Timing is everything.
Get the insights you need to propel your brand and career. Forward.
Fast. Forward.
A master class for leading creatives, marketers, CEOs, and founders to supercharge your brand and your career.
In this small-group master class, Daniel Dejan, Vicki Strull, and Trish Witkowski lead you through insights, innovations, and trends in a post-pandemic design and marketing landscape.
Take a deep dive into:
- What motivates people to buy and the various paths to purchase
- The most powerful marketing techniques, tools, and strategies in today’s print + digital marketplace
- Thinking like a C-suite executive to fortify your branding and marketing campaigns and ensure they come to life
We’ll explore how to leverage today’s powerful technologies, tools, and techniques to enhance your next-generation direct mail, digital media, packaging, and marketing communications.
We’ll show you how to move people from prospects to customers, from customers to loyalists, and from loyalists to evangelists. You’ll leave with fresh ideas and actionable strategies, a thought-provoking, resourceful workbook, and a path to execute your new design and marketing insights immediately.
How It Works
Course Length
In-Person: 1 day
Virtual: 2 half-days
LIVE
Lots of interaction
Duration
8 hours
Class Size
Not too big,
not too small
Model
Deep-dive
presentations
Format
Informal,
classroom-style
Who Should Enroll?
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GRAPHIC DESIGNERS—AGENCY, IN-HOUSE, AND INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS who want to lead design conversations in a language that marketers and business leaders value |
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DIGITAL MEDIA DESIGNERS who want to boost sales by broadening their design skills to include physical touch points such as direct mail and packaging |
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MARKETING MANAGERS, DIRECTORS, AND COORDINATORS who want to lead their teams with evolving edge strategic thinking |
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BRAND MANAGERS who want to connect better with their customers |
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ENTREPRENEURS who want to talk directly to their customers to grow sales, build brand loyalty, and increase their company’s value |
Key Course Takeaways
Syllabus
Class is in session! Depending on who is attending (we love to customize), the exact schedule will vary from class to class. But this syllabus will give you a good idea of what to expect.
For virtual classes, we split the content into segments over multiple days, while we teach in-person classes over one full day.
Check-in, meet your instructors and classmates, agenda, and format:
· Presentations
· Chat, discussions
· Polls
· Q&A
Brand Economics™
MONEY ISN'T THE ONLY CURRENCY WE SPEND
The first step in developing loyal and engaged customers is understanding what people spend. In this section, learn about the currencies people spend with a brand, the value of those currencies, and how to design marketing touchpoints so that customers and prospects will allocate more of their resources to your brand.
· Money
· Time
· Energy
· Social
Building Trust
THE ULTIMATE BRAND INVESTMENT
Did you know that for brands, trust matters more than love? In this chapter, learn three distinct strategies to earn trust in marketing campaigns. Learn how each tactic directly correlates to people spending the aforementioned ‘currencies’ in Chapter 1.
Strong brands build trust by:
· Being authentic in advocacy & cause marketing campaigns
· Committing to sustainable business practices toward a circular economy
· Embracing diversity, equity, & inclusion in their marketing & design
The Myth of Normal™
UNIQUE CUSTOMERS. UNIQUE JOURNEYS.
‘I am unique.’ ‘I am my own person.’ ‘I am special.’ That’s what every customer wants to feel, so the notion of any one person as ‘normal’ is so yesterday. Instead, identify each customer’s unique traits of WHO they are, WHEN they are interacting with your brand, and WHERE they are within their customer journey. By the end of this chapter, you’ll understand why balancing online touch points with real-world experiences is essential to creating emotional connections with your customers and prospects.
This chapter covers:
· Multi-Generational Marketing
· Cultural Philosophies
· The Moments of truth
· Customer journeys
Brand Chemistry™
REVEALING THE SCIENCE IN MARKETING, DESIGN & BRANDING
Most creatives understand intimately the art of designing a touch point—type, colors, imagery, et al.—all the fun parts that make them creative. But to supercharge marketing campaigns and touch points, mix in the latest technologies in printing, messaging, and personalization to create memorable emotional connections with customers.
This chapter evolves the strategic topics of WHY in previous chapters to practical techniques of HOW to connect with customers by teaching:
· The 7 Emotional Message Drivers
· Personalization & Customization
· Interactive Formats
· Sensory Marketing & Tactile Printing Techniques
· Connected Print & Packaging
Design for Business™
THE 6 BUSINESS TERMS THAT WILL EXPAND YOUR IMPACT
Creative professionals are accustomed to fielding questions about color palettes, fonts, pixels, and UX, but is your team versed in The Language of Business™? Conversing in business terminology with clients and stakeholders reshapes conversations from subjective to objective by connecting a touch point’s design to specific business goals.
Understanding and synthesizing these terms—The Business 6™—expands credibility and impact:
· Revenue
· Margin
· Marketshare
· De-commoditize
· CLV
· ROI
Winning Formulas
BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER IN POWERFUL WAYS
Through previous chapters, you’ve acquired an MBA’s worth of information. This culmination takes you, step by step, through the entire process showing examples of how brands are:
· Encouraging consumers to spend their currencies
· Building Trust
· Addressing Different Audiences
· Navigating the entire customer journey
· Balancing customer experiences between online and real life
· Achieving business goals
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30 MIN
BUILD YOUR ROI DASHBOARD
Short description followed by bullet points. Short description followed by bullet points. Short description followed by bullet points. Short description followed by bullet points.
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20 min
HOW WILL YOU FORTIFY YOUR BRAND, CAREER & COMMUNITY?
Wrap-up, Q&A, Office hours, and an alumni group, plus 3 Types of Takeaways
REACH: What strategies & techniques will you execute immediately? What will you share with your team tomorrow?
STRETCH: What will you implement in the next 3 months?
LEAP: What strategies, techniques, & tools will benefit the long-range marketing vision for your company over the next 6 to 12 months, & how will you build them into next year’s planning & budget?
MarketWise Alumni Benefits
The Learning Doesn’t End
Toolkit
While working on your branding, marketing, and seasonal campaigns, refer to your toolkit—the notebook, Brand Chemistry™ cards, inspiring samples, and other swag—for reminders of the strategies, technologies, techniques, and metrics you learned.
Community
Join our MarketWise Alumni Peer Group, to meet fellow design, marketing, and entrepreneurial leaders. Network, ask questions, and share tips and resources.
Office hours
Need advice on a specific project? Schedule office hours with our instructors.
Need More Details?
“UH-MAZING. Awesome. Enlightening. Flew by. Insight gained. Inspired.”
“Trish is the gold standard when it comes to providing information, resources, and inspiration for the graphic arts industry.”
“Vicki Strull is one of the most creative, positive, forward thinking people I know.”
“Daniel creates an environment where his audience is not “just” being educated, but rather immersed into a learning experience.”
Ready to give your team a creative edge?
Need more?
Let’s connect.
Still curious about how Fast. Forward. can fit your goals and objectives? Interested in partnering with us or hosting a private class? Just feel like saying "Hi"? We love ideas and connecting with people.
