HJL Design and Graphics...
Freelance web and brochure design, writing, and other graphic capabilities.
There are millions of people offering web design services or print design services. HJL Design and Graphics is a bit different: I can offer you 20 years of Marketing Communications experience to draw on to make your project succeed for your company!
Here's a few of the points I emphasize with my customers:
- Recognize that marketing communications is a process made up of various projects.
- Brochures and web sites and trade shows and direct mail are all linked to each other, intrinsically building off of one another. They are not independent entities; rather, they should all have the same look and feel.
- Brochures and web sites and trade shows and direct mail are all linked to each other, intrinsically building off of one another. They are not independent entities; rather, they should all have the same look and feel.
- Know thine audience! Don't assume anything!
- Communicate in your audience's language your product's most salient points.
- Communicate in your audience's language your product's most salient points.
- "Glitz" sells...but you better have facts to go with it.
- It's well-established that people buy based on emotions, but if you don't support the glitz with factual information, you will lose in the end.
It's a Process, Not Just a Project:
Success in Marketing Communications isn't measured by making a "cool" Website. Success isn't measured by some award-winning brochure. Success is:
- knowing your market or market niche
- identifying your prospective customers
- analyzing your competition
- figuring out your own resources
- putting together and executing a cohesive plan
- developing and using tracking methods to measure effectiveness
- reassessing and modifying as necessary to achieve your objectives
- and being consistent throughout!
Know Thine Audience!
If you are writing specifically to a technical audience, then it's acceptable to use technical jargon. Example:
"When scanning images for brochure use, always use twice the LPI or frequency to set the SPI (and it is not DPI, regardless of what your scanner software says!) In point of fact, the actual factor to use is the square root of two, or 1.414..., but it is easier to double it to two...as it allows for broken sensors."
If you are writing to a general audience, try to avoid using acronyms, abbreviations, and technical terms unless it is critical to the piece. Use plain language. Try to allow for regional differences: in New England, fizzy carbonated stuff is called "soda". In the Midwest, it's called "pop". A large sandwich on a kind of oblong, crusty roll is called a "grinder" in Connecticut or a "sub" or "submarine" in Massachusetts.
Glitz sells...or does it?
As I mentioned above, we humans tend to buy on impulse, or in other words, we allow our emotions to make our decisions for us. Naturally, this is a truism. For example, corporate buyers almost always used to buy based on price (in the US, anyway); many are now taking quality and service into account. No matter how you cut it, though, business-buyers tend to rely less on emotion and more on logic. However, if they look at your marketing materials - web site, corporate brochure or trade show booth - and are put off by them, chances are pretty good you will not be perceived as a quality vendor. Thus, emotions do play a role, even in the cold, cruel world of corporate buying!
So, does this mean your site really needs that "cool Flash animation"? Well, that depends. On the one hand, I have been told by a lot of engineers (more than a dozen, actually) that they HATE Flash sites. "Just give me the facts." "I don't want to click on a bunch of buttons to get there." "If I don't see it right away, I go somewhere else." These are just some of the reactions I've heard. If, on the other hand, I was selling products aimed at the 18-30 year-old male market in the U.S., you better believe I would have a "cool" site! (Don't forget, Know Thine Customer!) Use your judgement, and continually revise and refine your communications material.
Make sense? If you have a question or comment, email me at: howardlatimer@maclatimer.com
