Questions That SHOULD Be Frequently Asked:
We get a lot of common questions that you'll see under FAQ. However, we feel there are other questions that you SHOULD be asking when choosing a company to provide marketing services for you. Here are some industry insights we think you should know:
A: There are a lot of graphic designers out there. Each has different strengths. The graphic design profession pools three major talents: computer engineering / technical skills using design software and tools, creativity to come up with different concept ideas for each project, artistic / asthetic skills to match colors, images, concepts, text and lay things out in a way that the are visually appealing.
At 360 Graphics, we suggest that you add two more talents to the mix when choosing a graphic designer. information design skills, the process of creating interesting, relevant text and making it easily understandable and easy to navigate. This is especially necessary in web design. Have you ever seen a website that looked beautiful and had all the newest bells and whistles, but it didn't have any useful information and it was hard to navigate? That designer lacked information design skills, which many do. The last skill we suggest looking for will most likely be found where several talents are mixed within a company is broad business experience. Many designers are simply artists. They're great at what they do, but many lack real-world business experience. Most have never worked in a small business, let along ran one. When choosing a design firm to produce the marketing materials your business depends on, it's crucial the designer has a firm real world business knowledge base to help you make good decisions regarding your marketing materials.
360 Graphics' staff possess all five of these skills and are backed by marketing expert and owner, Julie Cantu. Julie oversees every project as the art director and is involved in the planning of every project. So you can rest assured that your marketing project is being designed with a firm business foundation, not simply art.
A: First and foremost, a commitment to continual learning. Technology is changing and evolving everyday. Think of the new tools like blogging, social networking sites and mobile marketing technologies that we had never even heard of a year or two ago. The world of business and marketing is a rapid changing world. Make sure that when you choose a marketing coach, you find someone who is a not only up to speed, but who is a chronic learner. In order to be a marketing expert you must be relentless at learning about all of the new advances in technology, business, marketing, printing, software, interactive media, psychology and changes in your local business community environment. Even if these don't seem to pertain to you as the client, your marketing coach needs to know what's going on to help you make good decisions for your business. Learning is an ongoing, daily process.
Find someone who has a broad range of experience to pull from. While working in different industries and positions may not look the greatest on a job resume, it is very useful in the skill set of a good marketing coach. Each industry and company is different. Some sell products, some services, some both. Some are B2B while others are Business-to-Customer. Some are blue collar, others white collar. Some are based on technical, hospitality, entertainment, financial, legal or leisure type services. Each company knows how to do, build or fix something. So obviously the good marketing mix for each company varies greatly as well. Find a marketing coach that understands a broad variety of industries and business models and can see how everything relates to each other.
Most importantly, find someone you can get to know, like and trust. You must
feel comfortable with and build a good relationship with the person you choose as
your marketing coach. This is a crucial business relationship that should be
long-lasting, mutually beneficial and based on trust.
A: Because effective marketing is critical to your business. When you build one strong, deep relationship with one marketing firm that can handle a wide array of projects, instead of calling a bunch of different vendors individually, you benefit from them having a strong knowledge of your needs and history. Over time your marketing firm should know just about has much about your business as you do. Even though the firm will use a variety of vendors to produce each of your products, they are all tied together with that central knowledge and planned accordingly.
When you call a different company each time you need a sales brochure, a banner, a website, some t-shirts and so on, there is no way for each of those companies to understand your business, your needs, your goals and your history. What you end up with is a hodge podge of materials that don't maximize your core marketing message.
A: No. As long as the firm does not have a huge overhead. Each marketing project you need requires the same talents, products and resources whether you buy them one company or ten different companies. By only having one person to call, you save tons of time and frustration from having to explain and resend your logo and information to each different company. Good marketing firms have great relationships with their vendors and often get better pricing that you could based on volume. The profit and overhead retained by the firm typically come from that cost savings they incur. So overall it doesn't cost you more to use one company, it actually may cost you less.