articles

biznik article of the week

| heather parlato

Twittetiquette: Twitter dos and don’ts for business success by Arden Clise

i mix in a lot of different circles, some of which are all over social media, while others are still asking themselves “why would anyone want to read what i’m doing every minute and how/why would it help my business?” i try to give the twitter run-down anytime i can, because there is so much to the various social media networks out there, and i think very little of it is ever mundane play-by-play reportage on daily events. if you still need the basic primer of what twitter is, how to approach it and how to seamlessly integrate, follow the steps in clise’s article and you’ll be well on your way. and while you’re at it: add me!

color check!

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one of my design communities just posted this article, all the colours of the internet, exploring how different colors can really affect the mood of a web site. i think this is a great resource for clients who might want to experiment with how different colors can add or subtract from their messaging. take a spin through the examples and see what you think!

biznik article of the week

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Hey, October is Self Promotion Month! by Rebecca West

maybe you’ve started to notice a little surge in business activity once the season changed? october is the beginning of the 4th quarter and the big lead-in to the holidays, so it’s time to start those year-end pushes in the promo department. west outlines 6 points of self-promotion you can use at all these mixers and networking events that keep popping up on the calendar.

how to plan your holiday mailing

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earthlink holiday card

it may seem that the last heat wave just left, but the change of the season is upon us and it’s time to start planning holiday gifts & mailings. The year-end holidays are a great time to take a minute out of the daily grind to show your appreciation and send something special to your partners, vendors and clients to acknowledge how much you appreciate working with them. in the grand scheme of your brand, client appreciation is an opportunity to expand your brand personality and strengthen relationships by showing people that you value them beyond the work you do together.

the best way to make sure this all goes off without a hitch is to plan ahead so you can strategize what you want to send, work with the designers and vendors you want, and avoid rush charges with vendors that are overloaded with the holiday onslaught. to make it easy, use this guide to consider your approach, decide what to send and source people who can make it happen.

1: define your recipient list
since the number of recipients will determine which items or print processes make the most sense, the first thing to do is sit down with your client & vendor list and determine how many pieces you’ll be sending. some of us have 20, while others will have 2000 and beyond. you’ll also want to determine if there are tiered groups within your list, such as clients and partners above a certain dollar amount or who comprise a majority of your business and time vs. contacts you wish to keep in touch with. if you have a long list of names, this will help you decide how to break it down and find solutions for each group of recipients at each level.

2. give yourself enough time
consider that printing and mailing alone will take about 3 weeks on a standard turnaround, and that you’ll want to beat the rush and mail by the first week of december. if you’re working with a designer on a print piece, you’ll want to allow at least a month for the design process [this is a rough estimate, but to insure you can get the results you want with the designer of your choice, over-estimate here]. similarly, if you are ordering cards or branded gifts, you’ll want to build in time to research the ideal gift and time to have it customized. the turnaround will vary from vendor to vendor, but again, plan on about a month. that means, yes, it’s time to get the ball rolling in early october.

3: consider the type of communication best suited to your brand
i’ll get it out of the way upfront: a few options i’m not going to focus on here are pre-packaged gift baskets or branded gifts that involve putting your logo on a gift item. there are endless resources for going that route, and if those are avenues you want to take, my only advice is to customize it as much as possible. send your baskets with a personalized card, and if you brand a gift with a logo, make it a useful & relevant item to your target market. there is also the choice to donate to a the charity of your choice, which is what earthlink did in the sample above, detailing the contribution in an insert with the card. since there are so many worthwhile organizations out there, my advice is to choose the one that’s right for you and send a little information about them to your recipients to raise awareness.

there are a few levels of personalized communications that i think are key for holiday mailings. the most universal is a designed card that shows your branding with a thoughtful message, something that can be sent to all levels of clients & contacts. if it isn’t in your budget to hire a designer and print a card, or if your quantity of recipients makes printing cost-prohibitive, before you run off to a big card company, consider shopping around in your design community or on a craft site like etsy for designers who do packs of original art for screen-printed or letter press cards in the quantity you need. look for something you identify with that will also communicate well to your clients.

if a holiday card was already in the budget and you want to go a bit bigger with a branded gift, consider some sort of holiday kit that will be useful, helpful & memorable with your clients. i have seen some really nice packages where companies partner to create joint gifts they can send to both company’s holiday lists. a great example was something we received from the department of graphic sciences last year, which included a branded coffee mug, a set of illustrated cards by the designers, and a pack of artisan brittle by morning glory confections. this gift was a great combination of something we could use with their logo, artistic objects we could send to our own colleagues, and some really unique sweets to enjoy, all of which promoted & introduced each partner in the process [and here i am talking about it nearly a year later]. check with your favorite neighborhood shops, local farmer’s market vendors, or contacts in your chamber or industry organization for artisan food or specialty item vendors you might click with. or leave it to us–your designer will be able to come up with some great suggestions.

this is really the branding part of the project, considering your constituents and finding that special mix of what sends the right message from your company and what hits your recipients in a way they’ll remember and appreciate. if you’re stuck on how to brainstorm on this, ask your employees. they often have relationships with your clients that you don’t, and can have great insight about gift ideas. if you want a more strategic approach, talk to your designer or brand strategist about how to extend your brand to your holiday gifts. we’ll be able to take your goals and corporate voice and personal connection to your clients, and create a memorable communication with everyone on your list.

4: get to work
if you have your list together and have some idea of where you’re ready to start, it’s time to get moving. if you have a designer on staff or on hand for these projects, make the call and put a production schedule on the calendar. if you need help finding the right designer, i have helpful information on how to find the right one for your business. or hey, you’re talking to one right now, ask away!

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

| heather parlato

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

| heather parlato

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.

biznik articles for the week

| heather parlato

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.