How do you position yourself in a highly competitive world overfull of information and advertising, yet surprisingly short of relevant, focused information? How do you stand out? What is the most useful way to spend your money?
Many options exist for how to market your company, from coupons and trade shows to brochures and visual or corporate identity elements, from events and newsletters to advertising and promotions. Puremedia will work with you to choose the elements best suited to your goal, product, market and budget.
Why do I need a brand?
The value of the world’s top brands is phenomenally big and their power is astounding. Brands are very big business.
Here we cover just enough to explain what a brand is and how much or how little of the work of brand building you need to do. These days the big brands rule when it comes to mass media, but thanks to new media options, it’s also never been easier to hone in on your target market.A brand is no longer just the shoe or any actual feature of the actual item you buy – the brand stands for the value of everything associated with the product name – and it can be measured in billions. But until you have a global brand, the way most people will encounter your brand will be firstly in the form of your corporate identity, and only then your advertising.
Your corporate identity is your company’s “wardrobe”
Your corporate identity (CI) consists of your logo, which is a visual treatment of your name, like Coca Cola; or a visual symbol associated with it, such as the Nike tick. This logo is professionally designed and applied to your business card; letterhead; fax; e-mail; quotation and invoice templates; compliment slip; possibly envelopes; vehicles and signage. Many “designers” out there will do this for you and even print shops offer the service. But remember that you get what you pay for. Cheap design, like a cheap suit, can’t be disguised. Find the most experienced and talented designer and choose a good quality paper stock and good printing.If you do nothing else in terms of branding, give the greatest attention to your corporate ID. It’s not a great expense, just design and print.
Advertising
which types do you need?
When we think of advertising we think of clever TV adverts. They cost millions and reach everyone in the country and beyond. Do you have that kind of money and do you need to reach all these people? If you’re local, no. If you’re targeting niche markets, no. But there are choices that reach your target market without waste.
Printing
complete your message with quality
Pure Media brings you the latest media technologies and services without compromising on quality!
PRINTING
Whatever the medium, Pure Media has the right solution for your publishing and print requirements.
High-end photographic art books, brochures, annuals, directories and catalogues can be printed to meet every commercial requirment. Text books, diaries, novels, Bibles and notebooks can be printed in hard or soft cover. We offer fully automated case binding, section sewing, foiling and finishing on environmentally friendly paper stocks.
PACKAGING
Custom printed boxes, packaging and labels are our specialty. We offer the full suite of packaging services: dye cutting, foiling, embossing, UV varnish, paper engineering, handwork and finishing.
Whatever you need to package and protect your product for maximum effect – Pure Media can deliver.
SIGNAGE
Pure Media is your one-stop shop for visual communication. We offer illuminated signage, LED billboards and signage systems for either indoor or outdoor applications. We do custom LED displays, trade show graphics and digital printing. We also supply pre-manufactured aluminium and steel signs.
PROMOTIONS
Add a bang to every event with branded corporate gifts, bags and totes, drinkware, caps, clothing and much more. We can trademark most products by laser engraving, embroidery, pad and screen printing. Complete your promotion with pull-up banners or an exhibition display stand.
Creativity
in other words, your message, in a compelling form
Creativity matters, because it gives your marketing Rand more punch. People want to be entertained. They remember their favourite adverts for years; even decades. Adverts like this are not just wildly effective; they are also part of popular culture.
But usually these adverts are the kind that we encounter in the mass media such as TV and national newspapers. The big budget kind. So does this mean smaller businesses should still aim for entertainment value and retention? Or should they be much more “hard sell”?
Lacking the budget for a giant double page spread or a 30 second TV spot, creativity and effectiveness for small businesses is more of a challenge, yet no less attainable. An agency specialising in small-to-medium businesses can and should put the kind of thinking into your marketing Rands that makes them work very much harder than you’d expect. Uninteresting and dull advertising will be ignored.
Just about any message, with R100 million behind it on billboards and appearing on TV several times every evening will have an impact. But clever use of targeted media, with clever creative work (copywriting and art direction) means you get more for your money.
Don’t be tempted by the offer some radio stations and newspapers make to create your radio advert free. They work in broadcasting and journalism and are not experts in creating radio ads. The rules are different for every kind of advert you produce, from print to radio to brochures.
Public relations
controlling the impression the public has of you
What the public thinks of you is derived from what you tell them in your advertising and – even more powerfully – what they read about you in the papers. Oil companies, political parties and multinationals spend huge sums to send the right message and to control the kinds of stories that emerge about them.
They use a range of mostly written materials, the basic one being the press release. Others include press kits, biographies, fact sheets, media alerts and photos with captions. For smaller companies, public relations (PR), has several great advantages.
1
Local media targeting – try to get to know local journalists to ask them to feature an article you supply. Write it well enough, and concisely enough, and they may print it as is. Provide photos (with captions) and they may like it even more, as will the readers. Do this regularly and establish the relationship and grow awareness very effectively.
2
Local media targeting – try to get to know local journalists to ask them to feature an article you supply. Write it well enough, and concisely enough, and they may print it as is. Provide photos (with captions) and they may like it even more, as will the readers. Do this regularly and establish the relationship and grow awareness very effectively.
3
It’s cheaper than advertising and is often free. Your costs are in writing the PR material professionally, which is very important to get it placed in the first place and in reaching the right media people via experts who know the field. But if you are a competent writer, you can do that yourself.
Internet options
from basic website presence to hosting your entire business
There many misconceptions about the Internet, mostly because it is young, full of potential, and fast growing. Like branding, it has become the territory of “gurus” who build mystique around it to make themselves indispensable. And hence some misconceptions, such as the idea that a simple website will magically transform your business.
As a result, it’s tempting to just do the basics, for example, put up a static “brochure site” that does no more than establish your credentials online, almost like part of your corporate identity. But it’s worth looking further than this.
Depending on your business, a wide range of cost effective and even free ways exist to market your business online. Think of a continuum with the simple static website on one end, then increasing use of online options including search engine optimisation (SEO); linking in with other sites for referrals and awareness building; blogging and use of social media like Facebook and Twitter. Depending on your product and your market, on the other end of the continuum is the genuine possibility of moving part or almost all of your business on to the Internet.
Promotions and events
ideal for smaller businesses
Promotions and events are highly targeted and are an integral part of building sales and supporting your sales force. They build customer loyalty through discounts, launches, and loyalty programmes. This makes them indispensable for businesses of all sizes, but because of their role in relationship building, they are particularly well-suited to small businesses.
Promotions are often eye-catching displays in stores, but promotions can happen via your salespeople, armed with an impressive-looking printed promotions kit or folder for customer or trade visits. Usually produced to be part of competitions and price deals, offers and discounts, promotions can also take place online.
