Sprucing Up2Make an Impression

Way back in the olden days, the proverbial shot of the storekeeper with a broom at his front step, apron tied around his waist, seemed to be everywhere. You know the scene. Mister Jones’ grocery (florist, hardware store, drug store, candy shop, appliance outlet, etc.) was the Main Street retailer and everyone knew his name. In the window was the display with his hot-selling items, specials, and maybe some local news of interest.

Mr. Jones wouldn’t dream of opening his store without sweeping the entrance area or washing the windows, updating his posters or flipping the “closed” sign to “open”. After all, dozens – maybe hundreds – of people would be walking by that day and he needed to put his best foot forward to earn his share of their hard earned money.

Mind the Store4Faster Growth

These days you have your own entrance area to tend.

You may not be Amazon, or even a mid-sized web company, but there’s a good chance you have dozens or hundreds of people coming by your online storefront. At the end of the year, even a small traffic website likely has thousands of visitors. Maybe there are even tens of thousands of people visiting your website. And yet, unlike the storekeeper, you’ve probably not cleaned the windows, rearranged the items on display, or swept out the entryway.

We’ve spoken to scores of business owners who have let their website go untouched. Not just for days or weeks, but virtually untouched for months or years.

How does that happen? You wouldn’t dream of letting your shop go, but that first impression that initiates a consumer or patient’s choice remains out of date, unattractive, and maybe not even responsive to visitors who choose to “surf” on their phones or tablets.

It’s true you can have a successful business without a relevant and enticing website. But why would you? In these “uber” competitive economic times, there are some simple ways to keep up with Mr. Jones. Build a useful and attractive website and make a plan to update it on a regular schedule. It’s as simple as minding the store.

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Pictures2Enjoy

Galaxys, iPhones, Google Pixels, and the sort produce so many great memories. After all, without them, how would a person ever have invented the selfie stick? The contraptions help capture memories, friends, funny faces, kiddos, siblings, and funny signs and advertisements. They’re good for that for sure.

Occasionally, things work just right and you accidentally – or even sort of on purpose – get that perfect photo. Just a touch here or a shift there can make you look like you know what you’re doing. Suddenly, you’re feeling like Brett Winter Lemon or Molly Doyle and you want the world to know it.

Maybe that’s why Instagram and other visually-driven sites have gotten so popular.

Over the past few years we’ve gone from assisting companies with their websites to actually building them ourselves. We’ve done design work for a good bit of them. While there are times you have to insert a stock photo here or there, we don’t take the decision lightly. It’s important to think carefully before finalizing your photographic selections.

Photography4Branding

It’s near impossible to build a great website without quality images. Words don’t usually cut it when placed plainly with nothing to draw in the eye of the visitor. The same goes with an interrupting image in a corporate piece or in your sales materials.

There are a lot of places you can take a shortcut. For years we’ve encouraged our clients not to cut corners when it comes to top notch photography. It completely transformed the Rockfish Food and Wine brand we rebuilt this year. (You may also remember a few months back when I wrote about bad photography impacting my buying decision at a fast food joint along the highway.)

Whether it’s a one dollar hamburger or a twelve dollar hamburger, good imagery is paramount to good advertising AND good marketing. And it’s not just with food. So go ahead and enjoy your camera phones and happen upon that perfect shot – just don’t let it be a substitute for the real thing when it comes to your company’s branding.

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Manuals2Educate

My Dad calls them “destructions”. You know – the printed papers that come with most electronic items or things that need to be put together. Detailed explanations of pieces and parts and how they all operate are provided in order to help you complete the process of putting something together for use. These also help answer questions if you’ve got a product and just can’t quite figure out how to make it work the way it is supposed to.

They explain everything.

Well they do if you are patient enough to read them or do what they map, show, or say. They’re perfect for the engineer types who want details, information, and specifics. People like me get bored really quickly and just try to figure it out. I guess that’s why I’m not very good at the products labeled “Some Assembly Required”.

On the other hand, this perpetual struggle I have leads to a helpful marketing observation.

Websites4Marketing

A lot of companies – especially technology companies – like to use their websites like an instruction manual.

Most websites are supposed to be marketing tools. At least they are initially and as you determine how you’re going to build yours to attract customers (or patients or clients). Sure, you can put product specifications, schematics, directions to your location, answers to frequently asked questions, and things like that on your site. But where the real value these days comes is in the ability to connect with prospective users.

Think about that as you design your next website.

Is it easy to use? Does it catch someone’s eye or make them want to explore further? Is it helpful? Have you made it interesting? These are the types of questions that ought to drive most every website (even the fulfillment and technical ones). Naturally you’ll want it to be responsive so no matter what screen someone is using, they can have a good experience. And of course you eventually want to engage people and get them to take the steps needed to make a buying or appointment decision – over time. Websites should market first – then educate.

The bottom line is that your website is the new storefront. It’s what greets those interested in doing business with you. Start there.

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Signs4gotten

There’s a new brewery in downtown Roanoke. In fact, there are like six new breweries in our hip, small city.

We’re the up-and-coming craft brewing mecca of the east coast with local and regional artisan beer-serving rooms here for Deschutes, Ballast Point, Big Lick, Soaring Ridge, Starr Hill, and Parkway. There’s even one called A Few Old Goats Brewing.

Another new joint opened this fall at the busiest corner in town, yet a lot of people haven’t caught on to it. I think one of the main reasons for the slow roll-out is there’s no sign to point the way for tourists and locals who may be interested. I’m not involved with this business, so it’s possible there is another reason why the sign isn’t up. My guess is that there was a miscalculation on how long it would take to have the signage completed and installed – that is a frequent occurrence.

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Plan Ahead2Make It Work

Long before the doors to a business open, the building design or renovation is planned out. The zoning and blue prints are mapped. There is typically a public relations and marketing soft launch plan – sometimes even advertising is a part of that. While many marketing and communications projects can be turned pretty quickly, it’s important to note that some parts of the grand opening plan can take a bit longer.

Signs are one of the main setbacks.

To start with, sign companies seem very busy – at least around this part of Virginia. Then there’s the design and approval process which can take quite some time. There are also zoning approvals that can eat up a chunk of time too. Then pieces have to be ordered and production has to be done and all of that is before you even schedule installation.

Signs, signs, everywhere signs.

Man it can be a drag when you want to open that new location and have to wait on your signs.

We’re not a sign company – let me make that clear. We do, however, help a lot of clients with their signage needs and coordinate those efforts with sign companies. We’ve found there is one thing you can absolutely count on when it comes to signage – the process always takes longer than you think it should.

So, if you are involved in any type of business that is expanding, moving, or relocating, start the sign process early and let that point your way to opening success.

Collaborate4the Best Performance

Everyone there was in attendance to see Branford Marsalis. The famed musician was the main attraction for the night and his mere presence dominated the Jefferson Center stage. It was an amazing show and everyone in attendance seemed to appreciate the performance. Marsalis is one of the giants of jazz and in that room there was grandeur and magic.

What a night. One I’ll remember for a long time. But I remember something else about that evening’s concert.

Marsalis played as part of a band that evening and, while everyone knew when the sax master was center stage, he knew the right times to step back and let others move to the forefront.

Helps You2Improve

Most of us love watching the supremely talented do what they do. It’s inspiring and rewarding to see greats excel. There are also some memorable leadership lessons to be gleaned from them. In the case of Marsalis, he knew when to share the stage. He’d occasionally move to a less noticeable space amongst the group and admire the other band members’ performances. As he looked on with appreciation, it encouraged the audience to do the same. I watched him enjoy their solos.

Then, I watched him step back in and effectively take over the spotlight again.

It was a powerful reminder of the power of team and the beauty of collaboration.

The audience had the opportunity to experience a leader sharing the glory, and the stage, and the accolades. Whether he actually used the words, or it was merely the recollection of the night, I remember feeling like he didn’t care who got the credit. He just wanted to put on an incredible show. That’s exactly how we should work in business – in concert.

Something You Simply Had2Notice

For years now, my creative team has been inserting clever images or photographs into my blogs as a way to get the attention of our readers, amplify a point, or possibly even to make (a lot of) fun of me. This time, the photo is the main point of my monthly missive.

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Sometime back in 2018, I wandered into a fast food joint in Maryland. I remember exactly where it was because whenever I pass by that exit in Frederick, I think about what I saw.

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The headline on the poster says “Quality Is Our Recipe” and, as you can see, there is subtext and some photography to support the statement. I’m not actually sure what the copy says because something else about the poster took all of my attention.

Pay Attention4Good Execution

The poster had obviously not been set in a UV-protected frame and mounting. And, after years in the sun (or maybe months, I’m not sure), every image in the design had faded. Sometimes sepia tones work well as part of an advertising campaign – just not when the focus is on food. No one wants to see a gray hamburger or washed out tomatoes, or the faded bubbles of what should be a fresh carbonated soft drink.

Yuck.

No matter the artist’s intention or the agency’s design, if no one at the store bothers to look at the finished product and make a local decision that “hey, this doesn’t look right”, the project won’t end up with the right execution. It’s likely that people at the store looked at this every single day and hopefully cleaned it or at least wiped it down at least once a week. No one bothered to really look at it. In the end, that poor execution became an ironic example of “Quality is Our Recipe”.

So in that instance, I used the restroom, bought a soft drink, and hit the road. I never bothered to stop back in to eat and I had lost my appetite for a burger that day for sure.

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