No.one.knows.what.I.do. 

There, I said it.  I realized that I work my tail off and am struggling to find new business leads because I am not educating my potential clients or my potential clients referrals.  That is  big problem given that I run by almost 95% referrals.  So this post today and the many going forward are going to be geared to help you understand what it is I do.

Although my company is called Graphic Design 26 (also realized I maybe should change that today… another blog post though…) I do so much more than just graphic design.  I graduated with a Marketing degree from ISU (Go Clones!) and my main love and passion is and will always be marketing.  I get marketing; it is natural for me.   I am also a salespersons dream customer as I can be suckered into almost anything!  That being said, I can also sell almost anything to anyone.  You just have to figure out how that product can help them.  Many times that will be in ways they didn’t even realize they needed.

I create logos and illustrations, brochures, mailers, newsletters, sales collateral and pretty much any other form of marketing materials for companies any size.   The difference with me is that I am going to take that piece you want created and am going to make sure your idea is the best idea to get you your end result!  That is Marketing 101.  I want to make sure that what you are creating (and paying for) is going to work for you.  Perfect example…  How many people are heading to Homecoming parades in the next couple weeks and will get the “flyers” from businesses and really, truly, read them?  Not too many of us unless they are colorful and real flashy!  We are going to spend more time on the pieces that we are given that we have something to do them.  A bracelet, a tattoo, a magnet…  The flyer is going to go in the bag with the candy and will probably just get thrown away with the candy we don’t like.

Along with the physical marketing pieces that companies need to promote themselves, they also need to be marketing themselves with some form or forms of social media.  I too was in the same boat as many people and had no idea what all these different mediums of social media were or how they would benefit me.  The more I have dug into them and thought about ways they can help my clients, the more educated I have become.  And the more I have realized I need to use them for my own business.  It is hard to not promote a business to use them, after all, many of them are free marketing!  You just need to determine which ones are going to be the best fit for your objective and for your clientele.

I have created websites and maintained them for smaller companies from templates.  It is how my own site was created.  I have designed the look of wesbsites for bigger companies too.  I don’t write code but I know a great local company that does and I work with them to  make the site look and function just like I envision it.

Here is a piece that I have created recently to hand out about what I do.  It is very basic but it at least lists everything I do.  I hope this helps the many of you who have always wondered what I do or what a graphic designer does.  I am now going to call myself a Graphic Designer AND Marketing Consultant.  I think it just sums up what I do best.  The good part is that once I give you those ideas, I can then do them for you.  We don’t need to look further!

Inside of Calendar

Cover for 2011 Calendar

IAFP (International Association for Food Protection) was looking for a piece to give to their clients to help commemorate their 100th Anniversary.  They decided on a calendar depicting pictures of food protection in the past.  Here is a glimpse of the cover and one of the inside pages.

In addition to the calendar we needed to create an Ad to be used in their monthly publications.  Following is that ad.  I was so excited with how this turned out.  I think it really reflects on the changes that they have made in the last 100 years!

100th Anniversary Ad

Our first piece to tackle is the business card.  They were needing some new ones for their new locations so we decided to just change them all as the look they have going for on their business cards was just not working.  The feel I got when I looked at the business card and the feel I get when I walk into their store are totally different.  So, we decided to  try and create that same whimsical feeling.  Here is the new look for their business cards.

Business Card - front

Business Card - Back

They have been so happy with this new look for their brand that we are now looking into changing the website too!

The overall look of the site was easy to create as Holly was one of those customers that knew exactly what she wanted!  It was a pleasure working with her and if you are in need of renting your current home or know someone who would like to rent, contact Holly.

www.reinhardtproperties.com

I was contacted by the IAFP (International Association for Food Protection) to help them create a logo for the their 2011 Annual Meeting.  The meeting is to be help in Milwaukee, WI and they will be celebrating 100 years in the food protection industry.

We first created a logo for the 100th Anniversary.  They are going to use this logo over the next year to help bring awareness to this wonderful business achievement.  We wanted it to be universal enough yet eye catching so association members would see the value in the achievement.  The logo also needed to be able to blend with all their current marketing materials.  To the left is what we came up with.  I was really happy with their choice.  Like many other times, I gave the client three to choose from.  This client just happened to choose my favorite one!  Always nice when that happens.  Makes me realize that we might have similar taste and this process will move smoothly!

Next our challenge was to create a logo for the annual meeting.  This ended up turning out just like we needed but it didn’t come with a little sweat.  The challenge I was facing was trying to tie together, International Food Protection, 100 years, and Milwaukee Wisconsin. What do they all have in common???  I decided to just do a logo that was based on font and text and bring the look and feel to the materials instead.  So, I proposed to my client this logo but I showed it to them in a piece so they could get the feeling that I was wanting.

Here the Invitation to Exhibit for the annual meeting.  It showcases the feeling that I am looking for and the logo all together.  This was helpful to assist my client with getting the big picture.  In the background, you will see pictures of the five most popular attractions I found when I Googled this location.

It is always nice when you can create material for clients and they are hosting in place like CA and  you can use palm trees or in CO and you can focus on the mountains.  But for Milwaukee Wisconsin, how do you pick just one thing that will target your whole audience.  We went with color and lines that all tied together a common feeling.

This project is going to consist of many different pieces.  Some to be mailed and some to be set out during meetings and in the office.  This piece was created to be taken with them to the meeting that was held this year.  A perfect place to target your audience for next year!  It is rather hard to understand the layout so I will do my best to describe it.

Once it is printed and folded this is a tri-fold landscape handout with a finished size of 5×7.  The first picture is the inside and you can see dotted lines where it is to be folded.  The second picture is the front cover, back cover and the first piece they see when they open the handout.

Once I get one of the final versions in the printed form, I may take a picture so it will better help you understand the layout.  Small but packed full of information all tied together in an eye catching way!

 IMTA (Iowa Motor Truck Association)

The IMTA (Iowa Motor Truck Association) help their first annual event the summer of 2008.  They enlisted my help to create a logo for the event and then all the event materials.  Since they also have a towing division, we created the same pieces and tailored it to both divisions.

Following is the booklet I made for them and the additional pieces they needed.  Notice on the cover, I put a picture of the Iowa Speedway (location of the event) inside the semi truck grill.  I was so happy with how that turned out!  The book is eight pages long.  Trying to create a piece that is exciting for the trucking industry proved to be a challenge for me!  Not an area I was too familiar with to begin with.  Now, I can say I get it a bit more!

It was one of the more fun logo’s I have created in awhile since it involved something I love so dearly!  If you haven’t tried Pilates, wait no more!  It is a great form of exercise.  I have also included a few other options that I gave her to choose from.

The Winner!

Other options…

Additional Marketing Collateral

Business Card - front

Business Card - Back

Rack Card - Front

Rack Card - Back

Their first focus or area of concern is in their name.  Another business located not too far from them recently put up their new business sign and guess what?  Same name, with the same font.  All in upper case even!  While the two businesses are not in the same line of work, it still has started to create confusion for the current customers.  All the more reason to make this companies revised logo a bit more “unique” for them.  The current logo is very general and uses a very common font.  It isn’t surprising to me that this happened.

I have met with the owner and her associate and we have gotten the basics revealed.  I am now starting with the basics of all and revising the logo.  I will post the old and the new when we are up and ready.

Case in point, spend the time and effort needed to make sure your business starts in a very “unique” spot from day one regarding the image you want to portray.  It will only make your job easier down the road!  Less room for confusion among the clientele!

Business cards serve many purposes but their primary purpose is to tell what you do and give the recipient a way to contact you.

Minimum Information for a Business Card

Other information is optional but as a minimum the business card should usually contain:

• Individual’s Name and/or Business Name
• Individual’s Title or some other descriptive text to indicate what the person does if it’s not obvious from the business name
• A way (preferrably multiple ways) to contact the person — could be phone, fax, email, web page, mailing address, street address, etc.

It is not necessary to but a complete listing of services or products on the business card.  Keep it to the essentials.  Use brochures and personal interviews to disclose the full range of services or products offered.

• Orientation – Horizontal layouts are the most typical, most widely used format for business cards.
• Name – Whether using a horizontal or vertical arrangement, the person’s name or the business name are usually the most prominent text item on the card.  It is usually placed in the center or upper half of the card and emphasized with a larger or bolder font.
• Contact – Contact information is usually placed in the lower half of the card (left, right, or centered). The preferred method of contact (such as phone number or email) is often emphasized with a larger size, bolder font, or more prominent placement.