As you begin interacting with other sites and services in your self-promotion goals, you will find that you often need a company description, avatar, screen shot, logos, and other design elements. These assets are important tools and should not be generated without thought or at the last moment when you’re under pressure to deliver.
Make a project of gathering promotion assets:
- company description in 25, 50, and 100 words
- product descriptions in 25, 50, and 100 words
- key team member profiles and/or résumés in 25, 50, and 75 words
- key team member avatars in JPG or GIF format (a number of different sizes ensures that you always have a high-quality image: 100 × 100 pixels, 125 × 125 pixels, and 200 × 200 pixels to start)
- company and product logos in high-resolution EPS format
- company and product logos in web-safe JPG or GIF format
- company brief for press releases and news announcements
- client testimonials for each product and/or for your company
- email template
- press-release and news-announcement templates
- text ads with a predefined landing page URL for link exchanges
- banner ads in multiple sizes (90 × 90 pixels, 120 × 120 pixels, 120 × 150 pixels, and 120 × 180 pixels to start)
- media kit if you will allow advertising by other companies
Pre-gathering assets provides you an arsenal of options and ensures that you are not held up waiting for content while you’re in the middle of a promotional effort. Don’t feel as though everything has to be custom and unique, turn to stock image providers or clip art for a head start. I stumbled on Lokas Software®, a great icon provider, while working on my book and used their images throughout.