Chapter 24 Image Matters: Looking Great in Person and on Paper

Brian Norris, morale, leadership and marketing expert

Excerpt from The Creative Sales & Marketing Manual...

Chapter 24
Image Matters: Looking Great in Person and on Paper

A few questions. Answer each one honestly and come to your own conclusions:

1. When the first words used by a friend to describe a blind date are “great personality” what do you automatically begin to think?

2. When you enter a room and see someone across the room how do you decide, within the first 5 seconds, whether you want to get to know them better?

3. What would you be willing to pay more for – a package of Hershey kisses or a box of Godiva chocolates?

While you might be an intuitive sophisticated adult who would never stoop so low as to judge someone merely by how they look, or make a decision on the quality of a product by how it is packaged you are in the minority!

What’s on the inside is more important – in the long run. But in a marketplace where you literally have 3 to 5 precious seconds to make an impression, we judge books (and people and products) by their covers. Like it or not, image matters!

Whether it’s in person, through your printed marketing material or on your website, fail to get the right kind of attention, and your message, product or service will wither.

Face it. Even your own community has a least a handful of companies led or staffed by skilled people with tremendous passion… who are barely making it.

Conversely, there are also more than a few companies offering mediocre services and less than stellar products, not to mention employees with mediocre abilities and lackluster skills. Yet, their businesses are overflowing with customers ... months in advance. The difference? Image.

Since most people purchase based on what they see, smell or hear first, then the actual content and finally, price, your marketing success demands that you and the people on your team look great everyday for every performance!

How you look and present yourself is an inevitable consideration in your quest for your business longevity. How buyers perceive you will dictate your initial success or failure.

You and the members of your team who interact with customers need to look and act in a consistently professional, yet approachable manner. A professional image tells your prospects that they’ve made a smart choice in buying from your organization.

Your image in person

Eat right and exercise at least 15 minutes a day, even if that only gives you time for a brisk walk around the block. Your buyers expect you to model the way they should live their lives.

If your posture is poor, your skin and nails are unhealthy and your belly is protruding, what message does that send to current and prospective buyers? The Positively Passionate Marketer knows that perception is everything.

Don’t be shy about getting manicures, pedicures and the occasional facial. Search for a good hair stylist. Ask for recommendations on hair products that suit you type of hair. Get a haircut that’s easy to manage. If it only looks great in the salon, you won’t make the time to recreate the look at home.

Always use a good blade and quality shaving cream (I use Aveeno). Men, trim your chest and back hairs so they don’t overflow from the tops of your shirts. Watch out for the unruly nose hairs and keep your eyebrows in check.

Never leave home without applying deodorant. Stinky, smelly armpits are not cool. On a similar note, take it easy on the cologne and perfume. One or two drops will do you. Don’t bathe in your cologne or body spray. Keep one of those pocketsize Listerine dispensers in you purse or pocket.

Eat a good breakfast. Watch your portions throughout the day. Monitor the quality of the food you eat; a burger and fries might be fast by they do little for your energy or health. Bring a Luna bar with you (or pack a lunch) instead of grazing out of the vending machine.

Stay hydrated by drinking several glasses of water throughout the day. The best way to avoid junk food is not to buy them. Out of sight out of mind. Consider taking a daily vitamin supplement.

Treat yourself to a massage at least once a month. Practice Pilates or Yoga (or get a Wii Fit) to help you stay limber and improve your tone and posture. A basic weight lifting routine work wonders too.

Meanwhile, take an honest look at your wardrobe and consider ditching stuff still lingering from earlier decades. For instance, ditch the pocket protectors and short-sleeve business shirts (the preferred attire of middle management). Buy clothes that fit you.

And though the multiple piercings and tattoos are acceptable within creative vocations, they can work against you when dealing with certain customers. Think about the potential downside before adding another tattoo or putting another hole on your body.

Long sleeved, button down dress shirts (make sure they fit and are fitted or tapered around the waist) still convey the professional image of authority that you want to establish in your buyers’ minds.

A subtle silk tie will work too (no cartoon characters or sports themes). Learn how to tie a single or double Windsor knot. No clip-ons.

Conversely, a smart polo style shirt embroidered with your company logo, (worn with dress pants and polished shoes) is a smart alternative that conveys professionalism without restricting your ability to service your buyers.

Own at least one good business suit. Avoid polyester. Be sure the suit fits well and the lapel is not too big. Keep the metallic or fluorescent colors for an evening at the club. Instead, choose a dark gray suit. That will go with almost every event.

Have your neck, arm length, chest and pant length re-measured often. If you buy an off the rack suit, make sure it has fabric that can be taken in or let out. Take the suit to a trusted tailor and have it fitted to your exact measurements.

Learn how to iron. If you can’t (or refuse to) iron, budget money to take your clothing to a professional drycleaner.

Socks should be the same color as your pants. Belt should match your shoes. Don’t wear sneakers or flip flops with dress pants.

Keep your jewelry and accessories to a minimum.

Focus on timeless classics as opposed to trendy fashion that will be obsolete in six months. When in doubt wear solid colors in lieu of plaids.

If you’re in the medical profession, make sure you wear the white lab jacket. Studies have repeatedly demonstrated that medical professionals who wear the traditional lab coat are perceived as more intelligent, trustworthy and more credible.

Those ingredients translate into more referrals and repeat buyers!

Your image on paper

Photos

Get some studio quality photos in black and white AND color. Be sure to get your photos on disk as well. I generally ask the editor or event organizer if I can send them my photo or my clients’ photos electronically. My media contacts appreciate the efforts to make their jobs easier. And, I save a fortune by not having to send out color reprints.

Stationery

Begin with a cohesive stationery suite. Design your letterhead, envelopes, business card and every marketing piece with the same color scheme. Plan your collateral carefully and ahead of time. Don’t be tempted by “deals” on stationery if the finished product is anything less than seamless with the rest of your printed image.

Exercise consistency and creativity in every piece you design. Design your own success templates and avoid mass-market clipart (like stuff from Microsoft Office or basic Corel Packages).

Design a great logo and use it everywhere. If you don’t already have a logo, get one! Logos resolve two realities. First, we are a visual society and prefer pictures to text when establishing immediate familiarity. Secondly, many of us think in blurbs and sound bites. Your logo should instantly communicate what your organization does.

Work with a professional to create a logo and slogan that reproduces well via fax, on the computer screen and on products. Make your logo versatile and simple to reproduce and stick it on everything.

Trademark your logo to avoid legal hassles. A great logo is priceless – protect it. Go to www.uspto.gov for more information about trademarking your logo and service marks. Your logo represents you. A logo can provoke interest and nudge prospects to contact you.

Take the time to develop your business cards.

Business cards are the single most important piece of advertising you will ever do. More people see your business card than any other type of printed collateral. Business cards are your silent salesperson. Therefore, it is paramount to you and your organization to have business cards that market you and position you as an industry expert.

Seriously consider the status of your organization’s business card. Is it answering questions? Is it tantalizing prospective clients to contact you for additional information about what you do? Is it cohesive with the rest of your professional image?

To help you determine if your card is all it can be, consider the following checklist.

Front

1. Logo or overriding theme of your organization.

2. Your positioning statement; what does your provide, produce or solve?

3. Who are you and what title accurately summarizes your expertise and responsibilities within your organization?

4. What are the most convenient ways to reach you? Make sure you let the world know if you’re on the Web. Also, I try to deter faxes because so much quality is lost in the transmission. But list it if you rely on the fax for a large percentage of your communications.

5. For certain businesses, a photo of you or of the product can be a powerful tool.

Make sure, however, that the photo is recent. Don’t make the mistake of altering your photo to the point that it is a blatant lie, otherwise you’ll give your clients a reason not to trust you.

If you don't have access to a good digital camera, go to a professional photographer. If you intend to remove the background of the photo, have your picture taken against a white background. It's easier to edit in programs like Photoshop.

Have the digital versions of the photos saved at 300 dpi for print collateral and 72dpi for multimedia formats. Try to avoid the square box look used by real estate agents. And if you’re what society might deem “unattractive”, then forget about the photo.

Back

6. List your national affiliations. If the association is well known, use their logo. Doing this makes your association dues an even more advantageous investment. For a little creativity, create your own association.

7. On the back of the card, place your mission or positioning statement, corporate philosophy, an original affirmation, a checklist relevant to your target markets, testimonials or blurbs about additional products and services. I also suggest avoiding fold-over cards because they tend to be too bulky.

Brochures

Okay, so you invested thousands of dollars to produce a four-color glossy tri-fold brochure. The brochures arrive from the printer, all 5,000 of them, and you jump for joy.

One month later, you’ve given out exactly 500 brochures in your place of business, through the mail and after each of your business presentations. One week later, you launch your web site. A week after that you get a toll-free number. A week after that one of your staff members who you’ve featured prominently in your brochure moves to another country. A week later, you develop a new technique that will skyrocket your fortunes.

Suddenly, that brochure is officially ancient.

Your specialties and profit centers have changed. Your staff, contact information and location have changed.

This once great brochure is now future mulch. Even worse, because of the printing and design costs involved, you convince yourself that putting stickers with the new information and other bandages on the brochure won’t damage your image as a business professional. Wrong!

Everyone is coming out with glossy corporate brochures these days. Even with a great headline and that great photo of you or your product surrounded by happy buyers, your brochure is still going to generate plenty of shoulder shrugs.

Most brochures lack the power to bring you new business because brochures, as a marketing medium, are overused. That's why they’re headed towards the same fate as the Dodo Bird.

I still hear marketing people preaching that the first thing any business needs is a brochure. And that’s true – if you want to look like everyone else, struggle for new buyers like everyone else and disappear … like everyone else.

When designing or producing any marketing or advertising piece, the first three questions you want to ask are:

1. How can I create a memorable impression?

2. How can I capture my target buyer’s attention?

3. What can I do creatively as opposed to costly?

Pick up a brochure in your office. If you were asked to purchase the brochure, what would you pay for it? I’m not talking about how much you’d pay to have it printed or distributed. I’m talking about the actual content of the piece. Is the information contained within this brochure original or valuable enough that you’d pay $5, $10, $20 for it?

Okay, you can stop shaking your head no now.

People keep things that they perceive as valuable. One of the easiest ways to create value is to provide specific information that your audiences will want to refer to repeatedly.

Consider this.

Which of the following statements is more valuable to you?

“Brian Norris is a marketing genius and has been in business for 18 years. Because he is so wonderful and knowledgeable you should pay him $125 per hour or $4000 per keynote….”

“Within the next 20 minutes, you’re going to learn 10 strategies that will increase your income by 52% over what you earned last year. These innovative strategies, developed by author and marketing expert Brian Norris, a 12 year veteran in the marketing and seminar industry, require virtually no money, no investment – just two hours of your time for the next 30 days.”

Of the two statements, which one has greater value? Notice how I got to cite my expertise in each example, but also imparted significant benefits that any prospect would love to experience.

In all of your marketing materials, focus on ways to impart value and you’ll see that people line up for your stuff and even pay for it.

I actually used to sell my brochures because of the way I presented the information. Prospects gladly paid $7 because they got good information AND they learned how to reach me, and why they should hire me as their marketing consultant.

What do I send them next?

The real goal of marketing is to develop a relationship with your buyers. Relationships encourage trust and trust encourages sales and loyalty. We build relationships through familiarity. The more a person sees you, reads about you or hears you, the more likely they are to do business with you.

If a brochure is your primary marketing weapon then you are severely limiting your ability to reach out to your prospective buyer. After all, how many times can you send them the same brochure?

Rather than investing in that expensive, often stagnant brochure, consider creating six or seven marketing resources that you can send a current or future buyer repeatedly.

Use the dynamics of a great content sheet to showcase your specialties.

For instance, if you were in the legal profession you could have one sheet discussing the benefits of working with a trained mediator to resolve domestic quarrels.

Another could praise the benefits of seeking legal council versus representing yourself in court.

A third might discuss legal issues that you need to know to protect your children. Still another might highlight innovative research in reducing court costs and unnecessary litigation.

Additionally, consider these alternatives to the conventional brochure:

a quarterly or annual newsletter
a booklet
website packed with articles, helpful (non-competitive) business links (and a giant map of how to get to your office)
a laminated postcard featuring your Top Ten Strategies For ________ (with your phone number featured prominently)

In the final analysis, anyone can do a standard brochure. But to stand out, you have to look for better, more creative methods.

Take the money you would have invested in four-color brochures and invest it on designing your next direct marketing campaign or creative PR campaign. In addition to a website, create an 8 to 12 page booklet that captures your uniqueness and shares it easily with your potential buyers.

If you feel compelled to have a brochure, hire a designer to create a full-color shell that you can take to your neighborhood copy shop to print up a few hundred on a quality paper. They have machines that print clean copies and tri-fold your brochure at a reasonable cost.

Times are changing too quickly to print a lot of anything. Don’t get stuck with useless piles of outdated information. Stay current with your marketing materials and your business will grow exponentially.

Brian Norris is a professional speaker and author of The Creative Sales and Marketing Manual and Escape Life Sucks Syndrome. He helps individuals to live with passion and positivity. He helps companies to improve morale, lead better and market their products and services more dynamically. You can reach Brian by emailing info@BrianNorris.com or calling 414-899-1905.

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