Sunday, January 27, 2019


5 Graphic Design Tips Every Marketer Should Know


The design of your marketing materials says a lot about your brand. Poor designs can make your brand look cheap or sloppy, but a good design can give your brand credibility and value. Not every business has the means to hire an in-house graphic designer, and those that outsource often don’t know what to look for in a great design, they just follow the consensus of their peers or adhere to the designer’s suggestions. Here are a few graphic design tips that will help you critique your own design, or that of the person you are trusting with your brand:

1. Know your audience.

The beginning of a great design involves research of your target audience. It is very important to know who you are designing for before you can create something that is appealing and eye-catching to the audience that matters most. For instance, if you are designing an ad to entice young couples to purchase a new vehicle, they probably wouldn’t be drawn to an image of an elderly couple in a convertible. Also, don’t make assumptions about your target audience without backing it up with data. Graphic design can be costly and time-consuming, so you want to make sure you get the most effective and successful design possible.

2. Ensure readability.

No matter if your audience is young or old, make sure your message is easily read. One of the first rules of thumb for readability is to use contrast. When you have a dark background, for instance, make sure your text is light enough to read, and vice versa. Although fun, crazy fonts are tempting, refrain from using fonts that may take a few seconds to read. If you do use a fun font, use it for the header and use normal fonts for areas of long text. Also, limit the number of fonts you use to 2-3 per ad or other print material. Make sure fonts are large enough to read, especially the fine print at the bottom.

3. Complement colors.

The use of color is very important, and should usually match your brand colors. In some cases, though, it is appropriate to stray away from brand colors to make your materials stand out. However, don’t go overboard with wacky colors that might send the wrong message. We recommend using up to 3 main colors.

4. Simplify photos.

Although it is easy to get carried away with the hundreds of Photoshop effects, you’ll want to keep your photo edits to a minimum. Too many effects or strange cropping can make your photos look tacky. Instead, use clean, high-quality photos that go well together. Use drop shadows and borders when appropriate—not just to try to make it look professional.

5. Embrace white space.

White space is the term given to portions of the design that are left unmarked (for instance, no photos, text, etc). White space is used to separate elements in a design or to emphasize text or images, and can really add to the look and feel of an advertisement. Apple is a great example of using white space in its ads. Check out this example of an ad designed for the iPad Mini in 2012—using white space to draw attention to the imagery.
The design of your marketing materials can change how others feel about your brand, so make sure it’s positive. Pay attention to these 5 design tips to ensure a clean and professional brand presentation.

Top 10 Marketing Trends to Watch in 2016/017/018
With a new year comes new trends to follow. Marketing trends are no exception with social media, technology and competitors changing the landscape almost daily. Keeping up with trends is essential to your marketing plan for the new year and beyond. Your staff, your clients, and your business as a whole will benefit greatly from following and implementing these trends.
In 2018, your customers will be the focus of more consumer-centered marketing that is expected to become more popular. Collecting information about customers and potential customers is now easier than ever. This information can inform your customer service and marketing strategies.
Here are the top 10 marketing trends to look out for in 2016/017/018:
Big data is a big deal. With available to businesses for websites and social media profiles, tracking data is easy and affordable for even the smallest of businesses. To collect and use data successfully, you first have to determine which analytical tools to use and which data to collect. On your website, customer engagement and retention can be tracked based on their shopping, spending and web browsing behaviors. This data gives insight into who your customers are, where they are, what they want and when. With social media analytics, you can determine the effectiveness of different channels that your business uses and budget your advertising funds accordingly.
Follow the lead. Analytics allow you to track potential clients both on and off of your website. Remarketing allows you to follow visitors who have left your website by showing your ad on other websites they are visiting or on search engines they are using to do research related to your product or service. From there, the visitor may likely return to your website to complete a purchase or other action. Just be sure that your ads are seen by designing them so that they do not trigger  
Get found with SEO. With Google’s Mobilegeddon of 2015, being found on search engines has become essential to websites’ success. Not only do websites have to be mobile-friendly to meet the demands of smartphone users, they must also have search engine optimization (SEO). When writing content, make sure that it is more than 300 words and contains keywords that can be used in searches. These keywords must use natural language to customers to increase the likelihood that your website will be found.
Mobile is not just a phone. When most people think of mobile Internet-connected devices, they think of smartphones. Wearable devices like Apple Watches and Fitbits are becoming more popular as the Internet of Things movement takes off. In the next year, wearable devices will even be able to transport users to other locations with the release of the Oculus Rift. Since these items are worn on the consumer’s person, they allow marketers to track wearers’ exact locations and other information to deliver targeted messages.
Content to catch the eye. Content is the key to any successful marketing strategy. Blogs and social media profiles give you the opportunity to share your expertise and have a conversation with your current and potential clients. However, with the rise of apps like Snapchat, Periscope and Instagram, visual content is becoming more important than ever. With 55% of Internet users watching videos daily, it’s no surprise that 93% of businesses are using more videos for marketing
Programmatic Linear TV is Realized

Recently, there has been a strong shift from interest in linear TV to digital platforms, but that doesn’t mean linear TV is down for the count. While linear TV has struggled to compete on price, show measurement, create interactivity and target users with deep data, this could all change in the year ahead. Following years of heavy investment, linear TV will soon have its first real products debut and even offer programmatic activations. While it will gain traction quickly, it will still take a few years for the technology to work out the kinks and become effective and easy to activate – but we will see this shift begin in 2018. 


Beware the ad-blocker. With the increasing popularity of ad-blocking software, advertisers need to be more mindful of ad design than ever before. Certain ad features like large images and file sources will trigger ad-blockers.
Saving time is money. Automation will continue to be one of the leading strategies for marketers. It comes as no surprise since automating emails and social media posts saves you both time and money. This is especially helpful for small businesses that may not have a designated marketing staff member and may not have the money to hire one.
Search and shop social. With the addition of the “Buy” button on social media platforms and search engines, shopping online has become a more social activity. The button allows consumers to purchase products directly through an advertisement, social media profile or web search. Consumers do not even have to visit a store’s website to purchase from them. The entire transaction takes place through the feature, which saves the customer’s credit card information for future purchases. This idea of “one-stop shopping” is also behind the increase in dedicated mobile apps that users can shop through.
Building relationships. Social media has made our society more relational. Consumers are looking to connect with businesses they frequent. By making your marketing content more relational, you are humanizing your brand and building relationships with your current and potential clients. Also, it is helpful to personalize any communication with your customers to make them feel like they have a relationship with you.
Experience matters. When it comes to choosing who will best meet their needs, customers are looking for who will give them the best experience. Serve them well and they will be your biggest cheerleaders. Most consumers will check out online reviews before they visit a business.
No matter what year it is, keeping up with the latest marketing trends is key to the success of your business. Trends may come and go, but marketing your business will have an impact for years to come.
Thank you
bloger Thilak Wanasinghe ,Uni,of Kelaniya 
use by ,
pulse
https://www.martechadvisor.com/articles/ads/5-top-advertising-trends-in-2018-the-future-is-digital/
https://pulsemarketingagency.com/category/advertising/



Saturday, January 5, 2019

හුලවාලි ..












දාරා හූරී කන්දට හැමදාම ගෑටුවේ දඩයමක් කරල රැහේ ජීවත් කරන්න .හැබැයි වෙනම මස් ටිකක් විකුනල දාරා කාසි එකතු කලෙ සුභාගේ කරේ රිදී පොටක් පටලන්න..

කුඩා ගමේ මද්දහනේ අවු රස්නේ නිවා..
හූරී කදු පෙතේ දඩමං දිගේ ගියා මෙමා
එවන් ගමන් මා නම් ගියේ සෙනෙහෙවන්ත නිසා
උබේ කරට රිදී පොටක් පලදින්නයි සුබා..

වංසක්කාර බිබිලෙ ඇත්තෝ එක්ක සුභා එකී පැටලුන දා
දාරා කෙටේරියෙන් ගහන්නේ දරාගන්න බැරි කමටම..
ලේ පෙරාගෙන ඉන්න බිබිලෙ ගැනවත් සුභ එකී කල දේ ගැනවත් නෙමෙ දුක හිතුනේ...
බිබිලෙ ඇත්තෝගේ ලේ ගලද්දී සුභා එකී දාරාට සාප තියන කොටයි..
කොයිතරම් රලු උවත් එවෙලෙ නම් දාරාගෙ හිත සසල උනා..දාරා කටවහගෙන යනව එතනින්

"සුභා එකී කාරී නෑ ගනින් ඔය වතුර කලගෙඩිය මෙහෙට අපි බිබිලෙ ඇත්තෝණ්ට සාත්තු කරමු"
අද එකාල නම්.......?
ආල වඩන අකුරු තුනේ තේරවිල්ල සකී..
රෑට නිදන තනි පැදුරේ නැති සිහිනෙක සකි
ආලෙ බිදුන දා කුමකට කදුලු බිංදු සකී..
ආල වඩන යන තේරුම  බෝසත්කම සකී

එතෙක් මෙතෙක් මා දුටු විදි එකම ආදරයේ නියම අරුත් කී සිනමා කෘතිය
හුලවාලි ..https://youtu.be/UGnQ2Lry8mo