Sales and Marketing Graphics

The following are tools, solutions, tips, tricks, secrets, and best practices for sales and marketing professionals. Be sure to share this page with your colleagues so they can benefit from them as well.

Sales and Marketing Web Resources

The Influence of Graphics in Sales and Marketing
Graphics make it much easier for your audience to understand and remember your solution. Studies have also shown that we need words, concepts, and ideas attached to an image or else we won't remember the product or service. Professional, visually appealing graphics increase your likelihood of success by 43% (3M-sponsored study at the University of Minnesota School of Management). Research at the 3M Corporation concluded that we process visuals 60,000 times faster than text. It is no wonder that billions of dollars are spent annually to find the right imagery to sell a product, service, or idea.

Which is the better lawn care company?

• The U.S. military spent $598 million in 2003 on advertising to increase "brand identity" and meet their annual recruitment goals.
• Nike spent $269 million in 2001 on its image to sell more products. Anheuser-Busch spent $440 million to promote its products in 2001.
• Pepsi budgeted over $1 billion in 2001 on its image.
• Not to be out done, Coca-Cola budgeted $1.4 billion for its image in the same year. Graphics help create "brand identity."

Visuals paint the picture of who the advertiser is, what they stand for, and how the audience may benefit. Graphics sell because of their ability to influence quickly and be remembered. How you use graphics greatly affects how you and your business are perceived and, ultimately, how well your product or service will sell:

Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab asked 2,440 participants how they evaluated the credibility of websites they were shown. Almost half (46.1%) said that the website's design look was the number one criterion for discerning the credibility of the presented material.

• Behavioral Psychologists agree that most of our decisions are based on intuitive judgment and emotions. Herbert A. Simon, Nobel Prize winning scholar at the Carnegie Mellon Institute in Pittsburgh, studied corporate decision-making and found that people often ignored formal decision-making models because of time constraints, incomplete information, the inability to calculate consequences, and other variables. Intuitive judgment was the process for most decisions.
• According to studies performed at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Minnesota Management Information Systems Research Center, and 3M:
  • People agree more with a position when presented with visuals.
  • People will pay closer attention and react more positively when visuals are used.
  • The quality of a meeting is increased by the use of visuals.

The Influence of Graphics in Sales and Marketing
When creating sales and marketing graphics (or any graphic for your company) consider the following:

• What should this marketing piece say about your product or service? (And why does it matter to your audience?)
• Who is your audience? Would they understand technical terms or prefer an overview?
• How do you want to say it? What form of media will best reach your audience?

The most important element when creating marketing materials is the benefit to your audience. Solve their problem. Don't just list what your product does. Show them what their product can do for them.

A few hints when creating marketing graphics:

• Choose photos of happy people who reflect your target audience, and, if possible, show them happily benefiting from your product.
• Use fonts that tie into your logo, if possible. Sans Serif fonts (Arial, Helvetica) work best for headlines and Serif fonts (Times, Garamond) work best for large blocks of text. Only use flowery or over-the-top fonts in a headline and when appropriate to the message. If you're advertising a children's benefit concert, then a fun font is fine, but only in small dosages. These fonts tend to be hard to read.
• Color increases recognition up to 78% and increases motivation up to 80%. When choosing your company colors and supporting colors for promotional materials research the meaning behind the color choice and what you want to say about your company. In most Western cultures:
  • Red = empowering, bold
  • Orange = warmth, happiness
  • Yellow = happiness, energy (excellent for highlighting)
  • Green = balance, refreshing (usually makes a good secondary color)
  • Blue = relaxing, cool (usually the safest/most appealing color to use for business graphic color schemes)
  • Violet = comforting
  • White = pure, associated with cleanliness
  • Black = authoritative, shows discipline

Seven Rules for Creating Sales and Marketing Graphics

1. All graphics should play a specific role and have a reason for being chosen and incorporated.
2. Stay consistent.
3. Show or say it correctly. Don't try to be original.
4. Keep it clean and simple. Too much visual clutter can be overwhelming and lose the primary objective of your message.
5. Label elements directly to avoid confusion. This rule is especially true if you are selling a new product or want to highlight its benefits and discriminators.
6. Use recognizable imagery. Hearing a familiar voice or seeing a familiar face evokes trustworthiness in your audience. This is one reason celebrities are used in advertisements.
7. Focus on your audience. Show your target demographic using your product/service and benefiting from it. Allow your audience to see themselves in your marketing materials and they will identify with your company.

Sales and Marketing Graphic Solutions
You need powerful sales and marketing materials. Unfortunately, you have very little time, money, and resources. You know you need your sales and marketing materials to look great, communicate your solution better than anyone else, and leave the best impression. You know you need high-quality, powerful graphics. What do you do? Great news, you have a choice:

1. Do-it-yourself compelling sales and marketing graphics guide
2. Ready-to-go graphics on DVD
3. PowerPoint templates
4. Sales and marketing graphic how-to training
5. Fast Class seminars (1 hour quick classes)
6. Business graphic library (graphics to inspire creativity)

Sales and marketing professionals use Billion Dollar Graphics solutions to conceptualize persuasive visuals that, according to independent research, increase their success rates up to 43%. Sales and marketing professionals use the easy-to-learn processes to turn their ideas and words into powerful:

• Sales and marketing presentations
• Sales and marketing documents
• Brochures
• Explanatory graphics (information graphics)
• Real-time descriptive sketches for prospects
• White paper graphics
• Any visual solution needed

Don't waste anymore of your energy, money, and time with graphics that don't work. Help your audience better absorb your solutions, concepts, data, processes, and ideas. Influence and motivate your audience to take action. Use the book and learn to quickly communicate your ideas effectively and sell far better. (Learn more about the book.)

"Your books are brilliant and I have recommended them to a great many of my clients."—Andy Bounds, Executive Coach

Get Do-It-Yourself Billion Dollar Graphics: 3 Fast and Easy Steps to Turn Your Text and Ideas Into Graphics That Sell for your company (includes a Virtual CD with templates and graphics to get you and your team started) and succeed where others fail.

You also have PowerPoint templates at your disposal with Billion Dollar Graphics' Spectacular PowerPoint templates. You get 125 (plus hundreds of color variations) unique, high-quality professional PowerPoint templates for only $39.95 on the new Billion Dollar Graphics Spectacular PowerPoint Template DVD. Make an impression with new, high-end, unique PowerPoint templates. Your next presentation will leave a positive impact because you tailored your template to your audience and your subject matter. (Learn more about the PowerPoint templates DVD.)

Kick start or add to your existing graphics library. The Billion Dollar Graphics Master Collection DVD contains 111 editable graphics (+ free Book + Virtual CD + 41 bonus graphics + more) for Illustrator and Photoshop CS2 or better for Mac and PC.

"I have already used some of the ideas and graphics [from the DVD] in a couple of presentations I am doing for a current customer. You have a unique service."—Mike Kester, Program Manager, Lockheed Martin

All graphics are professionally conceptualized and rendered at print resolution. (Learn more about the DVD.)

Billion Dollar Graphics training/workshops will show you how to use visual communication to reach your goals. The training is applicable to anyone who needs to communicate information to make sales. Visual communication training will help you and your company succeed. (Learn more about the Training and Workshops.)

Custom Solutions for Sales and Marketing Professionals
Your challenges are unique. Perhaps your goal is to increase the quality of your visuals or analyze your existing process and develop a better system for generating clear, communicative, compelling graphics. Allow Billion Dollar Graphics to be of service. We are available for consultation. (Learn more about custom solutions.)

Design Services with 24 Hour Company
Billion Dollar Graphics and 24 Hour Company work together to provide:

• Sales and marketing graphic production (conceptualization and rendering)
• Desktop publishing and layout
• Editing

(Learn more about 24 Hour Company.)

Click on the solutions below to purchase...

Billion Dollar Business Graphics Book + Free Virtual CD ($49.95) More Information

Get More. Save BIG! Save money, get more books, and hit your goals faster. Put a copy on everyone's desk and watch your success rate grow exponentially. (All books include the FREE Virtual CD.)

BDG Master Collection ($549) FREE Book + 111 ready-to-use, editable business graphics + 41 bonus graphics + FREE tools and resources on DVD. Only $4.95 per graphic. More Information

Is the BDG Master Collection for your company or organization? Choose the best option for you: Single License = source art installed on one computer $549 Limited Site License = source art installed on up to 5 computers (per site) $749 Unlimited Site License = source art installed on unlimited computers (per site) $949

BDG Spectacular PowerPoint Templates DVD ($39.95) More Information

Click here to download a fax order form, if you have a PO# or prefer not to order online.

Conceptualization Training and Workshops

Graphic Conceptualization Online Training (coming soon)

Custom Solutions for Sales and Marketing Professionals

Design Services (through 24 Hour Company)

Fast Class Seminars