CREATIVE

Oh, the good old days of catalog production. Back in the day, designers, copywriters, art directors and photographers spent their workdays creating, well, catalogs. Their time was spent laying out pages, writing to line and character counts, and directing photo shoots.

In today's multichannel world, designers, photographers and copywriters work on a multitude of projects. In addition to catalogs, you'll find them creating Websites, direct mail pieces, newsletters, e-mail communications, space ads for print publications, banner ads, free-standing inserts (FSIs) for use in newspapers, trade show materials, retail store signage, and a host of other projects.

The one consistent component all those projects have, or should have, is your brand. And the best way we've found to ensure brand consistency across all your communications is to make sure everyone — your internal creative team, freelancers, and/or agency — has a copy of your brand guidelines or stylebook.

It's astonishing how many organizations have no brand guidelines other than “these are the colors and fonts we normally use.” Taking the time to create specific usage guidelines for your logo and marks, an approved color palette for use across all media, approved fonts, even punctuation use, is the best way to ensure that your brand stays consistent and recognized across all your communications.

When putting together your stylebook, be sure the fonts and colors work across all the media you're using or intend to use in the future. Try them on dummy Web pages, direct mail pieces, catalog pages, e-mails, and print ads. Remember, you're going to have to live with your stylebook for a long time.

Here are some other tips for making the most of today's multichannel creative.

FIT THE DESIGNER TO THE MEDIUM

Another reality of today's multichannel marketing world is the need for design specialists. It's the rare designer who's equally adept at creating Websites, print catalogs, store signage, print ads, direct mail pieces, e-mails, and so on. Instead, you'll likely discover that some designers' talents are better suited to online work and others to traditional print media.

But be careful not to so compartmentalize your designers that each is unaware of what the others are doing in your different marketing channels. Let them trade ideas back and forth — even if they're working in different mediums — and you'll have happier designers, fresh thinking and probably a few breakthrough ideas.

It's worked so well for us that we now always try to have both our “traditional” media designers and our “online” specialists together at meetings to create synergy across all the platforms we're working in for our clients.

The online world, in particular, changes rapidly. Be sure your designers and art directors are aware of the latest Web 2.0 tools, online design standards, search engine optimization techniques, how and when it's appropriate to use tools like AJAX and Flash.

Most important, they should be on top of “what's working” response-wise. An investment in sending them to design conferences, seminars, and workshops can pay off in greater response rates and higher average orders down the road.

One tip: Rather than hoping designers keep up on the latest trends by reading design magazines, we've found that copying relevant articles from the magazines and handing them out at staff meetings to our designers ensures 100% readership. Remember, these days your designers and art directors face tougher schedules and tighter deadlines than ever. Help them out by copying important articles and sharing them whenever you can.

SHOOT MORE. LOTS MORE

Perhaps the most significant new reality of 21st century creative is in the area of photography and photo management. Previously, a photographer might shoot to a layout and bracket the shots, and the art director would have a number of selects to choose from.

While it's still true for some catalogs, many of today's photographers and art directors have to plan on their shots being used both online and offline and in a multitude of different marketing vehicles.

Urge your photographers to shoot more and at different angles than what the current assignment might call for. If the old mantra “film is cheap” is true, than “digital photography is even cheaper” is more so.

Remember, the angle of the shot you're using for your catalog may not be the best for use in a space ad, e-mail, or on your Website. More than once, an art director has come to me and said, “I've only got this one shot to work with and it's not ideal for the piece I'm designing. Can you get me a few more to look at?”

If you're shooting fashion, be sure to shoot as many colors “on figure” as possible. You may not need them now, but they might come in handy later for a sales catalog, flier, mailer, or on your Website. We've run into this so many times that we've made it standard operating procedure at every fashion photo shoot we do.