| > | | | | professional (yep), businesslike (ditto), and creative (fer |
| How you present your company, particularly in a | | | | sure!) |
| first-time situation, has a lot to do with how you're | | | | So one of the first things we did after setting up the |
| perceived in the marketplace. | | | | videotape dupe rack and plugging the editing suite |
| Sad but true, you may be an absolute whiz with your | | | | together was to hire a professional designer and had |
| equipment and you may be a virtual expert in your | | | | him develop a logo. Simple, strong, colorful and |
| chosen field, but if your company looks like a bunch of | | | | eye-catching, it features our name and a graphic |
| amateurs, you personally may be treated like one, and | | | | device that resembles both a wave (Great Lakes |
| not get the respect (or the big budget projects) that | | | | --get it?) and an artfully draped piece of videotape. |
| you so rightfully deserve. | | | | We decided on our corporate colors --strong shades |
| If you've ever worked for a big corporation, no doubt | | | | of blue (for water) and green (for money), and locked |
| you've been specifically told how to use their logo, | | | | in a "corporate" typeface --one that would not vary, |
| what typeface to use for their name, and what | | | | regardless of where it was to be used. |
| corporate colors you must use for reproduction of | | | | And then we proceeded to put our new corporate |
| same. You may even have been handed a bulky | | | | identity/logo on EVERYTHING we could think of. Our |
| "Corporate Graphics Standards" binder, replete with | | | | shipping boxes. Our letterhead. Even our second |
| color swatches and exacting dimensions of everything | | | | sheets carried the simple wave device on the |
| from door signs to envelopes. The name of the game | | | | left-hand side. Our business cards, envelopes, order |
| is "corporate identity." And it's just as important for you | | | | forms, mailing labels, tape box labels, cassette top and |
| as it is any Fortune 500 company. | | | | spine labels, rate cards, service brochures, invoices |
| When you strip away all the clutter and marketing | | | | --even our equipment identification stickers carried the |
| gobbledygook, the real purpose of a corporate | | | | message in a consistent fashion. And even though my |
| identification program is to produce a system of | | | | partner (the business and finance guy) winced at the |
| graphics that is professional, attractive and that will | | | | cost of three-color printing for "throwaway" shipping |
| enhance the image of your firm. Such a program | | | | labels, I persisted. If we wanted to convey the image |
| should encompass all aspects of visual | | | | that we were big and slick and could deliver, we had |
| communications --including your stationery, advertising, | | | | to consistently look that way. |
| packaging, brochures, signage, trade show booth | | | | And it worked. The corporate identity we established |
| design, and other printed material that will be viewed | | | | accomplished its purpose. We were perceived as |
| by both current and potential clients. | | | | having our act together. |
| Okay, so you're not quite at the level of General | | | | The frightening thing about public perception is that we |
| Motors or Microsoft. It doesn't matter what size you | | | | in reality could have been totally unhinged and |
| are. Establishing and maintaining your corporate | | | | thoroughly unprofessional, working in our garages or |
| identification is very important in your marketplace | | | | basements with antiquated equipment, but our graphic |
| --whether you're doing business on a local, regional or | | | | identity made us look like we knew what we were |
| national scale. | | | | doing. Hence, people trusted us with their work. And |
| Why? Simple. Because whether you're a company of | | | | when we did a good job, they kept coming back. And |
| one, or a company of 100 people, you want people to | | | | we prospered for it. |
| remember you; you want to look like you know what | | | | The lesson here is to remember to present your |
| you're doing; you want to look stable, creative and | | | | customers and prospects a strong, consistent image. |
| --most of all --professional. | | | | Fragmented or sporadic adherence to this idea |
| Let me tell you how we made my last company look | | | | ultimately damages your corporate credibility. So |
| much larger than life. | | | | decide what you want to be in the mind of your public. |
| Great Lakes Video Services was incorporated about | | | | Take the time to develop a corporate identity program |
| a dozen years ago. At the time of our inception, the | | | | that says who you are and what you do, and exudes |
| staff consisted of yours truly, my partner and two | | | | professionalism. |
| part-time technicians, and we had two dinky offices on | | | | And when you've got it, use it! |
| a side street office building. | | | | Emblazon your name on everything from labels to |
| We were little. But we wanted to look larger than life. | | | | baseball caps, ads to vehicles, business cards to |
| We wanted to look like we were well-established | | | | building signs. Remember that synergy is strength, and |
| (which we weren't), savvy (which we were), | | | | consistency is the name of the game. |