Your business has a logo and a tagline. Your storefront uses specific colors on price tags and displays. Your marketing materials use the same set of fonts and carry a certain tone of voice. Each and every element we use to define a business is actually building a brand. But how do you maintain your brand and make sure your company is representing itself truthfully and accurate on every website page, newspaper ad or billboard? Try a style guide!
Style guides are great for internal and external use. It is a great introduction for those new to your company and helpful for designers, copywriters and marketers who will be creating collateral for you. A style guide can help you keep control of your design, and allows you to show that every element of your branding was done for a reason. Plus, your graphic designer or web design company will appreciate knowing what you want (and don’t want)—and will design accordingly.
When creating a style guide, it’s a good idea to include the following:
Mission statement/messaging: This doesn’t have to be the great American novel. Just something descriptive but concise. What is your brand’s essence? Your style guide should explain that messaging here.
Logo: Collect your official logo(s) and any acceptable variations. Got a “stacked” logo version and a “horizontal” logo version? Include those, too…and don’t forget to clarify size requirements, any color combinations that you do/do not want associated with your logo, and the proper amount of spacing that your logo requires (“Don’t crowd me!”). All of these factors, if outlined in a style guide, will help you avoid having your snazzy orange logo placed in front of a rainbow/gradient/leopard print background (or something equally tacky).
Color Palettes: Your style guide can include any acceptable color schemes your company uses. Supply color formats for the Web and print: Pantones, CMYK and RGB (or HEX).
Fonts: If your company is fickle about fonts, define your typefaces. Don’t forget to include Web alternatives for fonts that are not Web-friendly.
Imagery: Got any photos or illustrations associated with your company? Supply examples in your guide.
Writer’s Manual: A copywriting guide maintains a professional and consistent tone of voice and/or establish writing patterns on company documents.
Blogging can be a huge aid when building a company. Aside from your website, blogging gives you a way to interact with your viewers and speak about basically anything…sort of like what we are doing right now! Listed are some tips to help you take blogging to the next level when sharing updates and more.
Choose a reliable team of bloggers. When choosing a blogging team, make sure you choose people who not only can write well, but people who are knowledgeable about your product. Set up guidelines and a theme to lead them on the path that you want your bloggers to write about. When writing your blog, humanize your company. Rather than writing a structural blog between a brand and a person, write your blog in a unique style as a conversation between the writer and the readers.
Be real with your readers. It is essential to avoid marketing and PR when blogging in order to be authentic and real with your readers. Blogging gives your readers an insight into your company through the employees and they feel like they are getting the real deal. With that said, it is also important to enable comments and responses to accept constructive criticism from your readers. Let your guard down and realize that their feedback will only help and improve your company. While comments are helpful, they can also get out of hand. Construct a policy with your bloggers informing them which comments to respond to, pass along, delete or rule out as spam.
Advertise, promote and get social. Using the social network such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace is a free and easy way to promote your blog and company. Even creating a fun and short video on YouTube is helpful. Implement links and buttons, and share your blog URL on all your websites, your Facebook page and any other forms of advertisement that you use in order to ensure that readers with keep reading your blog.
At any given time, no matter how uncommon your product is, a small percentage of people are actively looking to buy your product. However, how do you make them buy from you as opposed to your opponent? What makes your site more attractive than the others? There are a percentage of people that are open to the idea of buying but are not enthusiastically looking for anything in particular. There are also a percentage of people that would consider buying in the future but not any time soon. And there are also people who are not entirely interested in buying your product. If you could advertise and attract a large percentage of those potential buyers, the percentage of your sales is guaranteed to rise even if not all of them end up purchasing your product.
Now the main question is how to attract all these potential buyers before your competitors do. It is simpler thank you think. First, it is important to advertise in ways that aren’t the same ways everyone else is advertising. Like we said before in previous posts, Facebook fan pages are really effective while email and blogs are successful too. People like simple and easy, friendly and receptive—so make sure that you open up your product to the world and apply it to as many people as you can. Marketing will make or break your business, so make sure that you make marketing your number one priority!
“A picture is worth a thousand words.” While somewhat cheesy and over-used, the quote is very true. Pictures can tell stories. They can attract attention. But when it comes to websites, their most effective weapon is to sell to and attract viewers. If you are selling a product and you have exceptional photos, chances are that people will give your website and product the time of day. However, if blurry, small or vague photos are featured on your website–chances are high that people will skim through your site and not pay attention to any of your products. Photos can be compared to an advertisement. The better the photo, or the better the advertisement–the better the chance that people will buy your product.
Photography can convey emotions. Your pictures on your website can say a lot about you as a merchandiser. If your photos are poor and simple, you are portraying yourself to be simple, mediocre and not as interested in your company as you should be. However if your photos are vibrant, informative and appealing–you are exposing your creative side and you are one step the ahead of the game in your sales or attraction to your site. Consumers want to see that you are behind your product 100% and are confident in your business.
Many people tend to underestimate the importance of a logo. They might feel that a logo is not that necessary or a waste of space, but the truth is: Logos could be the knot tying your company together. All huge companies have logos that everybody is familiar with—a logo that has helped them to survive in the market and maintain their individuality. When thinking of McDonalds, everybody thinks of the two golden arches creating an M. When thinking of Nike, everyone thinks of a “swoosh” mark and the slogan “Just Do It”. When thinking of Mac computers, everyone pictures a silver apple half eaten on the right side, and so on. They all have an international symbol that defines the company and maintains their existence in the world. Having a unique and creative logo will attract more people to your website and company and ensure that the viewer will recognize your business once again by seeing your logo.
Here at The Geeky Boys we will help you to design a logo that represents you and your company well. Having a logo is one of the most effective ways to market your website and company. Sometimes the logo can just be the name of the company designed in a specific font or color, but more often it is a design or little piece of artwork that accompanies the name the of the business. Your logo is your tag. People will associate your name with your logo and the better the logo, the more success you can expect in attracting the public to your company.
