What a Font Can Do

Using the right fonts can add (or take away) value to/from your brand. Subtly, the right font will tell your story.

For goodness sake. This post is not to encourage you to become your own graphic designer, free-reign.

Designers go to years of schooling to really GET this. But, still, we couldn’t resist posting this candy store.

Click here, fonts galore. The inspiration!

Bottomline: Look at this palette so you understand a piece of the complexity of what goes into creating sublime websites, brochures, labels, magazines and packaging.

Get Into Their Lives

When you are out on a mission — trying to spread the word about your product, service or campaign — you should always start by pinpointing whom you want to reach.

Next, working backward, figure out where these people are getting their information (and it can be in many places).

But then, to really make your message stick, you must not only get your information into people’s hands but also into their lives.

Think of it this way.

You aren’t the only one who’s busy.

Your consumers, clients and donors are just as frazzled. They are not a captive audience. They exist in the pandemonium of life, saturated with marketing messages and real-life demands.

So, do your legwork.

Whether you are a health care clinic offering H1N1 shots and include a map in your brochure with your scheduled times (thank you Malcolm Gladwell, for this point), a hot, new restaurant and are included in the iPhone apps GetHappy and Zagat, or a non-profit with a page on your website that educates potential donors about estate tax and makes giving really simple, think about what will truly help the people you want to reach.

Image courtesy of TinkThank.

How to Spark a Word-of-Mouth Epidemic

Whenever we meet with clients,  they want to know one thing: What’s the most we can do with the least amount of money?

This is what we call the Rule of Sound Business, which means we all want to use our dollars in the most efficient way.

But what if  you are a start-up and your budget is small? You still need results. What do you do?

1. Find one focus, one message.

2. Figure out who you want to reach.

3. Find out where those people are getting and exchanging information.

Then, to make your message really stick, as Malcolm  Gladwell illustrates in The Tipping Point, be sure to also find these three sets of people:

1. Connectors: People who are well-connected in many worlds.

2. Mavens: People who are analytical experts with the drive to help others.

3. Salespeople: People who have the natural gift of sharing ideas and motivating others.

Get your information to these three types, too.

Bottomline: If all your pieces are relevant, accessible, intriguing and important enough, you most likely will spark a word-of-mouth epidemic within the circles you want to reach.

Photo of Malcolm Gladwell by Brooke Williams.