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Don’t undermine your brand
Is poor print management letting down your brand? Print can be a vital channel for brand communication.
Despite the rise of e-communications, print should still be an important element of communication for most companies today.
A recent survey by DM News/Pitney Bowes showed that:
- Nearly 94% of consumers in the survey reported taking action on promotional offers and coupons received via direct mail.
- Almost 40% of respondents said they had tried a new business for the first time because of information received via direct mail.
- Nearly 70% of respondents said they renewed a relationship with a business because they received a direct mailing or promotional item.
- Print is sometime felt to be less relevant to younger generations. However, a study conducted by ICOM, has found that the preference among 18-34 year-olds surveyed for receiving marketing information from offline sources led by mail and newspapers is 2 to 3 times greater than online sources such as social media.
It is also going to be hard for many companies to survive without signposting, labelling and packaging, all of which should convey the company brand.
How many items communicate your brand?
You may be surprised when you take stock of exactly how many printed items will have some element of brand communication. Have you considered all of the following?
- Business cards
- Company stationery
- Envelopes
- Posters
- Brochures
- Leaflets
- Direct mail campaigns
- Instructions
- Packaging
- Exhibition stands
- Building and vehicle signage
Most companies will be using print in at least 50% of these ways.
Who is responsible in your company for ensuring that everything is produced correctly. At many companies there is no brand champion, or it is left to someone with little or no print knowledge. Even many designers do not have the specialist print knowledge required to ensure that everything reproduces correctly.
It’s easy to let your brand down through poor application in print
Have a quick check through some of your printed collateral. Think about the following questions with particular regard to your corporate identity.
- Do you apply a style guide to all items?
- Have you issued your designers with a style guide?
- Does it cover print issues as well as design issues.
- Is it applied consistently across different products
- Is it applied consistently across similar products? Or, for instance, do employees have business cards that are not all identical?
- Has your logo been reproduced as you would wish across all items?
- Is the colour reproduced consistently across all items?
- Have all your items been produced across a consistent type of paper?
Many companies let themselves down badly through poor application of their corporate identity. Think about what differences in colour and logo placement communicate about not just your corporate identity but also about your company’s values and attention to detail. How much is this costing your company in terms of lost opportunities and sales, not to mention expensive reprints?
How can you ensure your style guide remains consistent?
To retain a consistent corporate identity you will need to ensure the following:
- Your designers must have a good understanding of print.
- Your corporate style guide should cover the application of print as well as design issues.
- Someone needs to control the print suppliers that you use. This should not be left to your designers or agencies without a written agreement on they will manage suppliers on your behalf, which covers the other elements in this checklist.
- Colour management systems should be in place both with your designers and your suppliers.
- Paper and other substrates should have a corporate style policy. This will prevent the mixing of different grades which leads to an inconsistent appearance for items. In addition it will allow the application of a consistent environmental policy for paper.
So how do you control all this in a multi-office environment?
Companies with a number of sites or offices from where print is purchased will face extra challenges. A centralised purchasing strategy will help. In addition, where several staff are responsible for the commissioning or design of products a suitable strategy for the implementation of design templates will be necessary.
The most comprehensive way to control this is through a web to print system.
Three steps to take next
- Appoint a brand champion
Whether your organisation is a small single-site company or a major multi-site enterprise, a corporate identity champion is an excellent way in which to ensure that your branding and corporate identity are not devalued by the poor application of print. - Enlist experise
You may also wish to get help from an outside print consultant who can highlight where things may potentially go wrong, and ensure that all the right systems are in place. - Purchase the ‘HowTo’ guide to ensure your print is consistent to your brand and corporate identity every time!
For consultancy simply contactus.
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