Articles & Blogs
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Why Branding is relevant for even the smallest business
When many small business people think about ‘branding’ they often think about two things – the big consumer brands like coca cola, orange, nike etc, and the large baffling fees branding agencies seem to charge for the spurious and intangible benefits of following their advice. Terms like “Brand Alignment”, “Brand Awareness” and “Brand Building” makes branding seem more for the medium to large corporation than for the small business, and brand consultants closer to management consultants than anything else. So is branding relevant for small businesses? First, let’s get back to basics… What is branding? People make their minds up [...]
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10 tips to get the best from a design agency
There are lots of business web sites (and experts) who will tell you how to improve and grow your business. One of the central things that they all mention is branding and marketing – but if you want to be successful ‘make sure you get a good design agency’ is not much use. So I thought I’d summarise what you should look for, and how you should approach, commissioning and working with a designer or design agency. Have a meeting. Basic maybe, but you have to talk face to face what you want to achieve – over the telephone, via [...]
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6 tips to present your company effectively
Presenting your company, either through an actual slide presentation or giving a talk at an event, initial client meeting or pitch, or even one on one with a business contact, is probably one of the hardest things to do really well and really effectively. I hope to give you a few ideas and insights to help you achieve a more effective presentation and to achieve better results. There are two primary reasons why presenting is difficult: As you work for the company, are involved in it’s running and operations, it is difficult to ‘step out’ of that mindset and see [...]
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People are animals, treat them that way…
Customers react instinctively and emotionally to companies and products as much as on a rational basis. this is particularly true of products and services that have lots of similar competitors, and why brands focus on the relationship and wider meaning of any communications. To give them an emotional hook, not just a rational one, so they buy your product or service. Make sure you consider: A consistent tone of voice Appropriate colours and imagery for the audience A two way dialogue with your customers to build loyalty and ‘bond’ with a sense of common values In the onslaught of business [...]
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Why inspiration is your enemy, boredom your friend
You hate being bored – everyone does, right? Well you shouldn’t. Just as today’s kids need to learn what it is to be bored and create their own games and explorations of the world, so you need to find enough space in your life to get really bored – and fill it with something different to our contemporary pillar to post, media saturated, time-poor, stress rich existence. This IS a web site about vision and inspiration in business, but I’m going to highlight when inspiration is your enemy, and why boredom can be a good thing. Inspiration: great ideas are [...]
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Why Organisation and Perspiration are not enough
There are many challenges when growing a business, most of which become self evident pretty quickly – getting enough customers, getting the product ‘right’ for the target market, managing costs etc – but there are a few problems that often get pushed to the side in the day to day onslaught of activities and issues. These are the ‘structural elements’ which are emphasised by many business coaches and consultants. They typically comprise: Get the right systems in place to make your company run smoothly and efficiently (accountancy, stock management, staff management protocols etc) Get your costs down – make more [...]
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What the **** is branding?
Branding sucks. It’s my business, so I believe in it passionately, but I’m always describing what it is, and why it’s important to clients, contacts, friends and family. And they still don’t quite get it! So I thought I might try to nail it down a little more here, so I can send everyone this link and finally lay that particular line of questioning to rest (big chance, right?). Is it marketing, is it a logo, is it the press coverage you get, is the strapline and the messages you send out? Is it a combination of all or [...]
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