April 2009

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Build a scanable path for optimum reach.

April 25, 2009 in Marketing, Marketing Communications, Writing/editing, design | No comments

anglesey-path2Think about it. Consumers today are bombarded with information-online, in print, via email, on billboards and television. Advertisements abound with details about things we want, even more things we don’t want, and the all-important things we don’t realize we want. This abundance of information, coupled with the fact that we have less time than ever to read and digest it, makes planning your communications both visually and in terms of content, with this fact in mind.

So how do you break through the clutter? Build a scanable path for your readers through headlines, subheads, and imagery that visually sit on different planes. Regardless of the medium, following a few simple tips will make your communications pop and ensure salient points are visible in seconds.

  • Level 1: Write headlines to pique curiosity. Headlines are the first level of messaging that readers receive from you. A strong headline conveys the start of your story in a few simple words. Your objective is to move readers to the next level-your subheads.
  • Level 2: Use subheads to tell a story. Most readers scan subheads, first, so build a snapshot of your message here. Focus on the top level of your message here, to create interest and draw readers in so they want to read more.
  • Level 3: Supply supporting details on a sub level. You’ve created interest with your headlines, now it’s time to provide supporting details with short paragraphs under your headlines for those readers who require more information. Here you can use more words to get into the nuts and bolts of your offerings for those readers who are intrigued to move beyond the headlines.

To distinguish the information presented at these levels, how you design the content is just as critical. The best graphic designers I know truly make this an art and are a valuable resource in achieving optimal results.

  • Choose different fonts and colors to accent key information. Choosing different sizes, weights, and colors for your headline and subhead fonts will draw readers to this information first. However, be consistent to support the visual path you are creating for your readers.
  • Use photos as a visual storyboard. Images that support headlines and subheads as readers scan your information are powerful, visual reinforcements to the text to help the reader follow your message path.
  • Incorporate transitions strategically. Whether you use white space, folds, fades, light, or any other method, be sure to place these transitions strategically so they do not disrupt the flow you created, but enhance and support it.

If you have more thoughts to contribute, please comment or send me an email.

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How does messaging affect color, type, and imagery in design?

April 14, 2009 in Marketing, Marketing Communications, design | No comments

I recently had coffee with one of my all time favorite creative guys, Paul Ciavarra. After meeting nearly 15 years ago, Paul and I ended up living in the same town. After catching up on each other’s lives and families, I asked Paul to lend some insight into the question: What affects your creative choices when working with a client? Without hesitation, “corporate messaging” was his immediate reply.

A company’s positioning, its core messages, and how it wants to be viewed should be the driving factor in all creative decisions. That includes color, type, and imagery, across any delivery medium—online, print, video, etc. Whether you have the benefit of working with a creative team or you need to “go it alone” as a smaller start up operation, here are some tips for making your creative execution work.

Before you begin any creative work, take the time to:

1.    Define your corporate positioning. Clearly communicate who you are, what you do, and where you fit in your market.
2.    Define your company’s personality. Are you aggressive or compassionate, youth-oriented or mature?
3.    Define your audience. Are you talking to financial executives, consumer gamers, or software engineers?

Once you know who you are and what image you want to portray to your target audience, then you can move onto developing a creative platform that can be used across the spectrum of communications tools:

1.    Choose 3-5 core colors that fit your corporate image. Don’t choose purple because YOU like it. Think about the look and feel you want to convey to your audience. Are you eco-friendly? Then you may choose browns, greens, and yellows. Financially-focused? Then perhaps darker, muted colors are more your style. Aggressive, hip? Then you’ll probably gravitate to clean, crisp, bolder colors. Regardless of your personality, sticking to 3-5 colors from a complementary palette that you repeat across the spectrum of marketing tools is a good start in designing a consistent image.
2.    Use 3 complementary typefaces that are applied consistently, for example, in headlines, body text, and accents. As a conservative company you may take a traditional approach and choose a bold, sans-serif font for headlines, an elegant, serif face for body text, and a simpler italic font for captions. But, if your business is more progressive, you may opt for a complementary selection of all sans serif faces. Note that if you are working with a designer he/she may take the liberty with more, but for the novice this will keep you out of font overload. With thousands of typefaces available, and the advent of desktop publishing it’s easy to mix and match and quickly distract the reader from your message.
3.    Select imagery that reflect your personality and supports your messaging. The choice between photography and illustration, stylized or direct approach, can sometimes be subjective. However, try not to influence image selection with your own preferences. Think about what would be best communicate your message to a customer. Is it important to show a piece of hardware or product packaging that will be recognizable to a consumer? Or, do you need to invoke an emotion with your audience that is best conveyed through artwork?

Regardless of the color, type, or imagery choices you make, the important thing is to remain consistent in your use of these individual elements across all of your marketing materials. And, be cognizant in your selection that all colors, and in particular, typography, translate well in traditional print, digital print, online, and video applications.

Thoughts, comments, any additional tips you’d like to share? Let me know.

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5 Surefire Ways to Maximize Partner Marketing Dollars

April 1, 2009 in Channel Marketing | No comments

The other day my friend and channel marketing maven, Jacqueline Franklin from Routes2Market, sent out an email blast addressing the state of partner marketing dollars. Given the current economic climate and trends, it’s a poignant and timely piece I am compelled to share with all of you. Following is Jacqueline’s message in its entirety:

Make ‘em stick!

cap2A few days ago, I happened upon a gag gift that my husband and I received for an anniversary early in our marriage. As I recall, this gift was intended to bring humor and teamwork to our lives (likely given to us by one of our single friends). This ridiculous game requires each player to wear a colorful cap covered in Velcro. Players take turns throwing foam balls at one another’s heads in an attempt to get them to stick. While I cannot speak from personal experience, it turns out it’s not very easy to hit a bobbing head with a foam ball. As when throwing spaghetti against the wall, sometimes you have to throw a lot of pasta before something sticks.

So it may be no surprise that spaghetti thrown against the wall reminded me of partner marketing funds. Companies allocate a staggering amount of marketing dollars (be it market development funds [MDF] or Co-op) each year to help their channel partners market, promote, and sell their products and services. Unfortunately, some 25 percent of those funds (that’s billions of dollars) go unused. Flash to the head-scratching finance person (sans Velcro cap) trying to rationalize the return on the 75 percent that is utilized, and it’s all just a little confounding.

More often than not, when asked why they leave that “free money” on the table, business partners cite lack of time and resources to put those funds to good use. When you dig a little deeper, they often confess that it’s not worth the effort to comply with vendor restrictions or tedious claim processes. Translation: too much work; too little pay-off.

While re-engineering the MDF approval/claim process is outside the scope of this post (not to mention a real yawner), we offer the following practical ideas for maximizing the dollars you’ve dutifully set aside for partner marketing. (You have set aside dollars, haven’t you?):

1.    Take it from the top. Build a snapshot of your company’s top initiatives for the year. When will you be announcing and releasing new products and services? What new markets will you pursue? When will important corporate marketing and demand generation initiatives hit throughout the year? What marketing themes, if any, will your company promote?

2.    Identify how partners fit (or not). From this picture, identify if and how your different partner types plug into these objectives. What, if anything, can you package up and extend to partners in a “low-touch” manner? What opportunities are there for partners to participate in direct mail, advertising, and seminars (including web-based and social-networking media), effectively extending your reach into their customer bases?

3.    Share the plan. Create a brief deck of slides to articulate these opportunities for your partners (10 slides max!). This creates a foundation for planning and starts the creative juices flowing. Presenting a picture of where you’re going and how you see them fitting into your initiatives goes a long way toward helping partners understand their role in the equation.

4.    Identify the gaps. Once partners understand where you’re headed, listen to their objectives and jointly identify the gaps. At this point, you can decide if their marketing initiatives make sense in context of your plan, and entertain funding those as well.money

5.    Enjoy a beautiful thing. The appeal of this approach is the ease with which both parties can rationalize direction, choose their participation, and get the most from their respective investments. It also eliminates the mystery around what you are likely to approve and hastens the process because you’ve agreed to a plan ahead of time.

Finally, make sure your channel account managers have the tools and skills needed to drive partner marketing planning. Oftentimes, channel account managers are focused on other operational and selling tasks, and don’t have the time or DNA for marketing.

Companies that master delivery of coordinated partner marketing treat their partner marketing funds as a strategic asset. They arm their channel marketing teams with the tools and information to optimize each dollar, and hold them accountable. If they lack channel marketing resources, they outsource the function (shameless plug here) to ensure every dollar is spent wisely…keeping them, of course, ahead of the curve.

Jacqueline Franklin, the founder of Routes2Market, brings over 20 years of experience helping companies solve their marketing and sales challenges.

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