The Challenge Of Planning
A Successful Image Program

If you are considering a new image program for your company or organization…one that better reflects your current products and services, this editorial may provide you with some new ideas to consider.

Why is Image Building So Difficult?

Today’s information overload has dramatically increased competition for recognizing new logos and images. Television, radio, direct mail, magazine ads, billboards and the exploding use of the worldwide internet has bombarded buyers with an ever increasing spectrum of images to consider in their purchasing decisions. Today’s fast-paced lifestyles and the internet have made buyers smarter and faster shoppers.

What Are Your Competitors Doing?

Check their websites and go through the publication ads and directories that your competitors use. Discover the good image programs and the bad ones. What do the best ones have in common. What can you do that will set your organization apart? Identify what the poor image programs did wrong. What kind of an image program is close to what you have in mind. What are the key items you want to accent about your organization? How can an image program project this?

We Are Conditioned To Speed

The time we take to make a decision…to explore further or reject information is continuing to shrink. Therefore that first impression is becoming even more important.

Consider that the average time for deciding on magazine ad readership is 1.4 seconds. The decision to further examine a trade show booth is 3 to 10 seconds. In seconds we decide to read or discard a direct mail piece or consider a website. This continual conditioning to do things faster makes the battle for a customer’s attention very challenging,

Projecting Your Business Or Organization

If someone were walking by your booth in a trade show what kind of image that represents your firm would stop them? The answer is not easy, you are going to have to spend quite a bit of time to discover the key elements of your products or services that have stopping power …and that reflect what your customer’s perceive as your major value, versus your competition.

The “Black Box” Challenge

A number of years ago we started working with a new firm that had just developed a new product. The product was a small black box you could hold in your hand. It was a sophisticated data recorder that recorded shock and vibration among other things over long periods of time with no outside power source. The problem was…it was a small black box and it cost thousands of dollars. Sales were slow because customers could not see the value in it.

Developing A “Stopper Image” For Product Introduction

This was a start-up company with a very small budget so we knew we had to generate sales inquiries in the most cost effective manner. We decided to use press releases in a wide variety of publications and small ads in a few technical publications. After a brainstorming session we decided upon using a combination of full color photos that showed a hand holding the product over a 3 D grid and oscillating lines indicating data results. This showed the size of the product and a major function of the data recorder. The headline read…

Revolutionary New Shock & Vibration Recorder

The copy spelled out that this was one of the first stand-alone data recorders that would work for extended periods of time with no outside power source and could then be hooked up to your computer and you could read the results. The special effect photo was the key to generating editor and customer interest. The editors liked the photo and it was printed in all the major trade magazines. The leads started coming in and sales started growing.

Logo and Image Program The company developed a series of new products around this basic concept. During this time our firm developed a logo for the company using the letters “IST” over the company name with the idea that IST was to soon become the name of the firm. (which is now the case ) A portfolio was designed that showed many of the product application areas and accented its worldwide market potential. Product brochures were designed to accent each product application as well as technical information for each product in the line.

Over the years we designed a wide variety of sales and image materials for the company such as trade show displays, magazine ads, press releases, direct mail, CD jackets, videos and other items.

The results…

IST is now the worldwide leader in their field and continues to grow. They were the first to have a data recorder on Indy 500 cars and their recorders are on the new missile defense sea based radar system going into the Pacific ocean area as well as almost every missile launched by NASA. IST now has a full line of black boxes for almost any application.

After they had been in business a number of years we designed and produced a video for them for an international trade show. The results…

“We have been working with Forsberg Group Inc. for over ten years and they have helped us develop a leading image in our marketplace. I will never forget the expression on my competitors faces when they first saw our video. They felt they just had a bomb dropped on them.” Greg Hoshal, President and CEO Instrumented Sensor Technology (IST)

I hope some of these ideas will be of help to you in your planning process. Keep in mind that a well planned image program will continue to contribute to your company’s success for many years.

Jack Forsberg, President Forsberg Group, Inc.