You’ve been tempted by crowdsourcing. Crowdsourcing, according to Wikipedia, “is the act of outsourcing tasks, traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, to an undefined, large group of people or community (a crowd) through an open call.” In the last few years, many websites have popped up that are meant to take the place of the pricier, personal relationship with a graphic design freelancer or design firm, by providing a forum where people can purchase custom logos and graphics through what is essentially a contest where there can be only one winner (and all the other participants walk away with no monetary compensation for their efforts).

Design contests in the graphic design industry have long been frowned upon. These contests started because someone wanted person all the benefits of a professionally-designed something without having to risk not liking what the hired person developed. So a contest ensued- previously on such websites as Craigslist – where there is a monetary “prize” was offered for the best t-shirt, illustration, logo, and any interested designer can participate. The problem with these contests was that as a designer, you were essentially putting in hours of work for no guarantee of any payment, not even if your design was a “winner.” If a person was so unscrupulous and stingy that they rejected the idea of hiring a person to do a job and having to actually (gasp!) pay them for their time and effort, then what’s to stop them from declaring a winner, using your “losing” design in their business and paying you nothing for it?

Just as there are no guarantees in dealing with unscrupulous buyers, there are equally no guarantees in dealing with desperate designers (such as the ones who are working for crowdsource sites like 99Designs). You could end up with a logo that’s a copy of a logo from a different part of the country or heck, the world. How would you know? Are you willing to stake your reputation on the fact that the designer behind the virtual curtain isn’t just recycling something already in existence?

I’ve visited sites like 99designs.com several times both last year and this year just to see how they’re doing and I’ve seen a marked degradation in design quality. Maybe 2009 was a particularly bad year, economically, and many good designers did work for that site just to stay busy. Maybe since then they’ve gotten more clients or have been hired by local firms. I don’t know. In any case, what I’m seeing these days on crowdsourcing sites are logos that are blatant rip-offs of other (international) logos, really bad recycled stuff and just inappropriate and amateurish design. The thing is, on many of these sites you have to pay at the end of the week for your project whether you like the product or not. And it’s not that cheap – $300 minimum for a basic logo, but people are paying $500-700 for medium quality. That’s just the logo. That doesn’t include anything else.

It’s my prediction that the push-a-button-and-get-a-design-cheap won’t take off in full for a few reasons:

1. The quality of those design contest websites depend on mostly developing country talent and therefore the truly talented won’t stick around. They’ll get a job or clients who are willing to pay for quality and one-on-one customer service.
2. You can’t really communicate with the designer  freely the way you would with someone you could e-mail directly or just talk to on the phone (not to mention if they don’t speak English or have poor English) to ask for special things or make changes in the future. You have to initiate a new project each time.
3. How do you handle things like edits to a publication? That’s like half the design process on things like brochures, newsletters and annual reports.
4. While you are entitled to a refund for your design project if you get cited for trademark and copyright infringement or if you can prove that the logo is defective in some way, chances are you will have already spent money on such things as business cards or other marketing collateral. Ooops.

So will crowdsourcing be the death of the design firm? I don’t think so. Bottom line is, you get what you pay for. It also depends on who you are and what you want. If you’re a start-up little mom n’ pop who just needs a drawing of a funny chicken to serve as a logo for your local sandwich shop, yeah, go ahead and hire one of these services for a few hundred dollars or less. But if you’re a company that’s going to be dealing with a lot of other businesses and your reputation is important to you, you’d better be careful. Know with whom you’re doing business. Hire accordingly.

Have you ever seen a low-budget advertisement or printed piece where the photos were blurry or even pixilated, like the image shown in this article (in a square grid of pixels)? This happened because the designer used a “low resolution” digital photo – most likely something that was below 150 pixels per inch, or even as low as 72 pixels per inch, which is the DEFAULT resolution setting on any digital camera.

In order to create a high resolution image from a photo taken with a digital camera, a designer imports it into a photo manipulation program like Adobe Photoshop and goes into the “Image Size” dialog box and “constrains” the resolution, so that while the resolution goes from 72 pixels per inch to the ideal 300 pixels per inch, the size (in inches) of the image actually shrinks. If a designer were to use a typical photo taken by a cell phone camera exactly AS-IS, which on the computer screen looks to be about 4×3 inches, the resulting photo would be pretty blurry in print. On the computer it still looks okay. That’s because a computer monitor is 72 pixels per inch. But the dots, or pixels, of offset or digital printing, are much, much smaller and require a tighter resolution than 72. (Incidentally, the image shown with this article contains a photo that’s about 25 pixels per inch next to one that’s 72 pixels per inch. Since you’re looking at this on a computer screen, only a resolution of 72 is needed for quality and clarity.)

Without having Photoshop, how would you, the client, know how large your photos will be able to print and still retain good quality? Take a look at your camera settings and compare them to the chart below:

If your camera’s photo resolution setting is…

3888×2592 = Your photo will print out 12.96 x 8.64 inches at 300 pixels per inch.

2816×1880 = 9.387 x 6.287 inches at 300 pixels per inch.

1936×1288 = 6.453 x 4.293 inches at 300 pixels per inch.

1200 x 1600 = 4 x 5.3 inches at 300 pixels per inch.

640×480 (most cell phone cameras) = 2.133 x 1.6 inches at 300 pixels per inch.

Here are some Do’s and Don’ts regarding digital photos and resolution:

DO set your camera at the highest resolution setting available. You can size the photos down later or have your designer size them down in Photoshop.

DO NOT use a cell phone to take photos that will appear in print, unless you don’t mind photos the size of postage stamps.

DO use a flash for low-light settings.

DO NOT expect that your photos will be able to be blown up to a much larger size than the chart above indicates without expecting a loss of picture quality in print.

DO use a low or medium resolution setting if you will ONLY be using the photos for a website and never in print. The size of the photo as it appears on your computer screen is the size it will appear on any website or e-mail.

DO NOT ask your designer if they can “make the photo bigger and increase the resolution, too.” It doesn’t work that way. There’s no software or technical advance that can add digital information to a photo to make it sharper, crisper, less blurry or have a higher pixel-per-inch count.

DO NOT use photos directly from your digital camera or cell phone in a printed piece that you’ll be submitting to a printer. These photos are not the correct color scheme (they’re RGB, not grayscale or CMYK for full-color printing) and they’re likely still low-resolution (72 pixels per inch). Your photos will need to be converted to either black and white or CMYK, and then constrained to a resolution of 300 pixels per inch.

DO use stock photos from websites such as Dreamstime or iStock. They are already high enough resolution if ordered for “print use” and sometimes even in CMYK mode.

If you have questions about the use of digital photos, stock photos or file conversion, please contact me.

4 Tips for Writing Attention-Grabbing Subject Lines, Headlines, Tweets and Facebook Newsfeeds

Like many people, I have a “junk e-mail” address that I use to sign up for promotional freebies, register for websites and get free reports. I like browsing through the various e-newsletters and special promotions sometimes, just to see how people are marketing their business.

There’s one particular man who sells some kind of health and wellness program who sends out weekly newsletters all with the same subject line “New Blog Post from (His Name)” as if this was the moment I’ve been waiting for all week. This guy isn’t famous, or well-know, so why should I get excited that he’s sending me a new blog post? What makes this even funnier is that the subject line never differs. The content of the e-mail does, of course, but the subject line completely fails to capture my attention other than to call attention to its static quality. Once I opened one of his emails and found his writing to be quite palatable, even interesting. I wonder, though, why he doesn’t think to make his subject lines as interesting as his content. For example, what if I got an e-mail that was titled:

“How Breathing Correctly Can Lower Blood Pressure”

or

“Which Foods Will Lower Your Cholesterol Most?”

There’s another blogger I follow on Twitter whose Tweets have the same problem. They used to be nothing more than alerts that he published a new blog, with the date and link. I suggested he begin actually using the headlines of his blogs as Tweets, which he has since done, and now his Tweets are getting much more attention.

As important it is to make your subject lines or headlines relevant to what you’re actually writing about, it’s only part of what makes for an effective subject line, headline, Tweet or Facebook newsfeed. Here are 4 other tips that will help you instantly grab your prospect’s attention:

1. Always address your customer’s desire, fear or frustration, not the features of your product or service.

In part 1 of my blog post on how to write effective copy, I gave an example of how to make the subtle shift between addressing the feature of your product and the desire of your customer. It’s not about having the best grass seed in the country, it’s about how your customer will have the best lawn on the block. This is an important distinction and one that pretty much all successful marketers make each time they advertise.

We’re all ego-driven. When we have a product or service to sell, we want to shout to the rooftops about how special and incredible it is. When we’re the customer, however, we don’t care so much about how great a product or service is, all we want to know is, “Will it solve my problem?”

I’m bored with what I’m reading. Will this book entertain me?
I’m scared of walking through my neighborhood because some people don’t fence their dogs properly. Is there a gadget that will discreetly and humanely deter stray dogs from approaching me?
I hate feeling sleepy whenever I take allergy medicine. Can I stop sneezing without feeling like I’m going to fall asleep?

Whatever it is you’re selling, there’s a problem or desire that your prospect has that you’re addressing, even if the desire is nothing more than to just look and feel good about themselves. Your prospect doesn’t care about what you’re selling unless they can imagine it making their life easier somehow. The clearer you can describe their problem and the solution to them, the easier it will be to sell your product.

2. Use words or phrases that trigger emotional reactions.

Which headline would interest you enough to get you to in read the article?

“How to Avoid 5 Critical Mistakes Most Entrepreneurs Make When Trying to Market Their Product”

or

“Good Marketing is Key to Increased Sales”.

The first headline creates a sense of mystery and discovery, the second headline smacks of the obvious. This seems like a no-brainer, right? But you’d be amazed how many companies still use these boring, obvious headlines in their sales copy. I saw one today in my local paper that said, “Welcome to my Dental Practice.” I read that and think, “so what?”

That’s exactly what your prospective customers will think when they read an ad that doesn’t connect with anything they’re thinking or feeling.

There are certain words that always trigger emotional reactions in readers. These are words such as:
Secret
Weird
New!
Critical
Deadly
Mistake
Tips
Easy
Discover
Reveal

They elicit a feeling in the reader that they are about to make a discovery only a few people know.

Sales or coupons for a big discount are also great ways to drum up some attention, especially in this economy. Customers not only want to know you’ll solve their problem, but they want to feel like they’re getting an awesome deal.

3. Avoid getting too clever, vague or playing with double meanings.

I see a lot of amateur marketers or business owners doing this. They don’t think they need any professional help with their advertising. That’s fine, because sometimes the people who are selling the products know best what their customers want and how their product will benefit them. The problem is, they are experts at what they sell and not experts at marketing. They may think it’s fun to think of clever and funny headlines. If they think it’s funny, why wouldn’t everyone? Right?

Wrong.

While this strategy may work for the National Dairy Council on an ad campaign that features famous people donning milk mustaches, it probably won’t work too well if you’re trying to build a clientele for your local business. You can’t afford to hire famous spokespeople and therefore you must get your customer’s attention another way.

Here’s an example of what not to do. What would you say this headline is advertising?

“Helping YOU Stay Connected to the Environment”

Would you guess a magazine about environmental issues? Outdoor gear? A weather vane? The answer is none of the above. This was an actual headline for a recycled printer cartridges.

4. If you write a headline or ad that works, keep using it until it stops working.

This is one of the critical mistakes a lot of business people make when marketing their product or service. They try different ads and headlines and finally hit upon a trigger or “pain point” that their prospects respond to. Their sales pick up, they get a lot of response, and they enjoy a nice boost in income. Several weeks or months later, however, the business owner gets bored with the ad campaign and decides she wants to get creative and try something different. So she changes the theme of the ad or the headline. Suddenly, the campaign isn’t doing as well. Sales start to drop off.

One of the rules of advertising is that when something is working, keep using it until it stops working. Have you noticed how long the “One Rule for a Flat Stomach” ads are running on the internet? The only reason they’re still around is that…you guessed it…they WORK.

We’ve had to replace our microwave four times in six years because they broke after the standard 1-year warranty ran out. It cost too much to fix – certainly much more than buying a new (albeit crappy quality) one.

So this is the set up: I’m a potential customer frustrated over shoddy workmanship and quality. I’m aggravated that I can’t choose between a product with fragile plastic parts and one that’s more durable and will last for years and years. For some products, there is no such thing as choosing to pay more for better quality. It’s all made in China and it’s all made as efficiently and cheaply as possible. I don’t want to save money now and have to buy a whole new product in two years. I want to pay a little more now and have it last ten years. I don’t want to keep filling the landfill and using limited and non-renewable resources. I want to be responsible, even if that means I have to pay a little more.

If you were a manufacturer of a new kind of small kitchen appliance, one that was made from quality, durable materials in the U.S., how would you market your product?

Would the headline on your full-page ad in Good Housekeeping Magazine say:

A. “Meet the Elite Collection Food Processor: The Next Innovation for the Modern Kitchen”

Or

B. “Finally, an Appliance That’s as Durable as It Is Elegant. And It’s Made in the U.S.A.”

I don’t know about you, but if I were looking at a display of food processors at the store after having seen the ad with headline B, you better believe that I would pay the extra $50 for this model. Even an extra $100. That’s not even the point, though. The point is that so many of us feel the pain of cheap, plastic products that break so that we have to buy new ones, that headline B would get my attention even if I WEREN’T in the market to get a new food processor (which I’m not, because I chose to buy an expensive replacement part instead of an entire new unit).

Not all companies care about appealing to your fears, frustrations or desires. They care more about image and brand loyalty. Apple is a company that comes to mind. Their products are higher quality, but they rely more on brand loyalty and the ego-driven “cool factor.” If you’re a company that has spent decades building a reputation for something, you probably don’t need a lot of what I call “hard-sell” marketing. Sometimes all you need to do is place a full page ad showing your beautifully photographed product and a small logo. The headline can be ironic or funny or even abstract. Who cares? You’re Apple and you don’t need to explain why your product is so great.

But if you’re Joe Smith and you own ABC Company and you have dozens of competitors in your town, you need to stand out. You can’t do “brand” advertising because you’ll just be one more annoying ad to ignore while someone is sifting through their mail, clicking through to read their e-mail, or browsing through their local paper. What is your customer feeling and thinking? Do you know? How does your product or service solve their problem, specifically?

There’s kind of a classic saying about advertising copy. If you’re a grass seed company, you don’t want to say that you have “the world’s best grass seed.” You want to say that you, the customer, “will have the greenest lawn on the block!” This appeal to a customer’s ego, fear, pain or desire, is a timeless way of selling just about anything. It’s an art to write advertising copy in this way. It takes a deep understanding of your customer and a willingness to go deep into your own heart and mind to tell the truth exactly as it is.

Tip #1: Resolution of Digital Photos. Are you wondering why the last time you used a digital photo in your project it looked OK on the screen but printed out blurry? It’s because the resolution (pixels per inch) wasn’t high enough. Many digital cameras take photos at 72 pixels per inch, even at the highest resolution setting. Sure, you’ll get a larger photo, but the result is still only 72 pixels per inch. Photos have to be converted to at least 300 pixels per inch in order to have optimum print quality. This can be done in a photo correction software, such as Photoshop. As a rule of thumb, photos should be the size they will appear in print, at 300 dpi.

Tip #2: When In Doubt, Go Smaller. Don’t make text size too large. It will look clunky and amateurish. Body copy should not be larger than 11 point type, preferably 10 points. Business cards look slicker and more professional when the size of the text is 8 or 9 point type.

Tip #3: Go for Size Contrast. Headings should be bold and at least 2 or 3 point sizes larger than the body copy for contrast. Also, never use all capital letters. They are generally harder to read.

Tip #4: Avoid Hard-To-Read Fonts. Those fancy script fonts are pretty, but they look awful and they’re hard to read in a flier or a brochure when used in a headline with more than 3 words. Use them sparingly and as decorative elements.

Tip #5: Avoid Rivers and Gaps. Align text flush left, ragged right. Forced justified text (aligned straight on BOTH sides) tends to create gaps between words that looks awkward. Force justification should only be used in lines of type longer than 3 inches, such as in novels or magazines.

Tip #6: When Everything is Important, Nothing Is. Remember, if everything is big and bold, nothing will stand out. Select only a point or two to emphasize. Also, use italics and bold to emphasize, not all capital letters.

Tip #7: White Space is Good. Don’t place your text too close to the edge of the paper, to a photo, or to a graphic. Leave some white space.

Tip #8: Cut the Cheese. Avoid using cheesy clip art in serious sales pieces or brochures, unless your company is of a less serious nature, such as party supplies or children’s puppet shows.