Month: May 2021

Billboards have always been very important in the world of advertising primarily because of their extensive reach. Even with the growth of technology and online marketing, the billboard continues to play an important component as a marketing tool. As a physical marker that thousands of people can see daily, it can hold great potential in exposing your company and product to potential buyers–if designed properly. 

This is already reason enough to ensure that the amount you would be spending would eventually translate into meaningful sales conversions. Here are some of the key considerations when creating a high impact design for billboard advertising.

Use a Sensible Story to Deliver a Message

Your billboard design needs to have a story in order for it to be memorable for everyone. To determine which story to use, try thinking about something that you would want viewers to do whenever they see the ad. Do you want them to stop at your next branch and eat some steaks? Do you want them to remember your brand whenever they go shopping for clothes? You can come up with a good and sensible story based on the message you want to deliver.

Stories are important for billboards because people are actually good at recalling them but are bad at recalling facts. As a visual medium, the next thing to do is to find out what text and images to use in order to deliver the story. Being strategic is key when creating a good design. To make an impact, you need to use a fun but short word play. Short rhymes are helpful in making people remember the message. If you need help to find the right story for your next billboard, contact any leading media and marketing professionals in your area for some very reasonable billboard prices.

The Message Should Be Safe and Short

Keep in mind that the billboard will be seen mostly by drivers, passengers and passersby. On the average, they only have around five to 10 seconds to look at the text and design and understand the message. This is the main reason why the message should be kept short. Try to limit the words you will use to only 7 words max.

Ensure Text Readability

With such an enormous layout, it is very important that the design text of your OOH advertising is highly readable. Use a large, bold and clean font for an enhanced readability. By doing so, the viewers can have more time to read and comprehend the message better from afar.

The More Colourful, the Better

In order to draw more viewers in an effortless manner, it can help to include a bold image and bright colours in the design of your billboard advertising. The use of colour contrast can produce an even greater effect and is very helpful in message retention. For the background, it needs to be simple so as not to compete with the foreground for attention. Additionally, the use of a single large photo or image is better in creating a greater impact than the use of several images.

Make it consistent.

It is easy to look at a billboard and think of it as a clean slate for another marketing plan, but think of how your billboard design fits your larger marketing puzzle: is it consistent with your overall marketing strategy and company branding? Does it match similar advertisements in newspapers, magazines, online, or on TV? Sometimes the best billboard designs allow audiences to remember it in relation to your logo or brand in another context. Having the continuity between your different advertising outlets is just as important as the advertisements themselves.

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When we speak about brands or branding, the temptation is always to think very big. To think that brand focus is a practice reserved for globally recognised entities. The Coca-Cola Brand, The McDonalds brand, Apple branded products. The very term can conjure up visions of unattainable recognition and grandeur. This may be the reason why many small business owners do not see the importance of branding, and do not invest their time and efforts into getting it right.

However, this should not be the case. Effective branding is absolutely crucial for businesses at every level of the pyramid. From the global powerhouses to the smallest of sole traders.

A brand is what identifies your business to consumers and distinguishes you from your competition. This includes visual elements such as the colours and logo. However, brand is so much more. Your brand can guide all of your business’s activities.

Once translated into one dynamic package, branding speaks to your audience and communicates exactly what you represent as an organisation. But why is branding so important, even for those smaller businesses without a large audience?

Being Memorable

Customers enjoying a positive experience with your product or service is great, but this has to be married with recognisable branding. If your branding does not effectively differentiate your business from the competition, highlights what makes your business amazing and capture the minds of the audience, then your hard work delivering an experience can be undone. You need to be memorable. And for all the right reasons!

Culture and Building Teams

Strong branding is key for small businesses when building and growing a culture. A clear and consistent brand allows a workforce to understand just what it means to represent that organisation. It creates a focal point for emotional investment and something staff can really get behind and believe in.

When constructing a brand strategy, we will set out a list of brand values which best represent their business and what they aspire to be like. These are guiding principles which direct all of an organisation’s activities. From effecting external communications to who you employ.

Consistency Across the Board and Effective Marketing 

Brand influences every action taken by an organisation. No matter the size or scale of the business. Consistent brands are far more trustworthy to consumers. If a brand is inconsistent with its messaging then this will confuse the audience, leaving them uncertain of your offering.

So, when putting together a marketing campaign you must ask yourself, “Does this convey what we want to represent as a brand?”.

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Like an individual whose personal identity makes him unique, similarly, a brand identity is vital for any business that sets it apart from competitors. And brand identity design is something that reflects the identity of any business at its best. Therefore, if you are running a company, no matter big or small, brand identity is something that you cannot overlook. 

Before we discuss how to shape a strong brand identity to take your business to the next level, let’s first determine what brand identity is and what it has to do with the design. Also, we will discuss the role of a brand design agency and the different ways they use to help any business develop its unique yet positive identity! 

What Is A Brand Identity?

 It is an outward expression of a brand that comprises different elements such as name, trademark, communications, and visual appearance. These elements together represent the right image to its customers. Brand identity is different from “branding” and “brand image.” Branding refers to the marketing practice that lets you actively shape a brand, and brand is the company’s insight in the eyes of the world. It is a way to communicate with the world and differentiate your company/business from your competition. You have to create a brand experience that inspires your audience to engage with you. They will associate your brand identity, your products, or services. This will help you build customer loyalty.

What All Is Included In A Brand Identity?

Many business owners think that a nicely designed logo and a website can help them make a brand identity. But this isn’t true! When designing an identity, you need to develop a comprehensive visual language that applies to everything from your business website to your product packaging. Your branding needs may be expansive and vary based on your brand, but a basic brand identity consists of:

• Logo
• Colors
• Data visualization
• Design System
• Iconography
• Illustration
• Interactive elements
• Photography
• Typography
• Video and motion
• Web design

Remember one thing that your brand identity should translate across channels, so make sure you include everything you think it must have.

How to Build a Brand Identity?

 If your brand is new or you are planning to rebrand, but you are unsure where to start, below are some steps to follow. These steps can help you build a strong brand identity seamlessly.

Step 1: Complete Your Brand Strategy

Step 2: Dig Into Your Existing Brand Identity

Step 3: Know Your Identity

Step 4: Recognise Your Competition

Step 5: Pen Down Your Creative Brief

Step 6: Brainstorm Your Visuals

Step 7: Design Your Elements

Step 8: Build Your Brand Style Guide

Why Is Brand Identity Important?

There are several reasons why one should focus on creating a good brand identity. Some of these reasons are:

• Personality: A brand identity is the visual illustration of your brand’s principles and “personality.” You can set the tone of your brand with identity design which can be used to induce certain emotions into your audience. You should design your brand identity in such a way that it communicates your overall business message and promotes your business goals.
• Uniformity: When you build a brand identity, you will create a consistent message across all marketing resources. Each piece should have a similar basic style and design features, creating a unified branding suite.
• Differentiation: A brand identity lets you differentiate your business from the competition and properly position your brand. Developing a professional, creative identity design can help you outshine your potential customers in your marketplace.
• Cognizance: Creating a brand identity package guarantees that your brand is at the front position of all your marketing materials. This will help you increase your brand awareness. The more places your brand is featured, the higher the chances it will make contact with consumers. This will make it more memorable.
• Reliability: A compelling brand identity can help you build customer allegiance and faith in a brand since it lets customers connect to a product and the company.

What Should You Do To Build A Strong Brand Identity?

 Know who you are! Yes, it is most important that you must know who you are as a brand which is made up of a few important things such as:

• Your mission – what’s your and “why.”
• Your values – what opinions drive your company?
• Your brand identity – if you consider your brand as a person, then what kind of personality would they have?
• Your unique positioning – how are you different from your competition?
• Your brand voice- if your brand is a person, how would it communicate?

 These are a few elements that define your brand. Before you start building your brand identity, you must clearly understand each of the above-mentioned elements.

If you find it challenging to figure out who exactly you are, don’t sweat it. Brainstorm to help you get clarity on who you are as a brand. You need to ask a few questions to yourself:

• Why did you start this business?
• What beliefs and values are important to you as a company?
• What should you do to be better than anyone else?
• What makes you different?
• If you could describe your brand in three words, what would they be?
• What are the three words you would want your customers to use to describe your business?

Once you understand the significance of brand identity and get the answers to the above questions, you are ready to develop your business identity. You can also take professional help by hiring a brand design agency like Kaizen Brand.

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When we think of traditional printed marketing collateral, Brochures are the first thing that comes to mind. Brochures are an integral part of marketing for a company despite the growing popularity of various online marketing tools. With brochures, we can capture the attention of potential users. A brochure with captivated visual effects proves to be the most effective as it contains product-specific information. Your brochure or booklet focuses on the business and services. With the help of best brochure design, you can bag the undivided attention of your customers, unlike producing a product advertisement in magazines and newspapers. Moreover, a brochure is a cost-effective way for a small and emerging company having a tight budget. 

The objective of printing a brochure;

• The ultimate aim of effective marketing campaigns is to emphasize customer interactions. Likewise, brochures are another way of interacting with customers. Ensure that your printed brochure should have an interesting pitch, precise information, appropriate graphics, and a call to action.

• In addition, if we compare reading content from emails or websites to a printed brochure, it is far easier to read from a brochure. Brochures are versatile pieces of information utilized for promoting more or less all sorts of products and services and different venues like reception desks, academic events, and any other promotional event in that matter. 

By now, we have become familiar with the power of a brochure. But choosing the best brochure design and fold to get the perfect result is a real deal! Because there are different types of brochures available in 6 folds.

Let’s take a look at some compelling brochure folds-

• Gatefold Brochures – This type of brochure is durable as made up of premium quality paper. Gatefolds are for high-end marketing. However, its unique feature of inward folding makes it compact, and thus, it becomes easy for a person to carry around. It has an 8-panel structure with adequate space for describing your product and services. It also contains complementary images. 

The other specification of a Gatefold is –

1. It has graphics-heavy designs and menus with comprehensive visuals like landscape images and architectural layouts.

2. Its standard size is 8.5’’ * 11’’.

3. A Gatefold is also known as the Window fold. It usually works great for a single product presentation. The width of its central panels’ measures doubles from the side panels.

• Bi-Fold Brochures- The extended version of the Bi-Fold brochure is a booklet. A booklet contains multiple pages, and it looks more like a magazine. However, as the name suggests, the Bi-Fold brochure has 2 folds that form 4 panels. It consists of- two internal panels, a front panel and a back panel. You can describe your product and brand in the space given on the inner panel. It is the most conventional type of brochure as it contains more space for product description.

Its other specifications are – 

1. It is inclusive of a single sheet of paper. The single sheet of paper gets to fold twice and is also known as the Half Fold.

2. The standard brochure size is similar to the GateFold, that is, 8.5’’ * 11’’.

3. It suits best for manufacturing product sheets as they have rich content, specs, and photos. Also, it is convenient for simple product presentations, pricing, programs, city maps, and real estate offerings.

• Tri-Fold Brochures– These brochures are the next version of bi-fold brochures as it contains 6 panels. The Brochures with more panels contain more information. Because of this feature, Tri-fold brochures seem to be the muse of most large organizations. 

Some other specifications are-

1. Since it has 6 panels, a single sheet is divided into 3 folds, as the name is suggesting. The three sections of the brochure will be outside, inside, and both zipped.

2. Its popular sizes are 8.5’’ * 14’’, 11’’ * 17’’, and 11’’ * 25.5’’. 

3. It does not contain many visuals hence is used for a simple product presentation. 

• Flyers and leaflets- These brochures are different from other brochure formats. They are generally used to target a large audience. Flyers and leaflets are single-page brochures used for small-scale marketing. However, they are predominant as they reach many people. If you consider them a part of your promotional campaign, make a distinctive design to create the difference.

Other specifications are- 

1. Its standard size is A4. 

2. Either you hand it out to your target audience or insert it with print media( newspaper, magazine)

3. They are one of the most effective ways to promote your product. These leaflets contain product information and announcements only.

• Folders and Inserts- If you want your event, conference, or exhibition to gain attention, then folders and inserts are the best way to advertise your enterprise uniquely. These brochures have an appealing feature of folders within them. Further, the printed sheets that contain information about the topic go inside the folders and are called inserts. 

Other specification-

1. You can insert feedback and free coupons in the folder as well. They are considered ideal and credible for presenting business material. 

• Z Fold Brochure- This brochure, as the name suggests, folds like the letter ‘Z.’ It has a 3-panel zig-zag fold, exemplary to show lists, user manuals, and technical specifications. 

Other specifications-

1. Since it is a 3-panel fold, it folds using the document folding method that includes two parallel folds to create six panels(three panels on each side). These six panels have equal sizes. 

2. The way this brochure fold gives an aesthetic appeal, like the Accordion! Its 3 panels have ample space to write about your product.

Well! By now, you are aware of the types of brochure fold you will use for your next campaign. But what about the design? It is crucial to give attention to your brochure design as the perfect design will enhance the appearance of your brochure.

Here are some of the best brochure design tips- 

1. Do not try to infuse many colors. Although your brochure should look appealing, a simple color correction can make you achieve the target. Always use brand colors to design the brochure.
2. Try not to use an artistic font. Too artistic an approach for a font would spoil the readability. And eventually, that can lead to a blunder. Choose a classic style of font to give an appealing look. 
3. Put graphics, images, and illustrations in an equal proportion. Too much of any one thing will spoil the visuals. 
4. Always add the Call-to-Action! Do not ever forget that.

Although, if you need a little professional help, take help from Kaizen Brand Evolution! We have expertise and knowledge of the brochure designs and folds.