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By Jay Lipe
5. We have standardized visual elements including 1) a logo and 2) standard company colors that we display throughout all our marketing tools.
Visual elements like these form a tripwire for a buyer’s emotions. If your logo and colors look cheesy or poorly executed, you’ll strike out before you ever come up to bat. For a lesson in how to successfully use color as a differentiator, notice how UPS integrates its corporate color—brown—into its promotional efforts. Brilliant.
6. Our business cards and letterhead feature high-quality and consistent imagery.
Business cards and letterhead are among a marketer’s hardest working printed materials. They are seen by most of your company’s customers and prospects and enjoy a long “shelf life” in rolodexes and file folders. Make them stand out.
7. We have a high-quality brochure that reinforces our company identity, makes a compelling case for doing business with us, and then provides concrete next steps for the buyer to take.
A brochure is your company’s number one leave behind tool. Because it will be pored over and passed around an office after you leave, make sure yours is of the highest caliber possible.
Scoring
30 - 35 points = Your company identity is a superstar. Go to the head of the class.
25 - 29 points = Your company identity has issues. Identify and pursue your 5 most pressing identity issues.
Under 25 points = You have a lot of work ahead of you. Hire a consultant to conduct a full-scale audit.
In closing…
When I was growing up, my parents often told me “you never get a second chance at a first impression”. With your competitors lurking a mouse click away these days, this has never been truer. Develop a stand out company identity in each of these areas and you’re well on your way to crafting a stand out first impression.
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