8 Great Giveaway Ideas

Realtor Magazine Online had an excellent article on Giveaway Ideas for Realtors, but they apply to most businesses and professionals.

Potholders and house-shaped refrigerator magnets which were a staple giveaway in the past have given way to items that are unique, creative, and fun.

Choose items that are appropriate for your target prospects and fit your marketing message. When suitable, add your logo, web site and phone number to the giveaway, but the most important thing to remember is not to make the logo so big that they’ll never use the gift. In the case of memo pads and magnetic fridge calendars less is more. Who wants to write a not on a piece of paper that has advertising on half of it.

Following are some good ideas from the article.
1. Moving Day First-aid Kit Provide a moving day kit filled with such items as snacks, paper towels, plastic cups, bottled water, flashlights, aspirin, and carton openers. Don’t forget the phone number of the favorite local pizza delivery spot, along with a coupon.

2. Mother’s helper.
Bottle warmers, bibs, and diaper bags are great for new parents. Form a partnership with a local hospital and sponsor the gifts they give to new parents.

3. Sports-related items.
Imprint your logo on kites, baseball caps, sports water bottles, ball markers, sports towels, tennis balls, and walking odometer.

4. Stress reduction.
Help them wind down after stressful weeks of looking for a home or unpacking. In a basket, include bubble bath, tea and cookies, a bottle of wine, potpourri, candles — and, if you’re really creative, some names of potential babysitters.

5. Home-related gifts.
Give clients or prospects something that shows you understand how much they love their home: bird feeders, a doormat, a newspaper or home-improvement magazine subscription, attractively potted plants, flags and gift certificates to a local hardware or home improvement store.

6. Relocation kit.
They’ll appreciate things that will help them learn their new city quickly. In the kit, include things such as: a laminated folding map of the city, a list of the best restaurants in several price ranges, five local points of interest with directions on how to get there, phone numbers of local movie theaters, little-known historical facts about the area.

7. Home office options.
Post-it notes, custom mouse pads, cool pens, computer glare screen, and thermal coffee mug.

8. High-end options.
Custom door wreath, crystal vase or paperweight, matching Coach key rings with house keys, and caviar and champagne.

One study I read recently pointed out that people feel less guilt spending a gift certificate than they do cash. Think of a gift certificate that they would not buy themselves; a his and her spa treatment, day fishing expedition, hand car washes, a night at a downtown hotel or a tour of their own city.

Pick a Color, Any Color

One of the most difficult phases of creating a new brand or designing marketing material is getting all of the parties to agree on the same color. (colour in Canada and the UK)

While most of our clients can provide a general idea of the colors they would like and we always recommend what colors we think will work best, it is important to understand the client and their target market as colors convey different messages. While I won’t pretend this is an area I know much about there are great web sites that will provide the proper definitions such as:

RED: Red is associated with anger, aggression, blood, sex, and power.

BLUE: Blue is associated with water, sky, masculinity, coolness, peace, knowledge, contemplation, loyalty, trust, and justice.

YELLOW: Yellow is the first color your eye will see. Yellow is associated with wisdom, sunshine, joy, radiance, intellect, and idealism.

Picking Colors

The first step in many projects is to determine a color palette. Often we send clients to ColourLovers.com where they can poke around until they find a palette or two they like. The advantage to us is that we then have the hex or RGB codes as a starting point.

The use of acronyms in printing is nauseating for the uninitiated and you will read about RGB, CMYK, HEX and Pantone, but what do you need to know?

Color printing is the reproduction of an image or text in color (as opposed to simpler black and white or monochrome printing). The method used to print a full range of colors, such as for reproducing a color photograph, is referred to as four-color process printing because it used three primary ink colors — cyan, magenta, and yellow, plus black (abbreviated as as CMYK).

Another method of full-color printing is six-color process printing (for example, Pantone’s Hexachrome system) which adds orange and green to the traditional CMYK for a larger and more vibrant gamut, or color range.

Color printing can also use “spot color” inks, alone or in combination with the four-color process method. Spot color inks are specific formulations that are printed alone, rather than mixed to produce various hues and shades. The range of available spot color inks, much like paint, is nearly unlimited and much more varied than the colors produced by four-color process. Spot color inks are used to print colors from subtle pastels to fluorescent greens and oranges to metallic silvers, golds and other finishes.

Best advice is to leave the acronyms to us.

Now We Have the Color

Or at least we think we do. It gets a bit tricky working over the phone with clients as we have found that no two computer monitors or displays will show the same color and no two printers seem to print the same color; and that’s where the problem starts. More than once the client is talking about the lovely mauve and I am looking at a blue. At this phase we often send clients to look Site Pro Central or December where we can discuss colors they like on the web site.

Prior to generating a proof from the printing company we often we send a proof of the design to the client and the color they see will vary depending on whether we print it on a color laser or color inkjet printer. I have learned never to trust this color. The printing stage is where the color choice is most critical and this is where we rely on a proof generated on a high end Epson printer to show the client. This proof is as close

Logo Logic

In a recent post on Marketing Profs about logos, Jared McCarthy provides some excellent advice.
Design in black and white. It’s easier to evaluate the quality of a logo when rendered in black and white. Color can mask a design’s weakness. Therefore, ask your designer for initial presentations in black and white.

Shape and style matter more than color. Most successful logos are simple in design, e.g. Nike’s swoosh or the stylized font of Coca-Cola’s name. They are also sufficiently versatile to make a statement in any situation, whether on the side of a bus, on a business card or embroidered on a shirt. Should you decide on a complicated design, make sure the central element can be clearly recognized in the blink of an eye.

Color counts. Don’t pick a color simply because it’s your favorite. You might love blue (which conveys heritage and dignity), but a fun and cheerful orange hue might better serve your business. Also remember, the colors you choose will have to be consistently and accurately reproduced in various media.

With a simple—yet distinctive—design and the right color choice, you’re on your way to a successful logo.

What are the typical steps followed to design a logo? We ask a number of questions to get the project moving forward such as:

1. What is the company’s mission statement?
2. How would you like for your company to be positioned within the market place?
3. Please provide 3-5 examples of company logos that you like, along with reasons why you like them.
4. Do you have type style preferences? (Script, light, heavy, etc.)
5. Do you have any symbol preferences? (Minimal, abstract, etc.)
6. Can you suggest specific dos or don’ts for your logo?

Following are some of the logos we have designed recently: