Generating Creative Assets to Support

Promotions. Sales. Events. You may consider these the most time consuming efforts of your business. Conceiving your next event idea may come easily, with staff brainstorming during a quiet moment in the store. But the execution is a different story. How do you get the right customers to show up? To know about it and to tell their friends? You’ll want to think about your traditional methods, your in-store use of conversation and how your broad-reaching tactics like radio and other broadcast media do their part to raise awareness of the promotion or event. But often, the simplest elements are overlooked, ones that can simplify a multi-channel marketing push.

Talk about the “selling points” for the event or promotion. Is your event part of something larger, like a community art fair or sidewalk sale, allowing you to describe both as reasons for attendance? Is it a shop-for-a-cause event, where a percentage of store sales would be matched for a meaningful nonprofit? Really hone the way that your associates will describe the activities of the event to your clientele. While it might seem silly, role play with your team. They will find their words, and you’ll be sure you know just what they are saying.

These four images aren’t all images of engagement rings. In fact, if you must have inventory in any of them, limit yourself to a single photo. The others should be things that show the emotional experience of the event, your own staff serving a customer, the experience of watching the gift as its given. If you look at the image and have an audible response—that’s the image you should pick. When showing these images or ranking them in order of importance, the order should showcase inventory last, smallest, or least. This might go against what you think is important, but remember, your customers are connecting with you before and at the event. The piece they purchase won’t be decided upon until they are in the store itself.

Pen three text components about the event. First: A 100-140 character statement that describes the event in a single line. Keep it short but get the emotion into the statement. Some examples might be “Literacy Has a Real Ring To It. Support XYZ cause At Jay’s Jewelers this Saturday” or “Drop In During Sidewalk Sales to Beat the Heat and Make Your Wish List” or “Tuesday Ten Percent: You name the Nonprofit and We Write the Check.”

Next: a two sentence description that expands on the statement.

And finally: the time and place details.

Now that you’ve collected the materials, you’ll use them in different combinations, in the following places.

You know the slider on your home page that probably shows a blend of your inventory items? Take one of the emotional images, and lay the Text Statement over it, headline style. Finish with a softer, smaller listing of the time and Place details. Link it to the next item: a calendar event on your site.

If you don’t have a calendar of events, your blog page or where you list newsy items on your website will also work. An emotional image as the thumbnail, with all three text components inside the event listing should work perfectly. Reminder—there’s no need to use your inventory image yet, as the customer is seeing this item on your website, where much of your inventory can already be explored.

This is where the inventory image can go. Is the event a trunk show? Invite your supplier to provide the text! Is this a fundraiser? Ask the nonprofit to pen a blog about the mission of their organization. Remember, the blog needs to also describe the event and include the time and place details. Put it in a callout box or column alongside the article itself. After all, you’ve already written it.

Post the third emotional image in your feed. Use the two sentence description and the time and place details as the post. Link to your website’s calendar listing, blog, or news, where you’ve placed the information natively. Boost your post to your ideal customers, using what you know about their characteristics and geography.

Create a carousel ad for social media, with the three emotional images first and the inventory image last. The statement is your headline. The supporting sentences, the post that accompanies the ad. And guess what? The details will be found after the link to—you guessed it—your calendar entry, blog, or news.

Make a Facebook event, using the same hero image you’ve used on your home page, and all of the text you’ve already written. Invite all of your friends on Facebook, and encourage them to do the same.

If you are marketing digitally, make four ads for use in the digital space. Statement (headline) is already written. This headline goes on top of each of the four images. It clicks through to your calendar page, blog, or news.

With just four images and three small pieces of text, you’ve armed yourself with a multi-channel campaign that will generate a flurry of activity. If you do direct mail or place ads in print, they should contain these very same components, generating a cohesive, recognizable identity system for your event.