design thinking

article of the week

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HOW Magazine’s Color is Back In Business by Jeff Fox

color choices can affect perception in a few different ways. some interpretations are more fixed as an instinctive response to colors in nature, while others change with different associations and cultural cues over time. fox gives a good outline of the main factors that can affect how people see color and react to the messages associated with different palettes. this is why we talk so much more about the goal of the message before choosing a color palette for a given project. liking blue is one thing, knowing what blue can do for you and how it works with your messaging is another. enjoy!

biznik article of the week

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The Most Critical Factor in Your Business Success by Ken Peters

in a nutshell: i’m glad peters wrote this article, because now i don’t have to. from a brand design perspective, sometimes we forget to explain in detail how design influences a brand experience [because we live it] but peters puts it all out for you. consider a strong brand design an investment, build it into your budget, and then choose the right designer to make it happen.

biznik article of the week

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Why Hiring a Freelancer Saves Money by Candice Adams

every time the economy slumps, layoffs abound, and businesses & budgets can only pay for what they need as it comes, the opportunity for freelance work increases. i’ve watched it happen twice in my own career, and i think adams outlines a common scenario that many businesses go through when they can’t afford to keep the staff designers they have, or the bigger studio they used to hire. unfortunately, i’ve seen too many of them turn to far less-experienced in-house employees, asking them to take on 2 or 3 different job responsibilities, framed as an opportunity to grow. this panic response leaves the all-important job of marketing in a down economy in the hands of an inexperienced and likely overloaded employee at a critical time of transition.

rather than consolidate everything in-house, consider strategic consolidations that make the most appropriate use of employees, while outsourcing special-attention projects to experts in the field on an as-needed basis. indie professionals cut out salary & benefits packages, freeing up your budget to pay for their expertise and final deliverables at a much lower cost than keeping someone with half the experience or less on staff.

this is a timely article for me, since the creative freelancer conference is next week in san diego!

biznik article of the week

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Client and Employee Appreciation Events, To Have or Not To Have? by Janis Flagg

as a graphic designer with a lot of event design experience as well as a handful of excellent event planners & producers in my midst, i’m glad to see an article addressing what has happened to the event industry in the economy downturn. appreciation events are some of the most impactful ways to reaffirm and say thank you to the clients, vendors and employees who stick by you and your business. flagg outlines how events have multiple functions of marketing, thanksgiving, and asserting a confident position in the market with your most important supporters.

networking exercise: follow-up and follow through

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today’s LA area chamber networking exercise was about follow-up and follow through in making and keeping contacts. i always like to think i’m better at this than i am, but that seems to be a trend very common with people who do a lot of networking [i recently heard some advice that simply following through will put you in the top 95% of your field simply because people don’t do it!].

the idea was to go through a list of conditions of meeting people, and collaborate on what follow-up efforts best fit each situation. i worked with pamela edwards of innovative feng shui on improving our follow-up, the questions & answers are below:

what is the first thing you do when you receive a business lead?
research the lead online, email to make contact.

how do you acknowledge receipt of the lead?
thank the referrer with a personal call or email.

how do you qualify the lead?
research online, ask the referrer for background information, make a research call directly.

what steps do you take to contact the lead?
initial email with an invite to connect, follow up phone call, send an intro pack by mail.

what’s your strategy for connecting with the lead?
once qualified, set up a personal meeting to get to know each other and our businesses goals and see if we can work together. if not, see if we can refer each other.

what is your personal commitment to returning phone calls?
i return phone calls within 24 hours [personally, i prefer to find a best time to talk rather than return calls within an hour if i’m less focused].

what is your personal commitment for responding to emails?
i reply to emails asap [for some reason i can always craft a good email response in a busier setting than a phone call, so i do what i’m best at on the asap schedule].

how do you keep the referring person abreast of the lead?
rather than keep a set schedule for this, i do it at the natural milestones of the relationship. if the lead and i make plans, i take time to thank the referrer again. if i don’t hear from them, i give a week or so and ask the referrer if there is anything i should be aware of. if we work together, i usually follow up with the success of the project and another thanks [you can’t be too thankful for good referrals!].

what do you do to acknowledge leads that result in new business?
i don’t currently have a set discount kickback for referrers, but i will often kick down small favors or package extras with projects for those of my clients who have sourced new work for me.

how do you respond to requests for information on your business?
i have a lot of channels in place for clients and prospects to find information in their preferred forum. i usually invite them to view my web site with direct links in an email, i ask if they’d like to receive an intro pack, which is a printed sample of my work and intro to my services. i also post lots of start-up information in the about section of my site, which i’m happy to explain in person, but it’s also available to anyone looking for information online, including past client testimonials. finally, if they’d like to meet up and get to know each other better, i can bring a portfolio with printed samples of my work.

and finally, driving the point home is this biznik article i found corroborating the lack of follow up that could use vast improvement: How to Get Clients: One Thing You Must Do to Turn Prospects Into Clients by Sue Clement

biznik articles for the week

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i have 2 for this week on the subject of social media and how to integrate it into your business. it seems that all the business organizations i belong to are having some sort of seminar on how to best use facebook, linkedin, twitter, etc., to their advantage. i’ve sat in on a few of these [mostly for the networking, as you can see in my blogroll, i’m already using online social networks regularly] and i’m seeing very similar reactions in every community. many small business owners are skeptical about conversion and the true value of investing time in these outlets, while others are mistakenly thinking the online communities are promising to do more for them than any really can. here are some good articles about how to use these sites and what you can expect from them.

Social Media: Strategy and Protecting Brand Identity by Michelle Bomberger

this article is a better introduction than many of the seminars i’ve attended, where they present the sites first, rather than introduce you to how you’ll be using them. when presented with technology first, many people put up a block and start to ask “why is this important to me,” when i think bomberger puts it best in saying “[online networking] relates to building relationships, just as one would in face-to-face networking scenarios.” that’s the key right there, it’s just an extension of the networking and promotion you’re already doing in person–you’re just catching different people in their preferred forum, with a consistent message across all platforms. enjoy!

It’s Not the Technology – It’s YOU, WITH the Technology by Christopher Burbridge

as a follow up, i think this article takes the emphasis off the technology and puts it back on you. with the flurry of these new networks coming on the scene, everyone is talking about them, and their importance in the grand scheme of a marketing plan is a bit conflated [which is okay for now, their current use is probably higher than it will level out to be]. while a strong presence online will certainly support your efforts, it is not the effort in itself. make sure all your marketing communications flow directly from you, the visionary, outward to all the channels that work best for you & your business.

biznik articles for this week

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The tone of your voice. (when you are talking) by Loren Weisman

this is a good article for anyone running their own business who is meeting people regularly. i am usually very comfortable talking to people, but i always have that moment of nerves before it’s my turn to introduce myself at an event or make contact with someone for the first time. weisman approaches the ins & outs of communication and how we relate to voice very clearly with good reminders of how you sound to others.

12 Steps To Your Personal Success by Joanne Victoria

here’s a bonus feel-good friday article about approaching life in the moment for more personal happiness, balance and success. it’s the simple things we already know that we often forget which allow us to get caught up in other things. take a minute to read through these and note when you’ve done some of them even this week [i’ll admit, i saw myself in a few].

have a great weekend!

biznik article of the week

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Should You Divorce Your Designer? Five Signs it’s Time to Find a New Creative Professional by Angela Ferraro-Fanning

graphic design is a profession with a huge spectrum of experience and expertise. ferraro-fanning makes good points about working with a designer who wants to talk about you and your goals, wants to keep you on message, works within your budget and delivers work you’re happy with. since this isn’t always a given with every designer you encounter, use the information in her article to evaluate whether you’re getting the service you want. and if you’re new to hiring a designer, don’t be afraid to ask about your prospective designer’s process and have them outline a typical project timeline. what ferraro-fanning says may seem obvious, but they are good reminders on how to get the most out of working with a creative professional.

networking exercise: who’s missing from your network

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“tipping the scales tuesday” at the LA area chamber’s referral breakfast involved growing your network by taking time to think about who you know, who they might know, and who you want to know, getting them all on a list, and taking action toward connecting with these people. the idea is simple, you make a list of people in your network you’d like to connect with in the next month, and then a list of people you haven’t met yet, that you’d like to connect with in the next 1-3 months. the list starts with names, but as you move into areas involving people you don’t yet know, you can come up with all kinds of avenues to tap into.

i worked with walt whitney of CPEhr to build our lists. here’s what we came up with [without naming any names].

people you know that you want to connect with:
– favorite clients
– friends & regular network contacts
– old friends you’ve found on social media networks who are up to something new
– former colleagues & co-workers

people you know of that you’d like to meet in the next few months:
– people you’ve met while networking that haven’t gotten enough face-time :: set up a meeting
– ask favorite clients & former colleagues for referrals :: good people will know more good people
– members of your professional organizations :: connect with your fellow members
– reach out to industry partners :: build your network through strategic partnerships
– esteemed colleagues :: compliment someone’s work you admire and ask them about it
– upcoming conferences :: research who’s going and make a list of who you’d like to meet
– upcoming mixers :: if you can get a list of attendees, email ahead and plan to meet

and speaking of upcoming mixers, don’t forget about our biznik happy hour tomorrow night.