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Casual Articles - Font Basics for Branding Your Small Business
As the year 2006 starts to wind down, many businesses and entrepreneurs are making plans and budgets for the year 2007. Those plans could include anything from setting up goals for new products to preparing marketing, sales and PR/publicity campaigns. When it comes to your publicity plan, WHEN you launch your campaign can be just as important to what and how you launch.HOLIDAY PUBLICITY OPPORTUNITIES:If your product/business lends itself to increased holiday sales, the next few weeks are a perfect time to get a publicity campaign launched – given the right media targets. Many holiday issues are already been laid out for magazines, and many other media outlets are feverishly seeking information/pitches on innovative stories for the holidays. Some media outlets even reorganize or beef up staff around the holidays to allow for an increase in stories on products. Have your publicist help you take advantage of this increased media opportunity.PLANTING PUBLICITY SEEDS NOW FOR 1ST QUARTER RESULTS:Some business owners may be of the mindset: “I think we’ll wait to launch a publicity campaign until afte
Serif fonts could also be used on websites; however, it’s best to use them in limited quantities, such as for headlines and subheads. Some fonts that are available to use on the web include Times, Times New Roman, and Georgia.
Another issue that commonly arises with online fonts is the difficulty in controlling the size and appearance of those fonts. Standard font tags in HTML don’t offer precise sizing control and need to be used several times throughout each HTML document, so making changes can be time-consuming. You can use Cascading Style Sheets, or CSS, to precisely control the exact size of your fonts and to make site- wide font, size, or color changes with one simple alteration.
• In Word Documents, you also want to make sure that the fonts that you use for the text will be available on the recipient’s computer. Good fonts to use are the standard fonts that come installed on PCs, which include Arial, Verdana, Tahoma, Times New Roman, Georgia, Palatino, Courier, and Trebuchet MS.
In order to insert a small amount of customized text—such as your logo, tagline, or address information—create an ima
This is the second article of a three-part series. I'm illustrating the marketing challenges of a small business, PrescottWeddings.com.Our goal was to both build the PWC brand and drive traffic to the Web site. Advertising regularly was essential. Yet it was also essential to keep our costs down. So we leveraged our monthly newspaper advertising to stretch our marketing dollar as far as we could.How did we do that? We "thought small."We bought one inch by two column inch ads (a column inch in this particular publication is approx. 1.88 inches). The ads were one inch high and almost 4 inches long.To reflect the small ad, the copy also had to be short and sweet. Like so:www.PrescottWeddings.com. Everything you need to say "I do."Just the name of the business and the slogan.We put the name in large type and made the tagline much smaller.Did it work?The first day this ad ran, we garnered 350 hits on the Web site and several phone calls from business owners who wanted more information.And that was just the beginning. Hits steadily
Font basics
A font is a set of all the letters in the alphabet, designed with similar characteristics. This is also known as a typeface.
Fonts are usually designed to include several style variations. This can include styles like light, regular, bold, semibold, ultra bold, and italic. Some fonts also include “Expert” versions, which are fonts that include fractions and mathematical symbols.
Font families are typically packages of fonts that include all of the different versions of a font. Using fonts with large families will give you a wide range of fonts to use in your materials, for variety and emphasis.
There are many basic classifications of fonts. Four of the most common classes of fonts are:
• Serif fonts, which have little "feet," called serifs, at the ends of the lines that make up the letters. Some examples of serif fonts include Times, Palatino, and Garamond. These fonts are more traditional, elegant, and old-fashioned.
• Sans-serif fonts don't have those feet. “Sans serif” means “without serifs.” Arial, Verdana, Tahoma, and Helvetica are some of the most common sans-serif fonts. These fonts are more clean and modern.
• Script fonts are calligraphic or cursive fonts. Brush Script and Nuptial Script are two common script fonts.
• Display fonts are decorative and often used for logos or headlines.
There are other types of fonts as well, including handwriting fonts and all-caps fonts. However, the four listed above are the most common and useful in business communications.
Creative font usage guidelines
Each type of font has certain characteristics that translate into that font’s personality. A font might be serious or light-hearted, traditional or modern, legible or decorative, or any number of other personality traits. The traits of the font that you use in your marketing materials and business communications should reflect and enhance your company’s brand.
Your company should have designated fonts to use in the following situations:
• A logo font, which is typically not one of the fonts that come installed on Windows machines: it should be more unique and interesting. Some logos will have two or three different fonts in them. If this is the case, then consider using one of those fonts as the secondary font as well.
• A secondary font, used for headlines, sub-headlines, taglines, special text such as graphics and captions, and decorative text such as pull quotes, which are the large quotes that are used decoratively in articles and documents. This can be the same font as is used in your logo. This is typically an interesting and unique font as well. This may also be used as the font for your contact information in your stationery, depending on its legibility.
• A tertiary font is optional and may be used when the secondary font is not always legible, for mid-length texts such as pull quotes and contact information.
• A serif text font, for lengthy printed documents. Printed materials are more easily read if they are in serif font rather than sans-serif font.
• A sans-serif font, for shorter printed documents and on-screen use. Text on a computer monitor is easier to read in a sans-serif font than in a serif font.
• A website font, which may be the same font as is used as the main sans-serif text font, depending on how that font translates for online viewing.
All of these fonts should have similar or contrasting characteristics. Choosing fonts with similar characteristics will make your fonts match and create consistency throughout your documents. Choosing fonts with contrasting characteristics will build visual texture and interest into your materials. For example, you could pick all thin, sans-serif fonts such as Arial and Frutiger to create a harmonious, matching suite of fonts. Or you could pick fonts with contrasting characteristics to create greater interest, such as using a serif font like Palatino for the headlines and then using a sans-serif font like Verdana for the text.
Each piece of marketing material or document created should have a maximum of three or four families of fonts on them. (A font family includes all of the bold and italic variations of a particular font, so using bold or italic effects does not count as additional fonts.) Using more than three or four fonts is confusing, and it looks unprofessional.
Practical font usage guidelines
Fonts can require special consideration when you send materials to a professional printer for reproduction, use them on your website, or send Word documents to others. Here are some basics on using fonts and preserving their appearance in these cases.
• In printed materials, it's easier to read long blocks of copy that is set in a serif font. Sans-serif fonts are usually used in print for short blocks of information, like headlines, pull quotes, or bulleted lists.
When sending your materials to be professionally printed, make sure to address your desires regarding the use of fonts. You can either include the fonts with the files you send to the printer (which might be considered a copyright license infringement), rasterize your artwork (convert it to pixels, so the font data is no longer needed), or outline your fonts (creating shapes out of the fonts, an option that’s available in most vector art programs such as Adobe Illustrator and Macromedia Freehand), so that they can be printed accurately. Outlining the fonts is the best way to guarantee that your fonts will remain accurate and sharp.
• Online, in websites, emails, and HTML newsletters, sans-serif fonts look the best: they’re clean, clear, and easy to read. There is one other trick to online font use: you have to make sure that you use fonts that will be installed on the computers of people reading your site. Otherwise, your text will appear in the default font selected by their browser, which is often Courier, a very plain font. That limitation does leave you with several fonts to choose from, though, including Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, and Trebuchet MS.
Serif fonts could also be used on websites; however, it’s best to use them in limited quantities, such as for headlines and subheads. Some fonts that are available to use on the web include Times, Times New Roman, and Georgia.
Another issue that commonly arises with online fonts is the difficulty in controlling the size and appearance of those fonts. Standard font tags in HTML don’t offer precise sizing control and need to be used several times throughout each HTML document, so making changes can be time-consuming. You can use Cascading Style Sheets, or CSS, to precisely control the exact size of your fonts and to make site- wide font, size, or color changes with one simple alteration.
• In Word Documents, you also want to make sure that the fonts that you use for the text will be available on the recipient’s computer. Good fonts to use are the standard fonts that come installed on PCs, which include Arial, Verdana, Tahoma, Times New Roman, Georgia, Palatino, Courier, and Trebuchet MS.
In order to insert a small amount of customized text—such as your logo, tagline, or address information—create an imag
Combine Your Yellow Page Ad and Web Site for Maximum Profits Dr. Lynella Grant A Yellow Page Ad isn't Enough Any More An unquestioned "must" for any small business has been to run an ad in the Yellow Page Directory. Since most customers were local, that was enough to establish itself as "open for business." The annual Yellow Page ad represents the largest promotional expense for many enterprises. Yet, Yellow Page directory use is declining, while expanding segments of the public don't rely on them at all. Yellow Page advertising costs keep going up, and the complicated pricing structure is difficult to figure out. Worse yet, having a Yellow Page ad doesn't deliver like it used to.People can find most of the information they want without ever opening a directory. Your business needs its Yellow Page strategy to be in tune with the times and your market. Like most business owners, you must squeeze maximum value from every promotional dollar spent. That requires you to move beyond treating a Yellow Page ad like it's a separate, stand-alone way to promote your business. It's not. Your Yellow Page advertising needs to w
• Script fonts are calligraphic or cursive fonts. Brush Script and Nuptial Script are two common script fonts.
• Display fonts are decorative and often used for logos or headlines.
There are other types of fonts as well, including handwriting fonts and all-caps fonts. However, the four listed above are the most common and useful in business communications.
Creative font usage guidelines
Each type of font has certain characteristics that translate into that font’s personality. A font might be serious or light-hearted, traditional or modern, legible or decorative, or any number of other personality traits. The traits of the font that you use in your marketing materials and business communications should reflect and enhance your company’s brand.
Your company should have designated fonts to use in the following situations:
• A logo font, which is typically not one of the fonts that come installed on Windows machines: it should be more unique and interesting. Some logos will have two or three different fonts in them. If this is the case, then consider using one of those fonts as the secondary font as well.
• A secondary font, used for headlines, sub-headlines, taglines, special text such as graphics and captions, and decorative text such as pull quotes, which are the large quotes that are used decoratively in articles and documents. This can be the same font as is used in your logo. This is typically an interesting and unique font as well. This may also be used as the font for your contact information in your stationery, depending on its legibility.
• A tertiary font is optional and may be used when the secondary font is not always legible, for mid-length texts such as pull quotes and contact information.
• A serif text font, for lengthy printed documents. Printed materials are more easily read if they are in serif font rather than sans-serif font.
• A sans-serif font, for shorter printed documents and on-screen use. Text on a computer monitor is easier to read in a sans-serif font than in a serif font.
• A website font, which may be the same font as is used as the main sans-serif text font, depending on how that font translates for online viewing.
All of these fonts should have similar or contrasting characteristics. Choosing fonts with similar characteristics will make your fonts match and create consistency throughout your documents. Choosing fonts with contrasting characteristics will build visual texture and interest into your materials. For example, you could pick all thin, sans-serif fonts such as Arial and Frutiger to create a harmonious, matching suite of fonts. Or you could pick fonts with contrasting characteristics to create greater interest, such as using a serif font like Palatino for the headlines and then using a sans-serif font like Verdana for the text.
Each piece of marketing material or document created should have a maximum of three or four families of fonts on them. (A font family includes all of the bold and italic variations of a particular font, so using bold or italic effects does not count as additional fonts.) Using more than three or four fonts is confusing, and it looks unprofessional.
Practical font usage guidelines
Fonts can require special consideration when you send materials to a professional printer for reproduction, use them on your website, or send Word documents to others. Here are some basics on using fonts and preserving their appearance in these cases.
• In printed materials, it's easier to read long blocks of copy that is set in a serif font. Sans-serif fonts are usually used in print for short blocks of information, like headlines, pull quotes, or bulleted lists.
When sending your materials to be professionally printed, make sure to address your desires regarding the use of fonts. You can either include the fonts with the files you send to the printer (which might be considered a copyright license infringement), rasterize your artwork (convert it to pixels, so the font data is no longer needed), or outline your fonts (creating shapes out of the fonts, an option that’s available in most vector art programs such as Adobe Illustrator and Macromedia Freehand), so that they can be printed accurately. Outlining the fonts is the best way to guarantee that your fonts will remain accurate and sharp.
• Online, in websites, emails, and HTML newsletters, sans-serif fonts look the best: they’re clean, clear, and easy to read. There is one other trick to online font use: you have to make sure that you use fonts that will be installed on the computers of people reading your site. Otherwise, your text will appear in the default font selected by their browser, which is often Courier, a very plain font. That limitation does leave you with several fonts to choose from, though, including Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, and Trebuchet MS.
Serif fonts could also be used on websites; however, it’s best to use them in limited quantities, such as for headlines and subheads. Some fonts that are available to use on the web include Times, Times New Roman, and Georgia.
Another issue that commonly arises with online fonts is the difficulty in controlling the size and appearance of those fonts. Standard font tags in HTML don’t offer precise sizing control and need to be used several times throughout each HTML document, so making changes can be time-consuming. You can use Cascading Style Sheets, or CSS, to precisely control the exact size of your fonts and to make site- wide font, size, or color changes with one simple alteration.
• In Word Documents, you also want to make sure that the fonts that you use for the text will be available on the recipient’s computer. Good fonts to use are the standard fonts that come installed on PCs, which include Arial, Verdana, Tahoma, Times New Roman, Georgia, Palatino, Courier, and Trebuchet MS.
In order to insert a small amount of customized text—such as your logo, tagline, or address information—create an ima
Without other people, you can’t make sales, you don’t have affiliates, you don’t have JVs, you don’t have collaboration. That means you painstakingly have to do everything yourself and you only ever have a very small percentage of the reach you could have.Earlier today I was re-reading Mike Filsaime’s Butterfly Marketing Manuscript. I’m not a fan of all of his work but he certainly was able to propel himself to the top of the guru heap in record time. His products continue to become bestsellers and that’s really no accident.This reading refreshed my mind as to the importance of WIIFM: what’s in it for me?It’s the question on everybody’s mind 98% of the time. When faced with just about any decision that doesn’t involve primary obligation or responsibility, people run the proposition by their WIIFM filter.Should I read this ad? Should I buy this product? Should I reply to this email? Should I help this guy?Whenever you do something that requires a response from somebody, go out of your way to answer the question they invariably have on their mind…What really decided me to write
• A tertiary font is optional and may be used when the secondary font is not always legible, for mid-length texts such as pull quotes and contact information.
• A serif text font, for lengthy printed documents. Printed materials are more easily read if they are in serif font rather than sans-serif font.
• A sans-serif font, for shorter printed documents and on-screen use. Text on a computer monitor is easier to read in a sans-serif font than in a serif font.
• A website font, which may be the same font as is used as the main sans-serif text font, depending on how that font translates for online viewing.
All of these fonts should have similar or contrasting characteristics. Choosing fonts with similar characteristics will make your fonts match and create consistency throughout your documents. Choosing fonts with contrasting characteristics will build visual texture and interest into your materials. For example, you could pick all thin, sans-serif fonts such as Arial and Frutiger to create a harmonious, matching suite of fonts. Or you could pick fonts with contrasting characteristics to create greater interest, such as using a serif font like Palatino for the headlines and then using a sans-serif font like Verdana for the text.
Each piece of marketing material or document created should have a maximum of three or four families of fonts on them. (A font family includes all of the bold and italic variations of a particular font, so using bold or italic effects does not count as additional fonts.) Using more than three or four fonts is confusing, and it looks unprofessional.
Practical font usage guidelines
Fonts can require special consideration when you send materials to a professional printer for reproduction, use them on your website, or send Word documents to others. Here are some basics on using fonts and preserving their appearance in these cases.
• In printed materials, it's easier to read long blocks of copy that is set in a serif font. Sans-serif fonts are usually used in print for short blocks of information, like headlines, pull quotes, or bulleted lists.
When sending your materials to be professionally printed, make sure to address your desires regarding the use of fonts. You can either include the fonts with the files you send to the printer (which might be considered a copyright license infringement), rasterize your artwork (convert it to pixels, so the font data is no longer needed), or outline your fonts (creating shapes out of the fonts, an option that’s available in most vector art programs such as Adobe Illustrator and Macromedia Freehand), so that they can be printed accurately. Outlining the fonts is the best way to guarantee that your fonts will remain accurate and sharp.
• Online, in websites, emails, and HTML newsletters, sans-serif fonts look the best: they’re clean, clear, and easy to read. There is one other trick to online font use: you have to make sure that you use fonts that will be installed on the computers of people reading your site. Otherwise, your text will appear in the default font selected by their browser, which is often Courier, a very plain font. That limitation does leave you with several fonts to choose from, though, including Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, and Trebuchet MS.
Serif fonts could also be used on websites; however, it’s best to use them in limited quantities, such as for headlines and subheads. Some fonts that are available to use on the web include Times, Times New Roman, and Georgia.
Another issue that commonly arises with online fonts is the difficulty in controlling the size and appearance of those fonts. Standard font tags in HTML don’t offer precise sizing control and need to be used several times throughout each HTML document, so making changes can be time-consuming. You can use Cascading Style Sheets, or CSS, to precisely control the exact size of your fonts and to make site- wide font, size, or color changes with one simple alteration.
• In Word Documents, you also want to make sure that the fonts that you use for the text will be available on the recipient’s computer. Good fonts to use are the standard fonts that come installed on PCs, which include Arial, Verdana, Tahoma, Times New Roman, Georgia, Palatino, Courier, and Trebuchet MS.
In order to insert a small amount of customized text—such as your logo, tagline, or address information—create an ima
“Payroll Taxes are Due, with Penalties and Interest”At least that is what the letter from the IRS says. First thing, don’t panic. Quoting Daniel J. Pilla’s study for the Cato Institute “About 40 percent of the revenues the IRS collects through penalty assessments are abated when citizens challenge the penalties.”So we now know the odds are good that the IRS is wrong or will blink first. What do we do?The normal problems with payroll taxes are.Failure to File.Taxes under reported.Taxes under deposited.Taxes deposited late.Any of these can create a situation where the services charges penalties and interest against a business and then sucks up subsequent tax deposits creating additional late and short payments simply exacerbating the situation. We will get to that later.Read the notice from the IRS. It should tell you why they are charging a penalty and interest and how it is calculated. If the notice does not lay out that information, you have missed the first notice from the IRS. That is not at all unusual. If you don’t have the first
Practical font usage guidelines
Fonts can require special consideration when you send materials to a professional printer for reproduction, use them on your website, or send Word documents to others. Here are some basics on using fonts and preserving their appearance in these cases.
• In printed materials, it's easier to read long blocks of copy that is set in a serif font. Sans-serif fonts are usually used in print for short blocks of information, like headlines, pull quotes, or bulleted lists.
When sending your materials to be professionally printed, make sure to address your desires regarding the use of fonts. You can either include the fonts with the files you send to the printer (which might be considered a copyright license infringement), rasterize your artwork (convert it to pixels, so the font data is no longer needed), or outline your fonts (creating shapes out of the fonts, an option that’s available in most vector art programs such as Adobe Illustrator and Macromedia Freehand), so that they can be printed accurately. Outlining the fonts is the best way to guarantee that your fonts will remain accurate and sharp.
• Online, in websites, emails, and HTML newsletters, sans-serif fonts look the best: they’re clean, clear, and easy to read. There is one other trick to online font use: you have to make sure that you use fonts that will be installed on the computers of people reading your site. Otherwise, your text will appear in the default font selected by their browser, which is often Courier, a very plain font. That limitation does leave you with several fonts to choose from, though, including Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, and Trebuchet MS.
Serif fonts could also be used on websites; however, it’s best to use them in limited quantities, such as for headlines and subheads. Some fonts that are available to use on the web include Times, Times New Roman, and Georgia.
Another issue that commonly arises with online fonts is the difficulty in controlling the size and appearance of those fonts. Standard font tags in HTML don’t offer precise sizing control and need to be used several times throughout each HTML document, so making changes can be time-consuming. You can use Cascading Style Sheets, or CSS, to precisely control the exact size of your fonts and to make site- wide font, size, or color changes with one simple alteration.
• In Word Documents, you also want to make sure that the fonts that you use for the text will be available on the recipient’s computer. Good fonts to use are the standard fonts that come installed on PCs, which include Arial, Verdana, Tahoma, Times New Roman, Georgia, Palatino, Courier, and Trebuchet MS.
In order to insert a small amount of customized text—such as your logo, tagline, or address information—create an ima
Lately, advertising specialties have come to be used as a strong advertising medium. Among them, custom printed advertising specialties has come to be the main stay for a lot of advertising needs. Any promotional item can be customized with your logo, tag line and message.It is a good idea to opt for custom printed advertising specialties because of a variety of reasons. The brand recall of such an idea is unique and long lasting. For instance, if you give a pen with a custom printed logo and message as a gift or promotional item to your customer, he or she will use the pen for a long time. Every time he/she uses the pen, he/she will be reminded of your product/brand and thus the brand recall is increased. Secondly, an advertising specialty, which is based on the type of product or brand that you are trying to project, will not only increase brand recall, but also strengthen the brand idea in the consumers mind. For example, if the product to be advertised is a health drink, giving a coffee mug with your message and logo on it would mean that whenever the customer uses the mug, there is an instant brand recall. In
Serif fonts could also be used on websites; however, it’s best to use them in limited quantities, such as for headlines and subheads. Some fonts that are available to use on the web include Times, Times New Roman, and Georgia.
Another issue that commonly arises with online fonts is the difficulty in controlling the size and appearance of those fonts. Standard font tags in HTML don’t offer precise sizing control and need to be used several times throughout each HTML document, so making changes can be time-consuming. You can use Cascading Style Sheets, or CSS, to precisely control the exact size of your fonts and to make site- wide font, size, or color changes with one simple alteration.
• In Word Documents, you also want to make sure that the fonts that you use for the text will be available on the recipient’s computer. Good fonts to use are the standard fonts that come installed on PCs, which include Arial, Verdana, Tahoma, Times New Roman, Georgia, Palatino, Courier, and Trebuchet MS.
In order to insert a small amount of customized text—such as your logo, tagline, or address information—create an image of that information and to place it in the header and footer of the page.
Another way to preserve the appearance of text is to export your document as a PDF file and send it to the recipient; PDF files embed the fonts into each document so that they can be viewed on any computer and still look right.
Some technical info about font file types
When you purchase fonts to use on your computer, you’ll often be given a choice of buying a Post Script, True Type, or Open Type font. Here is a brief explanation of the characteristics and problems with each of these formats:
• Post Script fonts are considered industry standard and are therefore preferred by professional printers. There is a format of Post Script fonts available for Macintosh computers and another format available for Windows computers; those fonts cannot be shared between Macs and PCs.
• True Type fonts are often found on Windows machines. These fonts do not print as well as Postscript fonts.
• Open Type fonts are the newest type of font. They are cross-platform compatible, but many fonts aren’t yet available in this format.
With this information about the creative, practical, and technical aspects of font usage, we hope that you can make font choices that will enhance your brand.
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