This is our last blog post of 2020! After recharging out of the office we’ll be back on January 13, 2021 with fresh blog content. Have a topic request for 2021? We’d love to address any subject you need help with on our blog! Contact us here to share a topic suggestion or leave a comment on this blog post!

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For our last blog of the year, we’ve got an impactful and moving holiday campaign from Crisis Assistance Ministries to share with you.

The mission of Crisis Assistance Ministry (CAM) is to provide assistance and advocacy for people in financial crisis, helping them move toward self-sufficiency. They serve as a one-stop shop for Mecklenburg families facing poverty.  Whether providing a coat to a woman who is homeless, a utility payment for a single father who is trying to keep his home warm, or rental assistance for a veteran who has fallen on hard times, they preserves the dignity of customers while preventing homelessness and eviction. 

This was our second year working with CAM on their annual holiday campaign, and we were thrilled to get the opportunity to support this important cause. The work we did for this holiday giving campaign included designing a campaign logo, letter, card, and envelopes. 

This year’s campaign focused on a theme of “giving the gift of HOME.” Home stands for Help, Opportunity, Motivation, and Empathy. Early designs of the logo spelled out this acronym, but in the end, we opted for a simple logo design and the cozy imagery of a home decorated for the holidays. 

The campaign logo depicts the silhouette of a home, a heart, a key, and a light to draw a key connection between CAM’s services and the campaign. 

The card design features a caretaker and child looking out into the snowy night from the warmth of their home. Simple, yet classic, this scene evokes a wide range of emotions in the viewer – hopefully inspiring them to provide the gift of HOME to a deserving family. 

This campaign launched in November and is still going on today! If you’d like to learn mor or make a donation, head over to crisisassistance.org/holiday.

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Hue & Tone Creative: Design for non-profits 

Is your non-profit looking to launch a campaign of its own? Hue & Tone offers flexible and creative design solutions for nonprofits of all sizes. Let’s build a purposeful partnership today – reach out to learn more about cost-effective options for 501(c)3 nonprofits. 

We’ve been partnering with Smart Beginnings, a regional school readiness coalition (based in Danville, VA), since early 2017. Last week, the team reached out about designing a series of print appreciation ads aimed at childcare providers who have remained open during COVID.

Looking for more general COVID-19 signage? Don’t miss out on our free poster downloads here.

These childcare providers play an important role by ensuring first responders and other essential workers have the childcare they need. With COVID still causing unprecedented disruptions, this ad was the latest in a long line of COVID appreciation posts, ads, and campaigns that we’ve designed.

For the design of this text-centric ad, we pulled elements and colors from a past campaign aimed at Early Childhood Educators and Professionals. The bright red and orange will pop off the page, and the high contrast between the deep grey and white should translate well to newsprint.

Here’s a sneak preview of one of the ads:

If you’re in the Danville area, you can spot this ad + additional designs in the Danville Register & Bee and the Star Tribune!

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The mission of Smart Beginnings DP is to strengthen the system of individuals and organizations caring for and educating children ages birth to five. Their goal is ensure that young children ages are emotionally, intellectually and physically ready to succeed in school. Learn more at www.SmartBeginningsDP.org. 

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Hue & Tone Creative: Let us help you with communication in the time of COVID

Looking to successfully communicate your latest COVID message with clients? Don’t let the pandemic cause your branding and messaging to fall apart. Whether you’re looking for digital, print, or storefront materials, we can ensure you’re creating on brand (and beautiful) messaging.

The old adage that you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression holds particular relevance when applied to the world of business.

Company representatives are continually vying for the attention of prospective clients and business cards are widely regarded as a quintessential tool for both seasoned pitchers and entry-level rookies, as they strive to broker deals with new customers.

The lure of a well-designed business card shouldn’t be underestimated; a suave, stylish product can instantly grab the attention of a prospective client, while an uninspiring, drab design will be confined to the trash.

Despite digital platforms dramatically altering how businesses communicate, the popularity of business cards has shown no signs of stagnating. There are a staggering 27 million business cards printed daily, with many acknowledging their capability to successfully connect businesses with clients when designed in a compelling, engaging way.

How Can Business Card Design Instill Client Confidence?

Want your logo to convey a feeling of creativity? Color can help you do that. Find out what colors convey a what emotion here.

Trust is an indispensable element to any business relationship - if a brand doesn’t convey reliability, then this will have a detrimental impact on conversion rates.

A well-designed business card has the potential to set the tone for how you treat your customers, what your business is like, and how you professionally conduct yourself.

When considering the design of a business card, meticulously plan each detail and consider how they reflect both you and your core values. For instance, what are the connotations of the coloring and fonts used? Is the typeface reflective of your personality?

Every detail should hold relevance, communicating to your intended audience what they can expect, should they decide to join forces and collaborate with your firm. 

2020 Business Card Design Trends

While business cards of yesteryear paid homage to simplistic ideas, modern-day entrepreneurs and professionals are continually opting to embrace a variety of cutting-edge designs, using their business cards as a medium to convey their brand identity, as well as communicate their personal contact information.

Research has indicated that over 80% of business cards get thrown away in less than one week, a quandary that can be rectified by paying attention to emerging design trends.

With a whole host of designs available for your company to choose from in 2020, here are a select few that are sure to catch the eye of potential clients at networking events and meetings this year.

Interactive Business Cards 

The days whereby business people are forced to settle for a conventional business card are long gone, with many embracing an interactive alternative.

While contact details are undoubtedly the most significant part of a business card, offering an interactive product is a wonderful opportunity to convey your character, ingenuity, and flair.

From branded seed pouches for gardening companies to perforated designs for divorce lawyers, there are a variety of ways that an interactive card can represent your craft - all it takes is a sprinkle of imagination! 

QR Business Cards 

In 2019, a mind-blowing 5 billion people owned a mobile phone, with many gaining access to the QR code feature.

Given the dramatic growth of digital culture, more companies are deciding to incorporate QR codes into their designs and acknowledging the benefits a QR business card brings to the table.

QR codes enable the distribution of essential information to customers while saving space on the card itself; more information is offered in digital format, without compromising the sleek design. For example, by simply scanning the code, clients can gain access to informative videos about the services that a company offers.

A common downside associated with business cards is the difficulties associated with tracking their effectiveness or their impact on the customer journey. However, QR codes can be tracked with a series of online tools, providing valuable insight into audience behaviors, etc. This data can then be evaluated and used to influence future marketing campaigns, and so forth.

With mobile phone users on-screen time amounting to an average of 35 days per year, stats such as this bode particularly well for businesses who are bridging the gap between reality and the virtual world.

Perforated Cards

The business world is shaped by competition, so what better way to oust your rivals than offer customers an immediate business incentive upon receiving your business card?

A quirky design that’ll grab the attention of potential clientele, perforated cards are split into two parts and are a fantastic way to entice customers with introductory coupon offers that can be torn, without compromising the essential information printed on the other half of the card.

Deviate from the Norm… 

Rule of thumb dictates that business cards are traditionally rectangular, but in the world of design, rules are made to be broken.

Previous years have seen designers create cards that come in a range of shapes and sizes. These alternative designs are set to continue into 2020 and introducing subtleties within your design can introduce an elegance that’ll set your business card apart from the competition.

For instance, rounded edges give a card a sophisticated finish, while a more daring die-cut can make your card particularly striking. 

Furthermore, simple amendments to orientation can make a notable difference, presenting an opportunity to experiment with new typefaces and formats.

Minimalism 

While some may favor the innovative approach when designing their new business cards, a legion of traditionalists will argue: Why fix something that isn’t broken?

A design trend popular during the 20th Century, minimal business cards have survived the test of time and continue to prove popular amongst many businesses, so much so, that this design trend is expected to continue into 2020.

Minimalistic business cards convey key messages in a condensed, yet effective manner. This design is often used to increase visibility and readability, whilst also creating a sense of intrigue, in turn, prompting potential clients to get in touch for more information.

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Hue & Tone Creative: Your Business Design Partners

Whether you're a traditionalist or an innovator in need of inspiration, Hue and Tone Creative has a wealth of creativity, ready to be unleashed. Call (336) 365-8559 or email hannah@hueandtonecreative.com and we'll be delighted to help you get your brand back on track. 

Get your new business of to the best start possible with the right marketing materials!

So, you’ve decided to start a business. You know you need the basics like a logo and business cards – but what other marketing assets should you make a priority?

Marketing materials can encompass everything from websites and letterheads to social media graphics and promotional videos. If you’re just starting out in the small business world, chances are your budget is probably a little tight – but skimping when you start up can mean unnecessary spending down the road.

Think about it: you pick the first business name you think up and print up a bunch of business cards, letterheads, and pens. A few weeks later, you’re hearing from your customers that they can’t remember your business name. Now you’ve confused people, still have to pay for proper branding, and you’ve got to pay to reprint materials you could have gotten right from the start. 

The good news is that we’re here to tell you what you need it, why you need it, when you need it, and how you get it. We hope this run down of essential marketing materials helps empower you when you’re hiring a graphic designer or marketing agency.

Here’s what you need to successfully get your business off the ground:
 

1. Brand Values

Because no physical products come out of this stage of the branding process, it’s often rushed or disregarded – but this is one of the most important stages, and it will influence everything you do from here on out. Your brand values are the set of principles that will dictate every aspect of your business, including the look, messaging, and customer service approach.

Here’s what you’ll want to define:

• Values: what does your business stand for?

• Objectives: where do you want to be in 1, 5, or 10 year’s time?

• Customer personas: who are your talking to and what do they care about?

• Tone of voice: how will you talk to your customers? And why?

• Proposition: what will you do for your customers? And how will you benefit them?

• Tagline/mission statement: how can your brand’s essence be summed up into as few words as possible?

Taking the time to properly develop your brand values will allow you to properly train your workforce and will help you communicate your brand to third parties. We suggest asking your marketing team for a brand book or set of written guidelines that you could hand off to an outside team.

2. Brand Identity

Now it’s time to develop the look and feel of your brand. This is where you’ll work with a designer to create a logo and everything that goes with it. You’ll want to come out of this stage with:

• Primary logo: as well as any alternative logo formats you might need for packaging, online use, or small sizes

• Logo usage guidelines: what is the smallest size your primary logo should be printed? What do you do when you can only print your color in one logo? Make sure your designer provides you with guidelines for every situation you might encounter.

• Font palette: what fonts are you going to use on print, web, and in Microsoft Office?

• Color Palette: what primary and secondary colors will complement your look, logo ad tone?

• Graphic elements: anything needed to complete your print and web designs.

• Sample usage: make sure your designer provides examples of how all these elements will come together to create your signature look.

3. Build a winning website

We talk a lot about the importance of a well designed and properly optimized website, so we won’t waste a lot of space here talking through why you need one. Instead, we’ll run through a few key considerations when it comes to building it:

• Get to the point: you’ve got a limited time to capture visitors’ attention, so get your message across clearly and effectively on every page.

• Contemporary: outdated websites make your brand look instantly aged and untrustworthy. Take the time to get your website looking slick, and outsource it to a specialist if you need to.

• Architecture: once you start adding menus and pages, they can be a right pain to change down the line. To make sure you’ve got a great user experience from the outset, map out your site’s architecture before you start building it.

• Search engine optimization (SEO): with a reputation for being the cheapest marketing method around, it’s crucial that you build and write your website with SEO at the forefront of your mind.

• Contact: make your call to actions and contact information crystal clear.

• Host: choose a content management system that’s reliable. Personally, we would recommend Squarespace – here’s why.

• Domain: be sure to match your domain name to your business’ name.
  

4. Social media

Did you know, 70% of the US population have at least one social media profile? That’s a whole lot of potential customers to capture.

We suggest selecting just 2-3 platforms to get started on – especially if you’re handling your social media in house. To effectively leverage social media, there’s a few things you’ll need to do:

• Only use high resolution profile and background images (pixilated pictures make you look untrustworthy and out of touch)

• Write a succinct and enticing bio

• Link back to your website

• Include contact details

• Keep an eye on your inbox/direct messages

• Commit to regularly posting

• Reply to those who engage with you

• Interact with relevant people and/or profiles

Maintaining social media should be a daily job – if it’s not, you’re not doing it right. We suggest creating a content calendar to stay organized. And, make sure you have a set of templates on hand to save time when you need to create a quick Facebook graphic. 

5. Blogs

Investing in content marketing comes with endless benefits. A well maintained blog boosts your SEO efforts, helps you build backlinks and brand awareness, generates leads, adds brand value, and ups engagement.

Just remember the golden rule: the content you’re publishing must be quality. Churning out subpar articles won’t get you far -- if it even gets you anywhere. Here are a few general post types to get you going:

• Videos

• Infographics

• Webinars

• Tutorials

• Whitepapers

• Presentations

• ‘How to’ guides

• Buzzfeed-style listicles

With good content, you need good images. If you’re not in the position to fork out money for sites like iStock and Shutterstock, consider Unsplash, Pixabay and Pexels for good, free alternatives. 
 

6. Templates

Next up is templates. The extent of this list will vary depending on the nature of your business, but below is an idea of the types of templates we suggest you think about:

• Email campaigns - sales, welcome, thank you, updates, or otherwise

• Newsletters

• Direct mail

• Job descriptions

• Email signatures

• Powerpoint presentations

• Social media graphics

• Letterhead/memos

Your logo should feature on each and every one of them -- which is why it’s important to have a logo that sits well in different settings, and your brand’s look, feel and tone should be encapsulated too. Remember though, your templates don’t need to be uniform to be consistent.

7. Print collateral

We’ve been carrying on about online a lot -- and rightly so! -- but don’t forget about good old offline advertising. Depending on your industry, things like physical brochures and business cards can be an important asset.

If you’re investing in printed materials, remember to:

• Do your research: spending a bit of time selecting a quality printer.

• Don’t compromise: poor quality paper reflects badly on your business.

• Don’t rush: if there’s a proofreading mistake that’s your fault there’s no going back -- without throwing money down the drain.

• Keep it consistent: print materials still needs to mirror your online presence.

• Think of the bigger picture: think about how you can make print materials evergreen so that you don’t have to reprint regularly. Consider what really needs a date and what could go without one.

• Get the right amount of copies: you can easily order more, so don’t go print crazy and order 1000s of copies unless you’re absolutely certain they’ll be used. But, you usually get a discount the more you order, so don’t be afraid to print some extras.

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Need a little help?

Getting all your marketing assets together can feel really daunting -- I know, I’ve been there! But here at Hue & Tone Creative, there’s a lot we can help you with. From logo design and letterhead to web design and social media management, get in touch to see how we can support your business’ success.

The ‘is print dead?’ debate has been going on for, well, what seems like ages. Print has been on the decline for decades, but it’s far from completely irrelevant. While demand for things like hardcopy newspapers and print advertising has been decreasing, we believe there’s still a place for print in your marketing strategy. 

The power of digital marketing

Back in the day when print was everyone’s primary marketing method, there simply weren’t other effective alternatives available. As technology has evolved, so has the way we advertise. 

Digital advertising empowers advertisers with advanced analytics, sophisticated targeting options and greater monitoring capabilities. It’s also an incredibly cost effective marketing tool. With a cheaper buy-in cost than traditional advertising, digital advertising is a great option for small businesses, new businesses, and startups. Quick results and quick set-up also make it easy for non-marketing professionals to control.  

Together, all these factors make digital marketing an attractive option – but that doesn’t mean it’s without drawbacks. 

 

Concerns over digital advertising – and the staying power of print

According to research conducted by FedEx Office, 9 in 10 consumers believe there will always be a place for print collateral, and 85% said they’re more likely to shop with a business if it has professional printed materials like flyers, banners and business cards. (And, it wasn’t just baby boomers that FedEx Office surveyed – similar results were seen among millennial survey responses as well.) 

With so many businesses fighting for attention online, it’s easy for consumers to feel bombarded -- and many are starting to push back against the monopoly our digital devices have on our time and attention. Things like digital detoxes, technology free wedding ceremonies, and giving up Facebook for Lent have all become ideas that are part of the collective dialogue on technology’s place in our day-to-day lives.  

Additionally, concerns over data privacy on Facebook and Google are fueling a push for greater transparency in digital advertising. 

With all that in mind, we don’t see digital advertising as the end all be all of modern marketing. Digital advertising is here to stay for the foreseeable future, but that doesn’t mean it’s only option in the game. Diversifying your marketing plan with both traditional and digital advertising can give you a greater reach and help insulate you against future trends.  

How to make print work for you

Don’t limit your print pieces to traditional cards and brochures – think about what kind of swag you can give to people! Things like koozies, pens, and can openers can provide a repeated reminder of your brand to potential customers.

Consider this: With digital becoming the norm, is print becoming a unique way to grab people’s attention? When working on your marketing plan, think about how you might leverage print as a way to disrupt the new norm of digital. When strategically leveraged, print can provides a great opportunity to stand out from the crowd and target your market in a less saturated environment -- giving you a greater chance of getting noticed.

In addition to the element of unexpectedness, print is a tangible leave behind. If everything you do is online, you’re relying solely on the consumer remembering your brand oryou’ll be spending more to actively and repeatedly display your ads on their mobile/desktop device. Print pieces like business cards and brochures are a great leave behind for people to hang on to. 

Putting print into context

Looking for an easy way to make combine your digital + print efforts? Make sure your social media icons are on your business cards. You’ll be connecting people with your online presence through a more traditional marketing method.

Spend around print advertising might be declining, but when you look at the big picture, is print really dead? We don’t think so – and we think the facts back us up.  

While print’s role in your marketing plan has probably changed, it still has a place. A well thought out campaign will be able to leverage print and social media in tandem to stretch advertising dollars to reach the widest (and most qualified) audience possible. 

Don’t let digital distract you from missing out on a valuable marketing opportunity. Instead of thinking “print vs. digital” we suggest thinking about how all the mediums work together – and how print advertising can support your digital efforts (and vice versa).

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Hue & Tone Creative: Print and social advertising in Greensboro, NC

Whether you're looking to create a new digital campaign -- or looking something a bit more old school -- we're here to help. Experts in all things digital and all things print, we'll get every element of your marketing plan up to speed. Shoot us an email and let's discuss how we might be able to partner together.

I've mentioned our work for Revolution Mill, a historic redevelopment site in Greensboro offering office and event space, a restaurant and (soon) residential.  Here's a look at the print and web collateral we created for Creating Community Week, a series of events aimed at sharing the vision of Revolution Mill with the public.

A few notes about the work: 

• The design needed some visual and textual continuity, which is why we developed the seal-style logo you see here.
• A consistent (but not rigid) color scheme of red and teal adds to the continuity between each piece.
• The look here is consistent but not uniform, as the audience for each event varied -- from residents of the surrounding neighborhood to creatives/ad agencies to CEOs and community officials.

Let us know what you think! We'll be back tomorrow with a few links to end the week.