My First Squidoo Lens – Paula Scher

I made a Squidoo lens today about a designer that a like. Check it out and let me know what you think. Have you used Squidoo yet? Sign up and make a lens yourself and get
$5 from Squidoo
for me and you. You have to use this link or we both get nothing.

Read the lens about Designer Paula Scher here.

This is a great way to share info that your are interested in that may not belong on your website. Or if you don’t have a website but have some knowledge about something that other folks may be interested in.

Also they have a cool way of sharing the revenue generated by your page. So if you want to make some money online this may be a good way to do it.

Facebook Fan Page for your Business HOWTO

This video is on youtube and is easier to see in HD. Leave your questions in the comments section.

Word of Mouth Branding

You here the question all the time. “Where do you get business?” the reply often is ” Word of Mouth” . Word of mouth is certainly a great way of getting business. However this response is usually code for ” I don’t have a plan. Work kinda just comes in slowly”. Again not a problem. Although if you really believe in word of mouth and believe that it is responsible for the majority of your business shouldn’t you nurture it.

Generally when people think of word of mouth they think of one person having a good experience and letting another person know one at a time. The great thing about social media is that the word of mouth can now be more than one at a time. It can be hundreds. Do you have a facebook fan page? Do you have a twitter account? Do you drive happy customers to a preferred website to leave positive feedback? These are ways to give that new found fanatic a way to spread the good news quicker. Its like giving them a megaphone compared to the one to one way they had before.

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.

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.

Marketing Preperation for 2009

Ending the year can be very encouraging for some. For others it is proof of a goal not reached. Whatever situation you find yourself in be encouraged that with new goals and some planning you can make 2009 a very successful year.

Yesterday I printed off my monthly sales for 2007 and 2008 and compared the two. It was interesting to see the trends that had developed. For example March, November, and December have been slow months for the past 2 years. However the months following are generally better than others. What I can learn from this is that when times are slow we crank up the marketing machine and get busy looking for work. We react to the problem The goal for 2009 is to plan in advance for those slow times by increasing marketing and networking efforts in advance to correct the coming slow down in business. Another trend that I have noticed is that a decrease in business generally follows our busiest months. This could be attributed to the lack of time spent on marketing when business is booming.

You may or may not be able to relate but chances are that the majority of us are in this boat together. Most people get their act together and start looking for work when they have had a slow down. Why not instead plan for those slow times and be proactive. The problem is that we never have the time to spend on marketing until we have nothing else to do. The reason we have nothing else to do is because we didn’t spend time marketing. It is a viscous cycle.

So the plan is this. Send out a monthly e-newsletter. The newsletter will provide consistent marketing throughout the year. In months before a historic slow down spend time calling potential clients and sending out direct mail. Also look for speaking opportunities at local chambers and other networking opportunities. Call past clients and look for new opportunities with them.

Rush Design Group can provide a email marketing solution as well as consult with you on the use of direct mail to target specific business opportunities. We can’t speak or network for you but we can insure your design materials look great. So good luck in the new year and make a plan now to have your most successful year to date. We look forward to working with you.

Why you should read about Logo Design and Graphic Design

Here is a casual video of why you should be reading this blog on a regular basis. I hope the bandage on my pinky is not distracting. I whacked it in a cheese slicer accident. Do not worry I am left handed and can still deliver great design.

Dutch Cheese is my Favorite.

YOU can have Success without a Logo.

It is true. You can have a successful business without a logo. I run into businesses on occasion that basically have no branding and no logo. They have there name in some standard font on a sign but they really don’t have a logo or a brand. They have been in business for longer than I have been alive and are making good money doing whatever they do. So here I come ,mister logo designer, trying to sale them a logo or a brand or anything resembling a marketing effort. Their response usually goes like this. Well buddy our owner Jim started this business 50+ years ago and we rely on word of mouth and good customer service. “Two-thirds of new employer establishments survive at least two years, 44 percent survive at least four years, and 31 percent survive at least seven years, according to a recent study.” from sba.gov. If this is true than this business is unique to start with. To be in business for so long means they are doing a lot of things right. Generally after closer evaluation a few things are found to be true.

1. The business Owner is the back bone of the business and brings in the majority of revenue through personal contacts and long standing relationships.

Problem: If the owner dies. The relationships may also. Or if the person the owner has the relationship with moves to another company. The business will likely suffer. Because there is no brand in place the value dies with the relationship. If the value is in the brand then the new owner will likely continue the service that the brand represents. One other potential problem with this scenario is that if the business should decide to sale while things are good the owner will likely need to stay on to see the business through the transition. With so much of the value in the person and not in the brand the business will be valued less to potential buyers. Example if you were buying Coke. Would you want to own the drink or the name? If you could Only pick one you would probably pick the name because it is recognized world wide.

2.The company was able to carve out a niche early on and have not seen significant competition.

Problem: When competition comes, and it will, You don’t want to start a brand or marketing campaign to tell your clients about the value you bring. You want to have that in place before. Be assured that the competition will have all there ducks in a row. They will tell your customers all the things you should have been telling them coupled with a great price. It may not take much to persuade them to leave.

3.The Company has large clients that generate consistent business.

Problem: If one of those clients leaves you will have wished a strong brand had been in place so that when your new sales guy goes out people will have heard of and recognize the value in your brand. You will not need to take the time convincing them that you know what your doing you will just have to make the sale based on offering what they need at the right price.

So if you are a business that has enjoyed success, take the necessary steps to ensure your companies value and develop a professional image with a logo that customers can associate your quality with.