Sterling Design and Communications’ PROCESS debunks and divides the mysterious world of advertising into five steps. We haven't done this to take all the fun out of the creative process but rather to assure you that there is method to the madness and that we have the art down to a science.

Establishing Phase
It’s really very simple. You have a business or other cause that you want people to know more about. You e-mail us and we call you or you call us. We talk on the phone for five minutes, during which time we cover your basic situation, your marketing goals, and what you think you may need (ranging from a logo and corporate identity to newspaper or magazine ads, a sales video, brochures, T-shirts . . . you name it!). We set up an appointment (in person or teleconference) to show you our previous work and see how we get along. If we all think we’re a good match, you hire us. We work by the hour, providing up front estimates and not-to-exceed limits. We ask for a 1/3 down payment. We go to work.

Definition Phase
Key people are interviewed, either in a group or individually. (This is very fun and interesting and everyone enjoys themselves and doesn’t resent the time invested—really!) The key people include opinion leaders, decision makers, front-line employees and other make it-or break it people with veto power. If appropriate, a small team of key people is formed to work with the agency through the project period. This team represents their colleagues, guides us, reviews work and helps introduce the results to their peers and other members of the organization.

We have had excellent experience working with two different worksheet approaches which define your current situation and help formulate a strategy. Without giving away all of our secrets, both methods help identify problems, opportunities, competition, target audiences, budgets, goals, objectives, etc. Together, we nail down all the factors and feasibilities, relying on outside research if warranted.

A problem defined is well on its way to resolution.

Solutions Phase
After gleaning all of your ideas, suggestions, favorite colors and other critical parameters, we design solutions. Graphic treatments, messages (slogans, battle cries, preferred vocabulary), and media recommendations (from display ads to baseball caps) are presented in a proposal which will be half-baked. What? (You ask.) Half baked? Yes. Our first suggestions to you will be half-baked so that you and your team can help bake them. The process is very much participative and it is quite expected that the most brilliant ideas we present will be your ideas. (We are paid to recognize a brilliant idea when we hear it.) We work until we reach satisfaction—if your sales manager is the one dissenter on a wonderful new tagline, we identify her objections and try to find a solution that works for her and the rest of the team. ‘Worried that you’ll end up with a camel invented by a horse-design committee? Don’t be. That’s our challenge. There may be a few camels leaving our studios but their owners are delighted and they do their job most effectively.

Execution Phase
It may sound deadly but this is when the work gets done—production of whatever materials are specified. Staffed to meet design, writing and production needs, this agency emphasizes efficiency and cost-effectiveness. (Unusual but not unheard of.) Our resources are well, in a word, sterling. Whether your solution requires photography, illustration, printing, signage . . . you name it, we have a source (or two) for it. And there is a good chance we have worked with that source for twenty years or more. Words like relationship, accountability and responsibility apply here.

The “Rubber Hits the Road” Phase
This is when your program, which you helped conceive, is born. Delivery and implementation are included in our job description, and; afterward, we will hound you to see if the responses you receive exceed your expectations. Because we are devotees to the idea of “Inside Out Advertising” (maybe even coined the phrase), we will encourage you to introduce your new program to your employees and other insiders FIRST so that they can be ambassadors to your publics.

Does it work? Check some results in our portfolio.

For more information about Sterling Design & Communications, contact us!

rsterling@sterlingdesignnh.com