info@redstarsa.co.za

w

+27 14 000 4071

Let Your Posters Tell Your Story

Let Your Posters Tell Your Story

Every poster printing is like a book that tells a story. Simplicity is the key to it. A reader would only take a few minutes to look at it, that is why there has to be a few clutters as much as possible. Instead, informative statements and attractive graphics should be included in it. Less detail should be on the poster. Keep in mind that it will be one of the many in the exhibit area so you have to make sure that it will capture the reader’s attention.

The purpose of a poster is basically to present a piece of work in a simple and clear manner. It should effectively present useful information and food for thought. If the details presented in it have been described and illustrated better in a paper, consider making the paper available as a handout at the poster session. Additionally, the use of colors can be very helpful in maximizing both the clarity of images and making it captivating.

There several things you need to know when designing and printing your own poster. First, don’t make the title too large or too small. Consider its distance with the audience. Avoid also from making it too large. If it exceeds the width of the poster consider shortening the title and remember that all caps letters are harder to read. Also, use colors in your posters as it helps to convey additional meaning. But carefully select the colors that you will use. Make sure that the colors draw attention and serve meaningful distinctions.

Remember also to give credit when it is due. Include a short acknowledgment in the poster to recognize everyone who helped you in the process. And most importantly, write simply, plainly, and briefly. Stress out the key pointers and your conclusions on the poster. Do not focus on little stuff. Effectively communicate the big picture.

Do not also assume that the readers would easily understand your poster. So consider adding helpful tutorial sections to the poster such as an Internet address pointing to an important material or anything else that would help teach your readers what they need to know to understand your poster.

You could also use some gimmicks to catch your readers’ attention but make sure that they don’t backfire. And use good judgment in everything that you will include in the poster. So make your posters as interesting as possible but remember not to overdo it.

Book a Free 1-hour consultation and get expert advice on how you can maximize your marketing efforts to skyrocket your sales. BOOK NOW

What Branding really is and what it means

What Branding really is and what it means

The term Branding people usually use it interchangeably with logo design, identity design & sometimes typography and all design-related stuff, which is not really what Branding is. Let’s start with what branding isn’t because it is not all the staff people say it is.

Branding is not a logo

A logo is a useful tool for a business but it is not branding. A logo is a symbol for the Brand

A Brand is not a Product

Usually, you will hear a lot of people talk about buying this brand or that brand and they are really talking about buying this product or another product. The brand is not that.

Branding is not a promise

Some people say a brand is a promise that a company makes to customers. There’s a certain truth in that, it ends up working as a promise but it is not that either.

Branding is not an impression

Some say is an impression a company makes on its audience. If you’re trying to sell a lot of impressions I can see where that may be useful to you but from a business perspective why will customers want that? it doesn’t even help creative people understand what is it that they really have to do.

A brand is a result.

It is a customer’s feeling about a product, service, or company. it ends up in their heads and hearts. A brand is like a reputation, it is how customers feel after they had an experience with your company.

A lot of people usually confuse Sales, Marketing, and Branding as the same thing. Although they are all related to building a successful brand, they don’t mean the same thing. Lets briefly go through what they mean and how are they different.

Difference between Sales, Marketing and Branding

Sales is the exchange of a commodity for money; the action of selling something, it is all about convincing. You will hear sales coaches teach more about how to handle objections because it is all about convincing. Marketing is all the activities that you do to generate business while branding is all about influence.

How are all 3 connected?

Earlier I did mention that all 3 are different but connected, this is how they are connected. Let us pretend you own a clothing store, Marketing is what makes customers come to your store, sales is what makes them buy what you sell and branding is what makes them come back to buy more from you.

Get a copy of Branding Power and learn what it is, how it works, and how you can use it to help improve your business or the perception of your service.

Branding

7 Things You Can Do Today To Improve Your Personal Brand

7 Things You Can Do Today To Improve Your Personal Brand

Personal brand comes hand in hand with the birth of a company. It doesn’t really matter if you’ve begun working on improving your brand it’s still there. Looking at most large companies, there’s a trend that suggests that to succeed you’ll need a larger than life brand. But how do you get there? Heres how.

1. Get in the Mindset that You ARE a Brand

When getting in this mindset, consider Apple. When you think of Apple, what do you think of it? What do you want people to think when they hear your company’s name?

Do you want them to think of futuristic technology or do you want them to think of a homely carpet store? Once you’ve got that in mind, you’ll know how to market yourself well.

2. Track Your Online Presence

Google yourself. From the results you get, you can build. Set alerts that tell you when your name is beginning to pop up more often, perhaps you could Google yourself twice a day in order to check up on it.

The more your name pops up, the more people are going to see you. (*Disclaimer*: If you have a common name, add your middle initial or your full middle name to differentiate yourself.)

3. Make a Personal Website

Your website doesn’t have to have complex moving parts, it can be as simple as a resume and a short bio. Although the more professional your website is, the more likely it is to attract viewers, just having a website is a huge step towards success.

What another way will people be able to discover your company?

4. Find Ways to Produce Value

Have you ever had a situation in which you noticed someone from a large company tweeting about something totally unrelated to them? It probably makes you think, Boy, I wonder why he felt the need to let us know that he really enjoyed his Campbell’s Chicken soup today. Stay in line with your brand, which will, in turn, create more value.

Don’t post just whatever you’re thinking or feeling, post about different technologies if you’re a tech company. Speaking of Twitter.

5. Think Before You Post

Don’t post random things on your Twitter or Instagram. The people who follow your company are not interested in your life or what you did that day. Don’t post too liberally, and definitely don’t over-post.

Try to stay professional and adult when you post, don’t divulge anyone who comments something mean by responding to them.

6. Become Friends with Other Brands

What college did you attend? Are any other alumni also in business? Are they successful? If you can answer yes to those three questions, you’ve got a beautiful start. Join groups, find alumni from your college, and branch out.

The more powerful allies you can associate with, the better off your company will wind up being.

7. Reinvent and Tell a Story

What’s your story? How did you get to where you are now, and why did you begin your company? These are all important questions that will better your personal brand.

Having an inspirational story will help to inspire those who are investing in the company and will also do wonders in getting your personal brand out there. Not only that, but you should always evolve. Never stay in one place, always make progress and reinvent.

How To Create A Business Plan Outline

How To Create A Business Plan Outline

A business plan represents the crucial foundation of your company. Regardless of how big or small this company is going to be, you need to put together some sort of plan for your future.

 

In the end, you want to create a roadmap that will accomplish two things:

 

  1. It’s going to be specific enough to help you define what needs to be done over the next year, two years, or even 3-5 years.
  2. It’s going to be open-ended enough to help you make adjustments no one could have accounted for earlier on.

 

Establishing a plan which incorporates both of these things is not impossible, or even that difficult. Nonetheless, it is still something that needs to happen, before you can move on to other aspects of establishing and launching your business.

 

Creating A Viable Business Plan Outline

Understand at this point, you’re simply crafting an outline. It needs to have some measure of detail, but it doesn’t have to account for every single little thing. You want to have something that will make it easy to define the next few steps.

 

A good business plan outline is going to offer the following:

 

  • Executive summary: This element is going to summarize the plan as a whole.
  • Company Description: With this, you’re going to not only focus on what your company is going to do but how your company is different from similar entities.
  • Market analysis: Research your industry. This should include your marketing and your competitors.
  • Organization/management: This is going to come down to discovering the optimal organization and management structures for your company.
  • Service/product line: This is going to describe your product or products. What are the benefits? How about the lifecycle?
  • Marketing/sales: Sales strategies and marketing plans are going to be discussed at this point.
  • Funding: How much are you going to need? How is the money going to be spent? Transparency is key in this arena.
  • Financial projections: If you do need funding, projections are going to be important.
  • Appendix: Resumes, permits, and leases are just a few things one would include in an appendix if this needs to be part of your business plan.

 

Different businesses are going to utilize the above facets differently. Some businesses will be able to disregard some of those facets entirely. This is something you will discover for yourself, over the course of putting together a plan for your business.

 

Treat your Business like a Business, Not a Hobby

Treat your Business like a Business, Not a Hobby

A hobby can be turned into a business but a business can never become a hobby. There are some rich and famous people who have the luxury to conduct business while indulging in leisure. For the lesser mortals, business and leisure don’t go hand in hand. Any business requires serious investments, be it material such as money and infrastructure or immaterial as time and effort. Here are some of the many reasons why you should treat your business like a business and not a hobby.

• A hobby is more of a pastime in which you have substantial passion. A business can never be a pastime. There are serious consequences. You may lose money. If you have employees, then those jobs are at stake and hence their livelihoods. If you have products or services that people depend on then you are risking that and your consumers or customers will be left high and dry if you fail to deliver. A hobby is absolutely personal. No business is completely personal. A business will have direct and indirect impacts on the lives of many people. A startup can still be treated as a hobby until there is serious money in it and the potential or actual impacts on others. Beyond that point, a business must be treated like a business.

• A hobby has a lot to do with emotion over pragmatism. Most hobbies develop out of sheer love for something. There is little or no aspiration to monetize the skill or whatever you are creating. The purpose is to give form to your feelings or the skills you possess. Essentially, a hobby is about emotions. A business can stem from a particular or cluster of emotions but it can never be managed or run emotionally. You must always have a pragmatic take on your business and that will not happen if you treat it as a hobby or an emotional endeavor.

• A hobby often has to dabble through spells of procrastination. You cannot allow procrastination to seep in when you are running an actual business. There are deadlines in the real world, bottom lines and real money at stake. You cannot take your own sweet time to develop or deliver something. Treating your business like a hobby will be the recipe for disaster and sooner than later your enterprise will cease to exist or be unsustainable. Also, a hobby is principally about personal satisfaction. A business is not.