It’s Only a Tool

Computers and software are wonderful tools but it seems like computers have taken away our ability to think. Too many people at all levels of marketing look to the computer to think and create marketing solutions for them. Schools and clients alike expect that everyone should be using computers to create a solutions but forget one basic fact…It’s only a tool.

Just as a drawing board, a pencil and a piece of paper are creative tools. The ability to think and create original marketing solutions should be based on research and industry knowledge. I see way to many campaigns that have used stock photography for inspiration, claiming it as original ideas. I’ve witnessed way too many power point or trade show materials created with copyrighted music. It may look good and praises go around until someone gets caught. Nightmares happen when a competitor at a show or event has the same images or sound track that was well orchestrated and paid for.

How many of you are coming up with your creative solutions using your computer and what you find on the web? When I’ve asked this question to a leading college teaching future marketing creative’s…Over 60% of them put their hands up. No wonder companies are frustrated when they hire a tallent and believe what they are creating internally is great…but is stolen or without substance.

Turn off your computer”. We have become reliant on the computer giving us solutions because of all the great things it can do with type and images… but it can’t concept, it can’t think and it doesn’t know the industry we are trying to serve. Turned off, it’s as useless as a pencil with a broken lead.

Create solutions to your marketing challenges with a focus on the real needs. Then pick the right tools.

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Look at all the fonts my computer has… How many can I use?

Here’s where you will see the most abuse of today’s computer technology. Over a number of years of attending creative conferences with other creative directors, art directors and designers around the country, font misuse always gets talked about. Someone usually yells out, “We gave them a great template and the first time they used it, someone used every single (cursing) font and color in their computer.” Then the room usually erupts with I can top that stories, or they need a font sheriff.

There are without exaggeration well over 250,000 fonts for us to use incorrectly. There are literally hundreds of articles just on typesetting alone. Here are a few rules that are pretty common across all articles. Let’s call it, Font Use101.

Stick to two or three fonts maximum on your document.

Use one serif (one with squiggles) and one sans-serif (no squiggles). The third could be a display or wild font to attract attention, usually used in the headline.

Serif fonts are best used for text. Generally they are more comfortable to read and lead to quicker understanding. We want our dealers/distributors and customers to read our information.

Sans-serif fonts are best suited for display type like headlines, subheads, pull-quotes and captions. These fonts can be used to add impact to your layout. This type generally stands apart.

Don’t use too many different sizes. Just as you can go out-of-control with fonts, the same goes for multiple out-of-control sizes. Set a template for yourself. Example: headlines 36pt sans-serif, sub-heads 18pt serif, copy 10pt serif, captions 7pt sans-serif. These are some pretty general sizes, but, on a page, they each hold an area of importance without confusion.

Make sure your font selections are readable. This pertains to not only the font selection, but also the sizes of the fonts used in your documents. If your document is hard to read, it won’t be read.

Ten most common mistakes in typesetting of technical documents according to Charles Poynton:

1)    Inappropriate use and number of fonts.

2)    Lack of consideration for line length and type size.

3)    Gigantic heads.

4)    Mistaken application and font selection.

5)    Failure to use italics for emphasis.

6)    Failure to control line breaks.

7)    Failure to clearly identify paragraphs.

8)    Careless setting of fractions.

9)    Errors in orientation of figures. (Big problem in annual reports)

10) Failure to provide clear title and author.

These are very important if producing internal product support documents. Numbers 8 & 9 could especially cause you and your customers not only problems, but perhaps trust in your company as well.

From Roger C. Parker’s One-Minute Designer, these are his 10 rules of typography in design:

1)    Always fine-tune line spacing.

2)    Avoid setting headlines entirely in upper case type.

3)    Adjust letter spacing. (Tracking and kerning)

4)    Hyphenate with care. (Never hyphenate headlines or subheads.)

5)    Lock subheads to the text that follows.

6)    Master your software’s line-break command.

7)    Use centered text with care.

8)    Reduce the size of sans-serif text.

9)    Avoid overusing bold and italics.

10) Investigate true small caps and old style figures.

We assume that all art directors, designers and production artists are trained to consider all of the above when creating any materials for their customers. It should also be part of their schooling and job description. Today to many add to the craziness by incorporating all the wiz-bang effects the software companies keeps adding, but that’s another topic.

Some of the above may seem trivial, but when you’re battling with a competitor for a market share, one who use trained professionals to do their work instead of green or untrained designers, poor font usage will stand out. Don’t get carried away and remember three fonts are good, twelve gets you talked about at creative seminars.

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The Need for Change

One corporate philosophy that I keep posted on my office wall is: If we always do what we always did, we’ll always get what we always got.

Sometimes I’m amazed how many marketing managers and professionals are afraid of change in today’s social-marketing atmosphere. With all the knowledge we have available to us on the web that lets us see better into the world, some companies still keep the windows closed and the shades drawn.

Think about how many times you may have heard someone in company management say, “Our people in the field don’t use the web… Social what?… Our customers love us… We are simple and so is our audience…” and on and on, you probably have heard some of the excuses and could easily add to this short list. Maybe they are in your own company culture.

When I hear those types of comments, I like to ask if they Google for information at home or if they buy items online with companies like Amazon?  I have yet to find someone in business that says no.

I often wonder, “How can your company stay on the cutting edge that you claim you do if it’s so easy to see what your competitors are doing, and you don’t take time to look?.

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Take your ego out of the picture

I think too many people fail finding creative solutions to problems because of the personal fear of being wrong. Some equate their ideas with their self-important, always right ego so if their ideas get shot down, they treat it as a personal defeat — and OMG they feel humiliated.

Over-investing your ego is unproductive and unnecessary. If you think the failure of your ideas is a personal failure, you’ll take too few risks, risks that could ultimately pay off. But if you can learn to separate yourself from your ideas and your work and see them as something separate from yourself, you’ll feel you truly have the right to be wrong. If an idea fails, why not let it be the idea’s fault instead of your own? Allow your ideas to fail without turning them into personal defeat.

When I try to solve simple to complex challenges for a client, I do my best to remove my ego from any attachment to the potential results. Ideas are ideas — and should encourage dialog. When I make a formal presentation and get a lousy reaction, the reaction might be due to my lack of preparation or the audience isn’t fully engaged in the discussion. Ideas and skills are merely possessions or creations, but they don’t define the real you. I never feel my ego is in any danger if an initial concept bombs, but opens a bigger more productive dialog and sharing of ideas.

If an idea seems to really hit the mark, I don’t take it as a personal victory either. I just think… Hey, that’s appears to be a good idea. If an idea misses the mark, I see if there’s any helpful feedback and then I may refine or abandon the idea. Or it could be that I felt the idea wasn’t expressed well enough and missed its mark due to being poorly communicated. To me, it’s all just feedback to create better ideas and to improve communication skills.

When discussing a complex subject like personal growth, there are many shades of gray. Despite all the knowledge and experience I may have in this area, there’s no way I could ever hope to perfectly understand every facet of what the client faces every day.

Effective communication requires a combination of logic and emotion, and those are sometimes at odds with each other and will impact different individuals uniquely. I know of no great marketing firms that ever achieve unanimous agreement when they communicate anything of value. By keeping ego out of the picture, you can do as Winston Churchill suggested — move from one failure to the next with no loss of enthusiasm.

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It’s Only a Tool.

Computers and software are wonderful tools but computers have taken away our ability to think. Too many people at all levels of marketing look to the computer to think and create for them. Schools and clients alike expect that everyone should be using computers to create a solution but forget one basic fact…It’s only a tool.

Just as a drawing board, a pencil and a piece of paper are creative tools. The ability to think and create original marketing solutions should be based on research and industry knowledge. I see way to many campaigns that have used stock photography, claiming it as original ideas. I’ve witnessed way too many power point or trade show materials created with copyrighted music. It may look good until someone gets caught. The nightmare happens when a competitor has the same images or sound track that was well orchestrated.

How many of you are coming up with your creative solutions using your computer and what you find on the web? When I’ve asked this question to a leading creative college teaching future marketing creative’s…Over 60% of the hands went up. No wonder companies are frustrated when they believe what they are creating internally is great…but is stolen or without substance.

Turn off your computer”. We have become reliant on the computer giving us solutions because of all the great things it can do with type and images… but it can’t concept, it can’t think and it doesn’t know the industry we are trying to serve. Turned off, it’s as useless as a pencil with a broken lead.

Create solutions to your marketing challenges with a focus on the real needs. Then pick the right tools.

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Do I need to write a communication strategy?

Yes. Before you write a brief for a creative agency, you need to write a communication strategy. Advertising is usually only one part of an integrated communication campaign and, as such, the role of the advertising activities needs to be clearly defined within the context of a communication strategy before a creative brief can be written.

What is a communication strategy?

A communication strategy provides an essential framework for developing a comprehensive and integrated campaign. It is a plan that outlines the rationale for, and desired outcomes of, your proposed public information campaign. The strategy defines specific objectives to provide a framework within which to formulate strategies and against which to evaluate outcomes.

In the development of the communication strategy, key decisions need to be made about:

  • The range of integrated information activities to be implemented
  • What research the strategy is to be based
  • How external consultants will be used
  • Establish the roles and responsibilities of all key stakeholders in the strategy
  • Available budget
  • The timeline
  • Evaluation plan

The communication strategy should clearly articulate how all the various components of the campaign will be co-coordinated and managed to achieve its objectives most efficiently and effectively.

Writing a Creative Brief.

A creative brief is the basis upon which creative support sources produce their strategy and communication ideas. It should identify your advertising needs, objectives, target audiences, budget, and timetable and provide relevant background information. As such, the quality of your brief is the key to the success of your communication activity.

A good creative brief will:

  • Explain why you need a specific marketing activity
  • Define as closely as possible the objectives of your marketing activity
  • Place your challenge into the overall framework of your communication activities
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10 ways to get the most out of a creative team.

1. Expect the best from creatives.
Art directors and copywriters thrive on positive input and challenges. Ask for a big idea and they’re more likely to hit a home run.

2. Emphasize one claim or benefit.
The concepts you get back will deliver faster and initiate greater response.

3. Take calculated risks.
Advertising that doesn’t stand out gets smothered by the clutter of surrounding ads, literature or commercials.

4. Judge concepts from the audience’s viewpoint.
Ask yourself, “does this idea serve my customers’ interests?”

5. Think like a person, not a corporation.
Advertising talks to real people — consumers with curiosities and senses of humor. Sound like an annual report and your audience will tune out.

6. Listen closely to the creative rationale.
Their explanation may put to rest some of your questions and concerns.

7. Be specific in your criticism.
Always provide clear reasons for any objections to concepts. That way, alternative ideas are more likely to be on target and fewer revisions will be necessary.

8. Avoid rewriting headlines or copy.
Request a tone or recommend terminology, but don’t make the changes yourself. If your copywriter feels his/her work will “just get revised anyhow,” future projects may suffer for it.

9. Show enthusiasm.
If creatives sense you appreciate their thinking, they’ll work harder on the changes you request. Relate well with your team…and just watch for the difference in results.

10. Before you shoot any concept down, sleep on it.
Even pin it on your office wall. Once familiar with the idea, some of the perceived risks will probably fade. Reconsider and remember rule #3.

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