Big Brand System

Years ago, sitting on the cashier’s counter of any local business, you’d find a clipboard with “Join Our Mailing List” scrawled across the top.

You filled in your name, mailing address and phone number in exchange for finding out about their special customer-only sales, or priority notification when high-demand merchandise arrived.

Those days are gone. Now, everyone wants to build an email list, not a snail mail one.

It makes sense: email is more cost effective, faster and easier to create than printed postcard or letters. But what kind of business should have an email list? [Read more...]

Do you have that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach?

That suspicion that your brand isn’t measuring up, but you’re not sure why, or what to do about it?

The first step to all significant change is identifying the problem. Use the list below as a guide, and have hope: there’s help here at the Big Brand System, and more help coming in the near future.

Read through this list. When you get that sinking feeling, make a note.

Don’t ignore the message! It’s an area that needs attention, and if you make it a priority this year, you’ll see results — and get rid of that sinking feeling, too. [Read more...]

“There’s so much to do. Where do I start?”

Whether you’re running a race, or marketing your business, the first step is always daunting. You look ahead and see nothing but the work that needs to be done, and the progress you’ll have to make. You can’t see the finish line at all. You might not even see the starting block.

This post is about the starting block exclusively. Because if you get your marketing off to the right start, the whole race will be easier, and you’ll increase your chances of winning it. [Read more...]

A big part of what I share here at the Big Brand System is to help people to learn to see things they’re not accustomed to noticing.

Unless you were born with vision problems, you don’t need to learn to register images. You opened your eyes a few moments after you were born and started taking in the world around you.

But designers — and people who want to learn to apply design principles to their marketing materials — need to go beyond just registering images. We need to interpret them.

It takes practice, but if you know what you’re looking for, you’ll start seeing the concepts outlined here everywhere you look. [Read more...]