Maximizing A Too Often Overlooked Branding Tool

Next to your logo your stationery package is the most fundamental means of graphic communication in your business' branding arsenal – and one of the most powerful, and cost-effective, self-marketing tools at your disposal.

Written Aug 15, 2008, read 523 times since then.

Emerging technologies continue to force the most sacred corporate dogma and business practices to evolve. While many old tools and techniques are being rendered obsolete the traditional stationery ensemble - letterhead, business card and envelope - is more vital than ever.

Next to a logo the basic stationery package is the most fundamental means of graphic communication in any business' branding arsenal, and one of the most powerful self-marketing tools at your disposal. An engaging business card, letterhead or envelope can command undivided attention, communicating boldly or subtly the image, personality, spirit and attitude of your company. How you conduct business, and the quality of your products and services can all be made evident every time you hand out your card or forward a document on company letterhead.

10 Hints For Developing An Effective Stationery Package:

When designing, or redesigning, your company's materials, keep these basic guidelines in mind:

1) Look to the future. If you are planning on being in business for years to come (and I'm guessing that you are) strive for a design that avoids trends and will stand the test of time while remaining distinct and memorable.

2) See the big picture. Develop a design that translates from stationery to brochures, a web site, advertising, and all of your other branded collateral. Consistency among all of your corporate materials builds brand recognition, and is essential.

3) Express yourself. Your stationery will help people form an impression of your company. Let your personality and philosophy shine through in the design. For instance, a person's title on a business card says a lot about the organization. Are you "President & CEO" or "Big Cheese"?

4) Know your budget. Print twice as many as you think you'll need - it'll cost you half as much in the long run. Consider business card shells (sheets of cards printed with everything but employee names) so that when new hires come on board the printer can do a simple one color run to add the names.

5) It's all about geometry. A standard business card is 3.5''x2''. While you can break that mold, you're still working with a relatively small piece of real estate. Don't be afraid to use both sides. Don't let the design get in the way of your contact info. If the design obscures the information, the card is a failure. Make sure that your design can accommodate names like Hamilton Willougby Van Vulkenburg III, PhD - in type larger than 5pt. Also, remember that a business card is not a billboard or poster; it does not have to be viewed from across the room. People will still be able to see your logo if it doesn't take up half the card.

6) Don't skimp on quality production, because with printing you often get what you pay for. A proliferation of online resources offer full color, low cost printing with quick turn around. Many of these resources leave much to be desired. Cheap paper and materials, and low quality printing can reflect poorly on you. Seek qualified printers that are willing to guide you through the process, and work with you to ensure a satisfying final product. Insist on proofs before going to press, and consider doing a press check, to ensure the job is being run to your satisfaction. Don't be afraid to "stop the presses" if it is not. Reputable printers will be open to your involvement in this capacity, and encourage such collaboration.

7) Be "sheet-smart". The paper you use can say more than what's printed on it. The tactile sensations of weight and texture and the visual impact of color have strong subconscious affects and can communicate powerful messages. And, these days, the recycled content of the stock may also speak volumes about your business and products.

8) Be sure the paper you choose is compatible with your desktop equipment. Some coated sheets do not accept toner and ink very well, while some stocks may be too heavy to run smoothly through laser printers, copiers and fax machines. Paper mills and distributors can often provide you with specs and sample sheets for testing.

9) If you have a particularly adventurous envelope design (And you should. Nobody likes to receive boring mail.), confirm with the Mailpiece Design Analyst at your local post office that it conforms to regulations. You don't want to find out after you've printed 1,000 pieces that the design makes them undeliverable.

10) Use the pros. Don't cut corners, and don't try to do-it-yourself. A well-rounded stationery ensemble that takes into account all of the above truly requires the design acuity of professional practitioners. Make the investment in your business, and its future, by collaborating with design professionals who have a strong track record of success in brand development. Quality design and branding are an investment that will pay great dividends in the long run.

Learn more about the author, Ken Peters.

Comment on this article

Posted by Corbet Curfman, Seattle, Washington | Aug 18, 2008

Great article Ken. I could not agree more.

Sustainable Graphic Design & Brand Strategy
Posted by Brandi Pierce, Seattle, Washington | Aug 19, 2008

Lovely! =D

Come realize the power of COLOR.
Posted by Leta Laborde, DC, Bothell, Washington | Aug 20, 2008

Ken, Good timing for me as I am just about to go for new letterhead and logo. Am definately bookmarking your helpful article.. -Leta

Stress-less Strategies for Businesses & Individuals
Posted by mike young, seattle, Washington | Aug 20, 2008

Very nice information

Printing, seatttle, greenwood, Sustainable
Posted by Richard Whitaker, Federal Way, Washington | Aug 22, 2008

I met with a guy the other day who wanted me to refer him business. He didn't have a business card, brochure or website and couldn't understand why it wasn't enough to just tell me about what he did.

Success Connection
Posted by Debbie Rosemont, Sammamish, Washington | Aug 22, 2008

Hi Ken,

Great article.

Any thoughts on branding through your email signature? More and more I think that people use email to "send" a piece of communication or document that would have been sent via snail mail years ago. I know is still a need for a strong stationary/envelope presentation, but I wondered if you had any words of advice for people about their email signature as well?

Thanks!

Debbie

Professional Organizer and Productivity Consultant
Posted by Philip Shaw, Seattle, Washington | Aug 22, 2008

Ken, these tenets are the core! And nicely put in a way that business people can hear the rationale and not "design-speak", so congrats on a well-written piece of advice.

I have always been a HUGE advocate for the power of the business card and subsequently the impression of the stationary package that supports it. Regardless of subjectivity in design and whether individuals value smart design for a business card, I think it can be stated that your business card WILL leave an impression. To dismiss that power is an unwise decision.

I have also been on board with other recent discussion at BizNik on the power of handwritten notes, so it's always a good idea to encourage the client that a smart design that uses production costs wisely to yield a "notecard" can be a wise investment.

I look forward to hearing yours or others responses on Debbie question about email signatures. It's a tangled subject.

best, ps.

Philip Shaw
Posted by Ken Peters, Phoenix, Arizona | Aug 22, 2008

Hey Debbie

Thanks for reading and commenting.

Certainly a great deal of modern business is conducted electronically, via email. I agree that email signatures can be a valuable tool, and should not be overlooked. Including your phone, and a link to your web site, or a brief tag line are worthwhile.

With email, I believe less is more. Keep it simple. No background colors or textures. Your logo in your signature might be okay, but such attachments aren't always compatible with a recipients system, and can cause difficulties.

My own signature simply has my name, title, business name, tag line, direct phone, and web address. Sometimes I also include a second web address for my other business, when it would be pertinent to the recipient. No brick and mortar address. No fax. No unnecessary additional phones, and no logos or graphics.

Thanks for the input.
Posted by Ken Peters, Phoenix, Arizona | Aug 22, 2008

Philip

I absolutely agree with your comments on hand written notes. A personalized touch is always important, especially in today's fast-paced, often cold business culture.

That is one of the very reasons I believe that traditional letterhead and envelopes should not be overlooked. It's easy to shoot of an email. If I get something tangible in the mail, it communicates that somebody cared enough to take an extra minute or two, and that says a lot.

Ken
Posted by Philip Shaw, Seattle, Washington | Aug 22, 2008

Yep! We have designed a few packages, including our own in a way where the design of the letterhead makes for a 3-up notecard on 8.5x11 sheet. So after the quantity of letterhead is printed, we change out the paper to a thicker stock and that quantity gets trimmed down side to side and a little of the "letterheady" info trimmed off the bottom, to create nice notecards that fit in #10 business envelopes.

best, pss.

Philip Shaw
Posted by Joann Sondy, Traverse City, Michigan | Aug 23, 2008

Excellent article and advice. I have to throw my hat in with Debbie regarding the use of electronic-based communications. While I still believe in quality stationary for any company/individual and QUALITY is what sets most businesses apart from one another. It is becoming important to build one's social networking identity. I noticed one of the avatars here in the comment was done with "faceyourmanga[dot]com or similar.
Posted by Patricia Kaehler, Dayton, Ohio | Aug 23, 2008

Great Info...

The Business Card is the first step I make - prior to a project launch...

You are meeting so many people and making so many contacts when the launch ball begins to roll... it's essential to have a card to include in ad packets or put in someone's hand with a simile...

thanks for the info...

~Patricia K. DomainBELL.com
Posted by Carol Schiller, Bellevue, Washington | Aug 24, 2008

Sorry Ken, but I think you are only half right. Great graphic materials are the cornerstone of your presentation, true, especially if you sell a service and not a product. But no budget decision can be made in a vacuum and unless you deal in luxury goods, chances are that you are going to notice the paper choice a lot more than your customer.

I spent more than ten years working in high-end branded fashion where we regularly twisted ourselves up in knots over the minutiae of paper choice, visual materials and fixturing. We spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on keeping the art department busy with this stuff and you know what? The customer DOESN'T CARE.

Companies do need a strong logo and a reasonable business card presentation, but when forced to choose -- as small companies with small budgets almost always are -- stationary is just not that critical. Higher on the list should be web presence, and for consumer products : visual merchandising, hangtags and story cards, and of course, the actual product itself.

If someone starting out now asked me, "Should I spend my whole budget on a kick-ass website and have so-so stationary on thin paper, or spend much less on my website and have stationary on beautiful paper printed in colors that perfectly match the pantone colors of my logo", the answer would be easy: Pay as much as you can for the website, and let the stationary wait.

I only wish I had someone to tell me this when I first started, so I wouldn't have blown so much of my own early budget on this admittedly important, but not exactly critical business tool.

Since I first started Baby Chaleco I have met many mom-entrepreneurs whose businesses succeeded with only the most basic collateral materials. Not having marketing backgrounds freed them to focus on guarding their cash flow in the early stages and not blow a ton of money on materials their end consumer won't see.

It's great if you work for a big company and have plenty of cash to throw at every challenge but when you're small the choices are stark and hard.

So, think twice before you spend several thousand dollars on a stationary package - and yes, that is what it costs for the good stuff. You might just find you can get by with something that's just reasonably decent if not exactly impressive, and still get where you want to go.
Posted by Philip Shaw, Seattle, Washington | Aug 24, 2008

Carol, I think Ken's point is to not overlook the power of a tactile experience that extends credibility – and that doesn't mean just the thickness of the paper or the cost of producing the design.

All of your points are valid and priorities based on returns should be the cornerstones of any marketing efforts in a business plan, whether you are a start-up or a multi-national organization.

I believe that truly having responsible marketing professionals to guide you through what works, and when, is important – and in some cases: for people who network hard and have a services oriented value proposition, business papers ARE important.

I agree with you in that far too often "designers" advocate for an expense to their client based on ego, or desire to see their designs produced with high production value, or simply because they are coming at it from a narrow perspective: as designers, not a marketing mind. We all know that "design" has a value and designers are taught to herald that call, but at what expense? That is the question. If the designer does not have a marketing/business oriented mind, they give all of us in the ad/marcom/design agency world a bad reputation: that we spend our client's money irresponsibly on testing our crazy ideas without any evidence to back it up.

What I do like about this, Ken's post, is that it brings up this conversation and allows all of us to dig deeper into the nuances of the subject.

Philip Shaw
Posted by Ken Peters, Phoenix, Arizona | Aug 24, 2008

Carol

Thanks for taking the time to read and comment.

I am not advocating overspending on these materials. My intent was to point out their importance and their place in a comprehensive brand strategy, and that they should not be overlooked and undervalued. Dynamic and powerful solutions can be achieved on small budgets. In fact, to a competent designer, budget restrictions don't pose difficulties. In no way am I suggesting that marketing/branding dollars should be spent on stationery if it makes more sense for a particular business to put those dollars toward something else. I'm simply saying that a thin, wet-noodle of a business card, with poor typography and a cluttered design, communicates a host of bad things about the business it represents.

Also, I strongly disagree with your advice to "pay as much as you can for the web site". In modern business an online presence is a critical component to success, and it's easy to be dazzled by the bells and whistles (and the promises) of a flashy web site. But, to succeed, branding must be approached holistically. EVERY consumer touchpoint is an opportunity to build brand equity – from the intangible ease of navigating a well designed web site, to the tangible sensation of holding and leafing through an attractive brochure. That expensive web site will generate a stronger return on investment if it is supported by intelligent and well executed branding. And yes, that branding could boil down to an engaging business card that compels someone to visit the web site in the first place.

My experience is that consumers do care about design. Business Week magazine agrees. They recently stated, "Design -- more than quality, technology or top-down strategy -- is the one factor that can make long-term profits for a company." This carries across the board, from the design of your logo, business card, and web site, to the design of your products, and the factories that produce them. The most successful companies know this, and execute their branding accordingly, and it helps them succeed.

You won't get caught in the minutiae of paper choice if you collaborate with a competent, professional designer who can guide you through the process, and let you know when paper choice will make an impact or not. Consumers DO care. Bad design can be as memorable as good design. A business has to decide how it wants to be remembered.

Graphic design and branding are not superfluous decoration. But, treating them as such can make a brand, and the company behind it, appear superfluous itself.
Posted by Michele Edwards, Kirkland, Washington | Aug 26, 2008

Thanks Ken! I enjoyed reading this article and found it to be very informative and also enjoyed reading the view points.

All forms of marketing has its place and balance pending on the business.

Perforated and / or bubble jet printed cards on flimsy card stock or home printed stationery letterhead simply look and are "low budget" and “homemade”. How we dress, how we speak, what we hand out, they all create impressions

In this increasingly electronic info inundated world, the bottom line is hard copies command focused attention. Junk mail in the mailbox is at an all time low, junk mail in email is at an all time high.

Logo & design layouts are a large factor of what racks up printing costs.

Qty of colors, logo size vs. text among other factors, contribute to printing costs for stationery, flyers, silk screen and embroidery etc...

Even if someone has a Ma and Pa Cookie Co., they don't need expensive stationery but it's still important to have consistency, branding and a level of quality. Most likely, retailers and specialty shops are some of their clients; therefore it’s important to not accidentally leave an impression that the cookies are baked with low quality cheap ingredients by people who don't care, cooking in the home kitchen while the dog is running around.

Whether it's ma and pa or a professional quality image, people throw away business cards after they get them but it's what we want from each other and It’s what we give to others when referring someone's services.

Scenario: 2000 cards / 300.00. We'll buy a client a 3.00 Latte to sit down and talk to us. I think 15 cents is a good value to help get them there.

I know what you mean about understanding the price breaks. In printing the next thousand may only cost 25.00 instead of 200.00. It's always good to find out!
Posted by Ken Peters, Phoenix, Arizona | Aug 26, 2008

Thanks for reading and commenting, Michelle. You're spot on with your analysis. And, your cookie and latte metaphors are sending me to Starbucks right now!

Best
Posted by Jim Carney, Bellingham, Washington | Oct 13, 2008

We spend more on candy and cookies for our reception area than on paper and business cards. Timing is also important. There is no way we would pull our comps to the public at this time. We can also make our own cards and brochures so sometimes we too, are faced with less quality paper choices just to get our card stock thru the machine. But lay out, color, brand, logo, picture, and design all go into a good card. We even put a few association logos on the back. Lots you can do with a good card! Great tips.

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