It’s practically child’s play to make a great impression using print. Just take enough time to write some decent copy for your ad, brochure or mailer. That simple practice has become so rare that even a perfunctory effort at story telling gets attention.

It’s really quite daring to step out and tell a story with drama. Much simpler to advertise with leaden bullet points, as if your reader where looking at a powerpoint presentation.

The art of advertising in print certainly goes back thousands of years, and will likely be around even when the internet is a distant, faded memory. That’s because there {hidden treasure} are always stories to tell, for those perceptive enough to find them, and bold enough to write them.

Ever since Photoshop became a verb, a tacit expectation rose that (regardless of your background, training, interests, job title or schedule) you should have a working knowledge of most all current graphics software. Still using Corel Draw? Good heavens, you’re a relic! Not sure if you own Adobe Acrobat or Adobe InDesign? What, were you born in a barn?

Now Hiring: We’re looking for a few good clients who don’t Photoshop and are proud of it! The ideal candidates don’t have a mind cluttered by the minutia of application menus, operating systems and process color separation. Instead, they can clearly articulate project goals and objectives in a comprehensive yet concise manner. They haven’t spent the last two weeks trying to strangle an electronic document into submission, and hence there’s plenty of time for someone else to produce the project in question from scratch if necessary.

If you’re great at creating electronic documents and images, our prepress department is most thankful for that. Still, all too often I feel the pain of my customer who is under tremendous pressure to produce work that is far outside of his/her skill set on a schedule that an expert graphic artist would be hard pressed to match.

If I’m wandering here, perhaps I should get to the point: spend your valuable time doing the brainwork. Have a clear marketing plan in place. Succinctly define your objectives in writing and then rent the best graphic design specialist you can afford for a few hours. It just might be the best investment you’ve made all year!

Over a decade ago typographer and graphic designer Kathleen Tinkel wrote:

Armed with our Macs, we presumed to compete with our creative partners (typographers, illustrators, airbrush artists, retouchers and more), helping to put some trades out of business. But the computer isn’t as capable as a talented artist or skilled artisan, so we traded quality for glitzy tricks and techniques, and turned ourselves into high-tech production artists in the process… Our clients…believed the ads that said they could dispense with expensive designers, and instead began to buy their own Macs and WYSIWYG software… Is graphic design dead?

Personally, I’m prone to agree with Monty Python and wheel out the discipline of graphic design on a cart. This opinion is based on countless experiences over the last decade, as well as the dearth of thoughtful, well designed print in all but a small minority of examples currently in circulation.

One such experience was the recent phone inquiry from a new customer excited at the prospect of fancy color business cards now within her $50 budget. When advised that she’d need to supply a ready to print PDF or application file, there was a moment’s hesitation. “It’s just a logo, a line and a little bit of text. Isn’t there any way I can get around paying someone to set that up?”

All too typical.

After some thought, it occurred to me that today many a person would easily shell out $75 to get his/her car washed and waxed but never even consider a similar amount paid to a graphic designer to create a vibrant design which could and should last for years to come. Design is dead, because today all too few marketers see its inherent value.

Yes, creating your own home-brew design on a PC or Mac can be an immersive experience. Hours fly by, and we become increasingly attached to our creation with each passing minute. Regardless of its merit.

Herein lies your opportunity: Invest in good design. With so many routine layouts in circulation these days, your own professionally designed presentation will likely jump off the page and grab your customers’ attention.

And, also you’ll have time to use your computer for something that’s fun.

So here (courtesy of Empire State College, NY) is a helpful guide to alleviate a frequently heard question: should one put the period inside or outside the parenthesis?

Short Answer: Punctuate correctly in and around parentheses. If a whole sentence is inside parentheses, then put the period inside the end parenthesis. If only part of the sentence is in parentheses, then the period goes outside of the end parenthesis.

Examples: Parentheses are like polite back seat drivers. (They interrupt to explain additional information that the reader should know.) Parentheses can hold explanations, illustrations, or clarifications forty (Byron was 36; Nathanael West, Rimbaud, and Robert Burns were 37; Thomas Wolfe and Pushkin were 38; and Dylan Thomas was 39). I told him I absolutely believe in marriage (as a cure for the temporary insanity of infatuation). Parentheses are also used to set off dates, provide reference information, and to enumerate a list.

• Angela Merici (1470-1540), an Italian, founded the Ursulines in 1535, an unconventional religious order in which women took vows but lived at home and taught in the community.
• The Chinese poet Li Po (c.700-762), a “lighthearted winebibber,” fell out of a boat and was drowned when he tried to kiss and embrace the moon’s reflection in the water (Hendrickson 111).
• The reason there are so many popular bike trails outside of Washington, D.C., is that the land is mostly flat (see contour map on page 6).
• If your toddler does not sleep through the night there are several questions to ask: (1) Have you developed a soothing bedtime ritual? (2) When checking on your child, do you accidentally wake him or her? (3) Is your toddler afraid of the dark? (4) Is your toddler waking regularly in the night hungry or thirsty? (5) Does your toddler use a pacifier or “cuddly” so he or she is able to comfort himself or herself?

It’s like running a red light, and then having your picture show up in the mailbox. The amount of your fine: 7 cents per piece, or a total of $175 in this case. Yes, that’s right. You pay for every address on the list, even the good addresses.

Friends, there’s no traffic school at the Post Office.

Standard class mail is becoming an increasingly unattractive option, unless you’re well equipped to navigate the postal system. And with all postage rates going up soon, we’re all well advised to get things right, before getting things in the mail.

Still, too many sites seem to miss the mark; they’re stuck in old world thinking about marketing and advertising. They focus their engergy on promoting a brand, or product benefits. Yes, people still do buy the brand, but using a website to promote a brand misses the point.

The brand message rings a little hollow in the wake of Enron and AIG. People want to know who they’re really dealing with. Is your website a window into the soul of your organization? Or is it a billboard designed to fit into a 19 inch montor?

If you’re in a small business or professional practice, your website is a huge opportunity, done right. You can spend your energy trying to look like a mega corporation. Or then again, you can let your website (and the rest of your marketing) give your customers a taste of what it’s really like to do business with you. You can freely share your expertise in the perfect medium. After all, the web was designed from the ground up for the exchange of information.

Big or small, there’s really no downside to being generous, even with “proprietary” information. Doing so establishes credibility and maximizes exposure. It generates good will in a way that an advertising message cannot. Anyway, people expect free information, freely given, on the web. Bucking that trend will be an uphill battle.

The perfect website doesn’t have to be pretty, though that doesn’t hurt. Instead, it should be fresh and vibrant, dymamic to the needs of the moment. It should be easy to maintain and practical. No need to hire a programmer on a daily basis, please. A great site is clear and consise in style, avoiding the burden of clutter.

A perfect site is one that you will continually perfect. You’ll be adding content, checking traffic, and search results on a regular basis. In short, if your site is gathering dust, it’s destined to be a dud in your marketing mix.

Finally, the perfect site complements the rest of your marketing, in print, and in the real world. It requires your energy and creativity on an ongoing basis.

The perfect website: the moment it’s done it’s time to start over.

How to create a company newsletter: a popular theory

Repurpose our general campaign creative. Extract products from our catalog. Give everyone a heads up on our Spring promotions. People will read it. It’s a NEWSLETTER, after all. True?

Enter the faux newsletter. The domain of marketers who either don’t respect their readers (i.e. customers and clients) enough to provide substantive content, or of marketers who are just confused.

A company newsletter is most successful when it opens and maintains an intimate conversation between real people. It is generous in content and in spirit. It avoids even a hint of self promotion. It is journalistic in style and pointed in its attitude. It’s more about substance than style. It proves that you have a story to tell, or if you have none.

In the Internet Age, reach and repetition have become something of a commodity; real communication remains more elusive.

Wanna’ talk more about newsletters? Check out our newsletter event; it’s your last chance to register.

Forget the elevator speeches and the boring chamber mixers. Follow this plan and you’ll be more successful in business and in life!

1. Concentrate on pinpointed target market(s).
2. Have at least two good reasons to add a name to your list.
3. Call to check names and titles on your list
4. Write great copy, for real readers.
5. Let copy define graphic design, not vice versa
6. Freely offer real value to your readers
7. Start small. Test and refine.
8. Scale up your best performing design.
9. Follow up all leads without delay
10. Make your product/service clearly best in class

Yes, building a program like this is a lot more work than a slapdash postcard sent to everyone and everything that moves within a 20 mile radius. Which is exactly why it works. Junk mail and spam are so very, very easy. Which is exactly why you should avoid them.

Where was the torment of the wrenching decision by handful of patriots that declared indendence from Britain? Where was the gripping oratory of John Adams?  Where was the story of sacrifice and hardship of Abigail Adams, and the eloquence of Thomas Jefferson’s pen? Why did my classmates have to endure a year that was filled with so little, when America’s history is teeming with gripping stories just waiting to be told.

If you’d like to learn how to write copy for your next newsletter or direct mail letter, just watch HBO. Rent a DVD of John Adams and enter the world of our early patriots. Fear, passion, anger, suffering, laughter and joy; the full scope of human emotion. Tell a real story, and capture the minds of your listeners. It’s genetically coded in the human race.

So much of what arrives in a mailbox these days is devoid of anything a living breathing human being can relate to. Postcards and brochures are often no more interesting than a supermarket shopping list. Newsletters: thinly disguised billboards. Web pages: just add liquid and you’ve got your own website in 30 minutes or less. Nice to look at, but no substance.

Is it any wonder that high and low, folks are clamoring: “stop the spam?”

Our lives are filed with stories. Turn your senses in their direction. Be it lawn service or Attorney at Law, you’ve got a story to tell. People will listen.