Type Tips (Typography Tips for the Non-Designer)

Have you ever wondered if you’re using typography correctly?

As a creative person, designing with typography is something that has come naturally to me. As a designer, it was something I learned about during my time in college.

But I realize there are a lot of people that don’t know much about typography and the correct way to use it – from within simple Word documents to the design of a business card. Before you leave, hear me out:

Typography is an art form all on its own; it even has an anatomy, if you can believe it. Typography also comes with a specific set of rules that don’t have to be followed, but your type turns out much nicer (most of the time) when they are followed. There are exceptions to the rules, but that’s another post for another day.

For those that need a refresher, and those that just want a quick overview, this infographic gives all of the basic information needed to create anything using typography. Be sure to Pin and share, and if you want, let us know what you think!!

2015 Email Marketing Trends and Design Tips

It’s that time of year! When all of your marketing efforts are in full swing, and there are a slew of things on your plate to accomplish before the end of January (and this week)! That to-do list may include several things as far as marketing goes, but email marketing should be a pretty big focus – either starting, maintaining, or expanding it with your audience.

Week in and week out, if you are consistent, you send out one or more emails to your subscribers in hopes of accomplishing a goal. Whether that goal be to gain more web traffic, sales of a certain product, promotional materials, or company updates, you always (or at least you should) have an end goal in mind for every email you send out.

But how do you know what to send? How do you know what look to give it?  How do you know it will be relevant? How do you know it will create a feeling to generate leads and make a sale? How do you know it will get read before it’s deleted? How do you know your customers won’t be annoyed, unsubscribe and send it to spam?

Although you cannot fully know the answer to all of those questions, there are tools and tricks to help in prevention of many issues related to email marketing. From trends to analytics, we’ve compiled a bit of tips that worked in 2014 to help you out with your upcoming email campaigns for 2015, read all about it below!

2015 Tips for Email Marketing
– Know your audience: What they want, when they want it, and where they hang out. Show them you want their business by getting to know them.

– Provide value without anything in return. The more you give (don’t give away the house; sometimes the right article at the right time is all they ever want) the more valued your subscribers will feel. Don’t trash their inbox with just another junk email. Make the most of the time they give you.

– Be relevant. When you’re not providing value in terms of dollars (coupons, discounts, etc.), you’re providing value in terms of relevant content. #1 Reason for a failed campaign is irrelevance to the receiver.

– Take advantage of analytics and surveys. They allow you to peer into your subscriber’s mind and gain information to better provide for them. Not to mention, analytics are also a great tool to use for campaign ideas.

– Optimize for… everything at once. Expect your email to be viewed on a number of devices, and plan for it.

– Keep it simple, Shirley. Ask for an email, and maybe a first name. The world is moving fast, so quick is key. A follow-up email providing more value will allow for ample information-gathering in the future.

– Behave like a friend. Don’t be fake, or act like you know them (there’s a fine line here), but merely be friendly. Address them as if they are in person, right there in front of you. Couple it with some personalization, and you’ve got an email that could potentially stand out.

– Sweat the details. Go above and beyond to make your call to action clear. As a general rule, point it out, and ask for it. Name drop it a few times, where applicable, too. This also contains a fine line between selling and informing, so be careful to put it loud and clear only where it counts.

– Listen. Your subscribers are the life of your email campaign party. Use surveys (free ones, at that!) to survey your subscribers, learn what they want, why they subscribed, and better give them value.

2015 Tips for Email Marketing Design
– Pay attention. Layouts with more than one column need attention when dealing with different devices – they’ll stack differently than on a desktop, which could turn your content upside down.

– Rely on clicks… and swipes and taps. The level of interaction has heightened, so keeping attention is that much harder. Make it interesting, but quick.

– Personalize as much as possible. Include their name, your signature, things they liked from your site, etc. The options are endless. Don’t use this tactic to invade, but rather, persuade.

– Include social sharing, and even forwarding buttons. Sometimes this is left out (which is necessary on occasion) but driving traffic between the two is essential.

– Be effective. An email that has 20 different things going on isn’t going to capture any more attention than what it takes to hit the delete button. Your designer should be able to help you with this, but if not, search “effective email marketing designs” to get some ideas for yourself.

– Test it. Better safe than having to send one of those “oops, I did it again” emails (I’ve received 2 of those within the last two weeks!!)

– Check out this article for more tips on how to make your email campaign look good.
Let us know what helped, what didn’t, and any suggestions for a better email campaign. Tomorrow, we will share some awesome campaigns from 2014, and give you a freebie to get started!

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