A product information sheet is a document outlining the key important figures about the different products a business is selling. In this case, I have created a product information sheet with the 6 different products in the Kontor collection on, and further details factors such as: height, width, length, core length, pattern repeat etc.

There are several advantages of having a product information sheet:

• Gives consumers specific information for them to distinguish where in their home it will go,
• Lists out the products in the collection for viewing,
• Tells consumers what material the products are, to ensure good quality,
• Directs consumers to buy the products with link to website.

I created the product information sheet for the Kontor collection using Adobe Photoshop, and used design methods such as grid, spacing and colour pallet to ensure even an information sheet can be aesthetically pleasing, maintaining the Kontor brand image and identity.

Please see below for the final version of the Kontor product information sheet:

To further advertise the Kontor collection, I decided to create a double page spread that would be placed in a magazine. Magazines are typically kept for a longer period of time than newspapers because of their higher printing quality. Furthermore, a variety of businesses such as medical offices, dentists and hairdressers buy and keep magazines for their customers to read while waiting (Huebsch, 2017). There are several benefits to advertising in a magazine, some are listed below:

• History (magazines have been an important way to reach people for over 250 years, therefore showing their capability to reach people and deliver important information),
• Benefits (magazine advertising offers higher quality displays for businesses which give a clearer, crisp and gloss image which increases a businesses credibility, and further enhances their identity and image. Furthermore, a business can choose which magazine they wish to advertise in, meaning a business can choose a magazine with the same target audience in order to reach the desired people),
• Geography (even if a business is small, advertising in a magazine can mean a national reach. This therefore demonstrates how businesses can increase their audience range and gather potential clients),
• Time Frame (magazines are typically kept for longer due to their higher quality. Furthermore, consumers of a magazine may choose to keep it and read it later, meaning an advertisement can be kept at someones home or at another business for a long period of time, thus more people seeing this advertisement, and more potential customers).

Demographics of Kontor’s target audience illustrate that they would be in a profession that would allow them to go to the hairdressers, dentist, doctors or any other extraneous business, therefore, it will be highly likely that they would come across a magazine with Kontor’s advertisements in. Furthermore, people collect magazines to gain inspiration when decorating or re-decorating their homes. This conveys that they would further pick up a home furniture magazine which Kontor could have an advertisement in, and further gain more customers.

Below is the double page spread I designed in Adobe InDesign. It contains elements in design that are vital to make an advertisement look aesthetically pleasing, such as the consistent colour pallet and the use of grids and lines. Moreover, with a QR code and links to social media, it bridges the gap between print and digital, meaning all consumers will be able to access information about Kontor whatever platform or medium they are on.

I have included a paragraph about the designer on the left hand side of the double page spread. This is something I have seen on a couple graphic design magazines and it enables the consumers to understand more about the collection when they learn a little bit about the designers life. This therefore engages the reader as they become more inclined to buy the product, the more information they know.

Below is the final flat page design created in Adobe InDesign:

In order to present the magazine in a realistic situation, I created a mock up magazine where you can see the double page spread in Adobe Photoshop. I got the PNG image file created in Adobe Photoshop, then ‘warped’ the image in sections which gives it the effect that some parts have been lifted from the surface, how a magazine looks when opened in the middle for a centre spread. Furthermore, I created several layers beneath the spread to convey that there are page beneath the spread, like a realistic magazine. Lastly, I have given the finishing touches of the Kontor ident logo at the top left and bottom right of the page. This is so in advertisement purposes, the logo is the first and last thing you see regarding to the ‘Z reading pattern’, therefore, it will retain in the consumers mind to enhance brand image and identity. Below is the final product created in Adobe Photoshop:

Bibliography:

Huebsch, R. (2017) What Are the Benefits of Magazine Advertising? Chron. Available from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/benefits-magazine-advertising-3586.html [accessed 14 December 2017].

According to Theriault (2017), a website is a necessity for entrepreneurs, small businesses, home-based businesses, and anybody selling products of services. Regardless of any other marketing methods, websites enable potential customers to find a business through Google search or learn more about your business after they have seen marketing tools such as advertisements. Therefore, websites are key to create and develop new customers.

There are many reasons why websites are fantastic for businesses, below are a few:

• Gain credibility for your business (more and more consumers use the internet to search for products that they want. By having a website, Kontor will gain credibility with professional looking webpages that maintain the Kontor brand and images, as well as following the colour pallet and being consistent. Consumers will automatically think that the Kontor brand is more professional and will credit the business, to make future purchasing decision),
• Websites save money (Websites are one of the lowest costing forms of marketing when it comes to advertising, therefore, it is vital that Kontor exploits this to raise awareness of the brand to gain potential consumers. Furthermore, websites have a reach of billions of users, therefore, for the same price, Kontor will be able to reach people on a national scale),
• Keeps customers informed (websites are much easier to update and change in relation to print. This means that consumers will get the most up-to-date information which is a part of good customer service. Furthermore, this can inform consumers when new products are out, therefore, they will feel unique as they have this information and be inclined to purchase Kontor’s products before anyone else),
• Always accessible (website are available to access 24/7/365. Therefore it doesn’t matter what time it is, or whether its a Sunday, it will always be there for the convenience of the consumer. This would enhance Kontor’s reputation, and also increase credibility),
• Target a wider market (a Kontor website will provide an alternative location to sell the products in the collection. A website (eCommerce) is a positive method to sell products to a wider market and even sell globally),
• Medium to showcase work (a Kontor website would enable easy access to potential consumers to see the full range of the collection all in one place, without them having to do any extra work. A website acts as a catalogue of information, however, saves them money and time),
• Improves customer service (by including an FAQ page (frequently asked questions), adding articles or uploading newsletters keep customers up-to-date and provides them with a valued service which increases Kontor’s professional image and further credibility) (Kaz, 2017).

I felt like it was vital to produce a mock up of a webpage to showcase Kontor’s ability to give consumers what they want, in a professional and aesthetically pleasing manner. Please see below of the final mock up of the home page:

Above you can see the homepage. This is the page that consumers will see as soon as they open up the Kontor website. It offers various important features such as the menu bar, a slideshow of pictures and pages, email subscription, links to social media, search function, login user, shopping basket, and language selection. These features are vital to enable consumer engagement, better Kontor’s marketing approach, and increase credibility and professionalism.

As well as creating a mock up of the home page, I decided to create another page from the menu bar in order to demonstrate how the branding (including colour pallets and typography) are consistent, as well as including further vital information, increasing the professional look, therefore adding to Kontor’s brand identity.

Above you will see the ‘collection’ webpage, where it advertises all 6 products that are for sale in the Kontor collection. If you click on the images, it will take you to a separate webpage giving specific details about cost, size, material, weight etc. for the consumers to help aid their purchasing decisions, as well as an option to add to their basket. One of the obvious differences on this webpage is the additional general and legal information at the bottom. The ‘how can we help’ section is purely for the consumers. It is part of Kontor’s branding guidelines in customer service; Kontor aims to give excellent customer service to customers to increase the brand image and identity, therefore, by having additional information like show above, will be respected and appreciated by the consumers if they had a question. Furthermore, legal information such as privacy policy and terms & conditions are their to keep the Kontor collection safe. They are all separate links to each document, therefore consumers are able to read this if they wish, and Kontor will stay safe against any legal action.  Moreover, Kontor’s registered information is at the bottom of the webpage. This conveys a professional sense to consumers are they can check whether Kontor is a registered business. This further increases the credibility of the business, along with brand image and identity.

Bibliography:

Kaz (2017) 8 reasons why your business NEEDS a professional website! Kaz Design Works. Available from http://www.kazdesignworks.ca/8reasons.html [accessed 12 December 2017].

Theriault, M. (2017) Key Steps To Building Your First Small Business Website. Forbes. Available from https://www.forbes.com/sites/allbusiness/2013/12/10/key-steps-to-building-your-small-business-website/#72e3f4b16625 [accessed 12 December 2017].

Advertising is important as it helps to keep consumers informed about new and existing products that are available on the market. Furthermore, advertising helps to spread awareness about products that would be of use to consumers and potential buyers (Arora, 2016). The main aim of advertising is to sell, and therefore by spreading the word across various platforms, a business is more likely to sell their products.

Online advertising is vital as it aligns with the way consumers make purchasing decisions. Online advertising enables relationships to be build through low-cost personalised communication, and further increases audience reach and convenience to gain a social and competitive advantage (Linton, 2017).

Advances with Internet technology mean that even the smallest of businesses are able to efficiently and successfully advertise online and take techniques to the next level. There are a number of advantages to advertising online that are listed below:

• Cost Efficiency (advertising online is much more cost-effective than using traditional forms of advertising such as print and television. Internet advertisements can be viewed by millions as well as only being viewed by your specific and targeted audience if desired),
• Target Marketing (market segmentation and target marketing are highly effective on the Internet compared to other mediums. Strategically placed online advertisements can achieve 100% of relevant views, which means that businesses are able to raise awareness of their brand and products, and furthermore, gain consumers and increase sales),
• Interactivity and Feedback (due to the development of Web 2.0, as well as consumer receiving media, they are now able to respond to and create media. This means that online advertisements can benefit from two-way communication. Having interactive advertisements online mean that businesses are able to gain statistics, survey and comments which in turn maximises their effectiveness and increases awareness),
• Captive Audience (due to technology advancing, traditional forms of advertising such as television and radio don’t have the same impact as they use to. This is because people are now able to skip advertisements with on demand services and recorders. Therefore, a advertisements online are still proving highly successful as advertisement such as banner ads remain in the visitor’s peripheral vision as long as they are reading the website information. These advertisements cannot be skipped, allowing marketers to take advantage of a captive audience).

As part of the marketing plan, I decided advertising was a big part of Kontor’s journey into people homes. Online advertising is a vital and successful form of marketing, therefore I decided to create individual online advertisements for each product, as well as an advertisement for the whole collection.

All of these advertisements have an interactivity element where it asks to ‘click here’. This is an easy portal to the Kontor’s website to aid consumers purchasing decisions. The advertisements ask a question: ‘would you like this product in your home office?’, therefore, consumers have to read this and analyse whether its a product they would like, hopefully influencing them to click the link. Furthermore, each advertisement still has the QR code, enabling consumers to have a ‘fun’ and ‘interactive’ elements if they chose to scan it.

The Kontor collection’s Facebook page and Instagram account is stated on every advertisement. This means that if consumers are interested, they are able to look up Kontor’s profile and find out more information about what it is, and what products it has to offer. The use of social media in advertisements is vastly important in todays society as there are over 39 million users at the start of 2017, and estimated to reach 42 million (Statista, 2017). Furthermore, Facebook and Instagram are the two main platform Kontor posts on. This is because Facebook has more than 2 billion daily active users (Osman, 2017) demonstrating that a vast number of potential consumers are able to access information about Kontor for free. Furthermore, at current, only 28% of marketers use Instagram, with 200 million monthly active users (Bendall, 2017). This illustrates how Kontor has a competitive advantage ahead of local competitors by existing on this platforms with the amount of users Kontor can reach.

The products are the main focal point of the advertisement, therefore, they are in the middle. This will stand out to consumers and will further embed into consumers minds, therefore, when they are not looking at the advertisement, they will still remember the product.

In a 2017 e-strategy trends report, it is stated that 15% of consumers respond to banner ads and 7% of consumers respond to billboards from small businesses. This is reflected in the amount on months in the year that Kontor will look into these marketing services.

Above is a banner advertisement to raise awareness of the Kontor collection. This advertisement focuses on who whole collection, and further offers the same elements as the online advertisements. The different with a banner ad is where it is placed on the internet. Banner ads are more difficult to eradicate as they pop up and cannot be out of the consumers eyesight until they leave the whole webpage that they are on. This is a successful marketing method that proves successful and therefore will aim to raise awareness of the Kontor collection, the Kontor brand, and gain consumer interest.

Bibliography:

Arora, D. (2016) Why is advertising so important to business? LinkedIn. Available from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-advertising-so-important-business-diwakar-arora/ [accessed 11 December 2017].

Bendall, C. (2017) 16 Sttistics to Show Why Instagram Marketing is Crucial. Our Social Times. Available from http://oursocialtimes.com/16-statistics-to-show-why-marketers-need-instagram/ [accessed 11 December 2017].

Linton, I. (2017) Six Benefits of Internet Marketing. Chron. Available from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/six-benefits-internet-marketing-31382.html [accessed 11 December 2017].

Osman, M. (2017) 28+ Powerful Facebook Stats Your Brand Can’t Ignore in 2017. Sproutsocial. Available from http://sproutsocial.com/insights/facebook-stats-for-marketers/ [accessed 11 December 2017].

Statista (2017) Social media usage in the United Kingdom (UK) – Statistics & Facts. Statista. Available from https://www.statista.com/topics/3236/social-media-usage-in-the-uk/ [accessed 11 December 2017].