Among your to-do’s are marketing tasks (hopefully) that will keep your customers rolling in. Activities like:

• monthly/quarterly mailings
• attending events or trade shows
• updating your company website and blog
• creating a seasonal product catalog
• making presentations/sales calls
• sending email newsletters
• advertising

When things get busy, we (yes, even us designers) tend to procrastinate marketing our businesses in order to get through the rest of our tasks. However, even when things are hectic, you should still be focused on promoting your business.

Making a calendar at the beginning of each year that outlines your marketing efforts helps you stay on track, while also helping you budget for any design and printing costs. This can be done quarterly as well, to the same effect (my preferred method), and allows you to be more nimble with your decisions.

By planning your marketing efforts in advance, you can reap some cost savings by:

• ganging up your print jobs for mailings (saves resources, too!)
• having a general brand overview piece on hand to send to prospects and take to meetings
• resizing one design for multiple trade show booth layouts
• qualifying for discounts from your mail house for scheduled catalog mailings
• creating a single branded email newsletter template that is ready for monthly content
• having a standard advertisement design that can resized and sent to publications on the fly
• not paying rush charges when you’re behind the 8-ball!

For the non-designers out there, Saul Bass is an icon of American graphic design who created the well-known logos for Dixie, Continental Airlines and the United Way (just to name a few). You may have also seen his work in the titling sequences for the movies Psycho, Spartacus and Casino, among many others.

I came across some snippets of a documentary about his career on the web and was enlightened to hear him say,
“It costs every designer money to make it beautiful, because you have to spend more time, you have to futz with it, you have to noodle, you have to push…You’re eating up your budget.”

We’ve been asked many times if we could shorten our schedule for a logo design, or if we can reduce our price if the client promises one round of revisions instead of two. The answer is usually, “No.” Not because we like to be difficult or don’t like to commit to a delivery date, but for the reason Saul Bass stated above.

It costs time (and time = money) to make beautiful things. Things that are not beautiful don’t leave our shop. If you’re a client of ours, chances are good that our attention to detail and craftsmanship are why you arrived at Studio 22 HQ—and are also why you’ve stayed!

A lot happened at Studio 22 HQ in 2009.

• Leaving the bustle (and expensive parking) of the city, we moved the office to a rural town where mid-day hikes are a reality.
• We gained a Traffic Manager, Sue Mathias, to help our schedule run more smoothly and to serve our clients better.
• Our work was published in a book about green design and also earned awards for sustainability reports, annual reports, brochures, and retail merchandising.
• Adding a Copywriter, Carolyn Maddock, expanded our service offerings to get clients’ content into fighting shape.
• We overhauled our own website design, development and content — and got to see what it’s like to be the client on the latter two!
• And last but not least, we welcomed Brit Shoaf to the team as our new designer, increasing our ability to crank out the good stuff!

We’ve set new intentions for 2010 around the words
GIVE
PASSION
and
FORWARD

Stay tuned as we set out on the journey to fulfill them.

Have a Plan

Are you launching a new product and using that as a theme for your booth and materials? Are you displaying your entire line, or just one season? Is your company new or established in the industry on which the trade show focuses? Answering questions like these will help determine the direction and content of your materials.

Minimize Impact

Reducing waste in materials, shipping and manpower will save time and money while helping the environment. Estimate as closely as you can the amount of printed materials you’ll need for the show, based on the loose formula of 12 visitors per hour, and add 10% to cover extra traffic. It has been said, however, that 90% of materials never make it back to attendees’ offices. Consider sending catalogs or larger pieces to your prospects as an after-show follow-up.

The List

1. Pre-Show Mailer

• Send a mail piece such as a post card or letter on customized letterhead to your mailing list, as well as the show attendee list.
• This is the first piece in the series of materials, so the design must be consistent with your brand strategy and the remainder of the pieces you create moving forward.
• It should have a clear call to action, the show name, dates, location and your booth number.
• It can double as a new product announcement or marketing piece to those not attending the show.

2. Booth Graphics

• Get the most mileage with a design that is representative of your brand story, regardless of season.
• Introduce additional elements for variety from show to show. A well-planned booth will allow you to swap out sections when updates are needed, such as a new graphic, information panel or product photo.

3. Media Kit

• This is where your brand story will really shine, so it should be professionally designed for the best impact. You only get one chance to make a first impression.
• It should include: company history, product features, company culture, social/environmental involvement, leadership and custom photography.
• Be sure to place plenty of kits in the press room at the show, and keep some at your booth for media members that stop in.

4. Company Overview

• This doesn’t have to be an elaborate piece—it just has to be effective. This is especially important if you’re a new exhibitor.
• Will allow buyers a quick look at your brand story, with the added benefit of an in-person experience of your company culture at your booth.

5. Catalog and Product Line Sheet

• Your catalog should have a company introduction section in the first few pages and an uncluttered product layout with enough white space for notes.
• Separate line sheets are the easiest way to make price adjustments, new product additions, and allow you to use your catalog for both buyers and consumers.
• Provide these during buyer meetings or to qualified prospects.

6. Follow-Up Mailer

• Send a mail piece such as a post card or letter on customized letterhead to those you met with at the show thanking them for their interest. This is a great time to include an incentive offer if you didn’t make a sale with them during the show.
• Your catalog can also have impact as a follow-up to qualified leads.

Final Thoughts

Don’t forget to tag any advertisements your company is running before the show with the show name, dates and your booth number – especially those appearing in industry-specific publications. If it’s already a part of your marketing efforts, use social media to generate buzz about your trade show attendance before, during and after the show. And never underestimate the power that brand-specific imagery (rather than stock photos) can have on your materials.

Here are a few favorites:

Imagine using this to come up with word combinations for product names; or entering your brainstorming notes to see new combinations of phrases for a marketing campaign; or for creating a tagline. Anything that helps you look at something from a new perspective can give you a creative charge.

Studio 22 has been honored in the American Graphic Design Awards for the fourth consecutive year. This year’s winning entries are all in the 2008 report category: Diesel Technology Forum Annual Report, Desert Glory Sustainability Report and Strategic Sustainability Consulting Sustainability Report.

Stats on the winners:

While not a sustainability report, Diesel Technology Forum’s report was reconfigured to be dimensionally smaller and contain fewer pages than in years past. We printed less hard copies and sourced a green certified printer, using vegetable-based inks and FSC-certified 100% recycled/50% PCW paper.

Desert Glory’s inaugural sustainability report was not printed, and was instead created specifically for web download. We maintained print-quality standards and page count, however, in the event the company wishes to print any reports commercially.

Strategic Sustainability Consulting’s report – their third with us – was also a web-based report. Creating a digital report was a first for SSC, as we’ve produced printed reports for them from the start. However, with this more flexible medium, we were able to go bold with color, graphic elements and page shape with the knowledge that they would look great on-screen.

This recognition wouldn’t be possible without our incredible clients and the trust they place in us to create these pieces. We thank you!

1. Analyze what is in your control, such as paper selection, bindings, or packaging/containment method. Make choices as part of the design exploration process.

2. Make it as easy as possible to disassemble the piece (if bound or packaged) for recycling at the end of its life cycle.

3. Estimate quantities based on past usage of similar projects as closely as possible so that you don’t over-produce. Even if you recycle your leftovers, it’s still waste.

4. Cut back on unnecessary wordiness in your text to reduce page count – not only does this help save on production costs, it saves paper and reduces postage expenses.

5. Evaluate how your audience will use your communications piece. Do they want to read an 8-page product brochure, or would they rather have a line sheet with highlights? Making it convenient for the end user can result in reduced materials consumption.

Orange seltzer is not an item I would normally buy on a grocery trip. But don’t you know, this one, from Boylan Bottling Co. practically jumped off of the shelf at me. I’m a sucker for well-done retro-style anything, so in the cart it went. I thought, ‘Even if I don’t drink it, I would still like to stare at the package.’ (The seltzer’s actually quite tasty, living up to its great packaging and label, and their website kicks ass, too.)

Boylan’s packaging (for all of their products) supports their brand story. Just by looking at their packaging, one can tell the company has a deep history and a sense of fun. Their designer distilled their story into a visual representation of their brand.

On the same trip, I also grabbed some Twist Sponge Cloths. Did I need them? Probably not, but their packaging and presentation was just so nice that I didn’t want to leave without them. (Of course, I use them all the time now since I’m trying to break the paper towel addiction in my house.)

A consumer knows when they look at Twist’s line of products on the shelf that the brand is about making a mundane activity more enjoyable while also conserving resources.

So what’s the point of this grocery shopping recap? The point is:
Thoughtful label/package design (and this includes hang-tags and boxes, too) promotes your already-great product.

Would I have tried the orange seltzer had it not been for the Boylan’s package? No.

Would I have thought that Twist’s European sponge cloth was the solution to my dirty kitchen counters? Nope.

When launching your brand, don’t blow it by rushing through the planning and design process for your support materials. Hire a design firm that will take the time to understand your brand and it’s story before crafting solutions.

A new little piece of singletrack we just rode… A little blurry, but an inspiring memory nonetheless!

We hope you do (or did) “Get Out!” and have a story to share with us here. If you have a photo, just post the link with your story. Whether it’s a weekend of camping or quick spin around some single track, we’d like to know how you celebrate National Trails Day.

Update: Even while at the beach, Eryn was able to “Get Out!” and hit the trail for some bike riding. She logged about 8 miles on a clunky single speed beach cruiser with her husband and mother-in-law before enjoying some rest on a beach chair. Photo courtesy: destateparks.com

*If you didn’t receive a gift and feel left out, send us an email (info at studio20two dot com, subject line: Get Out!), and we’ll see what we can do…