The door hanger that hung itself

On my front door I found this door hanger. It grabbed my attention instantly as it looked like a paint swatch. Without reading anything my brain when instantly to it's paint chip file, which led to further inspection.

Upon looking at it more closely, a second time, I saw there were words under the color blocks. It reads, "Why it takes a college education to paint your home." In art terms we call this a "second reading" as it was not the first thing we saw, it took a closer or second look.

The headline "Why it takes a college education to paint your home." tied nicely to the logo and name of the company "College Works Painting." The tagline under the logo "A higher degree of painting" followed the theme. It art and branding terms we would say its cohesive.

Flipping it to the backside we are rewarded with their second headline "Ninety-nine percent of a great paint job has nothing to do with painting." As you can see this is followed by a string of nine bullet points, logo, phone, website and license number. The 888 number and noticeable lack of address raise my suspicions. This is starting to feel like some kind of thin franchise deal. Speaking of thin, the paper is lightweight and the ink from the other side is visible. In art lingo we would say "it's bleeding through." The front is printed in just one color, blue and the back is printed in two colors, blue and black. The black is used as a percentage and appears grey.

They totally lost me with the headline on the backside of the piece "Ninety-nine percent of a great paint job has nothing to do with painting." I am sorry, as homeowner, I want a great paint job. The bullet points below don't adequately "pay-off" or explain the statement.

The second headline introduced a huge quality of doubt. The refrain in my brain is "Wow, they are only going to spend 1% of their attention on the actual paint job." Which leads me to "So, their college-aged enthusiastic sales person is going to give me a quick estimate, with a great price. Their college-aged painters will, show up on time, smell good, smile, finish on time and slop some paint on my house, get paint all over my driveway and use the wrong color."

Ok, now you've got me going on playing the rest of the scenario out. When I call to complain about my sloppy paint job the college-aged customer service person is going to tell me that "The painters tried hard and did their best and besides my Mom says it looks good!"

The good: Cohesive concept, they used the college theme throughout.

The bad: The text failed to communicate a compelling message. Instead instilled a feeling of distrust and doubt.

The ugly: The piece was printed on thin paper and in only two colors. It gives the impression of being cheap.

This door hanger hung itself. 

I think I will walk over to my neighbor, Todd, a local contractor with gnarly hands and a gruff attitude and ask him about painting my house. He seems like a better bet.

Love thyself; Love thy brand

Any successful businessperson will tell you that they have to authentically believe in the product they offer. Every product has features and benefits, as well as weaknesses and flaws.

In marketing we “tell the better” story. For example if we are marketing Coke, we talk about how it is “the pause that refreshes” not the drink that is full of sugar.

In personal branding – YOU are the product. In order to have a successful business, you need to LOVE the product, you represent – YOURSELF!

As simple as this may sound, many Solopreneurs (solo-entrepreneurs) have a lot of trouble talking about them without apology.  This happens for several reasons. Many of us have been taught at an early age that it is not good to “toot your own horn. We have also been instructed that it is rude to talk about yourself and even worse to talk about yourself in a positive manner. These old beliefs hinder your ability to present yourself in a dynamic, confident manner. When you operate under such a belief system you greatly hinder your ability to have the kind of success you deserve and desire.

Solopreneurs are afraid that they will sound like they are selling themselves. If you can change your belief and know that you have something of value to offer (and YOU DO!) you are then simply letting people know what you do in case they need your help. There is no selling needed. In fact, if you fail to let those you come in contact with know what you do, you are doing them a great disservice.

Next time you introduce yourself remember to do it with pride. Speak clearly, with authority. Leave the apology and self-deprecating attitude behind. You will become instantly more attractive and may even hear the three little words we all long to hear – tell me more!

It’s your brand shout about it!

The Super Simple Secret of Values

When signs or other graphics are hard to read it is often because the VALUE of the colors are too similar. 

Value is a term used to describe the lightness or darkness of colors. 

If you take a color image and convert it to a gray scale image you can easily see what the values of the color are. The same is true when you make a B&W xerox copy of a color page.  

When signs or other graphics are hard to read it is often because the value of the colors used are too similar. 

Look at the example above. You can see they have used two very different colors - red and blue. When the photo of the sign is converted to a gray scale image (the image on the bottom) you can see how similar the grays are. 

If you keep this super simple concept of values in mind when you are putting together your next document, flyer or presentation it will be more attractive and much easier to read. 

It is all a matter of lightness and darkness! 

What Can You Do to Solve the Problem?

Most of the time people are more than willing to tell you what can’t be done and why it can’t be done, specifically and in detail. However, the same person doesn’t offer up any solutions of what CAN be done. Or worst yet, many people are willing to accept, without a protest or contest, defeat.  This “Oh well!” attitude is expensive. Are we all really that willing to give up at the first sign of difficultly? Are you? Do you ever ask yourself what you can do to solve the problem?

When you live in a deadline driven world, like I do, where excuses are not acceptable you learn to be resourceful. The magazine doesn’t care that the client changed their mind fourteen times, they still need the art for your ad before the deadline. If you don’t want to pay for a blank page, you had better get your art in.  End of story.

This willingness to give up is even more baffling when you consider the plethora of resources we all have available at our fingertips. If there is even a hint of a solution, a quick internet search will confirm or deny the suspicion. Chances are the problem you are having, others have had too.

The next time you find yourself explaining to your clint, boss, husband, child, mother, vendor, what you can’t do. Take the next step and offer up what you CAN do to solve the problem, make the situation better, make things easier in the future, etc. Better yet, offer several solutions, with details and options. You’ll be the hero, even if they don’t act on any of them.

Being a problem solver will make you more valuable, and you may even be called a lifesaver!

People fear public speaking, death and a white piece of paper.

Here is your assignment: Write about anything! Write any length in any format on any subject or subject. It is wide open and it is all up to you. Take all the time you need or want. That’s a pretty frightening order, isn’t it?
This is exactly what most people face when they go to post online. They have no idea what to say or why they should be saying it in the first place. They write about their kids, express their scorn or post funny pictures of themselves dancing with a bear in Cabo. Or they write nothing. After all, the confused mind says “no.”

When you know what your Personal Brand is, what your topics are, what your tone of voice is and know what business you’re in you have a basis, a platform, to talk from. A position, if you will. You have a lens to view the world through.

Take anything, say the word “white.” As a creative designer I might choose to talk about how white is the greatest background color because it is the most forgiving and the most versatile. And how it is the most used. I might compare and contrast it with black as a background color.

A graphic designer might talk about all the different whites available in papers from a cool whites to warm whites.
A chief might talk about egg whites.
A fashion designer when to wear white
A businessman talk about White papers
An accountant white collar crime
A dentist about white teeth
A teacher about white index cards

And then there is all kinds of other white things, such as:
White vinegar
White noise
White hot
White roses
White knight
White house
White space
White light
White elephant
White symbolism

Now add a form or format – a 160 character tweet, a 300 word blog, an article, a book, a page, a paragraph.

If I now say to you write two paragraphs on the word white, could you do it? I’ll make it easier – you have 15 minutes!