Building Your Startup Business

From Scoops about Commercial Color Printing,
A regular column by an Alumbo member, Apr 10, 2008         

Summary: What is the key to most successful businesses? Marketing. After all, you can have the best product in the world, but if no one hears about it, it is not going to matter.

 
What is the key to most successful businesses? Marketing. After all, you can have the best product in the world, but if no one hears about it, it is not going to matter. Unfortunately, not everyone can afford to put a 30 second spot on the Super Bowl. That is where commercial color printing comes in to play. A brand is a business’s identity. It establishes credibility, and a quick walk through the supermarket will confirm that people are willing to pay more for brands. The first step in developing a brand for your business is to know who you are. Are you an upscale restaurant or a dollar store? When you pick a name the two things to look at are how memorable it is and how easy it is to spell. Some companies pay up to $35 000 to research the correct name. Choose wisely--remember that this name is going to be on everything from business cards to radio ads. Next, you are going to want a logo, something simple and memorable. Think of a popular restaurant and odds are the first thing that pops into your head is the logo. If you see two golden arches, you assume that a McDonalds is there. So, you have a name and a logo, now you’re going to want to decide which colors to use. There are different advantages to each color and you should not pick your favorites. For example, red and orange are both known to stimulate appetite. How many fast food restaurants do you know that have at least one of those colors? Almost every single one. That is not a coincidence, nor should your use of color be. When you are building a new business one of the keys to survival is knowing your competition. Many would-be successful businesses take this too lightly. You should know everything you can about anyone in the area who provides anything remotely similar to what your business does. You need to know about more than their product though. You should know what they are doing for advertising, how long they have been in business, what worked for them when they were starting out--essentially anything, you can find. Building a business is not easy, and it never will be. Most businesses fail, usually because someone looked over a small detail. Maybe the market was poorly evaluated, maybe the product was rushed--do not let those be your excuses. Understand your market, and use the information you have gathered to attack it. That is the key to building a business. Kaye Z. Marks is a writer and an observer. She is continuously fascinated with the developments in commercial color printing technologies, which greatly help in the marketing and advertising campaigns of small to medium businesses.

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