22 Jul

Is Creativity in Marketing essential for Your Business?

By Todd Sayles In Branding, Healthcare, Marketing Tips, Marketing Trends /

Is creativity a marketing essential?

Marketers believe in love at first sight. Consumers are likely to fall for whatever catches their attention first and consequently, give the businesses what they want — sales. In other words, the eyes were always the first to decide. So can we prove that creativity in marketing is vital to every business especially now during the pandemic when most consumers’ decisions are heavily inspired by what they see in social media? We’ll see!

Think about this situation. Suppose there are two businesses, both wellness centers – WC X and WC Z, situated near each other.

Both businesses offer the same services including personal care, functional medicine, fitness, nutrition, and more. WC X has been in the business for 10 years now and they have established relationships with long-term clients, leaving them with consistent profit. WC Z came into the picture two years ago and was more costly. People started to visit them but it wasn’t doing well at first because customers already trusted the services of WC X. They started marketing their business through social media and later, people started to flock to their center and some of the long-term clients of WC X even started to visit them more often. That’s when they started to earn good profit.C X realized that social media was a more cost-efficient way to market their business than traditional media. They created their own page and promoted their products. However, they only posted photos of their center and soft copies of their posters. They thought, “why are we not getting more responses than them?”

WC Z Instagram page used an aesthetically impressive color scheme and flow of content. They posted close-up photos of females and their glowing skin, videos of someone getting a good sweat from the sauna experience, recipes that one could try for dinner, and even motivational posts which gained a lot of engagement. It showed what people could need, get, and at the same time, it captured the market’s interest.

So is creativity essential in marketing?

Usually, we would think that an established brand offering a proven quality experience is enough to keep the business running. It still is true. But fact check, new consumers are mostly captivated by how you present your brand.

This is where creativity rings as an essential part of marketing any business — wellness, real estate, service, retail, and more. You see, consumers want to be intrigued. They need to see the experience in a manner that makes them want to use your service.

So to answer your question, yes. Creativity in marketing is vital to every business and especially now with this pandemic since most people are already a click reach in social media.

Why Should Businesses Invest for Creativity in Marketing?

A Forrester study projected that shifting from technology to creativity in six years increases the return on investment (ROI) by almost 18%.

This is upon a comparison of adopting marketing technologies and investing in a more creative strategy.

Creativity in marketing is a true driver of success for every business. And now with this pandemic, business owners should really consider it.

You see, a crisis can be both good and bad for business owners. According to John F. Kennedy, whenever there is a crisis, you should learn to be aware of the danger but at the same time, recognize the opportunity.

While several businesses suffered greatly during the pandemic, others saw an opportunity to reboot, reassess and revamp their businesses. This is how you plan out an efficient comeback for your business.

Reassuring customers is a given. To do so, you have to work on improving your marketing tactics. Competition gets strong, especially in social media, since most business owners know where the audience is easily targeted. But how do you stand out from the competition?

Get really creative!

Creativity in marketing means having to think outside the box, taking risks, and exploring new ways to capture your audience’s attention. Think about how you can level up while dealing with this virus?

Healthcare centers may now start to welcome virtual consultations more frequently. Some entrepreneurs are now doing a lot of webinar sessions. Commercial real estate starts opening up space where one can work safely and conveniently without having to travel a lot. Wellness Centers start sending out care packages to their clients.

There are many ways to get creative. Sadly, not all business owners are willing to invest in creative marketing. They would think that these are additional costs. If you are one of these business owners, I encourage you now to think about all the things you have to take care of in your business. From human resources to building costs to inventories, marketing, analyzing business sales and dynamics, and overall, ensuring that all is well, it is definitely a full plate!

If you invest in marketing such as hiring a creative consulting agency to take care of your business, one task is taken off your list. It may be an additional cost but the value that you get from quality branding and convincing marketing initiatives could easily double the returns.

To unlock your brand’s full potential and leave your mark, here are some good reasons to invest in creativity for your business:

Creativity in marketing differentiates your business.
Creativity appeals to the mind.
Your creativity can allow you to create alongside your consumers.

Investing in creativity for your marketing initiatives brings an enormous amount of value to your business. To add, this can really be exciting for your business too. There are many ways you can get creative but consulting with the experts may be a good start. Call us today at 973-655-9396 and let’s see how we can get creative with your business!

To help you with your COVID comeback, let’s get you on a Marketing Retreat! This will offer you a half-day marketing research segment, marketing creative strategy document that comes from the retreat, marketing advice, and free food!

Todd Sayles, Principal of Creative Mind Consulting Group, has built a successful organization that services real estate, retail, hospital, and wellness clients among others. His team’s expertise includes problem-solving/market strategy, design, and marketing consulting, creative design, online website development, content, and design creation for digital media and print collateral, public relations, search engine optimization, and collaboration with outside designers and writers.

Creative Mind Design Group teams up with clients to strategize on marketing challenges and design goals. We come alongside companies to ultimately create inspired design alongside brilliant results.

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10 Feb

Ian Spaltar and Branding

By Todd Sayles In Branding, Spotlight /

This Black History month our team thought it would be a good idea to focus one of our posts on two topics. One main theme we’ve been hitting on lately is branding and the other would be African American History. How could we really bring the two together effectively? Right then it hit me. I remember watching a show on Abstract (season 2; episode 5) where I was introduced to Ian Spaltar. Ian Spaltar was Instagram’s Head of Design and now is actually the Head of Instagram Japan. He is well known for Nike’s FuelBand, the redesign of Instagram Logo and the stories function in Instagram. Ian Spaltar is also a mixture kid; his mother is black and his father is Jewish. I totally get it. Same as me. If you asked my father he’d say he’s black but really he’s both black (father) and Jewish (mother).

Ian on Branding

There are a few things I like about this episode of Abstract. Ian talks about the fact that good logos are not built in a day. He said to his boss when he was given the job to recreate the Instagram Logo that he wouldn’t see anything until 3 months. Realistically it can take that long when you’re looking at structure, color, usability, style, etc. The research and sketches that go into something like that would be enormous. Remember people already liked the original Instagram logo but as life goes on it loses its freshness. The owner was shocked but he trusted Ian so he let him have his time.

He also discussed collaboration. He mentioned collaborating with his team on sketches. I’m not sure how you could accurately create a new brand without collaboration. In our team there is collaboration all over the place. Even this post has at least 3 eyes on it.

Usability was discussed. The newly branded logo had to be able to fit different places. Online, for fun, in posters, flyers, Plaques, etc. It had to be something their consumers (1 in 7 people in the world actually) had to feel comfortable with.

Redesigning the App Interface

Past the logo change there were changes in the structure of the app. You needed attention to details. The redesign meant breaking down what was first there and reworking it to be better than what came before; better for business, better for users, etc. He talks about feeling out whats in the world to make space for the change needed in these project. I totally get that. I have to get out of the office. I have to go to lots of web and marketing events, museums, art studios, study people and have fun with my kids at the park and so on to really be connected to the change needed for our company to develop good design for our clients.

Being Black in Corporate America

Lastly I like that he has to think about his identity as a black person in this world. He says he chose places to work at wherein most of the people there did not look like him. “There’s a low bar and a high bar in these places for black people.” he says. Ian says “People don’t expect a lot from you (as a black person) but a the same time the price for failure seems very very high. Sometimes you can use that as motivation. Other times it can be crushing.” These situations ended up developing empathy in him.

I can relate to what he experienced, being a black-owned design agency in NJ. I also have struggled for corporate examples in the agency world that look like me. I know that on all our own branding projects our racially diverse group gives different perspectives and our absolute best and that makes me proud. Design agencies that promote diversity will see greater success as the branding effort will relate to a greater population.

For more on Ian checkout Abstract: The Art of Design: Season 2, Episode 4. Ian talks about getting to emotions from the app, differences in cultures of people using his app, his development of stories and more.

For further help with your branding click here. or give us a ring at 908-240-9649 to help you through the process.

Todd Sayles, Principal of Creative Mind Consulting Group, has built a successful organization that services real estate, retail, hospital and wellness clients among others. His team’s expertise includes problem solving/market strategy, design and marketing consulting, creative design, online website development, content and design creation for digital media and print collateral, public relations, search engine optimization and collaboration with outside designers and writers.

Creative Mind Design Group teams up with clients to strategize on marketing challenges and design goals. We come alongside companies to ultimately create inspired design alongside brilliant results.

05 Feb

3 Tips for Branding in this New 2020 Decade

By Todd Sayles In Branding, Marketing Tips, Marketing Trends /

This being the start of a new decade already introduces a new atmosphere that’s almost infectious. Companies like Quickbooks, Godaddy and more have re-branded for the new decade/year. There’s something this year that almost draws you to think of the possibilities. Can your company get better noticed with a new look? Can anyone claim the decade? Only hard work will get you there and time will ultimately tell the story.

What is branding though? Branding is many times thought of as your logo. In actuality that’s only a piece of the puzzle. When you brand your company right it can become your company’s identity. It becomes what your company embodies when someone thinks of or meets your company. A brand identity should look at the following:

Audience:

Connect with your audience. Is should make them feel like you understand their needs. One example are Birds Eye Foods’ Steamfresh bags that started in the early 2000’s. That company understood parents needed to prepare food quickly when they get home from work. They redesigned their packaging to fit a need and its worked out so much that other companies have copied them.

Go Daddy wanted to connect with their entrepreneurs better so they focused heavily on the “Go” part. They said “The GO is a clear statement of advocacy for entrepreneurs everywhere — a symbol of empowerment that encourages them to stand on their own two feet.”

Value Proposition:

It should stand out from the competition to make you identity your own. You need to keep an eye on your competitors to make sure your copy and graphics send a clear message that what you offer is important.

Mission:

A brand identity should have a mission to direct consumers as to where you’re going. Our logo was redesigned years ago to include “Inspired Design” and “Brilliant Results”. For the circles and “Inspired Designs” our ideas come from not just being on the computer all day but being a student of our clients, nature, art, our spirituality and so forth. We combine that with tracking, statistics and reports to lead us to better results for our clients. We’re not just about the design and we’re not just about stats. We’re about combining both better design lead by better stats which will give you brilliant results. This is what our clients strive for and we aim to deliver on.

Personality:

The colors, type, design and all should have a tone that’s all about you and your company, you and how you excite your consumer. As an example you see a new element surely meant to show love to their entrepreneurial consumers.

Multiple videos and images using the new element were released. A new light blue color was released surely there to connect with new businesses.

The actual parts of your brand may be different from other companies based on your needs and the client’s expectations. For some it’s a logo, brochure, website and business cards along with new copy. For others is a packaging design, logo, website, copy and branding guidelines document.

Branding for the New Decade

Either way in this decade you have to look out for the following:

How will I be seen in social media? How can your brand possibly be blasted to thousands/millions just by a marketing program that connects with your audience. For example Pop Tarts works with Twitter to connect to their youth. Their tone on Twitter is sarcastic and caters to that young Twitter-savy group.Can you recreate your branding to fit in each space which has its own tone? Sometimes a badly built logo (especially in font choice) will hurt you when used in different sizings.
What do you stand for? Nowadays politics in the Trump Era are non-stop. Values are important and people want to see that it’s not all about the money. How is your care for your consumer/clients being displayed? Nanawall designs and creates folding glass walls that rework spaces, such as opening up a bedroom to the outdoors. Their newest brand messaging campaign uses the tagline“Boundaries Unbound”, and other Un-words, like Unconstrained and Unprecedented to convey the unlimiting effects their products have on built spaces.
How are you looking forward in this decade? What ways can your brand be used to get out new projects, other new items and ideas? How can your brand expand at least into the next 3-5 years? One example is the new Today Show logo that was adjusted just to become more modern.
Look at the size of the circles to see the difference. The logo “pops” better in today’s more simple world.

If you follow these 3 tips along with the basics above you’ll be on the way to recreating yourself in a way that everyone in your target market could probably connect with.

For further help with your branding click here. or give us a ring to help you through the process. Here are some adwords packages available as well.

Branding