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What is one mistake you see your clients making often when it comes to design or marketing their businesses ?
Brevity . I have had clients attempt to incorporate substantial amounts of wording into every square inch of a document , ad or other marketing piece .
Since consumers and clients are bombarded with massive amounts of information every day , and have an ever-diminishing attention span , the intended audience will easily pass by the clutter . Even research suggests that many have an attention span of just eight seconds ! When developing a marketing piece , ensure the reader will be able to quickly digest what you ’ re offering . With massive amounts of text , you run the risk of investing a lot of time and money into something that will be ignored before the consumer gets to the call to action ( click to website , call , etc .)
On the other end of the spectrum , minimizing text to just a few words can diminish the messaging ’ s effectiveness as well . Therefore , you must find a balance in the messaging that ’ s developed for your target audience and selected platform .
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How often should businesses refresh their branding , logos and design ?
Refreshing your brand can help bring new energy into your business , while preserving the integrity of your brand . To be clear , a brand refresh is not a complete overhaul or repositioning of your company as you would do in a rebrand exercise . It is a subtle alteration to a brand ’ s visual and verbal language across various platforms . A brand refresh might include tweaking your current logo or typeface , updating the tagline , adjusting the color palette , or even refreshing the look and reworking the messaging within marketing collateral .
Although there ’ s no hard and fast rule on how often to execute a refresh , various marketing professionals recommend every 3-5 years . The following may signal it ’ s time to update : -You ’ re not gaining newer and / or younger clients -Your messaging isn ’ t attracting your target audience -Your business is expanding services or offerings -Your brand doesn ’ t differentiate enough from competitors -You ’ d like to capitalize on a new market opportunity -The company logo is outdated and needs a more modern look without losing the primary characteristics of the original
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Where are some places people can see examples of your work ?
If your business has ever used services from CMTA ( cmta . com ), you ’ ve seen my work in the form of branding and messaging . We have a team of marketing and design professionals that work in tandem to provide consistency across our national offices .
On the freelance side , I ’ ve provided magazine content layout services for local publications such as Snapshot , SI Business , Southern Indiana Relocation Guide , Greater Clark School Directory , One Southern Indiana Annual Reports and Business Directory , and Abbey Road on the River program guides .
If you ’ ve visited Marengo Cave recently , I have illustrated their cave map and created the Bat Chaser logo for their zipline coaster .
Locally , I have provided services for New Albany High School Athletics to tighten up the logos to round out the consistency across the various sports / events . In addition , I ’ ve created several event pieces for the Floyd County Parks Department ’ s basketball leagues .
More of my freelance work can be found online at bkjones812 . myportfolio . com .
SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2022
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