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Ever looked at your competitor’s branding and begrudgingly thought “That makes them look bigger and better than what they really are?” Annoying isn’t it?

Suppress the green-eyed monster because the solution of giving your branding that extra WOW factor is as simple as a makeover. 

No, it doesn’t mean your current logo was poorly designed. No, you don’t have to change your logo dramatically or your company colours. You have the essentials; you just need a bit of a tune up to make your company’s profile more modern. 

Remember those knitted rainbow coloured leg warmers you wouldn’t leave the house without in the eighties, now you wouldn’t be seen dead in them? Just like fashion trends, branding becomes out of date too. 

Your company’s branding needs to move with the times. Look at Apple for an example and notice the way their logo has evolved over the years to keep it looking fresh and new. The design is fundamentally the same, but subtle changes modernise it. Coca Cola and Pepsi have also adapted their logo regularly since their conception to keep it contemporary. While each change of their logos conveys a new look, they have the same underlying themes to ensure brand familiarity to their loyal customers.

Giving your logo a new spin, without changing it dramatically means your current customers will still recognise it, as well as sends a message saying your company is serious about keeping up to date with modern trends. Remember if you’re going to update your logo, you will also need to update your website, office letterheads, fax headers, t-shirts, even car wraps if you use them. Consistency across your branding is just as important as moving your company with the times.

So how do you know if you need to update your logo? Ask yourself if your logo is attention-grabbing. Has your business changed its main focus? Is your logo unique? Does it look modern? How does it compare to your competitors? Is your business in a slump? Has it been at least five years since you updated your company branding?

Changing your logo is a big decision but it’s an investment well worth considering. 

Talk to a proven graphic professional on how to bring your company into the 21st century.

Landing page

it’s the newest buzzword being tossed around, when it comes to your online presence and if your website doesn’t have one, it is likely you are leaving a tonne of money on the table and missing out on many opportunities. Your website’s primary aim should be to convert visitors into genuine enquires and leads. More customers translate to more cash and who wants to miss out on increased revenue?

So what is a landing page?

Think of it in terms of airports, when a plane arrives at any airport, it has a specific runway it is instructed to land on. It’s the same when you have a landing page attached to your website. When a prospect or a customer clicks a link to your website whether it’s from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, an email or search engine, they will be directed to land on a specific page on your site. This is called a landing page or sometimes referred to as a lead capture page in the online marketing world.

There are generally two types of landing pages – a reference landing page and a transactional landing page. The most common landing page and the most effective is the transactional landing page.

A transactional landing page is one that leads a customer or prospect to take a particular action. The most common action will be to fill out a form. Some transactional landing pages lead directly to a sale, however for the purpose of this article we will be focusing on the landing pages that aim to lead to capturing a prospects information.

For your landing page to be effective it’s important it contains a few essential elements:

1. There is a big welcome banner, speaking directly to your prospective customer.
2. Its important your page is visually appealing, tied in with your brand and adds a certain amount of value.
3. You may find a video or some key bullet points entices and directs your prospect to fill in their details which leads to the fourth essential element.
4. An opt-in form. This is a form where you will usually collect the prospects name and email and you may grab their phone number if it’s needed.

So what will a landing page really do for you?

1. They say the gold in any business is in the database. The ultimate goal of your landing page is to help you build your mailing list allowing you to generate new leads.
2. It increases your chances of speaking directly with more qualified and interested prospects, eliminating the time wasters and increasing your conversion rates.
3. As a business owner, you simply cannot manage what you don’t measure. A landing page also allows gathering data and analysing who is coming to your website, what they are specifically looking for which enables you to determine how you will communicate to them in your sales process that adds value to the customer.

What’s next? How do you get a landing page?

Visit our landing page, fill in your details and talk to us today!

X Designs – brand, graphic & web design experts

There are times when a brochure or flyer is simply not enough, especially when you want to show off your company to a potential client.Yes, website are great and a must-have, but what about when you need something more personalised, specifically designed to highlight what your company can do for an individual client? Welcome to the world of PowerPoint presentations. Once upon a time you would have to drag along your laptop and a data projector, but now with the convenience of iPads, all your relevant stats, graphs, even photos of your staff members can be at the touch of your fingertips.

PowerPoint presentations don’t just have to be designed for use for one-on-ones with clients; they are one of the best ways to reach larger audiences, particularly if you have a kiosk or interactive display at a lifestyle expo. High-tech presentations in video, DVD or multimedia formats are extremely appealing, engaging and guaranteed to be attention-grabbing. Plus it gives you the option of providing extra copies on CD-ROM or DVD so your potential customers have something other than a business card to take away with them.

The main objective of every presentation is to provide an increased understanding of what your company does while making a positive impression. Effective PowerPoint presentations demonstrate how your company’s values and key messages impact the way you conduct business, and how that will provide solutions to any prospective customer’s challenges.

Of course you could put the PowerPoint presentation together yourself, but using templates looks tacky and the design needs feature your company brand. Focus on one idea per slide; support your headlines with graphics, e.g.; photos or graphs. Using both words and images has more impact than words alone. And lastly, not every point needs to be mentioned in the slides. More detailed information can be included in any hand outs.

If you’re not familiar with PowerPoint or know the ins and outs to creating a dynamic multimedia presentation, it may be more cost-effective to engage the services of a proven graphic design professional than to waste your valuable time.

Everyone is doing it – blogging that is. Or at least it seems that way. You’ve thought about setting a blog for your business, but how do you go about it? What would you write? Why is it even necessary? If you’ve ever wondered about blogging for your business, then you’ve come to the right place. Having a blog allows your business to have a voice on the web. It’s a nifty way of allowing you to interact with your target audience on a daily, weekly or monthly basis, get information back from your blog readers which you can use to improve your product or service, while at the same time increasing your knowledge about what your prospective customers really want.

A lack of know-how, the time and commitment to regularly keep the blog updated, being a technophobe and the fear of what people will say are the main deterrents. However there’s no better way to learn than just to take the bull by the horns and start writing.

WordPress.com has a blog format which you can have up and running within 5 minutes if you’re unsure of how to set one up as part of your company website. You can write the content yourself or if you don’t think you have the time or writing isn’t one of your strong points, you can always engage the services of a professional SEO copywriter. A professional copywriter with SEO skills a knowledge will have a working knowledge of Google principles and keyword usage throughout the copy will allow your blog to be easily found via search engine.

What do you put in your blog? The content needs to be useful. You can write about the latest news, how to guides, news relevant to your industry and make it interesting by putting a little personality into it. You can experiment with different content, because unlike print, a blog can always be changed. Make sure you always use a punchy headline which creates interest. If you find this difficult use the four “U’s”– make it USEFUL, UNIQUE, URGENT and ULTRA SPECIFIC. People in social media share or retweet blogs sometimes purely based on the headline. A good way to test whether your headlines generate interest is to tweet or share a couple of ideas on Twitter or Facebook and wait and see which has the most response. Stop procrastinating and start your blog today. There’s no time like the present.

Ever wondered what RSS stands for? It means Really Simple Syndication. Not all websites offer RSS feeds, but if they are available they are indicated by an orange and white logo

Reading blogs and surfing the internet is a brilliant way to keep your finger on the pulse with relevant news, whether it’s about your business, the area you live or even just topics you’re interested in (eg: current affairs, Photoshop tutorials, celebrity gossip)

You can even use RSS feeds as a helpful resource for devising new concepts and topics for your own email newsletters, blogs and social media sites.With so much information available on the internet, it can be laborious visiting all your favourite websites to read articles or blogs you find interesting. RSS feeds save you lots of time and makes it easier for you to keep track of news and updates.

So how do you start using an RSS feed? First of all you will need a news reader, also known as a feed reader or RSS reader. Microsoft Outlooks comes with an RSS Feed and if you don’t have access to Outlook, then Google offers a free, simple to use reader which you can access on line. It’s as simple as logging in and choosing the content you want to get by subscribing to the relevant RSS feeds.

On your favourite websites, look out for the orange and white logo, then click on the icon to view the RSS feed and copy the URL or website address from the web page that opens. All you have to do then go back to your Google reader and click on subscribe in the top left page and paste the link into the field provided. Any update for that website will now feed directly into your reader. Repeat for as many websites as you want and then all you need to do is login to Google reader when you want to check for updates. It’s easy, so what are you waiting for?

To create a newsletter that works, there are a few things you really ought to know to make it worth your while.

1. Newsletters should be like All Bran – Regular, same time, same place.  If your clients receive newsletters at regular intervals, they will get into the habit of keeping an eye out for them.
2. Don’t overcomplicate it. Keep the size of the newsletter manageable. There’s no point creating a four page, double sized document every month if you’re struggling for quality content. A well-produced double-sided A4 sheet should be ample.
3. Proper formatting saves time. Create a template which can easily be edited and changed at a moment’s notice. Use a program specifically designed for creating newsletters like Adobe Indesign or Microsoft Publisher. This makes it much easier to edit or manoeuvre images and text without unintentionally altering other elements
4. Limit colour.  While it may be tempting to turn your newsletter into a rainbow, try to restrict the amount of colour to images, the main banner and maybe the background. Keep in mind the more multi-coloured, the more expensive it is to print if you’re sending it off to a printer. 
5. Make it readable. Stick with a font which is easy on the eye. For more information about font selection refer to the article “The Art of Typography”.
6. Don’t be afraid to embrace white space. The idea that you must jam-pack information into every little corner can clutter up a newsletter making it look junky. White space provides an element of appeal and makes it easier to read
7. Be Bold. Without eye-catching headlines which intrigue your customers to read the body copy, a newsletter would be a big waste of time. A bold face type will help distinguish the headlines from the text.
8. Give it flair. Newsletters don’t have to be a snooze fest. Make your content as vibrant and interesting as possible. Your customers don’t want to hear about what has happened at your company. They want relevant information that effects them – handy hints, updates on the market, ways of saving money etc.
9. Two sets of eyes are better than one. Check for mistakes in spelling, punctuation and grammar. Also get a colleague to proof read as well. Get a second person to proofread for you to ensure you have missed any little errors.  Potential customers will measure your professionalism by the quality of the material you produce.

Now you’ve got the basics, how about giving your own newsletter a go? If you’re not confident, choosing a proven professional will save you time and money.

Your marketing material is designed. Whether it’s letterhead, business card, brochures, flyers or posters, it’s time to send it off to the printers. Now comes the big decision of how to get it printed! Press printing or Digital. What’s the difference between press printing and digital printing?

We’ve highlighted the pros and cons to try and help you weigh up your printing options.

Digital Printing

Digital printing is cheaper. It’s about half the cost of press printing as it prints directly to paper. There’s no need to bother with film or plates. You get faster results and some printers can even provide a same day service depending on their work load. However the digital printing process uses four colours – Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black (CYMK) mixed together create a variety colours. Different set-ups and settings on digital printers can produce an extensive range of colour results. There is no guarantee you will get the exact same yellow from printer to printer or batch to batch of ink. It also limits the assortment of colours available. If you’re after vibrant reds and sunset oranges, press printing would be the better option. Digital printer also limits your paper section and finishes. If you’re wanting to print posters in a size bigger than A3, press printing is your only option. Most digital printers are limited to size and generally 297mm × 420mm the biggest they can produce. You’ll also find the paper density (GSM) is also limited. If you’re after thick card or any other sort of material, then you’ll need to opt for press printing.

Press Printing

Naturally with the extra work of producing film and plates, press printing is going to be around double the cost of digital printing. With making the film, plates, setting the press, running the jobs and the time it takes for drying, cutting, folding and finishing. If you’re after a quick fix, then digital printing is your best option. The benefits are there is an enormous spectrum of paper colours available, a wide range of thickness, textures and speciality papers like non-traditional paper and metallic are amongst your options for stock.Traditional press printing can also accommodate a wide range of paper sizes and shapes, perfects for large posters and signage, so when it comes to printing your imagination is the only limit.

In summary, if consistent colour is not an issue and you want a fast turnaround for your brochures, flyers and letterheads, you can’t beat digital printing for cost. When you need poster sized marketing material, metallic finishes, embossing and vibrant colours mixed to exact specifications, choose press printing. If you’re still unsure, talk to a proven graphic design agency. They deal with printers every day and can probably recommend a reliable, cost efficient solution.