One of the most gratifying things about developing your small business and its brand is producing great looking marketing materials. When you have your brochures or flyers or other printed materials in your hand fresh off the presses, there’s a huge sense of accomplishment in being able to look at them and really see the professional appeal they have to offer.
But professional appeal doesn’t just happen—it’s the product of a very important trifecta that you’re quickly going to become familiar with if you’re striving to produce marketing materials that work: design, text and print. And, in order to ensure the very best look, feel, message and branding from your marketing materials, you’re going to need to strike a balance between the three contributing factors.
Creating the right design
Design is going to be the foundation for any great materials because it’s going to set the tone for the piece in general. Consider the design of your materials the first impression: people are either going to give your materials a second look or not based on what they see at a glance—your design is going to be responsible for everything they catch in that glance.
To elaborate, not just any old design will do and people will definitely be able to spot the difference between a design that’s thrown together by a creative novice and one that’s artfully crafted by a trained professional. This is a roundabout way of saying that making an investment in professional graphic design is probably a good idea when crafting marketing materials, for a number of reasons:
- Hired professionals are held to a high degree of quality and thoroughness, because their paycheck depends on it!
- Hiring the same designer for all of your marketing materials means a more cohesive brand message in everything you create.
- Design professionals will be able to provide you with print-ready materials, to facilitate your printing project quicker.
You may think you can save a few bucks if you cheap out on design or hand the project over to someone who’s willing to work for free to make up for their lack of experience, but in the end, you’re only marring your progress from the get-go. High quality, clean, professional graphic design is the first piece of this very important marketing trifecta.
Saying what you need to say with good text
Writing professionally is quite a bit different from writing socially or creatively—the entire process of saying what you need to is much more direct and to the point. Combine this with the idea that you’re trying to create value propositions, key selling points and enticing language for a wide audience of people and you’re looking at a difficult task in creating the right messaging for your marketing materials.
Component number two of the perfect marketing material trifecta is getting good text—specifically investing in the skills of a professional copywriter. Having someone who can say what you need said with the right tone, using the right words and including the right information is invaluable and it’s what’s going to make sure your message gets to the people you’re marketing to.
If the design of your marketing materials are equivalent to a first impression, the text of your materials would be the gateway for someone getting to know you better—you’re going to want to make sure you’re saying the right things and giving that person the right vibe so they want to get to know you, rather than turn and walk away!
Printing the perfect finished product
The best design work and the right words are nothing if you’re not able to print the material you need in a way that makes them accessible to your audience! That’s what makes professional printing the third piece of the puzzle when it comes to the marketing trifecta. When you’re done working with a designer and relaying your needs to a copywriter, make sure you’re sitting down with a printer to determine how the whole project will tie together.
What can a printer provide you with that your home or office printer can’t? Well, for starters, a bevy of print options that are simply unattainable without professional print capabilities, including large format printing, digitally printed products and more. Professional printers will also make sure your products have that clean finish you’re looking for—products that simply look like they’ve been touched with a professional magic wand. And, finally, working with a printer makes every cost effective—it’s a whole lot cheaper to have your materials professional printed than it is to stock up on ink and paper at home!
Tying the whole project together
If you take the time to consider every facet of your marketing materials, from design to text to print, you’re going to quickly see that every piece is just as important as the others. And, when each piece is given professional attention it’s sure to produce high quality results that simply can’t be matched.
If you’re looking for a way to raise the professional appeal of your brand and your business, look towards professionally designed, written and printed marketing materials to make a bold statement about the quality of the products and services you have to offer!