Let’s Talk Color & Branding

Let’s talk color & branding. This blog is aimed directly towards those starting out in business or rebranding.

Let's Talk Color & Branding. An image of the 77 Design Co business card and a background split of gray and orange.

At first look, colors may not seem that important. However, they are extremely important to your business! No matter what colors you choose for your logo and brand, there will be certain psychological perceptions of them. In other words, it’s called color psychology. You can read more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_psychology

We’ll break down a few widely used colors, as well as some that are uncommon. Let’s talk color & branding a bit more in depth.

Red

Few colors evoke a psychological response more than red. Red is love, it is fiery, passionate, angry, exciting, and quickly catches attention. With this in mind, it’s good to know what other colors to couple it with. We’ll use black and white as examples. It also depends on which shades of red you are using.

Red and white can present itself as exciting and clean. Or, perhaps evoke passion and health.

Red and black are two power colors. Therefore, they are to be used cautiously. There’s a lot of aggression when combining these two colors. So, it makes sense to choose your shade of red wisely when combining it with black. Red and black, albeit a pretty cool color combo, reminds us of the Empire in Star Wars or even the Nazi swastika. So be careful! What do you think of for a black and red logo?

Other shades of red convey different emotions. Maroon is strong and brave. Burgundy is sophisticated or subtle. On the other hand, bright red is energetic and exciting. Whatever red you choose, certainly make sure it’s not too overpowering with the complementary color.

Colored pencils image. Brown, red, green, and blue closeup of pencils.
Blue

Ah, blue! This writer’s favorite color. Calm, trusting, confident, and the association with water. However, as I have shown above, there’s still negative aspects associated with blue. These would be cold and distant. At the same time, think of the term having the “blues,” you certainly don’t want to give off that impression!

Blue and white evokes dependability and innocence. A blue and white logo, if designed correctly, would exude a feeling of tranquility and purity as well. As long as the graphic designer is aware of their color choices and the overall layout, these color combos could be great for business. Think Lowes, Ford, or American Express.

Blue and black is trust and sophistication. Of course this depends on the type of blue used. For example, BMW and its use of blue and black works well.

Some alternate light blue colors give off a sense of faith, health, or stability. Darker blue hues represent feelings of security, masculinity, or trust.

Green

When you initially think green, what do you think of? If you answered money, environment, or nature you’d be correct. In addition, green is used for brands like John Deere, Land Rover, and Whole Foods. Businesses in the environmental, landscaping, and restaurant industries regularly use green colors.

Green and white makes for a harmonious and clean feeling. Pending the shade of green and the design shape used, it could represent natural purity. At this point, we’ll also add that the complete design, font or typeface choices, all combined will lead to very specific emotional responses. It’s important to realize that the complete design combination is what truly leaves a viewer feeling a certain way, not just the color choice.

Green and black are growth and elegance. Black can be an edgy color to use with greens. You’d want to go with black likely as a complement to whatever green you choose.

Light greens like spring green or chartreuse give off feelings of freshness or spring time. By comparison, darker greens are associated with maturity and growth.

Other Choices

Gray. Gray is used in branding mainly as a secondary color. In addition, it’s a great way to tone down other bolder colors. Gray is subtle, steady, and controlled. Use gray sparingly to avoid unwanted feelings of isolation or depression.

Purple is next on the list. The color purple leaves us feeling creative and/or curious . Purple is also often associated with mystery. It’s the color of royalty as well. Lighter purples are romantic and spiritual. As I have said with other colors, there are consequences with each. Darker tones of purple, if used unwisely, present themselves as sad or frustrating.

Finally, brown. This color is earthly and dependable. Brown also evokes neutrality, boredom, and emptiness. So be careful! You do not want your logo or company brand to be boring or drab. Look for ways to make brown stand out if you choose this color. M&M’s, UPS, and A&W Root Beer have found successful ways to utilize brown.

Need help brainstorming a new logo and branding color palette? Let’s talk color & branding! You know how to find us!

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The Marketing Necessities

This blog we discuss some of the marketing necessities needed in a post virus laden world. At the present time, let’s use the word “post” loosely. Call us cynical, but we don’t believe we’ve seen the last of the virus. Or, the last of business shutdowns. This is especially true given the variants that are popping up.

We’ve all seen what happened over the last year and a half to business. Most importantly we saw what happened to small business. Some made it through. Some did not. Most are still feeling the effects. It’s always good to plan ahead. We hope nothing happens but it’s always good to be prepared. Let’s talk about some of the marketing necessities you’ll need to know if any future shutdowns occur again.

The marketing necessities. An image of the 77 Design Co business card on a black background with marketing written in white.
Marketing is an investment and security blanket, not an expense.
Preparation is key.

Website. The website for your business serves as your online home. It should be pretty, comfortable, functional, and secure. In short, let’s look at each individually. Pretty meaning designed well and nice to look at. Comfortable equals easy to use. Functional means everything is operable. Finally, secure meaning, well, secured!

Look up some statistics and you’ll quickly find that during the shutdowns, online searches were through the roof. Customers will Google, Bing, or whatever to see that you have an online presence. Many customers will not even entertain contacting a business without a site.

Image of 77 Design Co notepad sitting on computer keyboard with white splattered background that says Marketing for small business.
Small business should ALWAYS stay in touch with customers.
Staying in touch.

Email Marketing. Another key point of preparation is to consistently touch base with customers. There’s a host of ways you can do this. For example, one of them is email marketing. Yea, yea, email marketing sometimes gets a bad rap. Maybe you’ve already tried it and it didn’t work for your business. However, it’s all in the content and/or offer!

Custom email blasts can (and in our experience does) work well. During the shutdowns, two of our local clients continued sending quarterly emails. Their open and read rates were off the charts. The length of time their customers spent reading were also very high. Comparatively speaking, their numbers were almost triple the standard rates of email blasts. Why? They spoke to the customer.

Both of these clients are still seeing the positive results of staying in touch through email. Their base knows they care and trusts them. They offered help, information, and weren’t necessarily pushing just sales. We’ll be happy to share these stats and references for both clients. Just ask us! 🙂

Other ways to stay in touch.

Social Media. One of the marketing necessities that can’t be left from the list is social media. Good grief, social media usage numbers exploded during the lockdowns. For some businesses, it was their only way of communicating or marketing.

It’s important to realize though, your social media marketing shouldn’t be just about selling. In fact, we’d recommend only making that about twenty five percent of your posts. Maybe less. Companies that offered consistent help and solutions for the given situation prospered. Creating humorous content during the stressful times also mattered. With this in mind, remember, consistency is key. Your business can’t post randomly once per month or two and expect to see results. It. Will. Not. Happen. Instead, plan to post several times per week, or get some help that can manage this for you.

Direct Mail. Ye olde direct mail. People were home during shutdowns. They still received mail. Consequently, if this occurs again you need to be ready. Again, we hope it doesn’t come to this, but a prepared mailer strategy in place is better than not having one at all.

A solid direct mail plan and design with beautiful imagery or graphics plus a great offer will pay dividends. No, we’re not talking about slapping together some boring, cheap, flimsy, pieces with drab stock images. Will. Not. Work. We are talking about custom mail pieces with a punch! Pieces with spectacular attention grabbing textures, colors, photos, and a big bold offer are what stands out. Coupled with a helpful message, your business will really reap the rewards.

Do you have any alternate ideas for other marketing necessities in the event of another shutdown? We’d love to hear them!

Need any advice or consultation on a marketing preparation strategy? We are always here to help.

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Analyze. Create. Achieve.

Some FAQ’s About Marketing

This blog will discuss some FAQ’s about marketing. When meeting with new (and even existing) clients these often come up. Without a doubt, business owners want answers. Hey, guess what? We want to answer them!

It’s totally understandable why a business owner, or someone in charge of the business, would have questions when considering hiring a marketing firm. They should. Anytime we make a business decision we have questions too. For this reason, we’ve decided to compile a list of some FAQ’s about marketing. Let’s get to it.

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Common Questions

Question: So, what all do you guys do?

Answer: At this point we usually go over the list of services we offer. You can view them here https://77designco.com/services-2/

This is the “get to know one another” part. Clients usually want to hear about what services they may be able to use and more importantly how it can help their business. At this time, this is also our chance to explain what we do and why we do it. It’s equally important to lay the ground work on our particular style of customer service and work ethic too.

Question: Our website is older. We can’t get ahold of the person that designed it anymore. Can you update and work on bettering our website?

Answer: This is a pretty common question. It’s also one we typically don’t like to get. Why? Because the answer usually isn’t what the client wants to hear. If a password and email for the site is unavailable, you may have been taken to the cleaners. This is common in the web field. Let’s reiterate…not always though. However, too many times we’ve met business owners that have 0 access to their own website. This sucks. A new website is typically the answer.

We also don’t repair sites because there are too many ingredients already used that we don’t know about. It’s like trying to bake the exact same cake without an instruction list of all the ingredients used in the original. Ask immediately whether you’ll have access to your website upon contracting a web designer.

Computer keyboard photograph
More Common Questions

Question: What’s it cost?

Answer: By far, the most common question that comes up every meeting. So. Many. Variables. Depending on the amount of work, the type of work, and the length of time to complete a project, that determines the pricing.

However, there are some predetermined prices. At least with us. We can’t speak on how other marketing companies operate. Or, hourly rates are available for some smaller projects also. Would you like to know our pricing for services? Just ask 🙂

Question: We’re so far behind our competitor X on Google searches. Why do they always come up and we aren’t found?

Answer: Once in a while we get this question too. Again, there’s a lot of variables. Updating a website and blog are part of this answer. If the site hasn’t been touched, likely that’s hurting the SEO. It’s important to realize what your competitor is doing as well. Are they dumping money in paid ads? Is your business even listed with Google?

Keywords, meta descriptions, security, and optimized pages are all important too. There’s a lot more that goes into SEO rankings than can be listed here. This is usually a long and quite detailed conversation to find the answers.

A Few More

Question: Why can’t we use both (or multiple) logos?

Answer: Using multiple logos isn’t a good idea. It creates confusion. Certainly you want to create brand recognition and have people identify with the color and logo. To sum up, usually you want to go with just one logo.

But, there are times you can switch colors to represent your company as a social awareness brand. For example, Major League Baseball switches standard colors to pink for breast cancer and Mother’s Day. Apple for Pride month, and various other brands routinely change colors as well.

Question: Why shouldn’t we use stock photography?

Answer: It’s not that you shouldn’t. There are instances when you may need to use them. We just believe that creating custom images for your company is much more impactful. Additionally, here’s a few more reasons why:

The image(s) aren’t your products or company. A stock photo cannot accurately represent your founder, employees, or other staff. Consumers may likely find the same image(s) elsewhere, maybe on a competitors marketing materials. Further, it’s just misrepresentative of your brand.

Conclusion

We could go on, but for the sake of keeping this “Some FAQ’s About Marketing” blog short and sweet, we’ll stop here. Perhaps, we’ll revisit additional questions in the future.

Check in next time for more marketing info and tips!

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Is Your Marketing Working?

Is your marketing working for your business? This blog we take a look at measuring the success of your marketing strategy. Equally important, the connection you currently have (or don’t) with your marketing firm.

You undoubtedly put hard earned money and trust into whomever you chose to work with. Subsequently, you’d like to see some return. We’ll focus on some things that you should be getting when hiring a marketing firm to do the work.

Is your marketing working. Image of the orange and grey 77 Design co business card on white paper with a pen.
Measuring Success

At the time of this writing, we just left a long time clients office. What did we do there? We discussed analytics and future strategy together. For the most part, we chatted and caught up on things both personal and professional. This matters. Why? Because it builds trust and strengthens both relationships.

It’s a good idea to find a firm that will evaluate all of the strategy with you. This morning we discussed our clients SEO, website analytics, social media numbers, and goals for the coming months. When Client X had questions, we had answers.

Not everything was hunky dory. Our client had fallen in a few SEO rankings and wanted to know why. For this reason, we explained the lack of communication during their busy season had altered what we were doing regularly. To clarify, we didn’t make any moves without their approval. Their approval was never granted. Communication ceased for a bit and it hurt them in rankings.

Regardless, they understood. We then moved along to what we can do to improve together. Measuring success doesn’t always involve leads, calls, and tracking numbers. Sometimes, it’s simply just discussing how to improve what ultimately leads to those higher numbers and ranking.

Connection

We asked, “is your marketing working?” as a lead in title to this blog. The connection between client and marketing firm should be something truly special. You’ll want to know someone is working with you to better your business. Also, to help make you more money and improve leads. As a matter of fact, the marketing firm should learn as much about your business as possible. This is the only way to create content that works. Connecting with clients on a regular basis will undoubtedly improve the marketing.

Is your marketing working for you? Image of dollar bills and coins laying on glass with the 77 Design Co business card.

What new products or services do you have? Your marketing company needs to know.

Is there something you don’t offer anymore, or don’t really want to promote? Your marketing company needs to know.

Have there been any changes to your personal life that may affect your business? Your marketing company needs to know.

At any rate, you get the point. The marketing company has to be involved in some day to day at least. We’d even argue that the marketing company should immerse themselves in your business.

Posting canned social media posts…ain’t gonna cut it!

Building a website with all irrelevant stock imagery…ain’t gonna cut it!

Creating a logo and other branding without input from the owner or decision maker, you guessed it…ain’t gonna cut it!

Where’s the personality? How can customers identify with the business? The connection between the marketing firm and client needs to be deep. It also needs to be coupled with some creativity and innovation.

Marketing + Connection = Success.

Finally, as we mentioned above, build a strong connection with your marketer(s). Look to build the relationship and look to make sure they care as much about your business as you. Working together will help everyone thrive simultaneously!

Is your marketing working?

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Analyze. Create. Achieve.

Make Your Business More Marketable

Hola! Our double 7’s blog this week focuses on how to make your business more marketable. Likewise, more profitable.

We’ll share a few strategies you can implement. These will help increase reach, engagement, attention, and ultimately profit. Whether you are a small sole proprietor with little marketing budget, or a large corporation with dollars to spend, there are ways of easily making your business more marketable.

Make your business more marketable. Image of dollar bills and coins laying on glass with the 77 Design Co business card.

Let’s get to it:

Avoid confusing industry jargon or babble.

First thing to remember, not everyone will understand your business. Avoid using acronyms that may be confusing to others outside your industry. That is to say, keep marketing simple.

If you have to use them, give a brief description. Marketing promotes and helps sell a product or service best when illustrated creatively and the content is minimal. Too much info or too many choices will create consumer confusion. Read more from Wikipedia below: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_confusion

Create stories.

By all means, create stories! Another key to make your business more marketable is by sharing interesting stories. So, why did you get started in your profession? Is there a long history of your profession or the business? Talk about employees or customers. Make a good story and the marketing will take care of itself.

One of our clients has been around since the early 1900’s. We discussed this with them. There’s undoubtedly great stories to share there! Lots of stories, in fact. Customers love longevity in business. They wouldn’t be around still if they weren’t doing things right. Share that!

Humor always wins.
Make your business more marketable. Image of a coffee mug turned into a smiling face.

Humor is so underrated in the marketing world. Customers resonate with a brand that has fun. Likewise, we’re positive somewhere in the internet world there are statistics to back that claim up.

We don’t take ourselves too seriously at 77, unless the situation calls for it. So, it’s always a good idea to show personality and humor. As long as it’s in good taste. Stay away from sticky subjects like politics, race, or offensive material, but have fun.

Make funny posts. Take jabs at yourself or your industry. Share funny projects or situations. Humor’s especially effective for social media marketing.

Talk success.

No. Don’t brag. However, share success stories (see create stories above) about how you helped a customer. Let people know how you help. Why does your product/service stand out from a competitors?

Make your business more marketable by showing others what you can do. This can come in the form of photos, written content, videos, or even design. For example, if you own an auto repair shop, make a short video about what you repaired. Show how you repaired it. Interview the customer. Share it with the world.

Conclusion.

In conclusion, there are many other ways you can think of that will make your business more marketable. The above are just to get the ball rolling and give you some ideas.

Marketing is so vast and has so many different layers. Utilize your social media channels, brochures, signage, website, and/or printed materials to show some personality for the business. We’re sure you’ll see gains in leads, calls, brand recognition, and eventually income.

Marketing. White 77 Design Co logo

Analyze. Create. Achieve.

Using Creativity in Marketing

It’s no secret that using creativity in marketing translates into success. Whether it’s a T.V commercial or a direct mailer design, customers love ingenuity and originality. This blog will explore some creative measures you can take to up your company’s marketing game.

What is creativity…really?
Using creativity in marketing. Photograph of multi colored paint brushes and records.
Creativity is essential in marketing

Creativity is subjective. For example, what one may think is aesthetic another may not. At this point, let’s look at the actual definition. Merriam-Webster defines creativity as: “1: the ability to create //her artistic creativity 2: the quality of being creative” —–> https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/creativity

Pretty vague. You get the point though. Creativity can be minimal or complex. Much like the definition. One of the things we learn in grade school art class is that nothing can be wrong as long as some imagination is applied. The same is true even in college art classes. Instructors look for imagination and passion in a work. When they see lackluster effort the grade slips.

The same is applicable in marketing. Slogans, logos, photography, websites, and more all should be creative. Further, the first thing we hear from a new client is, what? Take a guess. Yep. You guessed it, “I want it to be creative.” At any rate that’s the point!

If our creativity is lacking that customer will not want to work with us. Consumers think the same way. They just aren’t aware of it in many cases. If the creativity lacks, the message is lost. Likewise, the grade slips. So, when something catches their eye, it resonates.

Creativity isn’t always easy.

It’s important to realize that creativity doesn’t come naturally to everyone. After all even the world’s greatest artists historically struggled from time to time. You know the saying, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” Similarly, it took Michelangelo roughly 4-5 years to paint the Sistine Chapel. He undoubtedly hit creative blocks during that process.

Here are a few things to think about when creating materials for your business:
  • Photography. Does the image tell a story? Is it perfectly focused, exposed, and composed? Ask yourself these questions before using an image in marketing. Don’t know what those photographic elements above mean? Google them! Include pattern, texture, or a pop in color. Make the photo(s) as creative as possible.
  • Graphic Design. Likewise as above. Does the design use complementary colors to the brand? Is the logo properly placed? Additionally, it should tell a story. Customers will notice. Any design work for brochures, signage, and other print will need to match your company’s brand image. Including alternate colors or fonts/typefaces will send mixed signals. Stay cohesive.
  • Website. The site needs to function properly. It should also look like your business cards and other marketing materials. Be creative but also simple. We’ve found simplicity over complexity for sites is better. It keeps a clean look. Many customers will want to stay on a site that’s easier to use too. Of course, mobile friendly as well.
  • Social Media. All social media pages will need to match the brand. This includes the messaging content of posts too. These pages are reflective of the company. Equally important, be sure to keep the logo visible. Social media is social. That’s what it’s meant for. However, it is also a great way to create brand identifiability. Make creative and interesting posts for others to engage with.
Screen shot image of the 77 Design Co Facebook page with orange logo. Using creativity in marketing.
Final Thoughts.

Creativity is one of the most useful tools you can apply to your marketing. The uses of color, line, composition etc are all powerful tools in art. These elements take a “meh” marketing piece and can turn it into a “WOW!” Finally, a brand that shows creativity in all aspects of marketing will stand out.

77Design Co logo and business cards.

Analyze. Create. Achieve.