Posted on March 1, 2021November 4, 2021 by printernearme2020

Why Brand Consistency is Key to the Success of YOUR Business

If your business has a strong and consistent brand identity, it’s easier for your clients to recognize your brand and its products or services. If you have inconsistent visuals, your brand’s message may be confusing and difficult to remember, making client awareness and retention a daunting task. Brand consistency has the power to boost your company’s value – and it’s completely free! Keep reading to learn the importance of brand consistency for your business.

What is Branding?

Branding is a way of distinctly identifying your business through its name, tagline, design, colours, logo or any combination, and is an essential part of your marketing strategy. This is how your customers will recognise your business and perceive your brand. Many people incorrectly assume that a brand is simply a good logo design. A strong brand is more than just a logo — it’s reflected in everything from your customer service style, to your corporate colours, staff uniforms, business cards, tradeshow presence, signage and is the foundation for your marketing materials and advertising.

Here are four steps to building a successful brand:

Define how you want to be perceived by your clients and potential customers.
Organize your business’ visuals based on this promise.
Communicate your promise in every part of your brand.
Be consistent.

How do you develop Brand Consistency?

As you strive to build brand value and trust, assess how consistency works across all aspects of your identity. This includes messaging, tone, imagery and delivery. These elements are the basic building blocks of consistent branding.

Logo

Incorporating a logo into your products and marketing collateral is the easiest way to create consistent brand identity visuals. Adding your logo onto all company designs – both internal and external – will make it easier for your consumers to connect the object to the brand. For example, any apparel featuring your branding will automatically be associated with your organization.

Message

A consistent brand message should clearly define your positioning and align with your core behaviours. This can be seen in the core values of your mission and vision statements. If your actions consistently align with your message, customers begin to trust and have joy in your service. If your brand promise is inauthentic or unable to be delivered, customers may feel disappointed or deceived.

Tone

Tone is an element that companies tend to forget as they develop their brand. Conflicting tones, however, lead to mixed messages. Is the spirit of your brand an aggressive go-getter who gets things done? A friend who is willing to lend a helping hand? If your tone switches often, customers may develop differing expectations about your product or service, making it more difficult to satisfy each customer each time they interact with you.

Design

Imagery is perhaps the most obvious element in your brand consistency toolkit. Design using brand elements thoughtfully and strategically helps build visibility and increases customer recognition and association.

Delivery

Beyond these fundamental elements, the delivery of your brand through timing and across channels and mediums significantly contributes to the consistency of experience. The channels you choose, as well as the frequency of contact, create a rhythm of communication.

Why is Brand Consistency So Important?

Brand consistency takes your brand to the next level: You’re no longer convincing your clients to stop and buy your product and/or service. Your brand is so consistent, so synonymous with your product experience that when a consumer sees your signature brand logo, they are already thinking about making their next purchase from you. Using a tactic like newsletters and direct mail is a great way to create, and build consistency with regular intervals.
Consistency makes your brand feel more dependable and trustworthy: When you’re getting to know a person, you start to develop opinions, ideas and assumptions about them based on your interactions. If they are dressed in a business suit one day, Bermuda shorts and a ratty T-shirt the next and then a scuba diving suit another time, it may be hard to nail down exactly who they are and what they are all about. Now imagine this same person is someone you are considering doing business with. Wouldn’t you be concerned about their consistency in their work based on their inconsistent appearance? You may think twice before bringing them into your business because they’re unpredictable. Your consumers can feel the same about your brand if you aren’t careful. If your social media voice is whimsical and silly but your product packaging is sterile and plain, you’re sending mixed signals that will confuse consumers and leave them feeling like your brand can’t be trusted.
Recognition: Brand recognition is not just about getting your name out there. It’s about helping consumers get to know your brand on a personal level. It’s a long-standing concept thatpurchasing is more an emotional decision than a practical one. Part of engaging the right emotions with your consumers is making them feel like they know your brand and that your brand can be trusted.
Giving consumers a dependable experience across all your media and channels of communication works along the same lines as always putting out a dependable product. Consumers want to know you! Interacting with consumers through a consistent brand voice and aesthetic is a major step towards letting consumers get to know you as an organization. When they know you, they will identify with you and your purpose. And when consumers feel like they know you and can trust you, they will be more likely to purchase from you and more likely to recommend you to their peers.

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We’ve heard so many people say if they could just get consumers to try their product they know they would like it and would want to buy from them again. Well, putting a consistent brand message in front of consumers is one strong step in the right direction to attracting new customers.

Your potential customers are more likely to purchase from a brand they recognize for their consistent image and content schedule, so make sure to maintain both. Printers like Minuteman Press Calgary Shepard assist you in ensuring that your branding is consistent across all your printed materials. This helps your business be profitable in part by being memorable. Minuteman Press Calgary Shepard can work with you to maintain a consistent brand image. We specialize in graphic design for all your printing needs. Contact us today to bring your brand to life in print! We Design. We Print. You Profit.

If you enjoyed this blog, you might also like 5 Ways to Create Brand Exposure in a Contactless World.

Posted on March 1, 2021November 4, 2021 by printernearme2020

Five Design Tips for Improving Poster Legibility

Whether you need one or a bunch of custom poster prints for your advertising, school events, announcements, warnings or anything else, it needs to be clear, concise, and captivating. When you or your designer get set to design of your poster, there are a few tips you should keep in mind. Often, posters are seen from a distance and only for a few moments, so the information should be easily processed within seconds of exposure. At the end of the day, getting your message seen and acted upon is the number-one priority. By following a few of these design tips, you can avoid illegible designs and make it easy for viewers to read your featured content.

Direct Your Viewer’s Attention

As readers, we are hard-wired to read from left to right, top to bottom (at least for English readers.) Use this to your advantage! Design your poster to be read similarly to reading a book. It will make a noticeable impact for your viewers.

Avoid Using Decorative Fonts

Adding a stylish flair to the words on a poster may unintentionally create text that is difficult to read. Instead of using italics and cursive to emphasize certain sections of the poster, consider using bold text to draw attention to important information.

Properly Spaced Text

It can be overwhelming when there is too much information in a single space. Use spacing techniques to prevent viewers from glazing over essential details. Separate densely packed text into manageable paragraphs, making sure to deliberately group relevant content into different sections of the poster. Viewers are typically drawn to the middle of the sign, so the main messages should be spaced near the center.

Consider Using One Large Visual

The human eye is attracted to visually-appealing graphics—ensure your poster is no exception. Single item illustrations, close-up cropped photos and oversized display typefaces front and centre are all effective ways of creating a focal point that commands their attention.

Be Mindful of Your Visual Hierarchy

Visual hierarchy is the principle of arranging elements to show their order of importance, making it easier for the viewer to understand and process the information easily. Visual hierarchy can be arranged in many ways, but whatever direction you decide to take, make sure that it is consistent.

Relative size: Adjusting the size of objects on your poster—such as enlarging an object to provide it more importance or making it smaller to de-emphasize it—is one of the easiest ways to develop a visual hierarchy. Whatever you decide, always remember that balance is key. Turning the dial to the extreme of each spectrum could make the element overwhelming, or conversely, unreadable.
Colour combinations: Maintaining a cohesive, consistent colour palette should always be a priority. The color of the words and background should contrast one another to help the text pop out to passing viewers. Using color combinations that blend together or look unappealing can prevent people from accurately reading the poster’s content. Use high-impact colours like yellow or red to make something stand out or prioritize information. Remember: Value, saturation and temperature are also important factors to consider.

Typography hierarchy: Just like a book where authors use headings to anchor our eyes to the beginning of a paragraph, poster should be designed the same. Organize titles, subtitles and body copy by their sizes respectively.

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By following these tips, the content of your posters will be clear and concise, which will help to reach a wider audience and therefore increase exposure for your company.

Having difficulties? Perhaps you’d like us to handle your print design instead? Not a problem! Minuteman Press Calgary Shepard’s graphic designer specializes in print-ready designs. We can work with you to make your poster stand out and convey the appropriate mood without causing your information to fade into the background. Request a Quote from us today and we’ll contact you shortly!

Posted on March 1, 2021November 4, 2021 by printernearme2020

Effective Corporate Signage Can Help Your Business Succeed In A Big Way

As a small business ourselves, we inherently understand how your bottom line can often be very tight and how important it is to make sure that every dollar spent in your marketing budget needs to create maximum impact. Indoor and outdoor corporate signage is one way to make this happen. Signs can be a very effective and profitable marketing investment for your business.

You want to stretch your marketing budget as far as it can go. With the advances in digital printing technology, signs – which could include large posters, banners, window signage, displays and more – are now more affordable than ever. Enhance the curb appeal of your storefront with signs that grow your business (also sandwich boards). Show who you are and what you do for all that walk or drive by your location.

What Makes Corporate Signage Effective?

Brand Identity: One of your first considerations in any design will be color. Many people identify certain hues with particular brands, and a printer can even custom create a new color for its customers – to match your logo for example.
Contrast: Since there is a good chance your sign will be read from a street level or drive-by traffic, it is good to use a font size that will be easy to read, even from a distance. To make sure your text or graphics are clear and really stand out, you can use contrasting colours can be a great design idea. Adding borders or drop shadows around the lettering can also be helpful.
KISS: Use this principle that is easy to remember: Keep It Simple, Stupid. What was originally a design principle noted by the U.S. Navy 70 years ago to remind designers that the key goal in design is to avoid any unnecessary complexity, marketers now use it in designs to remind themselves that they only have 5 minutes to grab the viewer’s attention.

Three Ways to Use Outdoor Corporate Signage

Below are three ways you can use signage as an effective outdoor advertising strategy to raise brand awareness and make people interested in your business and to help you profit through your print:

Poster Printing is a very affordable method of marketing your brand. You can create large numbers of ads to distribute across several venues. Your business can place your posters in high-traffic locations to raise ad visibility, such as public transportation areas like grocery stores, malls, bus stops and train stations.
Roadside advertisements like stake signs and sandwich boards can help you grab the attention of passing motorists and pedestrians. Your business can use sidewalk displays to inform your customers and prospects about important events and new changes to available products or services. Roadside ads provide you with the added benefit of 24-hour marketing, since potential clientele may pass the business at night.
Banners are excellent outdoor advertisements that you can use to promote your brand. Your business can use the larger space to share your high-quality images of products to impress your customers and potential customers.

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Corporate signage produced by a print company like Minuteman Press Calgary Shepard can prove to be a powerful marketing tool. No matter what your budget and production challenge, Minuteman Press Calgary Shepard has the imaginative creative team and the depth of resources to deliver a solution that fits your needs and budget. We can design and produce your corporate signage in a wide range of shapes and sizes. Make Minuteman Press Calgary Shepard your one-stop solution for professional indoor or outdoor signage and request a quote today!

Posted on March 1, 2021November 4, 2021 by printernearme2020

How Postcard Marketing Can Help Your Brand Stand Out

Your marketing dollars need to go as far as possible. We all see ads stating you must use this digital tactic or that one. Or that the only way to grow your business is to use the latest new shiny social media trick. Digital communication has become far more prevalent than ever, hitting your inbox and social feeds as much as 150 times a day. But this does not mean that traditional printed advertising cannot still make a big impact on your company’s bottom line. In fact, effective design and print can be a very profitable tactic for your business. Postcards can prove to be an effective marketing tools to get your message literally in the right prospects’ hands. Minuteman Press Calgary Shepard has lots of suggestions for how to incorporate postcards into almost any multichannel advertising campaign.

What is postcard marketing?

Postcard marketing is a form of direct mail that helps you reach your targeted audience with promotional print pieces. Examples include coupons, announcements, or even as a retention tool in the form of a thank-you card for existing clients. Since the prominence of digital marketing, creating tangible, vibrant, and memorable print marketing pieces your customers and prospects can hold to can actually make your brand stand out. In fact, a study conducted by USPS showed that 86% of consumers take the time to read through their mail. Postcards can also be used as a fantastic trigger re-marketing tactic after a prospect interacts with you online. It creates quite a “wow” factor to receive a message from you directly in their mailbox a handful of days after visiting your website.

How do I start designing a piece for postcard marketing?

When choosing a design, follow the KISS (keep it simple, stupid!) principle. A cluttered appearance can detract from your message. Keeping the look streamlined with a straightforward message can grab and keep your reader’s attention. When choosing what will be printed on the cards, it can be useful to consider how to make the most of the available space. As Shakespeare wrote, “brevity is the soul of wit”, so keep your message to the point. There won’t be room to make a full sales pitch, so go straight to the solutions your offer solves for. It should then have a clear call-to-action (CTA) directing the reader to a trackable website, phone number or address where they can get more information.

Who should I send it to?

Your mailing list is responsible for almost half of the overall success of your mailing. If you have lots of bad addresses, your direct mail goes nowhere. If you send it to people who have no interest in your solution, it goes straight to the trash. If you’re using your own customer list, be sure you have ‘scrubbed’ your list and eliminated any bad addresses – or updated any addresses that have changed due to customers moving, etc. Experienced printers use software to check your address format and that the addresses on your list are valid. These services are a small investment but is definitely a worthwhile step in the process. Cleaning up your list costs far less than printing a bunch of postcards that can’t even be mailed. If you are renting a list for your mailing, make sure that the source is a good source that will provide good, ‘clean’ addresses that will get to the intended audience. Most reputable list sources are constantly updating their lists and records. They too know how important good, clean lists are to the overall success of the mailing.

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Postcards are an effective and profitable tactic for many businesses just like yours. Looking for a local printing company that can design, produce, and print an impactful postcard that stands out from the rest? Let Minuteman Press Calgary Shepard handle your project from start to finish—we will even handle your direct mail campaign and send it off precisely to the homes or businesses of your choice. Ready to get started? Request a Quote today to learn more!