In making the rounds of my Saturday errands this morning, I used the products and services of two different business people who understood the importance of the quality of their marketing materials. We’re still human beings and even in this digital age, can’t get around the fact that touch and feel convey a lot about your business. Not just whether it’s a quality business but whether you believe that it’s a quality business, and whether you believe it’s worth investing in. These providers conveyed their message not just through their corporate identity – the look and feel of their logo, but also through the firm, solid stock they used for their business cards.
Israel Garcia is a hair stylist and make-up artist at Gavert Atelier salon in Beverly Hills (310-858-7898). Awhile back he developed his own corporate identity and when I took another of his cards this morning, I remarked on the solid stock. It’s clear he understood the importance of aligning his marketing materials with his positioning in the marketplace. We extolled the weight and solidity of the paper stock, the fact that the black didn’t show fingerprints, and the spot varnish on his logo. I was impressed that he recognized these points, because most professionals don’t understand the difference factors like this can make.
Then, I happened on the Dana Davis pop-up store in Beverly Hills. I wasn’t familiar with her line of shoes (www.danadavis.com), which I’ll be a fan of going forward, but again, we ended up talking about marketing material because I commented on the quality and solid stock of her business card. I also liked her marketing brochure, which to me seemed an adequate weight, but she whipped out one from the previous batch, the way she’d really wanted them done, which was on a heavier stock and very nice.
What does this have to do with marketing your professional service? How often do I stifle a cringe when a lawyer, wealth manager, or real estate developer—all of whom are targeting high end markets — hand me their business card on paper-thin stock. Sometimes, they’ve made the investment in developing a firm identify – a key step in branding themselves, but they’ve put it on cheap stock, which belies their positioning.
The business people this morning understood the fact that all of your marketing pieces fit together to reinforce your message to the marketplace.
