Audio Blog 5 Mins

​This is Paulette Smith with your DonPaul Marketing Moments. This is a continuing conversation about your Banding Kit and how each tool in your kit can help you build onto your most valuable business asset…your database. 

For those who are just catching up we’ve looked into some of the tools in a Branding Kit such as your logo, Taglines, Slogans, and Jingles and  Colors for your brand and if you are an audio subscriber, we appreciate you. You’ll find active links to all these topics in my online version of this blog @ donpaul.com tap on MM_Blog. Today, a few thoughts about typography…you know…typography, that’s very simply the style and appearance of the printed matter in your branding kit.

I say “very simply” when actually, the style and appearance of your print and typeface can play a critical role in the way your target audience relates and reacts to your brand.
Remember when we touched on colors and how colors can evoke certain emotions within your audience? Well, typography, depending on the arrangement of letters and text can elicit certain emotions as well,  and convey subtle messages to the people you are trying to reach.

As with all skilled and professionals, a typographer could probably dazzle you with wonderful ways to set up your messages and such, and if your budget allows, then sure you should consider hiring someone, however, you can set yourself apart from your competitors by keeping your goals and your audience in focus.

Here are just three things to think about as you set up the text and letting style for your brand:
1. Consistency: Some folks who are new to business, may think that using different styles of text and lettering can be fun and interesting, when in truth it can be distracting and appear unprofessional.  And so, as with many other tools in branding your business … consistency is key.  Yes I know …you are creative soul, and you like to switch things up a bit…but the recommendation is to be cohesive with your website, logo, ads, and everything that touches your brand…it will save you time, energy, money and give your audience an opportunity to build trust.

2. Readability: So … you sell flowers and you’ve found a wonderful flowery script font that speaks to you and you are certain will speak to your audience as well. May I suggest that you go a little easy with the fancy fonts?  Why? Because what you can see may not be as readable on all platforms and devices, additionally, one problem I often encounter is when my client wants a certain term in capital letters but the font they selected does not translate.  We all know to use capitalization sparingly, but I suggest you use the old-school method of typing out every letter of your chosen font in lower case as well as upper case. Use a phrase like “The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog’s back”.  Often you may find the need for a more toned down version of a font to accompany your script version.  

3. Visual Identity: Yes it’s important to set your business apart and to do that with certainty you can even have a unique set of fonts created just for your unique purposes. Once again I ask you to think long term and while consistency is extremely important, there may come a time when you will need to change designers or the vendor who originally equipped you with your glorious typeface.  Therefore, be sure to keep all records whether you are using free fonts or a purchased font…save a back up of the set or sets in the cloud along with all of the specifics that can be used in the future if need be.

I’ve got lots and lots of tips about the oh-so-seemingly-simple world of typography and I’d love to share some more information with you, I hope you’ll consider having a chat with me, visit DonPaul.com and click on contact.  Let’s get exactly what you need in your branding kit to help you grow your most valuable business asset…that’s right your data base!   
Until next time bye bye!

​An Audio Version Has Been Prepared for Your  Convenience

Word for Week 28: Emotions  - How colors affect the emotions of your potential clients.

Definition: “…instinctive or intuitive feeling as distinguished from reasoning or knowledge.”
Insight: We might be the master of our own thoughts, still we are the slaves of our own emotions – mostpharases.blog.spot.com

This discussion could have easily been placed under “Branding”, but I choose to give it the headline of “Emotions” because first, the two have so much in common and second, both words work heavily into building your database. Which, as by now week 28, you must know is the primary focus here at DonPaul.

If you are not already familiar with the importance and relationship between the colors in your branding and appealing to the emotions of your ideal audience, then I’ve got news for you. It is important. It helps build relationships and beyond that, the science of psychology and color in marketing is simply fascinating. 

Of course a basic search on the topic will tell you more than I ever could and it’s worth taking the time to learn about colors in your marketing scheme because getting new people into your database and keeping them is an arduous and ongoing mission. Using subliminal tools is way to make that mission more possible.

For example, Printivity.com says:
“A factor as small and seemingly simple as the color of a product or the color of branding may compel or discourage someone from a purchase or cause someone to choose one brand over another.”
 
The chart I’ve included this week, will give you some insight. Think of the millions of dollars big companies have spent to learn this valuable info and it’s all available to small business owners. You have it at the tips of your fingers … but are you using it to your advantage? This is something that all business owners can tap into, especially start-ups … because they are just that …starting up with a clean sheet.

So here we are ... the chart gives you an idea of how you can apply colors to attract more ideal audiences without saying a word!  How super is that?

​ What’s next?

Now you turn to your branding, and some of you…not all, but some will see that you actually chose YOUR own personal favorite colors and not the colors related to the emotions you wanted to evoke in your prospective clients.

What can you do to change things?  First, it’s not mandatory that you change anything; Color selection for better marketing results a is recommendation … it’s based on proven science, but it is still your business and it’s your decision.

If you do want to make changes in your branding, there are lots of ways to make it happen, however my advice to you,  is to take your time. Make a plan and think it over; especially if you’ve already been in business for a minute.  If you’re already established,  then you’ve already been building trust and you want to maintain that trust. We don’t recommend that you go changing overnight to a different look and feel.  
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Typically, it takes 3 to 6 months for a complete brand makeover to catch on and smaller changes can take 4 to 6 weeks.  Your clients’ emotions may be riding a roller coaster while changes are happening so everybody needs to buckle up and stay alert.
 
At Team DonPaul we work closely with our clients to learn about their target audience, their goals and their expectations. Then we help them create a brand that will attract and engage new contacts, nurture and retain existing clients.  It costs you nothing to find out more. Just schedule a complimentary chat with me and we’ll be on our way to discovering if you are using the best colors to appeal to the emotions of your potential audience.  Here is a link to start the ball rolling.
 
It’s a solid formula: Your database is your most valuable business asset, your branding leads subscribers to your database so be sure to touch emotions by using colors in the best ways possible.  Until next time…bye bye. 
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