Does Your Business Need a Makeover?

How Print, Digital, and Design Services Can Transform Your Brand

In a competitive marketplace, your business needs to stand out more than ever. Whether you’re a tradesman, dog groomer, or small business owner, staying fresh and relevant is key to attracting new customers and keeping existing ones engaged. But how do you know if your business is in need of a makeover? More importantly, what changes can you make to give it the boost it needs?

In this blog post, we’ll explore how giving your business a makeover with print, digital marketing, and design services can enhance your brand, improve customer experience, and drive growth.

Signs Your Business Might Need a Makeover

Before diving into solutions, let’s first identify some common signs that your business might need a refresh:

Outdated branding: If your logo, business cards, or website design look outdated, it could be time for a fresh new look.

Inconsistent customer experience: If your print materials don’t align with your digital presence, customers might feel confused or disengaged.

Lack of online visibility: Struggling to get noticed online or rank well in search results? You may need a digital marketing boost.

Declining engagement: If fewer people are interacting with your business, whether on social media or in person, a new marketing strategy might help re-energise your brand.

If any of these signs sound familiar, a makeover could be exactly what your business needs.

The Power of Print: A Tangible Connection with Customers

Even in our digital age, print marketing remains a powerful tool for small businesses. Printed materials like business cards, flyers, brochures, and direct mail provide a physical connection between your brand and your customers. They can leave a lasting impression, especially when they’re well-designed and professionally produced.

Here’s how a print makeover can help your business:

Professional designs: Well-designed print materials immediately elevate your brand, making it appear more polished and trustworthy.

Consistency: Updating your print designs to match your digital branding creates a seamless customer experience across all touchpoints.

Targeted marketing: Use flyers or direct mail campaigns to target specific local areas and reach potential customers who might not be online.

With fresh, cohesive print materials, your business will look modern and professional, which can inspire more trust from potential clients.

Digital Marketing: Expanding Your Reach Online

If your business isn’t taking full advantage of digital marketing, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to reach new customers. A digital marketing makeover could include everything from a revamped website to a new social media strategy and even paid advertising campaigns.

Here’s how we can help you modernise your digital presence:

Website redesign: Your website is your digital storefront, and it needs to reflect the quality of your services. We offer custom website designs that are user-friendly, mobile-optimised, and tailored to your brand.

Search engine optimization (SEO): Improving your website’s SEO will help you rank higher in search engine results, making it easier for potential customers to find you.

Paid digital advertising: Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and other paid advertising platforms allow you to target your ideal audience with precision, driving more qualified traffic to your business.

Social media management: A consistent, engaging social media presence is essential for connecting with today’s customers. We can help you craft posts that not only promote your services but also foster engagement with your audience.

With the right digital strategies in place, you can reach more customers, grow your brand, and increase inquiries.

Design Services: Make a Lasting Impression

A strong brand identity starts with great design. From your logo to your website layout and marketing materials, design plays a huge role in how your business is perceived. If your brand looks inconsistent, unprofessional, or outdated, it may be time for a design refresh.

Here’s how we can help transform your brand’s design:

Logo redesign: If your logo looks old-fashioned or doesn’t represent your business anymore, a logo redesign can breathe new life into your brand.

Brand identity overhaul: We create cohesive branding packages, ensuring that your colors, fonts, and overall style are consistent across all platforms—online and offline.

Website design: A visually appealing, easy-to-navigate website is essential for making a great first impression. We’ll work with you to design a site that reflects your unique business and attracts customers.

Whether it’s a fresh new logo or a complete rebrand, investing in high-quality design services can significantly improve how customers view and interact with your business.

How We Can Help You Transform Your Business

At Local Pages, we specialise in offering print, digital marketing, and design services that give your business the makeover it needs to thrive. We know that every business is unique, so we work closely with you to understand your goals and create a plan tailored specifically to your needs. Whether you’re looking for a small refresh or a complete rebrand, we’re here to help.

Ready for Your Business Makeover?

If you think it’s time to give your business a fresh new look and attract more customers, we’re here to help. With our print, digital, and design services, we’ll work with you to create a brand identity that’s modern, cohesive, and effective.

Visit The Little Blue Blog for more insights or contact us today for a free consultation at 0117 923 1122 or info@localpages.co.uk. Let’s give your business the makeover it deserves!

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Reaching Success

Birch Hall Pennant Quarry and Cotswold Quarry's Digital Transformation with LP Digital

In today’s digital landscape, having a strong online presence is crucial for business success and visibility. Birch Hall Pennant Quarry and Cotswold Quarry, two sister businesses with a rich history, recognized this need early on. Their journey with LP Digital began with the creation of the Little Blue Books, marking the beginning of their shift from traditional print advertising to a dynamic digital approach.

The Challenge

As Birch Hall Pennant Quarry and Cotswold Quarry sought to modernize their advertising strategy, they faced several key challenges:

Building a Dual-Function Website: They needed a sister website that could effectively split into two distinct but interconnected platforms, each fully operational and optimized for search engine visibility.
Transitioning to Digital Advertising: Moving away from print to embrace digital advertising required a strategic overhaul.
Ensuring Optimal SEO Performance: Comprehensive and transparent SEO services were essential to boost their Google rankings and attract more traffic.

The Solution

LP Digital stepped in with a tailored solution to address these challenges:

Development of a Comprehensive E-Commerce Website: We built a fully operational e-commerce website for both quarries, designed to handle their unique needs while facilitating a seamless user experience.
Ongoing Monitoring and Optimization: To ensure the website’s effectiveness, we implemented continuous tracking of footfall and held monthly meetings with the clients. This proactive approach allowed us to make timely adjustments and keep everything running at peak efficiency.
Immediate Positive Impact: Within just two weeks of launching the new digital strategy, both quarries began seeing a surge in enquiries and positive results.

Insights

Throughout this journey, several key insights emerged:

Exclusive Digital Presence: Birch Hall Pennant Quarry and Cotswold Quarry have chosen to focus solely on digital advertising, forgoing other advertising channels.
Hands-On Support: Our team’s commitment to ensuring the highest standard of work was a significant factor in their satisfaction with our services.
Proactive Partnership: The relationship between LP Digital and the quarries has been described as exceptionally positive and proactive, highlighting the effectiveness of our collaborative approach.

‘Held our hand all the way through.’

Birch Hall Pennant Quarry and Cotswold Quarry’s transition to digital advertising has been a resounding success. Thanks to LP Digital’s expertise and dedicated support, both businesses now enjoy enhanced online visibility, increased customer engagement, and a robust digital presence. This success story underscores the power of embracing digital solutions in today’s business environment and the value of a proactive, supportive partnership.

You can view their website here.

Schedule a free consultation about your digital advertising needs here.

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Brand Identity: How to Build and Maintain Your Brand

Tactics and Tips for a Stronger Online Presence

Brand Awareness is, in short, the extent to which your business is recognized. Brand identity is your logo, colours, what you offer, your message, services, among other features.

Why is it important? Your brand identity is your first touchpoint with a potential customer – the stronger the image of your brand in someone’s mind, the more likely they are to engage with you. Unknown businesses aren’t seen as trustworthy – so how do you go about raising the profile of your business and gaining more loyal customers?

Brand Accessibility
Building Your Brand
Strengthening Your Brand
Examples of Strong Brand Identity

Brand Accessibility

When developing or auditing your brand identity, be sure to read the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) to ensure that your published content (text, images, sound, etc.) is accessible to everyone. This will ensure you don’t lose potential customers due to flaws in design and adaptability for mobile phones.

Building Your Brand

So – how do you actually go about building a brand?

Audience: A good first consideration is always your audience. The content you post online, the logo and the colours should resonate with your audience as much as possible. For example, pink and purple are probably not the best colours for an accounting firm, but will resonate with women and younger teenage girls when purchasing handmade products or clothing. Considering and weighing audience behaviors might be tricky at first, but the more previous customer interactions you had the easier this should be. Analyzing age, income, occupation and location is a good first step.

Visual Identity: That is the nitty gritty of design – your logo, colours, pictures, mottos, theme songs; anything you can think of that represents your brand. Deciding on design features might be a little daunting, but originality that reflects audience behaviours will yield results. Ask yourself the following questions:

What is the mission of your brand?
What makes you different from your competitors?
How do you want customers to experience your brand/product/service?
What kind of emotions are you hoping to evoke?

Consistent Message: That is, your tone and message across all platforms. Contradicting statements, message or voice will decrease your brand awareness. Tone should reflect the uniqueness of your business/service and communicated appropriately across all platforms you use.

Strengthening Your Brand

So, you built your logo, decided on a colour palette and the purpose is clear in your mind. How do we them strengthen it?

Multi Channel Presence: that is a secure foothold in the door with different social media apps, emails, SMS and non-digital tools is the key to growing your brand as you will reach more customers and start building a trusting relationship. Remember – your presence and content should be adapted to each medium accordingly.

Community Connection: The easiest way to build trust between potential customers and your business is community connection; that is the way your brand interacts with the world around us and the community. This could be as simple as customer testimonials that show your brand is trustworthy, or could stretch beyond that into social causes or local, community-oriented issues. This could simply be acknowledgement of community struggles, a recent event or issue or contribution to the community through donations or other aid.

Face to your brand: Adding a face to your brand will humanize your business and make you seem more approachable and trustworthy. Whether through pictures of your employees or using personal language, any form of direct interaction will bring you closer to your customers.

Examples of Strong Brand Identity

Apple

The first thought that comes to mind when thinking Apple, or so Apple would like, is innovation and reinvention. Through every update and new product launch, at the forefront we see the portrayal of creating something new and different every time, whether the products released are actually innovative is a different story. Their entire brand is cutting-edge, inviting their customers to join them at the brink of innovation and always breaking the mold.

Coca-Cola

Besides being the most established and longest-going fizzy drink company, their brand identity is so strong that just the colour red is often associated with Coke. They’ve aligned themselves with the feeling of happiness and enjoyment through their advertising and presence online, which is often kept lighthearted and casual. The motto ‘A Coke and a smile’ sums up their values very clearly, and even if you are not an avid enjoyer of the drink, ask yourself how often do you think of coke on a daily basis.

Ikea

Ikea created an image of themselves as simple and family-oriented, and they stay in that category. From simple instructions when building the furniture to the simple and lighthearted advertising, Ikea is the first stop when shopping for furniture as it is meant to appeal to everyday people. Their tagline ‘Wonderful Everyday’ reflects their one-stop-shop ideology.

Dove

A very simple yet elegant brand targeted towards woman and girls is a prime example of effective branding. Their campaigns focus on empowering women and addressing issues such as self-esteem, body image and equality. They are a prime example of involvement in social issues to strengthen their community presence. Dove promotes honesty and optimism, embracing natural beauty through their products.

How Can We Help?

If you’re struggling with brand identity and developing your business identity, Local Pages is here to help! You can schedule a free consultation by clicking here.

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What is SEO and How it Can Grow Your Business

5 things you should be doing to be noticed online.

SEO, or search engine optimisation, is the practice of orientating your website to appear higher on the internet results page so that you receive more traffic. In short, it attracts more people to click on your website and brings you more business. When searching up ‘plumbers’ do you click the first link that appears? The answer is probably yes, as most people tend to do, so you want your website to appear as high up as possible so that more people click on it. SEO is essential if you want more website visitors.

SEO is critical because it ensures organic traffic to your website. The vast majority of visitors will find you through looking something up on the internet. Ranking high in search results is key to achieve your business goals and builds trust – the first results that pop up are seen as more trustworthy. So how can you trick Google into boosting your website to the top?
Trillions of searches are conducted every second, so it’s essential that your website is search engine friendly. We’ve put together a short beginner friendly guide to help you optimise your website.

There’s a few different types of SEO:

Technical SEO: Optimising the technical aspects of a website
On-site SEO: Optimising the content on your website for visitors and for search engines
Off-site SEO: Activities not on your website that will ultimately increase your search rankings – such as backlinks, branded searches and coherent brand awareness and recognition on other platforms like social media.

While you have full control over the Technical and On-site aspects of your website, controlling Off-site SEO isn’t always possible. For example, you cannot control which websites use your link, or if the websites you link to shut down or change.

Optimising the technical aspects of your website will take practice and knowledge of website building, so we’re going to focus on the On-Site SEO for now.

Identifying Keywords:

A good place to start with SEO is optimising your keywords. By keywords we mean identifying key phrases that relate to your business. If you are a roofing company based in Cheddar, a good place to start would be ‘roofing Cheddar’ and ‘Cheddar thatcher’. These should be as relevant as possible and location-based, while being specific. For example, ‘roofing Cheddar’ will work better than ‘professional roofing’ or just ‘roofing’. You can use a tool to help identify them, such as Google Keyword Planner or Google Trends.

Adding Keywords to Page Title:

The next step is adding those keywords to the title of your page. This is also known as tagging. Take the example of our roofing company in Cheddar, who we’ll call Excellent Roofing, we want the title page to read:

Excellent Roofing: Roofing Cheddar | Thatchers

Google Autocomplete is a tool that generates suggestions for relevant keywords you can use. Free versions of these tools will generate suggestions, but won’t be that helpful when trying to analyse how often those keywords are used, or to what extent. Delving into SEO marketing yourself can be costly, especially when you are just starting out optimising your website.

Sprinkle your keywords throughout the website as well, but don’t force it! Remember your priority is to be user-friendly, so over-use of keywords might deter potential customers.

Clean Structure:

If your website is overly complicated, you might be attracting initial traffic, but potential customers might be leaving before they have a chance to contact you. Make sure your contact details are displayed visibly, along with an easy to navigate menu and relevant pictures. Adding internal links (links from one side of your website to another) will give Google more clues about what your website is about, and will display it to those that are searching for similar services.

You can read more about structuring websites here.

Content:

Relevant, substantial content that answers the keyword search is the way to go. While skimmable, to the point content is great, it doesn’t rank as highly as more lengthy, in-depth content does. We’re aiming for 200 words and above on every page that answers a question. For example, finding the ‘about us’ section should be easy and organic, and actually tell potential customer enough about your business for them to gage if they want to do business with you.

Tags:

We’ve briefly mentioned tagging when talking about keywords above. Keywords in your title and the description of the page (that’s the short blurb of text that appears under the title on the results page) are key to a website ranking high, but you will also need to tag your images correctly. Google can’t interpret images, so adding a short description not only helps visitors learn what the image is if it isn’t loading, but also helps Google identify and rank your content.

Think of the internet like a big sea of fish, and you’re trying to catch tuna. It’s difficult to narrow down which fish you’ll catch, but using the correct fishing rod, bait and fishing in the right spots can greatly increase your chances of catching the fish you want. There’s a lot you can do for your business, but so much happens behind the scenes, from coding to technical improvements to offsite presence that it can get quite overwhelming. Local Pages is here to help! Here’s how we can help with your company’s SEO:

Strategy: Content Creation and Organisation

Everything starts with strategy. We can’t expect results without planning, setting out specific objectives and really understanding the audience we’re trying to reach. That’s why we work with you to develop a strategy that will work for you, your customers and your business, and evaluate the strategy on a regular basis.

Technical: Coding Errors and the Back End of SEO

All those paid services listed above like Google Keyword Planner that analyse how often keywords are put through a search engine and how widely used they are – we’ll take care of that for you. We’ll research how to optimise your online presence and take care of everything from behind the scenes – from coding to technical improvements.

Offsite: Backlinks and Social Media

Linking social media to your website proves to search engines that your website is credible. We can help with linking, designing and optimising content, all within your brand.

Ongoing Support

Even after we do the boring bits, we’re here to support and optimise your SEO. Let us do what we do best, so you can do what you do best.

You can find out more about SEO and other digital services we offer by clicking here.

You can also schedule a free consultation by clicking here.

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Fork ‘n’ Ale Beer Game

We build games

One thing you may not know about Local Pages is that we have a game designer in our studio.

So, when Fork ‘n’ Ale wanted a fun way to encourage more customers to visit their website and increase the amount of time that they stayed there… what better way to meet the brief than to create an addictive game for customers to play.

The game is simple. By pressing the space bar on your computer or the ‘pour’ button on your mobile phone you fill a glass with beer. Once the glass is full, your time is recorded and you can leave your initials on the leader board.

At the end of each month there is a prize for the top score .

So why is this particular game such a good marketing tool?

1 – You have to engage with Fork ‘n’ Ale’s website – the game is at the bottom of the home page exposing players to all Fork ‘n’ Ales’s marketing, including special offers and menu.

2 – The game is easy and quick to play – ideal for groups to play in a pub on a mobile phone. E.g. the one with the lowest time buys the next round.

3- To enter your score on the leader board you have to leave an email address – ideal for data capture and future marketing activities.

4 – Winners are announced on their Facebook page – encouraging players to interact with Fork ‘n’ Ale on their social media platform.

It ticks lots of boxes!

Play the game by clicking the box below.

Get a game to encourage more visitors to your website

*

Call the LP Digital team today on 0117 923 1122 or book an appointment below for a call back.

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20 Top Tips for Creating Engaging & Informative Content

Everyone in business knows that we should be engaging with our customers on a daily basis with rich, informative content. It sounds great until you actually sit down, switch on your computer… and then stare at it for an hour because you don’t know where to start.

So to help get your creative juices going, here are our top 20 ways of engaging with your customers online.

1 – Infographics – Create some visual representations of ideas and information found on your website. Infographics are so much more interesting (and often more informative) than large passages of text.

2 – Memes – Those little videos and images with witty comments are often the messages that go viral.

3 – Videos – Create videos (short & sweet) giving information regarding your products and services. Don’t worry about how you sound or look like, non-professionally produced videos appear much more authentic.

4 – Product Reviews – Got a new product? Put together a product review to allow customers an insight into what you really think.

5 – User Generated Content – Get customers to produce content for you. Share stories and content from third party websites you find interesting or promote good practice.

6 – How to Guides – Put together a range of helpful guides aimed at people that use your products and services.

7 – Lists – People love lists and they improve talkability. Even a list like this one!

8 – Photo Galleries – A picture paints a thousand words. Create galleries of products and theme them to make them more interesting.

9 – Case Studies – Use these to show the breadth and depth of what you have to offer your customers and underline how great you are. Make sure they’re up-to-date and are heavy on pictures and light on text.

10 – Client Testimonials – Testimonials build trust and loyalty. So when a customer says what you did was great, ask for it in writing. Better still, ask if you can film them saying it.

11 – Newsletters – Keep in touch with your email subscribers with a monthly update featuring new products and the highlights of any articles, blogs, videos and social media posts you’ve put out that month.

12 – GIFS – Use clips from videos embedded with text to demonstrate a point.

13 – Events – Create online events like Zoom webinars to engage with your customers , record them and share with others that couldn’t attend.

14 – Images – Use, wherever possible, original images to demonstrate and reinforce written messages.

15 – Podcasts – To convey ideas that don’t necessarily require visuals, put together some podcasts on various themes that may interest your customers.

16 – Slideshares – Get innovative with Powerpoint or Keynote and create decks of slides to inform and engage with your customers and share them online.

17 – Blog Posts – If no one was interested in opinions, they wouldn’t buy newspapers. Get your thoughts down in order and publish them. Try to ensure they are not time sensitive and can be read anytime.

18 – Newsjacking – Take a news story and use it to create content that will attract positive exposure for your brand.

19 – Press Releases – Directly target the media with industry news that may be of interest to their readers.

20 – Polls – Create polls to get your customers voting and seek out their preferences and their dislikes.

If you need help with any of the above, contact the Local Pages team on 0117 923 1122 or drop us a line at info@localpages.co.uk

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How To Be Creative: A Designer’s Guide

Local Pages` creative designer explores the issue

Are we born with a creative mind, as opposed to a mathematical mind? Some say we are, and that we can’t be both. We are either governed by the right side (the creative side), or left side (the logical side). This is only a theory – that our characteristics come through according to which side is more dominant. But new research says otherwise.

Creativity can be nurtured in someone who perhaps thinks they are not creative. We all have to be creative to solve problems in life in one way or another. Obviously creativity is very subjective. If you asked 10 different people for feedback on your creative ideas, you’d get 10 different answers! Do not let criticism strangle your creative process. It’s good to listen to others and their constructive criticism, and by taking the positive out of this, you can use some of what they say to play around with other ideas.

Nothing is perfect, so don’t feel you have to come up with the perfect solution. Don’t rule out working on ideas that perhaps you are not so keen on because following these paths may make you come up with another solution that fits. Of course someone who is trained in creativeness will be able to initiate ideas quicker than someone with no experience.

Some creative designers prefer to work on their own but for ideas to flow, it’s always good to share. This is called “brainstorming”, where a few creative minds get together and thrash out an idea or concept by drawing on bits of paper with doodles or writing them down or sharing them verbally. People can bounce ideas off of each other then and perhaps take their ideas one step further in a way they hadn’t thought of. The initial brief needs to be clear and concise though. You cannot say everything in one design, so good communication is the key.

Inspiration is always a good starting point. Collect pictures, patterns or colours that you like in the form of magazine articles, photos or illustrations and make a book of them. Anything that catches your eye. Some small thing, like a colour, may spark off a flurry of creativeness and lead you in all sorts of directions. The internet is obviously a good place to explore for ideas too. Save the pages and images you like into a file on your Mac or PC and use them to get the creative juices flowing.

Think of children and how unselfconcious they generally are. Try and think like a child and your imagination may take you on a very creative journey. Try not to be too analytical. Perhaps useÂ a list of single words to describe the possible answers to your brief. Each word may spark an idea which may encapsulate the personality or essence of the message you want to put across. Look up key words in a thesaurus or dictionary, which in turn may spark a visual metaphor.

Let’s make up an example: Let’s say we need to design a poster for a dog’s home – they want something positive to advertise what they do. Write down key words when you think of dogs or animal sanctuaries. My thoughts are: unconditional / beautiful / refuge / safety / cuddles / furÂ – the list could go on and on. Look up some of these words in a dictionary or thesaurus. I looked up “refuge”. The dictionary says “a place or situation providing safety or shelter”. Or “safety” – “the condition of being protected from or unlikely to cause danger, risk, or injury”.

Working on the word “safety”, I came up with an idea. “Safety” sparked a visual of cotton wool – you probably know the phrase – “wrap someone up in cotton wool” which suggests keeping that person safe from harm as cotton wool is so soft and inviting. This was my very first thought (write down all thoughts) and it came to me in a matter of seconds: So how about a picture of a dog surrounded by cotton wool or bouncing around a field of cotton wool?! So in a few minutes I already have one positive idea. I have roughly illustrated my idea itÂ below.

So, now you have seen a brief outline of the creative process, go and play away! Do you have any tips of how to be creative? We’d love it if you share your own creative process below.

Leave a commentBlog, Branding, Design, Printcreative, creative process, design, graphic design

How To Make Your Business Cards Stand Out

A Guide From Graphic Designer Tania Taber

Business cards are a great marketing opportunity. If you haven’t got one to give out to prospective clients, you will be missing out on potential business.

To save money, a lot of companies go to one of those online print companies and get a card churned out – you know the sort of thing – perhaps a bit of that infamous typeface “comic sans” and a cheeky cartoon or a bland clip art image – these are usually a disappointment in terms of the look and feel of the card and the general design, creating a not-so-professional image. And of course, others may use the same image as is on your card so it’s not unique to you. There are several business cards I have come across supplied by an online printers using the very same stylised illustration of animals for their business – one was for an animal acupuncturist and the other for a dog walking business. This is very confusing!

So, it’s important to get it right. It needs to stand out against the many competitors in your marketplace. You will be handing these cards out to people you meet and they will take a very quick look and then put it in their purse or wallet. So you have to grab their attention in a few seconds and this will ensure they remember you and your business.

The first thing worth mentioning is to make sure everything is spelt correctly and the information is spot-on. It may seem silly to mention this, but you’d be surprised what gets through. If there are any spelling errors, it will give the impression that your business is unprofessional and not up to the job.

You need to make sure that nothing wanders off the edge of the card so make sure you keep all written informationÂ 5mm from the edge. Any images used need to be of high quality – the higher the resolution, the better. Typography also needs to be legible – 7.5pt is the minimum size – but not too big though, as there is limited space on the card.

Be careful not to overcrowd it with information too. A typical business card size is: 85mm x 55mm. Even though the space is limited, you can still get creative! The only things that need to be on the card are: Name, job title, address, telephone numbers, email address and website, and of course THE LOGO! There is no need for company registration numbers. There might be some room for a strap line though (think “Every Little Helps” by Tesco or “I’m lovin’ it” by McDonald’s). A strap line should be as succinct as possible, five words or less if possible, and should convey the essence of your brand.

To really make the business cards stand out you can use special finishes on it to make it more tactile and memorable. Things like a spot UV (a shiny bit!) or a metallic ink or perhaps a die-cut (a funny shape cut out of the card). Of course, this makes the printing more expensive but can more than make up for that by reaping the rewards in terms of new business afterwards. Or sometimes companies go one step further and have their cards made out of materials other than card. Be as creative as your imagination or your designer’s flair allows!

Choose fonts to match your logo – either a sans serif (like Helvetica) or a serif face (like Times Roman which have flourishes at the end of the strokes). Colours must also reflect your logo with black as a good colour choice for the type information so it’s as readable as possible.

So in summary, the business cards must reflect your business and what you are trying to convey – perhaps your business was established by a family member in centuries past – you may wish to convey this with a classic design indicating a company that can be relied on, that’s classic, that is traditional, that has stood the test of time, or a new company wanting to convey structure, modernity, simplicity or freshness. Let your imagination take you to the recesses of your mind and go create!

Leave a commentBranding, Business Tips, Design, Print, Small businessesbranding, business card, design, graphic design, small business

8 Essential Branding Tips For Small Businesses

If you think that branding is just something for big businesses with big budgets, think again. Branding is just as important for small businesses, maybe even more so. If you don’t have the budget to hire a big branding agency (and not many small businesses do) here are 8 simple steps you can take to keep your brand in check.

Remember – It’s not all about your logo

Your logo is important, but branding is about far more than just that. Your logo is a badge that will represent you to the world, it’ll help distinguish your business from your competitors and it may even help customers to understand what you do. But it’s just one small part of a much bigger picture and even the best logo won’t build a successful brand on its own.

Know what you stand for

What values and ideals are at the core of your business? What motivated you to start and what keeps you going? If you’re unsure of where you’re going and why your customers will be even less sure. Keep a list of at least three core values and make sure that any new products, services and marketing campaigns are true to them.

Know what value your business provides

Whatever type of business you run, one thing is guaranteed your customers are not interested in just buying your products or your services. What they’re interested in is results. It’s the real life benefits that your products can offer them that will really get them engaged. A lot of businesses make the mistake of focusing on the features of their products and wonder why they’re not getting results. By taking a step back and communicating the benefits they offer you can give customers a really compelling reason to part with their money.

Get inside your customers heads

Knowing your customers inside out is crucial. Forget about your taste and your preferences and focus on the people you’re trying to serve. Who are they? What are they looking for? What gets them excited? Keep your focus very narrow to start with; just think about your ideal customer.

Keep this profile in mind whenever you’re planning a new piece of marketing and build it just for them. This will really help to keep your message focused and effective.

Keep a close eye on the competition

Identify your closest competitors and make sure you check up on them regularly. Who are they targeting? How are they doing it? What messages are they putting out? Where are they falling short? By doing this you can stay ahead of the game and fill gaps that they’re leaving. Remember, they’re probably watching your every move too.

Find something unique to offer

Every business has something unique to offer, but many don’t take the time to identify it and use it to their advantage. Strong brands clearly stand out even in a crowded market. You might sell the same products as everyone else but that doesn’t mean you have to offer exactly the same service. If you’re struggling to find something that makes you stand out, go back to your customers, think about what they need and where your competitors might be falling short.

Be consistent

Whatever direction you choose to take your brand in, make sure you’re consistent about it. That means keeping an eye on every tiny detail from how your logo looks, to the colours and fonts you use right through to your website and the kind of language you use when you talk to your customers. All this will build up to give the impression of professional, credible and trustworthy business.

Keep it simple

We all lead busy lives and few people have the time to unravel complex messages. Simple, well thought out communication is more likely to get through and be remembered. This applies to your logo, your marketing material, your customer communications – even your business processes.

Leave a commentBranding, Design, Marketing, Small businessesbranding, marketing, small business, tips

What to consider when creating your company logo

The easiest way to recognise a company and distinguish it from others is by its logo. It’s the first impression many people form of the business, so it’s very important to get it right. If your logo looks amateurish, then that’s the impression it will create with potential clients. It may seem silly to mention, but spelling also needs to be spot-on. Any errors can create the impression of a company that doesn’t care.

A logo (whether refreshing an existing one or creating a new one) is probably one of the MOST important considerations when starting your business. Getting it designed by a professional graphic designer is the preferable route to choose. It may cost a little more than getting it done by a well-meaning friend with a PC but ultimately, it may work out to be the cheaper option. A well-designed logo should also be timeless, so it’s better to avoid the latest trends however wonderful they may seem.

Simplicity is usually the best way to go when creating a company logo. You want something that can convey what your company does in a simple and easy-to-understand graphic. You cannot depict everything that your business does in one picture but you can certainly encompass a few points. You also have to remember that your logo may have to be reproduced at a very small size (for instance on pens), so this is where simplicity comes into its own. Some companies whose names are widely known can simply use their graphic element without the name of the company (think Nike or Apple).

Talking of famous brands, let’s examine some in more detail:

APPLE: Simple. Effective. Classy. Easily recognised (even without the name). It can be black and white, chrome or full colour. It’s interchangeable without compromising its shape. The story behind using the apple icon is full of myth and legend. It was said to be in tribute to the World War 2 Bletchley Park code-breaker, Alan Turing, who laid the foundations for the modern-day computer (an interesting, clever and thought-provoking idea). But the truth is much simpler. Steve Jobs used to work in apple orchards and named the company and product after his favourite variety – McIntosh Apples.

CHANEL, the fashion house, is another simple but very elegant logo. Ms Chanel used the two C’s of her name (Coco Chanel) and interlocked them. She used a typeface that is classic (very much like Gill Sans which is a famous font from the late 1920s). It’s classy, and has stood the test of time, and conveys the message of their brand effectively – class, wealth, elegance.

THE WORLD WIDE FUND FOR NATURE has a simple panda graphic representing conservation work as its logo. Pandas are probably one of the most endangered species on the planet so it’s a fantastic image to use to convey their message. It is produced in in mono as a very simple drawing, so you recognise it without its charity name.

In summary, you want an eye-catching logo, something that people will instantly associate with your company and something they will remember and instantly recognise. It will be the ambassador for your business in graphic format, appearing on everything geared towards your business. It will say, in shorthand, what you do, how you conduct yourself and your professionalism.

Leave a commentBusiness Tips, Designbranding, graphic design, logo design, simplistic design