moon, but talking through what would happen if we could afford to, can provide insight to details that could otherwise get overlooked. Sounds and aesthetic embellishments that are not expensive can give authenticity to the experience.

This concept can be applied to any business experience.  Think of your ideal, non-budget-restricted dream, and work backwards incorporating as many elements as you can.

2.  Determine the priority.  Once the brainstorming is done, begin an “if/then” process with your client and really listen.  Oftentimes the creative process has made them passionate about certain things and more willing to let other things go.  A talking robot might be cool, but a driving-on-the-moon rover experience might be cool and reach multiple educational goals simultaneously, therefore taking preference.

In the business world reaching ten target market clients might offer better results than a mass reach to hundreds of unknowns. Sometimes you don’t know until you make only one the priority.

3.  Manage accordingly.  When your goal is to have high quality, competitive pricing, and reasonably quick turnarounds, the Iron Triangle can be a menace.  However, within a project pieces can be broken down and managed with two triangle edges in mind building up to the third. An interactive space game, for example, might be costly and take a while to program, but the quality could be enhanced if the designer is given leeway to reproduce the template and/or graphics for other games in the experience.

In other words, look at the Iron Triangle as a balance scale and decide which way it should tip to ensure that quality, timeliness, and budget effectiveness are all represented on some level.

It is a rewarding process when creativity, education, and budget requirements can complement each other instead of competing.  We’ve found great success managing projects for our clients by helping them prioritize their needs and explore creatively.  We’d love to hear from you and we will keep you posted as we journey to the moon and back again.

Blog (Exhibit Insight), Branding, Marketing

Plan to Get Your Advertising Money’s Worth

storyYou have a something to offer. You have a message. You have a marketing budget. Now it’s time to do some media planning.

In choosing media for your promotional efforts, a very important consideration is how well a particular advertising vehicle will reach your target audience at a level that will allow the investment pay off with increased sales.

Generally, you will be considering the following vehicles:

  • Television
  • Radio
  • Newspapers
  • Electronic (e-newsletters, broadcast e-mails, pay-per-click, Web banners, etc.)
  • Magazines (consumer and trade)
  • Outdoor billboards
  • Public transportation
  • Yellow Pages
  • Direct mail

Do more than simply “count noses” in the medium’s audience. Start with a general demographic profile of your customer base, then evaluate all the advertising media in your market to see how well represented those targeted individuals are among the medium’s viewers, listeners or readership. (The media sales reps should be able to provide such demographic information about their audiences.) Calculate how many impressions you’re likely to get for your advertising dollar and determine how the various advertising vehicles stack up against one another.

For example:

Newspaper: Readership 100,000
Readers who are likely potential customers: 10 percent
Full page ad: $10,000
Cost per potential impression: $1

vs.

Targeted Direct Mail: Mail to 10,000 homes
Recipients who are likely potential customers: 95 percent*
Total cost (postage, design, printing, etc.): $8,000
Cost per potential impression: $0.84

These dollar figures are only part of any equation. Take a look at what your successful competitors are doing as well. And naturally, if you’re working with an advertising agency, strongly consider what they have to say on the subject.

Once you have a “winner” from among the advertising media, try to come up with an effective plan for that vehicle alone. Frequency is key. Typically an average of three or more exposures to an advertising message is necessary before consumers take action. Make this your minimum baseline marketing plan. Don’t ignore your “gut instincts” either.

Next, and as your budget allows, plan to have “spikes” in your advertising during the weeks just before consumer activity is likely to increase, or when you feel the time will be right for promotional activity. You can either “double up” on your primary advertising vehicle, or complement that messaging through another fairly effective medium (based on your preliminary analysis). Remember to maintain adequate frequency for the secondary advertising vehicle as well.

Depending on how large your budget is, you can repeat the process with two, three or four different advertising vehicles — first laying down a “primer coat” of advertising and ratcheting up your marketing on top of that during special times of the year.

This layering gives you flexibility. Because your frequency levels are set high enough to give a medium a fair chance, you needn’t hesitate to later divert funds from an underperforming ad investment to another advertising vehicle in subsequent months. Most importantly your message is re-enforced and all-around effectiveness is enhanced.

Tracking the results of your advertising is critical for future media buys. Though an initial assessment may suggest a lot of bang for the buck for a particular advertising medium, reality may show something very different. Constantly refine your advertising campaigns and experiment with the various media. Given some time and thoughtful analysis you will see your advertising investments pay off with big dividends.

*This completely depends on how good your mailing list is.

Links for this subject:

Media Planning

Media Buying and Planning Calculators

Contributing Author: Ginger Reichl Pinstripe Marketing

Blog (Exhibit Insight), Branding, Marketing

Branding: The New Small Town. Seven tips to make it work for your business:

391These are the days of lightning fast technological and sales innovations. The tiny pet supply store that once serviced a small town is now able to ship its boutique dog collars nationwide. A simple two-click search can yield a page full of product and service reviews on a prospective vendor. We can compare prices, styles, designs, ship times, all with the click of a mouse. The era of small-town, know your salesman’s name, conventional shopping is over. Or is it?

Even with modern innovation, provider loyalty is significantly high these days. Major contributor: company branding. Branding allows any size company to evoke emotional and intellectual responses by creating consistent experiences for their customers.   Larger companies spend millions of dollars each year purposely aligning every aspect of their business with the values and qualities that will make them stand out from their competitors. It has paid off significantly. So how does a smaller company without a multi-million dollar marketing budget benefit from this practice? It’s easier than you might think. Here are seven branding tips that can be applied to any size and any stage of business:

  1. Branding is certainly worth your time and effort. The most successfully branded companies understand that relationships are key when attempting to develop client loyalty. Proper branding builds trust and evokes an emotional response from a current or prospective client.
  2. Think past the logo. Branding is much more than logo affiliation and recognition. Coca-Cola is not selling cola; it’s promoting happiness. Apple is not selling technology, it’s selling intelligent design, and well, coolness. Nordstrom doesn’t just market their business as an upscale department store; they market themselves as exceptional service providers. Consider making a list of how you want to be known and remembered by your clients and make that as much a guidepost for your image development as the product or service you are offering.
  3. Store layout IS part of branding. Whether you have multiple offices or you are a one-stop operation, the layout of your space can send very specific messages about who you are and what you represent. Disrupted flow and mismatched design can imply that your company is disorganized and inconsiderate. Put the time and effort into researching the “feel” of the space you desire and consistently duplicate this feel in all spaces, including trade show and travel booths.
  4. Branding is much more than expensive marketing materials. Don’t be put off by what you might perceive as high cost marketing items. Keep in mind that the purpose of branding is to evoke a consistent emotional experience. Office dress code and mandatory customer service procedures can be just as impactful as expensive campaigns.
  5. Everything is brandable. These days anything can be branded. Company vehicles can be wrapped, websites tweaked, t-shirts, cards, and other print materials can all be produced with similar style and content. If you can dream it, you can brand it. Think outside the box. Make a list of anything and everything your clients will come into contact with and apply the principles of your desired image.
  6. A little research goes a long way. Take advantage of the research already out there. Look at businesses both in your industry and out that have the reputation you would like to be known for. Pay attention to their imaging, environments, printed materials, how they handle customer and employee relationships, how they dress, how they communicate to their consumers, the types of advertising they select, etc. A shipping company with a reputation for caring about details might have some marketing concepts you can use in your business even if the industries are different.
  7. Custom work can actually save you money in the long run.Enlisting the help of a design expert can keep your company from having to reinvent the wheel. Marketing experts have experience on their side. They know what works and what doesn’t. They can help you find a style and template for your brand that you can utilize across the board.