MARKETING ADVISOR
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ISSUE TWENTY THREE
Design-Specific iPhone Apps
also in this issue:
The Funny Side of Print Marketing What is TOMA?
GRAPHIC ADVISOR
Your logo here
ISSUE TWENTY THREE
Design-Specific iPhone Apps
also in this issue:
The Funny Side of Print Marketing What is TOMA?
Design-Specific iPhone Apps Let You Go Mobile typography
color palettes
The Apple iPhone and other smartphones have spawned an entire cottage
In a similar vein, for designers, there is an
Another major category of designer-
You can e-mail palettes to other Palettes
The world of apps is expanding rapidly.
industry of applications that are helping these devices move from being
app called WhatTheFont that uses the
centric apps lets you build, edit and share
users, or you can export palettes so you
New technologies, such as Quick Response
simple communication tools to being computing platforms all their own.
iPhone’s camera to snap a picture of some
color palettes gleaned from colors one
can use them in Photoshop, Illustrator,
(QR) codes and Augmented Reality (AR)
text you might encounter, and it tells you
encounters in the real world. A good
InDesign and so on. Generating palettes
use bar code-like tags printed either
what font it is and what foundry it is from.
one is called simply Palettes, which lets
from pre-existing photos is pretty easy but
in magazines or on other materials or
Some people have become “app happy” and compulsively collect and use many of the bewildering variety of applications available. Can’t identify a
technology
It’s also remarkably accurate, although
you capture and create collections of
depends on the quality of the photo. As
virtual tags embedded in the physical
song playing on the radio or in a store? An app called Shazam uses the
not always 100% so. Probably the biggest
swatches from a variety of sources, such
with the WhatTheFont app, the quality of
environment. A webcam or smartphone
iPhone’s microphone to capture the audio, analyze it and tell you the song
limitation is the iPhone camera, which has
as a photo in your iPhone’s Camera Roll,
the iPhone camera is the weak link in the
camera can detect these tags and direct
title and artist. It’s quite accurate, though it has problems with jazz.
no flash and even in a bright room tends
from a picture taken on-the-fly, from a
chain. Another limiting factor to Palettes
Web browsers to Web sites, launch videos
to take very dark pictures. This can make
Web site, or by dragging sliders. Once
is that it does not support Pantone colors,
and other rich media, or provide text and
it tough for WhatTheFont to detect subtle
you have created a set of basic colors,
although other apps, such as Color
other “overlays” over the camera’s view
nuances in letters, or even distinguish
you can make custom blends of two or
Expert and Pantone’s own MyPantone
of a location. Advertisers and marketers
some letters at all. But even when the
more of the colors in a palette, as well
app, do.
are already experimenting with these new
choice is wrong, it still identifies fonts that
as color schemes using contiguous or
are close, if not exact, matches, which is
complementary colors.
mobile technologies. All these apps and more are available
helpful for creative purposes. And it’s free.
from the Apple iPhone App Store, via iTunes or from one’s iPhone directly.
WhatTheFont
Palettes
Color Expert
MyPantone
Most are free or, at most, in the $9.99 to $19.99 range.
photos ©iStockphoto.com
Shazam
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•Keep humor in its place. Your product or service should be front and center. Use humor to get the customer to stick around long enough to hear your
Have you heard the one about humor in print marketing? It’s more effective than you might think. Humor is one of the best ways to differentiate your product or service, making your message memorable and increasing your visibility. Information alone is not enough to sell your product. Otherwise everything would be communicated in black-and-white text. We live in a colorful, high-definition world with constant clutter, so your message has to engage customers for them to hear it. Humor is a powerful relationship-marketing tool that helps you stand out. However, unless you balance it with the right amount of information, your prospects will remember the gag and forget the product. Use humor properly and you will transform your business-as-usual communications without turning your message into a joke.
message. It should enhance your communication, not overwhelm it.
•Funny is subjective. There is no objective measure for what makes good or bad marketing humor. In general, it should be amusing, relevant and in good taste. It doesn’t have to appeal to the lowest common denominator or be over-the-top to work. Think about the type of comedy your target audience might find funny. Slapstick or sophisticated? Laugh-out-loud or subtly clever?
•Print can be funny, too. Typically we think of funny marketing in the context of commercials or social media, but apply humor to your print communications and you will not only grab your customers’ attention but also help them recall your message. The biggest laugh might come from how punctuation paces a sentence or how a graphic makes the reader do a double take. The smallest detail can bring the biggest laughs.
•Don’t take aim at your target customers. The joke is always funnier if it is on someone else. Carefully craft your message so that your stakeholders feel like you are on their side. Use comedy well and you will tickle your customer’s funny bone. Use it poorly and you can offend that same customer.
•Remove the color. No kidding, humor is serious business. Funny marketing attracts customers by creating a positive association with your brand. When used correctly, humor is an important tool for getting your message heard. Don’t knock-knock it until you’ve tried it.
e d i S y n n u F The arketing of M
Keep the colorful fonts and graphics in your printed pieces, but take out the off-color jokes and innuendo. The basic rules of marketing still apply. Test your message for potentially dangerous material to avoid alienating your audience.
•Follow cross-cultural rules, even at home. Humor often requires the audience to have a specific bit of knowledge to understand it. If you send direct mail internationally you understand that differences in culture and language will impact the way readers receive your piece. But cultural gaps can exist anywhere there is diversity. Be wary of colloquialisms and variations in the
photos ©iStockphoto.com
meaning of words, even in different geographic areas of your own country.
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Top-of-mind-awareness, or TOMA, is a traditional measure of marketing effectiveness. Brands with a high level of unaided recall have a distinct competitive advantage. You will be the first—and maybe only—source your prospect thinks of when it’s time to purchase. TOMA strongly correlates to brand preference, which correlates to increased market share. Low TOMA might be the result of misdirected marketing. Perhaps your message had little exposure to your target population as a result of poor media selection, or weak messaging simply didn’t capture their attention.
There are many ways to achieve and maintain TOMA.
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Consider what makes your company special,
Each marketing element should support the
whether it’s price, product availability, location,
one that came before. Direct mail is particularly
quality or speed, so you can clearly articulate it
effective in reinforcing a personal bond between
to your prospects. This exercise is more difficult
your company and your customer. Send a
for businesses selling in a crowded product
customized letter giving your best prospects the
category so consider creating your own niche.
inside track on a new product or an upcoming
7UP conceived the “Uncola” label so they no
promotion. Follow up with a postcard or
longer would have to compete head-to-head
brochure when the product is available or the
with the colas. Once you’ve created solid
promotion launches, then send a note of thanks
positioning language, stick with it even if you
when the client makes a purchase.
get tired of it. 7UP used the Uncola line for
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Find your unique selling proposition.
Are You Top of Mind? Five simple steps to avoid feeling like a fish out of water
three decades!
2
Use multiple communication tools.
Timing is everything.
You must strategically plan repeated Be consistent in design.
communications so customers perceive you as
Make sure everything from your Web site to
a provider of useful information rather than an
your customer literature to your stationery has
intrusive pest. This requires both organization
a similar look and feel. Use templates to ensure
and dedication.
that your image is constant.
Quick! Name a soft drink. Chances are you
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thought of Coke or Pepsi. These beverage giants have spent millions in advertising with the goal
Proactively send messages
into the market.
of being at the top of your mind. You can repeat
It is the frequency of customers hearing your
this exercise in any product category—tennis racquets, carpet cleaners or ballpoint pens, for example. If someone asked your customers to name a company in your product category, would you be top of mind?
company’s name, product or service that will
Gaining top-of-mind-awareness should be
make them take action and buy from you.
a top goal of your marketing efforts. Never
While a one-time advertising blitz can get
before have consumers had so many choices.
your message out quickly to a large number
They need your help to know where to look
of prospects, you will build credibility and stay
and what to believe. TOMA will help customers
in customers’ thoughts with a series of timely
notice you in a noisy marketplace, increasing
communications. There are a number of print
customer retention and response rates.
photos ©iStockphoto.com
solutions that can help you achieve your goals.
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You Don't Need to Be a
Here’s how it works.
Creation versus Usage.
You brainstorm an application—ideally
Although each campaign will have slightly
something that will run on a weekly,
different elements, each will have the same
monthly or other program basis—and
two over-arching characteristics:
work with us to set up the rules, develop
to Create Successful 1:1 Campaigns
layouts (including areas of variability) and
• The person using the application
pre-approve content, such as text blocks,
isn’t necessarily the same person
images and databases.
who designs it.
When it comes time to deploy, one of
It used to be that, in order to create powerful 1:1 print campaigns, you had to be a combination
In advance, someone else sets up the
two things can happen. If the application is
rules for the campaign, pre-defines the
Internet-based, individual users log in, make
templates and pre-approves and uploads
selections about what they want to include
any re-usable assets. Rules include whether
and then click “OK.” If the application is
you want to allow users to upload their
Truly, you no longer
not Internet-based, they can work directly
own assets, such as a realtor uploading
with us to make the necessary tweaks.
pictures of her most recent home sales.
have to be an expert in
marketing wiz and database master. But as
These applications are analogous to
these applications have developed, software
ordering a book from, say, Amazon.com.
• The order process is straightforward
The technology behind the searching,
and simple so that all the user has
selection and ordering is extremely
to do is fill out basic information.
working to make this technology accessible to
complex. But all users have to do is know
This could be as simple as inputting a
everyone, whether created offline or accessed
how to click.
ZIP code or as complex as selecting the
developers and print service providers are
Similar applications are being developed
1:1 print marketing in order to use 1:1 print marketing.
products and promotional messaging for
through the Internet. It requires a little upfront
for small businesses and other marketers
a personalized catalog. Once selected, the
work, but especially for long-term applications,
who might not have data of their own.
elements are flowed in, the rules applied
it can have a big payoff.
They create the piece and then click a link
and the piece automatically produced and
to database companies like USA Data to
shipped to the right location.
select and purchase data.
photos ©iStockphoto.com
It’s all about simplifying the process.
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