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August 3, 2017

Creative Brainstorming Sessions Create Infinite Possibilities

Branding, Digital Media, Email Marketing, Graphic Design, Marketing, Promotional, Search engine optimization SEO, Web Engagement, Websites

Creative Brainstorming Sessions Create Infinite Possibilities

5 Tips for Brainstorming Success

Getting creative isn’t always easy, especially when you’re trying to force the innovative ideas to come. As difficult brainstorming may be, there is always going to be a need for developing creative ideas. When the time comes again that you’re required to ‘get creative’ don’t just stare at that blank piece of paper, follow these quick tips to get the creative juices flowing so you can brainstorm a brilliant idea.

Write it down. No matter how corny, silly or plain stupid you think the idea might be, writing those flops down will help lead you down the path to a better idea. Plus, it’ll help you keep track of what you’ve already ruled out, and leave a nice drawing board for your next brainstorming session.

Google it. In those instances when you have no clue where to start, it helps to look at what others have done in the past. Be careful not to outright take their ideas, but gaining some inspiration from others’ success and understanding the best direction to go is always a great start.

Sleep on it. You may not always have time for this, but some of your greatest ideas probably come when you’re away from your desk, focusing on something completely different. Once you feel you’re hitting a wall with creativity, take a step back and work on something else. Check back in later once you are refreshed and can focus.

Start with what you like. It’s hard to get enthusiastic for something you don’t care about. If you’re having a hard time getting excited about your ideas, try thinking of what inspires you, what catches your attention and what you enjoy most. This way of thinking will help lead you down a more exciting and creative path.

Try it out. Once you’ve been working on a creative project for a while, ideas may start to blend together. Keep your project on track by bouncing ideas off a few team members. See what works, what doesn’t and what seems to garner the most positive responses. Although their feedback is great, it’s important to remember that your coworkers do not represent your entire audience!

Developing creative ideas does not have to be a painful endeavor. By following these tips, you’ll have those creative juices flowing in no time.

If you are interested in any of these ideas and products, contact me for more information.

January 23, 2017

Quality of design – radar of good design

Digital Media, Graphic Design, Logo Design, Marketing, One Color Logo, Printing, Products Logos, Promotional Products, Quality Design

Today when people are bombarded with multiple messages all day via email, internet, TV, Radio, TV and streaming content, design of your logo is highly important. Prospects and customers make a quick judgment of the quality of your product and service based on many factors. One is logo design and how it make them feel. Look at Apple, the logo is iconic but very simple. It can be duplicated in one color and on many types of surfaces. Logo design is very important to gaining trust of new customers and relating to them what your product is.

The Richmond Trails Foundation logo designed by Darrin Higgins for Storefront’s Design Session services. The Richmond Trails Foundation a nonprofit wanted a simple look, one color that speaks to trails and nature. It is one color so it can be reproduced on many surfaces at low cost and has a “logo bug” component that will help with branding promotional items and signs.

One thing to be careful of is using too many colors. Sierra Nevada Brewing can get away with it on their labels and some promotional items. The logo stands out and is very well designed. But you must budget for the additional printing cost that comes with a complex logo.

The Peterson Nutrition screams of low budget. It is very busy and the figure is not compelling. The same with Pro-Tec Steel, it needs some work.

Businesses that have logos designed more than 20 years ago should look at an update. Since the internet is a great place to showcase your business you need to have first and lasting impression. Proforma works with clients to design logos for print, promotional products and websites. The process takes you through your objectives how you will be using the logo and how many colors. We will supply several iterations to choose from and set up a stationary package of Letterhead, business cards and envelopes. We work with the client to select paper and ink colors. Keep in mind a startup business needs a great identity to get early name and brand recognition.

January 17, 2017

Web Engagement

Digital Media, Email Marketing, Marketing, Search engine optimization SEO, Search Marketing Integration, Video, Video Production, Web Engagement, Website, Websites

85% of adults use the internet to research products and services. The internet is the place to highlight your products and services. But, there are a lot of businesses doing the same thing. It is crowded and confused place for consumers. Getting your message out and engaging prospects to move them along the process from prospects to clients is key. This is where web engagement comes into play. Your website is a place for information about your business. It should have call to action in a way that compels visitors to connect with you. The next part of web engagement is to draw customer in. The goal of web engagement is to engage your clients through multiple online avenues. Social media campaigns and having robust content on Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Google+ is a portion of engaging. Targeting the right audience that generated qualified leads will build brand recognition.
Search engine optimization SEO brings prospects to your site. Social media and blogging leads the conversation online with your buyers. It keeps a pulse on what your clients are saying and will influence their buying decisions. Email auto responders allow you to engage immediately with clients and answer their question and sending them to a landing page for more information. Email marketing sends information directly to prospects and leads the conversation about your products and services. Quality vendors will supply reporting of how the engagement is working. Ranking reports and traffic are part of the tools. The web engagement toolbox will allow you to manage and adjust the type and amount of campaigns and how effective they are.
Web engagement is not search engine optimization; SEO is one part of engaging prospects online. Proforma works with clients to understand their marketing needs; assessing the type of products and services and client buying behaviors. Only after the full picture is understood then Proforma will make recommendations.
Proforma GIS works with clients on full service Search Marketing Integration. There is so much to do branding your business on the web. Contact Proforma today to build a comprehensive program that will drive business and you will sit back and relax!

January 4, 2017

Email Marketing – patients and consistency

Digital Media, Email Marketing, Marketing, Printing, Promotional, Video Production

Spam is one word that comes to my mind when I think of Email Marketing. Yes, a lot of emails get sent and go to the junk mail folder and never get read. That is why the message is extremely important. There are many places you can reach your prospects and customers to speak to them about your products and services and email is just one tool. Email marketing is a tool that needs patients and consistency. It is not a rabbit race that wins the email race it is the slow patient tortoise. The first most important is build a list of emails that is your target audience. One way is purchase a list. I don’t recommend that unless you are targeting a narrow audience like bicycle racers. There are plenty of people who are just into bicycles and a target list of enthusiast will give you results. The best way is through prospecting and the hard work of finding and culling the list to your product.
The next step is to use some type of email marketing software. There are several SaaS programs that will work and are very cost effective. I have used Constant Contact and Mailchimp. Both are easy and will work for 90% of the marketing campaigns business currently use.
The most important part of an email marketing campaign is the message and email content. I recommend at least once a month email to a list offers and ideas that would be of value to your customers and prospects. Professional photographs and videos are the visuals that will make the email look professional and not be judged as spam. Proforma GIS can work with customers to craft a campaign and message to drive email opening and send customers to a landing page where a direct call to action is presented to the prospect.
Starting an email campaign is not hard it will just take time and consistency. The best place to start is a list of topics that your customers feel your business brings value to them. Map out the dates and titles. Start writing content of one paragraph with keywords and value statements. Collect the assets of photos and videos, layout the emails and test.

November 28, 2016

Company stores

Company Store, E Commerce, Marketing, Printing, Promotional, Promotional Products

Promotional product e-store.

What is a promotional products company store? It is an online store where an organization can list the preprinted promotional products for sale and distribution to outlining offices. Why would a business want to set up a company store program? There are several reasons. One is that promotional products are not being properly utilized by the sales staff. The items could be hard to get out to each team member or cutbacks have restricted the process of getting them to the key users. Promotional products are one of the best tools a sales force can use to gain and maintain business. This value added sales approach will open doors to new clients and give thanks to the steady clients. The online order entry takes the administrative task of taking orders, maintaining inventory and shipping. It gives access to the sales staff and their ability to make independent decisions about their customers and sales needs. Also it has an cost accountability trail and budget management.

To set up a company store can be simple. The first step is to identify the budget and promotional product needs. Are promotional products being used properly? Does the sales force understand how to leverage the promotions? Are your brand standards clear? Is your logo design a foundation of your mission and can it be reproduced on all types of mediums. i.e. Embroidery and one color screen printed garments in a cost effective way? The company store site could be a simple ecommerce platform or a vender like Proforma has a robust system with site and warehouse and distribution services.

Items like sales brochures trade show booths can be set up on a company store site. The management of those items might be for use of the trade show both and banners an email is sent to marketing and it is ship from the home office.

The best way to analyze if your business needs a company store is to map out the products that would be stored the usage and how many locations would be requesting these items. Also the costs you currently pay for your marketing collateral, like commercially printed brochures, signs, banners and all the printed promotional items. Catalog them with purchase history and that is your base data for the store. Set up goals and look at your brand will this program add value to growing sales?

September 27, 2016

Print Management

Marketing

Print Management

What is print management? Typically the print management definition is used to talk about in house printing or on line on demand printing. Print management can also be when an organization has several vendors and several items they print on a weekly or monthly basis. There may be several buyers within the organization that may not communicate with the other departments and could be missing out on ways to reduce the cost of acquiring their commercial printing or forms by consolidation into one supplier. Printing has evolved over many years and the use of digital copiers has shifted the cost of printing for marketing collateral to the copier. In some cases that is a good thing. In other it makes more sense to use a print provider to produce those items.

With shorter print runs the items may end up being printed on the printer in house. The things to consider when printing print collateral in house are twofold. Cost – is the run more than 100? It might be better to purchase it from a printer. Is the printed piece used to sell a product or represent your business? It might be better to have a professional printer provider to produce your collateral on a printing offset press where the bindery will be done professionally and make the printed piece have impact it was designed for.
When it comes to using printed items for selling your product or service it is representing what your comply looks like. The client will judge your ability and whether they want to do business with you based on how professional the brochure looks.

If you need someone to help with managing printed items your business needs. Proforma GIS has the background and knowledge to help you make the best decisions. Proforma GIS can also bringing graphic design, illustration, promotional products and packaging in to the mix. That will save you time and money having one trusted resource with many ideas.

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