Marketing 101: Cohesion - Why Does It Matter?

Welcome to the sixth, and almost last post in this marketing series!

1. The Questions I Consider About Marketing                                    

2. Branding: Do You Have A Logo? Do You Need One?

3. Your Business Card: Is It Working Hard or Hardly Working?       

4. The Brochure: A Giant Multitasking Business Card!

5. The Press Kit: What On Earth Is This?

6. Cohesion - Why Does It Matter?
7. In Conclusion

co·he·sion

kōˈhēZHən/

noun

1. the action or fact of forming a united whole.

Okay, lay out your marketing materials in front of you. What have you got? Do you have a business card? What about a brochure? Maybe some handouts with information about services you offer? Possibly you have a press packet, or maybe some clever gimmicks? (I know a juggler who gives out frisbees) 

Got them all laid out? Great! Now, look at them. Do they look like they've been produced by the same artist? Is there anything about them that ties them together? Could you pick up any piece of your marketing and hand it to someone and they could identify it as yours in a few seconds? 

If someone had more than one piece of your marketing, would they realize the two pieces belonged to the same artist? Would they associate the material with you and with each other?

Why you might wonder, does any of this matter? 

When you are trying to encourage people to invite you into their space, you need to keep your name, image, and offerings in the running. People don't tend to hire artists upon first viewing. You most probably will get sent to the back of the line, especially if there are budgets to consider. It often requires multiple encounters and good reviews before some venues will take a chance. 

Clients need to remember your name, image, and what you do. Every piece of your marketing should constantly be reinforcing those things.

Your marketing is the foundation on which you will build your outreach to customers. The more cohesive it is, the better your ability to reinforce the image you want to project. If your marketing pieces do not work together, then they are not providing reinforcement. They are like well meaning soldiers running in all directions with no plan of action.

Some basic thoughts:

1. I know that early on in this series I said you didn't need a logo. If you have one, it makes creating cohesive marketing much, much easier. So, while you don't need one. It is not a bad idea.

2. Color schemes aren't a bad idea either. Picking a color scheme for your marketing helps it jump out at people. They can identify you with the patterns or the color.

3. Your pieces are easily identifiable as being from the same place, and your client can see the thoughtfulness and professionalism of the work. People do think about you differently if your marketing is well put together and thoughtful. It makes them believe you will carry this over into your business.

4. How you present yourself is important. As I've said several times in this series, there will be a number of people who might not encounter you personally before they see your marketing materials. Consider the difference between getting some random items and getting some cohesive material. 

One of the things we face when we are dealing with our marketing materials is that they are not all created at the same time. We get our business card, and then four or five years later we get something else. We are constantly making sheets for clients because our offerings change, or we need to put something together for a client, and it works out so we keep it.

This is where your stationary can play a role.

Putting stationary together is pretty easy...especially if you have a logo. When you send out sheets, just use your stationary and it will automatically fit into all of your other marketing themes.

As for me, when we got our marketing redesigned, one of the things I told the group was that one of my signature stories was called The Exploding Frog. They thought that was pretty funny.

When I got the first drafts of the material, I noticed that they'd worked a frog into all of the marketing. Every single piece of marketing features that funny little guy. You can see him peeking onto the stationary.

He makes an appearance on the back of my brochure.

Here he is on the back and front of my press packet

On the front of my business card

If you head over to my website donnawashington.com, you'll see that my website has the same graphics and images as the rest of my marketing, and my logo is front and center. That little frog is there as well.

Recently, we realized that my website is not compatible with cell phones...when we got this thing designed you couldn't surf the net with a phone! So, that is on our list of things to fix. I am pretty sure if you get a website designed these days that is automatic. If your site was designed quite some time ago, you might want to check on that.

My little saying about stories also makes an appearance on my business materials. 

This is from my website

So, let's ask the question:  Does your marketing need to be cohesive? No, absolutely not. There is nothing that suggests that your marketing must all have the same look or anything like that. 

You are not required to rethink every piece of marketing, and if you are having great success with your current hard marketing, then keep doing what you are doing.

However, if you are in the process of designing new marketing, revising your marketing pieces, or just making new things, it isn't a bad idea to have them working together. It comes down to a professional look that reinforces who you are. 

Cohesion allows you to build on the foundation you've created, and reinforce the images you want your clients to have. Each individual piece should add another element to that image, and reinforce your professionalism, thoughtfulness, artistic merit, and desirability.

Cohesion, every element in the universe is doing it!

Happy Marketing!

Marketing 101 Part 4 - The Brochure: A Giant, Musltitasking, Business Card

The fourth installment of the Marketing 101 concerns that odd piece of gear called 'The Brochure'!


1. Questions about marketing.
2. The Logo: Do you need one?
3. The Business Card: Is It Working Hard, or Hardly Working?
4. The Brochure: A Giant, Multitasking, Business Card
5. The Press Kit: What on earth is this?
6. Cohesion: Why Does It Matter?
7. In Conclusion


I've had brochures for many years. I think of them as more involved business cards. I hand them out to people at showcases, but I don't keep them on me on a daily basis. I probably should.

I sometimes hand these out to people instead of giving them my business card.

So, I went looking for advice about brochures. It turns out there is some controversy about these things. Who would have thought?

Marketing firms and those who design brochures keep assuring people that they need them. 'You must have them', they claim, 'as part of your marketing package'!

You Must!

5 Reasons You Must!

Of Course You Need A Brochure.

Indispensable!

Then, there was the other side...people who pay for them.

Nah, you don't need that thing!

Of Course You Don't Need It

You Don't Need One...You Need Five...Maybe None...


Then we get to the place I want to be....How do you know if you need one?

Well, let's get down to that.

1. What would you do with it?

If you don't ever have occasion to give something like this to anyone...don't get one.

If, however, you run into the odd person who doesn't know what you do, finds out about it, might be in a position to hire you, or would like more info, then you could always slip them a brochure.

Surely you've been somewhere when  someone told you about something interesting...I am not talking about the odd religious pamphlet you get...and you were intrigued. Surely you've picked up a brochure about something to get a little more information. The next time you pick one of these things up, imagine someone picking up your brochure and doing the same thing. Sound tempting? Then maybe you should have a brochure.


2. Who would you give this to?

I have friends...I'm looking at you Willa Brigham, who are really go-getters for marketing. She told me that occasionally she stops by schools she's never performed for, goes into the main office, introduces herself and drops off her marketing materials. If you do that sort of thing, you might need a brochure.

3. Do you do trade shows?

If you do trade shows, you can always give this to perspective clients. If they are going back through all of the stuff they got from Arts Market, you glossy brochure might be just the ticket.


4. Would you leave it with schools or venues who would keep it? 

After a show, if you do residencies, you could hand the brochure to the managing director or principal. You could use it to get the word out that you offer a wide variety of services.


5. I'm sure you could think of other reasons to distribute something like this...if you wanted one.



6. You can send it to people in the snail mail. There is always that!

7. Advocacy that you don't have to do out loud.

Ever tried to explain what you do to someone you meet if you are a performing artist? Well, the brochure is the best way to take the second step without you saying, 'Yes, I am a free lance performing artist. I've won blah de bah awards, I travel all over the world, I've got blah de blah recordings, I'm an author of blah de blah books and here is where you can find out more about wonderful me and all the wonderful things I do!'

You hand them the brochure, and the brochure does the talking for you. You can stand there and bask in their adoration as they read the carefully crafted words that say, 'You are standing in front of a damnably brilliant, talented person who does something you didn't even know could be a job!'

Then, they can ask about the items that most interest them instead of you reciting things and hoping you hit upon something they can understand.

So, maybe you need a brochure, maybe you don't, but if you did print one, what would you put in the thing?

Your logo or catch phrase can go on this thing

Highlights

Product offerings

product offering!

Quotes

Quick explanation of what you do

Pictures

Online info



Make sure you keep the text bite sized.

Most people are going to scan this thing, not read it like a novel, so make sure there are points that pop!

The best thing about a brochure is that you can use it as part of making all of your marketing hang together.

It is another chance for branding.

It is an expanded business card with more info, but just enough to whet someone's appetite.

It can link people to your virtual marketing.



So, that's what I have to offer on the brochure. Here are some other thoughts.

Do You Really Need a Brochure: six questions to ask

So, follow the link above, ask your questions, consider your answers, and get one made or don't. If you do, however, consider how it fits with the rest of your marketing pieces.

Cohesion is the name of the game as you add pieces to your marketing arsenal, so if you don't already have a brochure, decide how it can compliment the pieces you are already using.

If you already have something that doubles as a brochure....you probably don't need a brochure!


Happy Marketing!

Marketing Materials 101: Part 1 - Questions

August and September are some of our biggest booking months. Showcases happen. PTA parents have returned to school and are choosing which artists will visit them in the 2016 - 17 school year. They call to check on everything from availability to pricing.

The David spends weeks on the phone and in email correspondence trying to hammer down dates all over the country for the entire year, making sure my touring schedule doesn't kill me, sending out marketing emails, explaining our block booking program, helping people fill out grants, and trying to convince me to teach residencies.


Watching him jump about gave me an idea for a quick blog post.

My plan this morning was to discuss marketing materials!

It seemed like a really good idea. Then, I started photographing my marketing materials so I could make this one of those really colorful posts.

After I did that, I uploaded the pictures.

I have a lot of marketing stuff.

Then it occurred to me I could do one of those 'then and now' type of posts.

To that end, I rooted around until I found my first business card and stationary. I photographed those too. Much less material...technically, since I don't actually have my first ever attempt at a brochure, and I was pretty sure I didn't have any of my old marketing sheets. Then, it occurred to me that I might have them...digitally.

What was meant to take me a few minutes because I could just post my own pictures and say a few things about marketing has turned into a quandary; what's the best way to talk about all of this stuff?

So, I guess that means I'm doing a multi-part blog series on marketing.

I know! Who doesn't want to do that, right?

Me. I don't really want to!

I realize that I talk about marketing every now and then. Most of the time I say things like 'it is very important', or 'you need to work hard at it', and random things like that, but I've never gotten down in the weeds and done a review of the different types of materials we use, and how they are deployed.
So, that is what I will attempt.

I offer this up with the usual caveat that this is what I do, you may have no need for most of this stuff, and you may have more effective marketing for your business. I hope, that if you have interesting things in your marketing process that you will be willing to share with me in the comments section of these posts. I am always looking to learn new things!

As always, I will explain my thought process behind each piece, explain what we do with it, and give some idea about its efficacy.

Since I'm not doing it all in one post, I will even do a piece about the things we don't do anymore, and why.

To that end, I put together a list of questions about marketing materials that this multi-part series will attempt to address.

In no particular order:

What materials do you use in your marketing?

Have you got a brochure? Do you need one?

Have you got a business card? You need one.

Do you have a press packet? What is that, anyway? Do you need one?

Do you have a logo? Do you need one?

Do your marketing pieces work together?

What are you trying to accomplish with your marketing?

Do you send out postcards? Why? Why not?

What message are you sending with your marketing?

How professional is your marketing? Does it matter?

What is your marketing budget?

I am going to attempt to do this in six or seven posts. I listed the subjects below.
I'll combine a few if I can. I don't know if I could write a whole post for some of these.

-Logo
-Business Card
-Stationary                                  
-Brochure
-Press Packet
-Ghosts of Marketing Past
-The Whole Picture

If you have questions of your own about any of this or suggestions for things I could cover about marketing in the next month and a half, let me know.

So, that's what I have planned for this space.

I can't wait!

Happy Marketing!

1. Marketing 101: Questions

2. Branding: Do You Have A Logo?

3. Your Business Card: Is It Working Hard, Or Hardly Working?

4. The Brochure

5. The Press Kit

6. Cohesion: Why Does It Matter?

7. In Conclusion