Website Opportunity in Nashville

Courtesy of Driving in Heels - Flicker Creative Commons

This economic slump has made people wake up and realize that not having a website is just not ok anymore. There are huge opportunities waiting for companies that will make the investment. The days of setting back and watching the business come through the front door are over. The question now is do I want to spend money on a website and hope that in will generate some income or continue to rely on my yellow page ad.

The answer is get a website. If you don’t have a presence on the web what are waiting for. Do it now. The web is where people go to find a product or service to purchase. Most people that have a computer and the internet search online first  If they can not find it there they may look in the yellow pages. The fact is that being in the yellow pages may be good, but if all the competition is there as well it will just be that much more difficult to get the business. And does that ad really let you sale yourself like a website could.

I think that the web is a huge opportunity for service related business like roofers, plumbers, and air conditioning companies. They have typically flooded the yellow pages because it was easy. However I am surprised at the low number of those businesses that also invest in their website. If people look on the web first you should be out there to be found. Especially since there is less local competition in those areas. Don’t get me wrong their is opportunity in the phone book but there is less local competition on the web.

For example. I live in Springfield, TN. When searching on Google there is not one local plumber with a website. There is no local competition. However if you look in the phone book. They all have an ad.

Where do you look first for a company? The phone book or the web? Let me know in the comments.

Seo for Nashville Home Inspection

I just did some lite SEO as I like to call it. For a Nashville Home Inspection service. It is a new site that my customer created using Go Daddy. The site has been up for a few months but is not showing up in Google for the most popular search terms related to his business. After checking to make sure his site had been indexed by Google, which basically just means they know he exists, I looked for his site under the common keyword search. I quit looking at page 31. So I will continue to monitor his progress and report back with updates.

Logo Design Nashville Sentry Steel Services

Our most recent logo design / branding project in the Nashville, TN area was for Sentry Steel. As you can see above, the logo has changed quite a bit. Sentry Steel has been in business since 1965 and has added to there services over the years. These added services are what moved them to update their logo. Because of the Steel Services in the name, there are immediate ideas of what their company might do. There is also the issue of clients assuming they only do that one thing they did so many years ago. So the new logo takes the infuses off of the Steel Services and puts it on Sentry. This allows them to brand other parts of the business, as you can see below.

This is all to common in businesses. Most businesses start up with a specialty in one area and so there name or brand depicts that service or product. However as the business grows and industry demand changes, so do the products and services that the company offers. As they add offerings, the name becomes less representative of the company and can become an inappropriate representation of what the company does. When this happens, the brand of the company can be weakened. Your brand is what people think you are or think you do. If they think you do something that you don’t do, or don’t know what you do. Then their idea of you is not correct and you have a week brand. This ultimately translates into loss of business and missed opportunities.

Sometimes the solution is to just update the old logo to make it more current. Sometimes a complete redesign of the logo is necessary. In extreme cases a new name and logo are the answer. Whatever the issue your company is facing, be assured that there is a solution and we at Rush Design Group have that solution. We are also currently working on developing a consistent brand accross Sentry’s website and print materials.

Free Stuff for Nashville Businesses

Over the next 4 months Rush Design Group will be giving free printing and design to 1 lucky winner each month. Everyone else that signs up will receive that months item at 50% off. (limit one per customer only while supplies last)

After signing up you will receive an email notifying you of that months offer. Every email will have a button to click to register your name in the drawing. Please pass the email along to anyone you know that would like to save 50% off that months item.

Free Business Cards

May’s Free Giveaway will be 1000, full color, glossy, double sided, business cards. With set up included. Regular price for cards would be $60 per 1000 and $50 for setup and design. If in May you would like to get 50% of this $110 item please sign up for the email and in the email there will be a code for your discount.

Google’s idea of an April fools Joke

This is what I love about Google. They bring great things to the internet with a since of humor and style. I just saw a red link on my Gmail page showing me that there was a new Auto Pilot email system available you can see it for yourself here.

Tropicana Recall.

In the last post we looked at the new design of the Tropicana logo and packaging and it seemed that most of you agreed that it was a step in the wrong direction. Well it looks like we were not the only ones. Tropicana has decided to pull the packaging and the logo and revert to the old version due to customer complaints. So if you are a fan there is a limited number of collector edition juice boxes at your local grocery store. This is just another example where redesign for the sake of redesign is not a good idea. Never underestimate the reputation of a long established brand.

Here is a video of the Design Firm defending the redesign.

Hemphill and Moore Realty look a like ?

So if you know me you know that more times than not when I get to pick where we eat I like to pick Mexican food. I am not talking about Chi-Chi’s or Taco Bell. I eat at Mexican restaurants where the folks speak Spanish. I believe these are the best kinds. I’m sure they are all over the country. Here in Nashville we have plenty to choose from. Every town usually has 4-5 run by Hispanic families. Anyway on to the point. I find my self eating lunch at odd times like 3pm. Usually things are slow and half the staff is sitting down folding napkins and watching Univision. Which from what I can tell is the Hispanic channel of choice.

A month or more ago I was driving around and saw a Hemphill and Moore Realty Sign. At this time the sign was in black only. After seeing it for a week or more and noticing that it resembled the Univision logo. I called the company. I told them that there logo looked very close to that of the Univision logo. They said ok with no real interest and that was it. I few months later I noticed that there signs had changed to color and now look even more like the logo.

So what do you think. Is this a logo rip off or a honest mistake? To see other logo’s that look alike visit this site.

And just in case you are wondering it is not ok to take a symbol of of another logo and put it on yours. Even if you change the color up a little.

Logo Design - Is Fresher Better?

The job of a logo is to give the public an image which to associate everything they know about a company. The logo does not have to exactly explain what the business does but it does need to have a look or feel that is consistent with the companies intended brand position.

Often busiesses work hard to imprint the image of there brand on the consumers mind. Once they have achieved that they just have to continue to offer the same great product or service that they are known for. However the urge to change is sometimes overwhelming. The need to look fresh and new is irresistible. Sometimes people start to think that since the company is so well known that maybe they are getting over looked.

In the case of Sprite, Blimpie, and Tropicana I believe they have got caught up in the need to make a change. The product has not changed or even the market but change for sake of change. And in these cases I would agrue that this change was not a change for the better.

So when is it the right time to make a change?

If a logo represents everything that your company is in the mind of the consumer than the only reason to change a logo is if you want to change what clients think about the company. For example if your company has delivered an affordable generic product for 20 years and you have decided to change to a high end specialty offering than you would not want to keep the same logo. Or if you started off selling horse shoes and now offer the whole horse with the trailer and horse food. Then a name like Troy’s Fine Horse Shoes may not be appropriate and a logo change as well as name change is in order.

Now there is something to be said in the area of tweaking a logo. For example the John Deere logo has been tweaked slowly over time. Likely the logo changed as the technology changed. They wanted to preserve what the public thought about the company but show them that they are making slight changes.

So in closing if you are a design firm and sprite comes to you wanting a new logo it may be hard to turn away the business but maybe it would be better to help them tweak the design instead of wipe an iconic image from the mind of all humanity. If you are a business owner consider what image your clients are associating you with and if it is consistent with your current position.

P.S. a note to Coka-Cola don’t even think about it !

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Don’t talk about your Brand and nobody will know

I have recently been spending more time networking on the internet. I read other peoples blogs and follow interesting people on twitter. I don’t know any of these people but I feel they have interesting or helpful information that I would like to know. The only thing I know is what they tell me. I don’t know them personally. We don’t hang out. I don’t know where they live. If they have a picture of them in a suite on their profile or site. I assume they where suites. If they twitter about going to the gym I think they must be healthy.

This reminds me of branding. With a brand businesses can be whoever they want to be. If they want to be the best at what they do they just have to say I am the best at what I do. If you want people think that you are hip and modern all you have to do is have marketing and design materials that are hip and modern. If you want to be the expert on something just have lots of information about one topic on your website and in your print materials. Perception is reality in many cases. Now you may have to prove that all this is true on day ,but you may not get that opportunity to prove yourself to be the expert if you don’t act like the expert.

The same is true in the opposite scenario. Unfortunately this is all to common in today’s small businesses. If you don’t have any information about what you do on your website or print material people assume you are not the expert. If your logo is poorly designed and inconsistent people assume that you are not hip and modern or even professional. If you never tell people that you are the best at what you do. Why would they ever thank that you are the best at what you do?

Sometimes business just assume that people will figure it out on their own. That is however unlikely. Perhaps only if they happen to stumble in your door. But if a person is looking for someone that is the expert in your field you are not going to make the list. You will not likely get found. Instead you have to go out and find the work as oppose to the work finding you. And once you do find the work you have to convince them that you are a professional and that you know what you are doing with out anything to back it up other than I nice smile.

So act like the business you want to be. You set the bar. You tell the world who you are. They have no reason to doubt you. Be proactive. Take charge. If you don’t have your stuff together than we should meet. I am the best logo designer in Nashville. I am tall and very handsome. I smell good and have a delightful personality

Farming VS Hunting… The way we get BUSINESS

Ok I am not really a hunter or a farmer, but there are some great similarities in the way the we look for business. Both Farming and Hunting put food on the table but which is better.

First Hunting

Hunting is going out and looking for some business to drag home. The small stuff is a little easier to find and certainly easier to carry back. However the big business will feed you for much longer. Although the big business is usually harder to find and harder to drag home. But when you are successful there is nothing better than going out with a purpose, finding that big job, closing the deal, and enjoying the rewards of your hard work. The problem is the to many businesses rely on this approach exclusively. We wait until the last job is finished then go out looking for the next job. Maybe you will find it maybe you don’t.  It can be an unreliable source of business.

Farming

Farming is a much more reliable form of getting business. This approach requires that you take the time and spend the money upfront and wait for the business to come in. Farming is not instantly rewarding. It requires putting up a good website that people can find easily, calling on potential clients on a regular basis, sending out a newsletter or marketing materials. To make farming successful you need to plant the seeds about your business all over the place and in time those seeds well mature and bring you more business. Some seeds take longer to machure and produce business but that actually works out to your benefit. If you are always sowing the seed about your business you will , over time, have a steady flow of business coming in.

So why do most business choose not to farm for business.

Farming requires an upfront expense. Hunting can be done by one person armed with a few business cards. Hunting brings instant results , when your successful, and farming takes longer before the results come in. The best plan is to do a little of both. If you will take the time to market your business on a regulare basis ,with good print and web design, when you go out looking for business the chances that you will succeed will be much higher. If the seed is already planted the hunter may just have to go by and pick it up.

Decide now that you will find at least one marketing plan to do on a regular basis. Commit to doing it for atleast 6 months. You will be glad you did. Please contact Rush Design Group if you need help your print or web marketing materials.