Promote yourself in your message
August 4, 2008 by Maria G. Nozza |
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Monday’s Promotion Tip for Graphic Designers
I heard something the other day which I thought was brilliant.
I called the office of someone and got their answering machine. Usually, it’s not that big a deal as you get the typical “You’ve reached the desk of _____. I am currently away from my desk or on another call. Blah, blah, blahh”.
Well, this time, it was different.
It started off in the usual way, “you’ve reached the office of _______ from [company name]” and then I heard the tagline of the company!
What an interesting thing. She actually promoted her company in her voice message!
T A K E A W A Y :
I then wondered how many other promotional oppotunities I’m missing. Something so simple and yet hardly anyone does it.
What to me is very telling is that what needs to happen is that every single point of contact between us and our clients always hold an opportunity to promote ourselves and our company.
Should you give out prices by the item?
May 8, 2008 by Maria G. Nozza |
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Thursday’s Management Tip for Graphic Designers
I made another fundamental error with the client I was talking to you about yesterday.
When a client starts off a job by telling you that he wants the quote to be broken down by component, R-U-N. That is code for he wants to save money by removing stuff if possible.
Clients don’t understand what goes into creating a design. In the example of a website, they think they can pick and choose the parts of the website that will “have the most bang for his buck” and save money by doing that stuff first.
I REALLY HATE THAT. It cheapens the design and starts the job off on a sour note.
The start of a design nightmare
I created a quote for a website. When the client asked what was the price of the banner. I (like an idiot) told him the figure.
Now, unfortunately, I didn’t take into account that when I created the quote, I always start with the banner because that will determine a lot of things like color and typography and the overall look of the site.
So, the figure was 1/3 of the price.
What did they do? They’ve decided they wanted to keep the old banner and have me work around that.
They wanted to change the dimensions of the site, but once you changed that, suddenly the height of the banner didn’t “look right” so they had me change it back.
Now, they want to get the original file from their previous designer and fix the height on that, so that when we “stretch” the site, it will be proportionate.
It’s becoming the biggest pain and really not worth the price that they will pay for the redesign. As they are constantly in flux and undecided about stuff.
C O N C L U S I O N :
When clients ask for a quote, say for a website, quote for the design of the entire website.
If they then want you to “break it down”, tell them that the quote is a package deal. The more they have designed, the less they are paying. That if you remove components, you will have to revise the quote and price it accordingly.
When making decisions like typography and colors, you will still need to make them whether you are having the banner redesigned or not. And that takes time.
In design, one thing always affects something else.
Always take screen captures!
May 7, 2008 by Maria G. Nozza |
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Wednesday’s Production Tip for Graphic Designers
I have a new client that I’ve been learning a lot in terms of what not to do! Today and tomorrow’s posts will deal with a few things I’d like to share.
I was floored (totally floored) during a website redesign when in the middle of it the client says to me “I don’t even remember what the old one looked like ” and wanted me to create an itemized list of everything I had changed on the site!
Not only is this an absolute waste of my time, am I truly expected to remember every little thing I changed? The answer is YES.
Unfortunately, I didn’t take a screen capture of her old website. Even though it had been up for YEARS, they couldn’t remember what it looked like originally!
Luckily, there’s the wayback machine!
C O N C L U S I O N :
Always take a before shot of any webpage you are working on. Then present the client with a before and after shot.
It will save you a ton of heartache. It will also save you the grief of clients thinking that what you did was a simple “tweak” of what they had before (and therefore gypping them).
The screen capture is proof!
Promote new site content via your newsletter
May 5, 2008 by Maria G. Nozza |
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Monday’s Promotion Tip for Graphic Designers
There is a fine line between promotion and content when it comes to your newsletter. You need to strike a balance between the two.
Why shouldn’t you include site changes or new blog postings in the emails you mail out regarding your newsletter? There really is no reason you shouldn’t!
After all, it hardly matters how you choose to send your audience the newsletter. An email will always be used whether to email a link to an HTML newsletter page, send out a PDF, or copy the newsletter in the body of the email.
You can take the opportunity to talk about what’s been going on and changes that you have made on your site.
It also adds some dimensions and interest in your newsletter.
C O N C L U S I O N :
Your audience may not regularly check for changes on your site. It may be worth your while to send them emails alerting them to site changes or special blog postings.
The key is to be visible at all times and make it seem as if things are constantly evolving and growing in your company.
Should you have a brand?
April 28, 2008 by Maria G. Nozza |
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Monday’s Promotion Tip for Graphic Designers
Anyone who has spent some time talking to me knows how much of a big proponent of branding I am.
For me, it’s more than just a buzz word. You’ll notice that all big companies have a brand identity in place
The reason is because it promote familiarity and it also sets the tone for your company.
And in today’s global economy, you can now compete with the big boys.
Branding creates a solid foundation not only for your business but also for your marketing efforts.
A good brand identity will answer the following questions about your business
- Who are you and what do you and your company stand for
- What do you do
- What kind of clients are you going for?
- What makes you different from your competitors?
- Why should your clients hire you? What’s in it for them?
C O N C L U S I O N :
The choices you make in typography and the overall look of your website will reflect the answer to these questions.
If you want more upscale clients, then you don’t want your site designed to appeal to anarchists.
