It is an accepted fact that letterheads can help create a brand identity. A letterhead is a prospective client's first exposure to your brand and it can make or break your business prospects. There are a number of factors that need to be taken into consideration before you begin your letterhead printing. If you ensure that these factors are included in your plans you can rest assured that the purposes of your branding exercise will be met.
First Impressions Count
Think about it. Instead of cold calling to a prospective client on the phone and being rebuffed, you send out a well worded business pitch on your letterhead. The prospective client immediately gets the opportunity to form an impression about you, your company and product. These impressions can include information about the business you are in, the character and personality of your company or you. So prior to letterhead printing you must ask yourself certain questions.
What should your letterhead communicate?
Letterhead design is a highly specialized skill these days. The graphic design process begins with a few leading questions in order to elicit a good briefing to base the design on. These questions will include the following:
1.How are you perceived in the market today? Are you considered reliable and trustworthy?
2.How do you want to be considered? Do you want to be seen as young and dynamic? Or do you want to be perceived as traditional and stable?
3.What sets you apart from your competitors? Do you offer any specialized services or a product that is unique?
4.What is your budget for printing business collaterals? How many places are the contents of your letterhead to be repeated in such as bookmarks and sleeve printing, etc?
5.How many colors will you use for your letterhead printing?
The Letterhead as a Marketing Tool
You may not always know what the most effective image for your brand is. It is difficult to quantify how successful an image is until it is too late to change it. After all, once you have started using all your marketing material such as letterheads, business cards, envelops, etc, an image has already been established. At this stage it is difficult to change the image without losing all the benefits accrued thus far. Consider all these factors when you start letterhead printing.
How do you create an Image?
Remember, the first aspect of your image to be communicated is the line of business you are in? Do you offer products or services? Are you a manufacturer or a retailer? A letterhead for a manufacturer of cosmetics would be very different from that of a real estate company. One sells a tangible product while the other offers a service. Each business has different priorities and different markets. One promotes product quality while the other promotes the human factor. As with these two businesses, every other business has its own requirements. These are the requirements that you must keep in mind before you reach the letterhead printing stage.
Author Resource:-
Adir Le writes for Printrunner on topics relevant to small businesses. Most recently he has written articles on letterhead printing and business card printing.
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