Brand and Capture

A Great Logo Design Goes a Long Way in Building Your Brand

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A corporate logo design need not be flashy, intricate or extremely modern to be effective. Effective logos do, however, have to elicit some sort of response. At the very least, all logos should inspire a basic level of confidence and, ideally, interest in your brand.

Style and Font

There are far more fonts available for corporate logo design than there are on Microsoft Word or Mac Pages, for example. New fonts are constantly being created and can even be custom designed for your brand. So, it’s worth exploring different options through a bit of online research and consultation with your branding company.

See what similar brands in your area are using as fonts. What inspires confidence in one industry may be confusing, meaningless or even detrimental in another. There are certain fonts that say “digital” or “cutting-edge” while others might say “traditional,” “reliable” or “powerful”. Figure out what you’re trying to say first and then seek out your ideal font.

Corporate Logo Design and Color

As mentioned above, simple designs can achieve everything you’re looking for, but a word of caution: Don’t be so simple as to seem common or derivative. In other words, your logo should never be mistaken for Clip Art.

Choose colors that speak to your brand. Much like fonts, colors and color tones or brightness levels suggest different moods, characteristics and strengths of your brand. Colors in combination also have different effects. Sample different color combinations across all of your sample font and design schemes.

Also consider color in terms of light, texture and shadow. A strong designer can suggest modifications in color, texture, shading and tone to differentiate your logo.

Convergence

Sample a few different designs in a few different color schemes each. In the brainstorming and creative phase, all options should be on the table, including fun and wild ideas. In the end you can tie all the elements—style, font, design, color—together with your brand message.

Lead Capture is More of an Art Form Than a Science

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I'm addressing this post to those of you who think capturing leads from your website is all about tools and analysis. Those are things that help with capturing leads, but they aren't the gatekeepers. Successful lead conversion boils down to strategy, psychology and value.

I'm assuming you're already done a great job of attracting visitors to your site through content, SEO and socializing, i.e. inbound marketing. Now what?

Think about it from a visitor's point of view.

Why am I here? What has brought me to your website? Was I searching for something, and if so, what? Did I know you already, and I'm here to see what's new? Did I buy something from you before and want more? 

Chances are, I'm a new visitor. Unless you have a well known brand, most of your visitors are going to be newcomers. I probably found you via a search or a blog reference in social media, or maybe a blog comment or other mention on a web site. Now that I'm here, you have 2 seconds to sell me.

Hey, nice website. Very pretty. But, what's in it for me? I'm going to bounce off your home page or blog unless you convince me otherwise, and you'd better do it quickly. Unless I'm just looking up information, you need to offer me something valuable for free, and I'm not prepared to drill down to find it or read some obnoxious landing page. I need to understand what you are giving away at a glance, and I need to know why I should sign up right now. As a consumer, these reactions are built-in to my psyche and they happen instantly.

Strategy

Your strategy should address my reactions directly. You must:

1. Figure out what I want.
2. Give it to me, preferably for free.
3. Don't make me jump through hoops. If you do, I'm gone.

Art

Now you must bring art to the table. Create a compelling graphic that conveys the value of your offer and makes it imperative that they sign up immediately. Here are some great examples, courtesy of HubSpot.

Science

There is some science to successful lead capture. Statistics and eye-tracking studies tell you what kinds of calls-to-action are popular and where to place them, so be aware of such studies. You also need the software to measure lead conversion, analyze results and follow-up through lead nurturing. You should create multiple offers, calls-to-action and landing pages. Throw them up on the wall and see which ones stick. Fine tune your offers to optimize results.

Bottom line

You can't get to the measurement step unless you nail the lead capture strategy first. You must convince them before you can convert them. Bring the value and make it easy to receive your offers. Simple idea - tough to do really well.

What are your lead capture strategies and how well do they work?

To Become a Marketing Designer Superhero, You Must "Know the Box"

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What has always intrigued me about marketing and design is its ability and power to move and create emotion in the human mind. The most challenging part as a designer is the process through which we obtain our superhero power in order to make that next marketing campaign a success.

Here are four quick steps which can help designers break out of their set views in order to reach super powers when designing that next marketing campaign:

Step 1. Understanding the box
Although many people identify a 'eureka' moment when they make the conceptual breakthrough, it has to be based on solid groundwork and a detailed understanding of the ultimate goal of the marketing campaign. Luck helps but I like to live by the old saying of "the more you practice, the luckier you get."

Step 2. Knowing the box
How often have you been told to 'think outside the box?' I don't know about you but I find that very hard to do. It's as helpful as saying, 'now come up with a great idea.' So my approach involves 'Knowing the box.'

Identify all the constraints and limits you can. Within most marketing firms you will have a team of people to help you with this. Recognize those constraints and harness them for they will provide you with a healthy starting point on the initial design and feel for the branding of the campaign.

Step 3. Transforming the box
Look at all the constraints and pretend you could reverse or ignore them. Before you start to sketch out or get on the computer to design anything, conduct a quick brainstorming session with your marketing campaign team which follows these rules.

Rule 1: Criticism is ruled out.
This does not mean that criticism is banned altogether in the creative problem solving process. It simply means that criticism is suspended during the idea production stage of the process. Creative thinking simply cannot occur very effectively at the same time.

Rule 2: Freewheeling is welcomed.
The crazier the ideas the better. Off-beat, impractical, silly ideas may trigger a practical breakthrough idea that might not otherwise occur.

Rule 3: Quantity is wanted.
This rule is supported by data indicating that the greater the number of ideas produced, the greater the likelihood of useful, original ideas.

Rule 4: Combination and improvement are sought.
Hitchhike onto other ideas to turn them into better or different ideas. Two or more ideas can be combined into one great idea.

Step 4. Caution in evaluation
Once you have brainstormed these new ideas, do not evaluate them too early. Many people will be delighted to say 'It won’t work' or 'we tried that before.' The danger is that such negativity crushes the great idea that is emerging.

I believe in evaluation, especially at early stages in the design. But sometimes it helps to take the ‘crazy idea’ a bit further before exposing it to the harsh light of reality.

So there it is... follow these 4 steps and you will be well on your way to superhero designer stardom. Heck, you may make the front page of the newspaper or better yet, someone might even make a cake out of your super design.