Recently, we’ve taken on a client who had been using the same sales approach he used when his business first opened its doors 10 years ago. When we met with him, he said he had been procrastinating the inevitable, knowing that he needed to bring the look of his company to current times but just didn’t even know where to start.
Sound familiar? We hear it all the time when we ask: how do you currently find customers? They say: we do what we’ve always done… phone book, word of mouth, newspaper. And those markets cannot be completely discounted as there are still a small percentage of people who use those mediums to find products and services. But, in today’s society, we crave visually stimulating, recognizable advertising that has been reviewed by our peers and easily researched prior to purchasing or visiting.
Phone book ads only reach a small segment of consumers.
“For the third consecutive year, digital media ad revenue has racked up double-digit growth, demonstrating the strength of interactive advertising and marketers’ commitment to be where consumers are,” said Sherrill Mane, Senior Vice President, Research, Analytics, and Measurement, IAB.
Consumers are no longer pulling out the big yellow book or flipping through a newspaper. They are sitting on a commuter train with their smartphones, waiting for takeout with their tablets and finding product comparisons on their lunch break at their desk with a click of the search button. And if your company isn’t there, in their face, time and time again, they will shop somewhere that has reminded them that they exist.
So, ok, you’re on board, you know digital media is necessary. But then what about the bio picture you’re using of your owner that is 5 years old, the grainy graphics from that color ad you did in a magazine last decade, or your logo with the design straight out of the 1980’s. Well, they need to be updated.
Successful companies refresh their identities to keep up with the times, so should you.
Your consumers want bold, high definition colors that look good on the phone they just spent $499 on. They want a tag line that says your business is with the current times. And most of all, they want something witty, creative and interesting that will catch their attention over all the other boring ads that haven’t hopped on the progressive train yet. And bonus points to the companies who make us want to share their ads just because they’re funny or cute… we call that free advertising!
The best place to start is to take your logo and get a redesign done; one that keeps the same essence so your current customers will still recognize you, but has a modern feel. It may just be as simple as adding a third bright color, putting a background in or adding a tagline under your monogram. Let it be unique, go out on a limb and leave the box of the mundane behind. If you do, you’ll start hearing “I love the new look!”
With the new logo, the possibilities are now endless! Get a Business Facebook page and Twitter Account (they’re free) and use the new logo as your profile picture. Get new brochures printed with the new logo and send them to all of your past clients, touting that you’re new and improved! Heck, write a press release about your new look and let the newspapers run that! And make sure you have a website. One that looks nice, is easily searchable and is done by a professional company. $1.99 a month for a website sounds great until you have no idea how to put anything on it and if you do get info up, it’s off center and looks like it was typed with an antique typewriter. You certainly don’t want people to think that your business must not be doing so well if that’s all you can afford!
Bottom line is that people are only loyal to a business to a point. As soon as the next cool thing comes along, they are going to want to check it out. Make sure you’re the “next cool thing” and you won’t have any problems keeping them coming in the door!
