David Langton - Visual Marketing: 99 Proven Ways for Small Businesses to Market with Images and Design

Contents

Copyright 2011 by Langton Cherubino Group Ltd., and Anita Campbell Associates Ltd. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Langton, David, 1961

Visual marketing : 99 proven ways for small businesses to market with images and design / David Langton, Anita Campbell. 1

p. cm.

ISBN 978-1-118-03567-2 (paper); ISBN 978-1-118-14369-8 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-14367-4 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-14368-1 (ebk)

1. Small business marketing. 2. MarketingGraphic methods. I. Campbell, Anita, 1956 II. Title.

HF5415.13.L343 2011

658.8dc23

2011021455

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

To Norman Cherubino, principal and cofounder of Langton Cherubino Group, Ltd., for his visual acumen and ability to discern what projects exemplify the best in visual marketing. Norman serves as the chief researcher for the book, and without his contributions, this book would never have been completed.

To Susan Payton, president of Egg Marketing & Communications, for her tireless efficiency in pulling together the information for the 99 examples and for her creativity in technical editing. Susan serves as our technical editor, and without her, this book surely would have taken far longer.

Thanks To

Kathi Elster, for sharing her experience and insight as a marketer and author; Jim Keller, for his wit, eloquence, and supreme visual intelligence; Veronica Sozek, my first art teacher, for inspiring me to think visually; Richard Walsh, who was the first small-business owner to influence me; and Peg Patterson, Hannah Shatz, and Teri Scheinzeit, for serving as my gurus when Norman and I started Langton Cherubino Group.

I descended from a small-business owner and a typesetter who set type by hand. My maternal grandfather, Walter Walsh, founded his own flower shop in Woonsocket, Rhode Island; lost it in the Depression; and rebuilt it again. My paternal grandfather set type for the Providence Journal and edited the Fox Point Rambler during WWII. Both influenced my destiny.

Thanks to our editor Dan Ambrosio and editorial assistant, Ashley Allison at John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Kudos to Geoff Williams, who wrote about me in Entreprenuer.com , and thanks to Peter Shankman for creating HARO.

I would like to thank my parents, Austin and Carol, for their never-ending encouragement and support. I dedicate this book to the ones who have seen me at my best and worst and everything in between: Rachael, Jae Min, and my one and only, Shelley.

David Langton, May 2011

How do you start giving thanks in a book with so many ideas like this? Its like trying to bottle up the atmospherean impossibly large task. Each day in my travels on the Web and to events across the United States, with countless interactions with talented people, I am inspired. I couldnt possibly name everyone Ive learned from (Id need half a book just for acknowledgments!), but there are a few people I would like to single out.

John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing has taught me a lot about marketing and given me pointers on book authoring. Ivana Taylor of DIYMarketers.com taught me how to break down marketing ideas into achievable projects on a small-business budget: after talking with her anything seems doable. Aaron Wall of SEOBook.com runs an online community where I met some of the entrepreneurs profiled in the book and where Ive learned much about the art of presenting information on the Web. And then theres my dedicated staff: Staci Wood, Amanda Stillwagon, and Marie Hernan, along with the outside professionals we work with. You know who you are. And, of course, there are the many thousands of small-business owners and entrepreneurs Ive run into on Twitter, Facebook, and in my travelsespecially the loyal readers of SmallBizTrends.com and BizSugar.com . Its because of you that I cant wait to get to my computer in the morning.

Special thanks go to Dan Ambrosio, our editor, who kept after me to write a book. The odd irony is that I write so much each day online that I never thought Id find the time to write a book. Then one day Dan introduced me to my coauthor, David Langton, in a Starbucks (where else?) near Grand Central Terminal in New York. From that fateful meeting, this book took shape. Much appreciation to our editorial assistant Ashley Allison and the rest of the people at Wiley for supporting us, too.

A quick nod to Wufoo, 37 Signals, and Google Apps: without your virtual collaboration tools our book team (spread out literally from sea to shining sea) could not have functioned.

Last, but most important to me, is my husband, Kevin, who has put up with my long hours but is always there. Youre my rock. I draw strength from you more than you know.

Anita Campbell, May 2011

INTRODUCTION

This book is an idea starter. Expect this book to stimulate your senses. Inspire you. Spark ideas. The 99 hand-picked examples in Visual Marketing are from organizations just like yours that have successfully used visual elements in their marketingwith solid results.

Why Visual Marketing?

The world is visual. We use our eyes to take in much of the content that influences our behavior, tempers our reactions, and informs our decisions. Whether its on the Web, in a brochure, or live in person, the most effective solutions are ones that unexpectedly grab our attention.

Thousands of books about marketing have been written, including many good ones. Few, however, focus specifically on that intersection point between design (the visual) and marketing
(influencing buying behavior), or do so on a scale that small businesses will find relevant. Yet theres never been a better time in history for small businesses to explore using electronic, print, and three-dimensional visuals. Technology puts it within the reach of small businesses to use visuals in our marketingvisuals that previously only the largest corporations could cost-effectively design and implement. The Internet makes it convenient to find and hire design professionals