I often refer to myself as the Brand Police. As the marketing team for our clients, we build brand identity and consistently work to maintain a clear and strong brand identity. Personally, my role includes defining brand standards and enforcing the standards; revising client-created materials to ensure the logo, fonts, colors, messaging are all correct and on-brand. I also eat my own dog food when it comes to building and maintaining the brand of For Marketing Matters (FMM). Although, at times it is more akin to the cobbler’s kids not having shoes! The harsh reality is clients’ needs come first, always.
The role of the printer in maintaining the FMM brand:
One point of differentiation from our competitors is our commitment to accountability and measurable impact. An advisor of a FMM client once commented that FMM was more accountable than other members of the management team who are employees. One way we consistently demonstrate our accountability and results-orientation to our clients is in weekly meetings reviewing goals, metrics and activities, all part of an integrated, phased marketing plan. These reports are clearly branded as FMM documents with statuses of Done, In Progress or Not Started color coded in the FMM colors of blue, green and white. Except recently the printed reports appeared to be more appropriate for a baby store with pale blue and pink tones. Uggh. I triple checked ink levels, performed the printer diagnostics and resigned myself to the fact that the trusty HP printer was on its last leg. Add that to the ‘to do’ list.
Honestly, I dreaded buying a new printer. I hoped to choose the best printer for our needs, then get it set up, with a goal of not losing more than 2-3 hours of productivity to get back to decent quality client reports. A cynical view perhaps, but that was my outlook. I bit the bullet on Monday and headed to Staples. Brand loyalty helped me narrow the field quickly by only looking at the HP All in One Printers and advice from our IT support company helped me focus on two models. My decision was made easier when a gentleman came by to check the ink required for the printer I was leaning towards getting. I asked him about it. He shared he had three in his office and they worked great. He highly recommended it and I was sold. With $100 savings, I headed to the check out line while still dreading the set up and expecting the rest of my Columbus Day to be spent getting the darn thing operational.
Thank you HP. The set up was very easy complete with easy prompts and clear, useful written instructions (a surprise) and the wireless printer was set up, connected to the network and working, printing reports in the FMM blue and green in no time! I was very proud of myself, thrilled to be back on brand and very satisfied to have purchased another HP printer. As a client commented to me when I shared my experience, no one gets fired for buying an HP printer! Our clients are happy to have properly branded, easy to read FMM reports again, no longer having to figure out what pale pink represents! Looking for a solid all in one printer? My vote is the HP Officejet Pro 8610. For Marketing Matters is back on brand and that feels good.