The other day my wife and I went to our Maricopa Jack in the Box for a quick to go dinner. After taking my order, the cashier did something i did not expect. He asked for my name. I was shocked. Once my order was ready, there was a very casual, “Hey Matt, here is your order, can I do anything else for you” , and then a “thanks for coming in, have a great night matt”. Now this wasn’t a fill in the blank sentence read by an employee like a robot. The cashier sounded sincere.

Is this revolutionary? not particularly. But for a fast food chain, YES. I go to the local deli (on a pretty regular basis) and I dont get this kind of treatment.

So what next? Is there a place in your business, ministry, or organization where you can be as personal as possible? Can you great your regular customers or attendees by name?

Studies have shown customers who feel valued, and cared for, may be customers for life. If you loose sight of the people who make your organization what it is, they may wander off across the street to the place that can treat them the way they deserve.

1.) Does your ad communicate your message in a clear, consise manner?

2.) Do the visual and headline support each other?

3.) Can the reader navigate easily through the ad?

4.) Do you list the customer benefits?

5.) Is your company contact information easily accessible?

6.) Have you defined your target audience?

7.) Is the ad an accurate representation of your company?

8.) Is there a call to action?

There’s a lot more to designing an effective ad than what’s on this check list, but if your ad has addressed all the above questions you’re on the right path!

The visual An Illustration or photo that is used to capture the attention of the reader. This eye-catching element can communicate a concept or feeling, or showcase a product and its benefits. The right image can go a long way to communicating your message.

The caption If needed, the caption describes the visual.

The headline Supports the visual. Should be 10 words or less. Makes the reader want to find out more. Can be humourous, pique curiosity, offer a solution, and be a call to action. Typeface and color plays a very important role in grabbing a reader’s attention and setting the tone of the ad.

The copy Supports the headline, generates interest. Emphasizes customer benefits, highlight what makes you different from the competition. Use words and phrases the target audience knows and understands. Readibility of typeface is critical.

Signature or contact information. Includes a company logo and contact information. Make it easy for the customer to contact you.

If you have any specific questions about advertising please e-mail me.

Thanks,
Mark Molus

Getting started
Of course, the basis of every successful ad is a carefully researched and constructed advertising plan. If necessary, get an experienced advertising professional to help you get started. Here are a few of the basic questions that need to be answered before a designer can create an eye-catching ad.

Who is the target audience? Make sure your ad speaks to them. One ad does not necessarily fit all publications.

What is the message your trying to convey? Make sure the purpose of your ad is clear. Also, keep a file of ads that you feel sucessfully communicate to their market. Use them as a reference when evaluting your own advertising.

Where is the best place to run your ad for maximum effect? Take a look at the publication you’re thinking of advertising in. Do you think the readers of this publication are likely to become your customers? Try placing your ad on a page of the publication and see how it stands out from the other ads and articles.

When will the ad run and for how long? Constant exposure is the key to successful advertising. Give your ad a chance to work. Run your ad in every issue or a minimum of seven times to create a real presence.

Why? Color and size get you noticed, frequency gets you remembered.

Your advertising can have an impact in today’s market if you understand your audience, have clear objectives, and create a strong visual image to support your message. Instantly.

Let’s look at Abercrombie and Fitch. As an outdoor outfitter, they established a brand identity which worked for over a hundred years. They sold durable clothing and accessories. In the early 90’s they found themselves as a lesser known brand in a compressed marketplace. With the advent of the internet and a more youthful audience, they were forced to recognize a change was needed. Gone were the days of selling durable jeans and heavyweight flannel. With their clothing lines reworked, they moved forward by changing their brand. A new, young, hip and sexy brand was created. By capturing the essence of those they were marketing to, they confirmed their credibility as a clothing company for the next generation. In addition to their hardlines, they also engaged an aggressive and youthful marketing strategy which again confirmed their understanding of today’s youth and allowed them to change who they were as a company with ease.

As a small business owner in Maricopa, you can confirm your credibilty by being honest about the products and services you offer and not try to be something you are not. Is your branding too complex? Do you sell things that deviate from your main business? Are you trying to attract customers to a product they aren’t interested in purchasing? Answering these questions can help you identify areas where you are affecting your credibility with your customer.

Lake makes a list of objectives that a good brand will achieve include:

1. Deliver the message clearly
2. Confirms your credibility
3. Connects your target prospects emotionally
4. Motivates the buyer
5. Concrete User Loyalty

Over the next week or so, I am going to write about these objectives and how small businesses in Maricopa can utilize these objectives to make their “brand” acheive success in our marketplace.

The first objective of a brand is that it Delivers the message clearly. You never want to make your customer guess what you are selling or how it benefits them. Keep the focus on the customer and how the product or service makes their lives better. Focus on how the product or service you sell is different that what else is available in the marketplace.

Take for example McDonald’s. They have a multi-million dollar advertising and branding machine working for them. They are in constant search of the next great slogan that will connect with their consumer. Right now, they are exploiting the phrase “I’m Lovin It!”. Such a simple phrase. McDonald’s never claims to have the best food, but what they focus on is the lifestyle of their consumer. Young, hip, full of energy and life. These are the things that they want their target market to feel. They use exceptional imagery to reinforce the brand and ultimately they continue, not because they make the best hamburgers, but because they sell an idea and they make it very clear what that idea is.

In the past 20 years, no company has converted marketing into success like Nike. “Just Do It!” has become synonymous with the highest level of performance. It continues to define the Nike brand well past the normal lifespan of a slogan or tagline. Why? It delivers the message clearly. It doesn’t try to explain itself. It stands on its own because it is a cut-to-the-quick answer for athletic performance.

What message does your company want to give to your customers? Think about how much you have to think about your message. Does your brand require people to sift through layers of information before finding the benefit to them? Have you asked your customers if your message is clear? Take a moment to really identify the things that make your brand important to your consumer and try to boil it down into a simple, clear message. Once you have done that, it becomes much easier to define the strategies that will lead to success for your business.

Before that, if you think of companies and what they used for their identity, it was almost exclusively a stylized type treatment. Think of automobile companies, department stores and other retailers, outfitters, etc. To this day, many of those companies either have continued to use a text only logo (Abercrombie & Fitch, Macy’s, Ford, Coca-Cola, etc.) or they have abandoned the iconic look for a more classic representation of their name. Even new companies continue to only use text as their logo, for example, Wal-Mart. Not to say that iconic logos shouldn’t be used, they should. It’s a way to make a logo memorable. Even the best of the iconic logo companies use a text only treatment in different instances, though. Nike is a perfect example.

Single Color?:
For many years, the US Trademark and Patent office would only register a trademark based on a black and white submission. They now do accept color submissions, but only if the color is essential as a distinguishing element of the design, think “Golden Arches”.

The “Brandable” Question:
Many companies today are looking for an instantly “brandable” logo. This is a misnomer. “Brandable” is a product of marketing success, and has nothing to do with the design of an identity piece.

Branding is something that is attached to a product. A company which offers many products will choose to “brand” their items through the use of customer satisfaction, quality, advertising and marketing efforts. How many people can give you a rough drawing of the Proctor & Gamble logo? Not many, most likely. But, how many can give a rough drawing of the “Tide” logo? It’s a universal “brand”.

Companies which are singular in purpose, think Oil, telecom, banking, etc. will look to leverage their identity as a brand because the products they offer are not unique. They have to sell the company as a brand to gain consumer recognition.

The Maricopa Chamber of Commerce logo was created using elements from the community. The sun, which represents the southwest and our enduring light as a community was styled to represent our Native American heritage. The symbolic “M” in the sun represents Maricopa in the southwestern corner of the icon.

I asked a client a while back what was the most important thing that his customers remember when looking at his new logo. He gave the patented “branding” response of satisfaction, experience, strength, etc. Where he failed is thinking his customers can get all of that by just looking at the logo. The answer is very simple. The most important thing that a customer must remember when looking at a logo is the name of the company. Consumers are fickle, if they don’t remember your name, they wont come around. It takes years for an emblem or icon to become well known enough to stand on it’s own.

“We want a Tagline in our Logo”:
Slogans, which aren’t actually part of a logo can also be an essential part of the “branding” process. If I say, “It’s mmm, mmm good”, and you grew up in the US, you will know that I am talking about Campbell’s Soup. “Where’s The Beef” did more for Wendy’s restaurants than all the identity work, research, “branding” efforts, etc. Wendy’s was a fledgling burger joint trying to compete with the two big fast food companies, they were having troubles. Along comes a little old lady and here, 20 years later, Wendy’s has taken over Burger King and is the second largest Fast Food operation in the world.

The key element to remember about a tag line is that as part of a logo, it takes away from the impact the icon and/or company name has. It is great if someone remembers the tagline, but if they do so at the expense of forgetting the company who it belongs to, the tag becomes a liability. Generally taglines/slogans/service marks are used in the marketing process and not as part of the identity materials.