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.

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 !

Click on Title to leave a Comment or Left of Post

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.

Slow Economy Marketing

Businesses are looking to cut costs. Where should they cut cost? Likely they will cut any cost that will not force them to shut the doors. Many times the first to go is marketing, but why would you cut marketing when businesses are looking. You may be the answer to someones cost cut. You may be the one that can do the same job at a better price. You may be the one that can make the process more effective or less costly. How likely are they to find out how much you could have helped if your not trying to get noticed.

Marketing, whether it be on the web or in print is all the more important when times are tight. Companies that would have never considered leaving there current vendor are now willing to consider it. That raises another good point. If things are going pretty good for you now. Make sure that your customers know what value you bring. Make sure you are staying in constant contact with them because they may be willing to cut you to save some money.

There are many affordable ways to get your message to clients and potential clients. The most cost effective are your website, email marketing, and online advertising. If you want to get noticed while other business are looking give us a call. Rush Design Group 615-428-0967

DIY branding, Nashville

Everyone loves a good Do It Yourself article. Well I thought why not have a post about how our clients can help maintain and improve their own brands. First let’s make sure everyone understands what a brand is. A brand is basically what people think about your business. Whatever thought or experience the customer has when they see your company’s logo or marketing materials. When a person has a good experience with your company then your brand is strengthened. That person associates that good experience with whatever image is representing your company at that time. It could have been a staff member, the packaging of the product, or the logo on the truck as it left their home in better condition that when it arrived. Whatever it is there will be an image embedded in their mind that they will forever associate that feeling with. Your job is to be in control of what that image is so that you can cause them to reference that good feeling again. For example if I enjoy an ice cold coke, and as I am drinking it I have the feeling of refreshment. I will look at the can and say to myself “this is what refreshment looks like”. I will then store that image in my mind so that the next time I see that can I will want it and have the confidence that I will feel refreshed again. That of course is a simplified example of what a brand is but for this post it will do.

The problem that a lot of companies find themselves in is that they do not use that image properly. Let’s assume the image is the service truck that went to their house. If the truck is black with a company logo on it then in order to remind the client of the experience they may need to see that black truck with logo again, but if all the trucks are different colors and have the logo in different locations or even slightly different versions of the logo than it is less likely that the customer will recognize the company and remember the experience they had. Another important part of reminding the customer of their brand experience is with touch points. Touch points are areas or materials that the customer comes in contact with that have the companies logo or brand message. It could be the website, brochure, business card, yellow book ad, or billboard. What is important is that they all maintain a consistent and familiar appearance.

Here are some things you can do to insure that your brand is noticed and remembered by your customer.

1. Use the same logo on everything. Have a centralized department that orders logo or brand related materials to insure consistency. If that is not possible distribute a standard logo with guidelines to anyone that may need to order materials with the logo on them or require any print material be approved before printed.

2. Use consistent colors throughout the brand message. Your designer can provide you with your color numbers that you can then pass on to the printer or promotional company of your choice. In the design and print industry there are color books and every color is given a number. You should know what that number is and make sure that your service provider knows. If you don’t have it call Rush Design Group and we can look at your material and give you a PMS number to use in the future.

3. Fonts are very important. They are a small element of graphic design that can make a big difference. Try to limit your font usage to only 2 fonts. Use those fonts consistently and you will strengthen your brand.

4. Provide your graphic designer with samples of print material you already have and make sure that they follow the same look. Be careful when some say they want to improve on your image or try something fresh. That is usually an alert that they are about to devalue your brand by creating something inconsistent. The problem is that if everyone that touches your logo does something different you get a hodge podge of confusing material.

So in conclusion, if you follow these basic steps you will have done a lot to strengthen your brand. If that seems like too much work you should send all of your graphic design work to your favorite Nashville graphic design group – Rush Design Group.

For examples of our work visit Rush Design Group

thanks for reading leave a comment if you enjoyed the post

Donald Rush

Naming a Business. Things to Consider

There are a few different reasons a business would be considering a name. The most obvious is that they are starting a business. Another could be that the industry the company is in has changed and the name no longer represents what they do. For example, one of our clients, Laser Plus, changed their name recently to Brooks Technology Management. The company at one time focused on laser printer sales and repair, but with a change in industry they now sell a wide variety of technology based products as welll as offer IT and print management. One other reason could be a partnership or the combination of two companies. Whatever the reason, here are a few things to consider when naming a business.

Can I get a domain?

Your website is a valuable tool and if your clients can’t find it, your website will not be as effective. If I am considering naming my company Little Man Widgets, the first thing I would want to do is see if either www.littlemanwidgets.com or www.littlemanwidgets.net is available. I like to look on www.register.com. I do not register my domian names here, but I think they provide a good search tool. The goal should be to get a .com or .net. If one of those is not available, I would consider changing the name. Once I know I can get the domain name, I would check my state records for that name also. You can search the state records at The Tennessee Department of State .

Before you register the name it should meet a few criteria.

1. The name should be easy to spell. If one can’t spell the name, you probably won’t have many visiting your website.

2. The name should be unique. It should be unique for obvious reasons if someone has a name that is similar your business could become confused with theirs or you may not be able to find a domain name if the name is not unique.

3. Try to keep the name short. Some businesses just can’t help it, but if you can keep the name as short as possible.

4. Avoid initials. For example Little Man Widgets. Don’t name the business LMW. If a potential client sees LMW it means nothing to them. If they are looking for a quality widget they would drive past a LMW sign because is says nothing about the business. This is not to say that GE, IBM, and AT&T are failures but if you are trying to get notice every little bit helps.

5. Your legal name is not the name that you answer the phone with so don’t put it on everything. Your lawyer will probably want you to and we are not a law firm so do whatever you are comfortable with. I would encourage you to look at global brands and see if they put their legal name on everything. Try to find Starbucks Inc. on anything in their store and you will see what I mean.

6. Assume your industry will change. Assume your business will grow and do much more than you want to do now. If your name can not grow with the company it isn’t a good one. Your name is your reputation if you change it it will be difficult to transfer the reputation with it.

Well there you have it, some things to consider when naming a business. Once you have a name that meets all of the criteria above it is time to start thinking about a logo. My next post will be about designing an effective logo.

thanks

Donald Rush

Rush Design Group offers Branding to Nashville ( Branding Nashville)

Branding can make all the difference

Branding is a hot topic for most business owners. Everyone knows they need it but not everyone understands what it is or how to get it. Branding can change the course of a business. It can take a simple product and make it appear to be the best and only choice in the eyes of the consumer. Branding gives the consumer confidence. It gives them something to relate to. If the consumer has a good experience with your company, they have had a good experience with your brand. Now that they have experienced your brand you can also give them more information about your brand through your website or print materials. You can’t control what the client will think or feel about your brand, but you can control the information they receive about your business. If you want the consumer to know that costumer service is the most important thing to your business, you need to tell them. You can’t just tell them once, you have to tell the consistently across all media. Unfortunately you can’t purchase a brand, you have to build a brand. Rush Design Group provides consistent graphic design for you business in the area or identity, print, and web with your brand message in mind. If a client will give thought to their brand on every project overtime, they will build a brand that means many things to many people. So where can a business owner in Nashville start to develop a brand?

First start with the logo.

The logo is the first step. It needs to be something that is consistent with your brand message. Your brand message is a simple statement that outlines your core values and competencies along with goals. The logo should be a simple mark that has the flexibility to grow with your brand and your over-all look.

Next put your logo on something.

Your logo goes on everything and it needs to look the same on everything. This is another reason why the logo needs to be simple. Your logo will go on print materials, web, signs, and other promotional items. These different areas are also called touch-points. When these are being designed, they also need to be consistent with the brand message.

Be consistent and persistent.

Once you have a message, a logo, and touch-points keep them in front of your market. Make sure that all of the pieces are consistent with each other and promote the brand message. Remember you can’t control what your market thinks about your brand, but you can provide them with the information to influence their experience with your company.

thanks

Donald Rush