Offline Design: Folders, Business Cards And Letterheads
From marketing through existing clients to networking at trade shows and industry events
, building leads for your online business doesn't mean limiting yourself to the online world alone. Offline relationships count for a lot, and can often be the essential building blocks that help your business grow.
There are three fundamental design requirements for offline businesses: attractive folders, attention-drawing business cards, and letterheads and note paper that makes your business unforgettable. Want to learn how to market your business with all three? Read on.
Folders and Marketing Materials
Folders and materials should be relatively simple and clearly designed. If you've got a distinctive company logo, using it as your folder design is a great idea. If the folders are for office and company use, design them to be relatively distinct and purposeful, yet not so covered in company design that they're effectively useless for any other purpose.
A secondary purpose of company folders and materials is as a gift for ultra-loyal customers and clients. Need swag for your next major trade show? Print up company folders, clothing and other goodies, each with some simple design data on them. Sometimes it's best to exclude some forms of contact, for example your physical address, and focus on including phone contact, email and website information.
Of course, if you're operating an offline business, including a physical address is incredibly important. For online businesses, less is often more. If you're marketing to a local audience, focus on giving as many communications options as possible. If not, drive customers through the communications channels that work best for you.
Business Cards
There's so much information out there about business cards that it's hard to cover any new ground, at least design-wise. Overall, your business card should be a clear, easily readable communications resource for other people. Gimmicks might get you an extra second's attention, but a simple and clean card is more likely to get you the deal.
There's one extra feature to keep in mind when designing your business card, and that's recognition. If you're at an industry confidence with thousands of business cards to hand out, there's every chance that you just end up another unknown in someone else's Rolodex. Want to make yourself stand out a little? Here are some solutions:
Leave space on your business card to write down something relevant and memorable. If you had a great chat with a potential business partner, jot down something to remind them of the conversation.
Put a photo on your card. No, your card isn't your drivers license, but putting a photo on is an original and non-annoying way to help new contacts remember you.
Instead of adding the standard email address, phone number, and website, add a Google search term. If your website is strong enough to rank for certain keywords, adding "Google: website design" to your business card will surely be enough to keep you fresh in people's minds.
Finally, there's one don't for business card design. Please, please, please don't be this guy. Your business card is important, no doubt about it, but turning it into a Frankenstein's monster of design will just cause other people to throw it out. Stick to the conventions, at least in terms of size. If you're handing out cards that don't fit in people's wallets, don't expect anyone to hold onto them.
Letterheads
If there's any design rule that's 100% true for letterheads, it's "less is more". We've all been sent letters that are poorly designed and difficult to read, and it's always frustrating to see a letterhead that's trying to fit too much information in too little space. When you're designing a business letterhead, it's best to stick to the key elements. Add your business name, your logo, your phone number, and your website.
Why only those? Because the rest should be in your letter! Having a great letterhead doesn't mean you can break every rule of letter writing, and leaving your business address out of the letter's body is a major error in planning. Focus on branding with your letterhead -- your company's logo -- and let the rest of your letter guide clients and potential customers through ordering and contact.
Of course, there are plenty of businesses that don't even use letters any more. If your communications are 100% online, it might be best to simplify your letterhead even further. Cut it down to just your company logo, and possibly a slogan or tag line. Then, experiment with using it as an email header or signature.
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As a general rule, the design of your offline marketing materials should reflect their purpose. If you're cold opening potential customers, use a card that gives the all the information they need to call you back. If you're sending out a gift for a long-term client, focus on branding rather than establishing contact. Business design, especially marketing design, is all about purpose. When you can strike a balance between perfect branding and practical communication, your marketing materials are looking good.
by: Mathew Carpenter
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