& Associates Blog

“Life unfolds in the present. But so often, we let the present slip away, allowing time to rush past unobserved and unseized, and squandering the precious seconds of our lives as we worry about the future and ruminate about what’s past.”

—-   Jay Dixit from “The Art of Now” an article that appeared in Psychology Today Magazine.

Doing it now can mean jumping into the game quickly.

We talk to clients every day who want to redo their branding and start a public relations program but they hesitate for a variety of reasons: “I haven’t budgeted for this project.” “I do everything myself and always have.”  “I’m not used to having anyone work on my business but me.” “The economy is slow and I’m saving cash right now.” “I don’t have time to look into anything new right now.”

We’ve found through our  experience that the idea of having an expert or outsider work on a company’s business is often a daunting proposition–especially for a small business.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself about your business and be honest with yourself about why you aren’t taking the next steps to grow your business?

1)    Do you just like doing everything yourself? Do you just not want anyone to get involved with your marketing? This is where clients often get their most enjoyment from–marketing–because it is very creative. Where are you this year as compared with last year? Are you happy with the results?  Just because you enlist an expert to help you grow your business more professionally doesn’t mean that you won’t be part of the process and contribute ideas and concepts —its just that these ideas and concepts may be executed in a more efficient, professional manner that produces results. Think: Your ideas, but better!

2)    I don’t want to spend any money. Where are you spending your money now? Where are you spending your time? Is it in the same places and are you getting results from these habitual spending practices? Would fresh ideas and new approaches open up new markets and bring you new clients? How will you know if you don’t explore this option? What is your time worth? If your business is taking years to do their launch and another is handling it more efficiently with outside assistance and professional design, you may want to revisit the notion of handling things in-house or waiting to do your branding when you have reached a certain level of sales. You may want to factor what your actual (real hours that you spend each month on your business) hourly “wage” is based on the number of hours you work and you may realize you would do better delegating some responsibilities to others even if it’s for short bursts of time as with preparing for a major trade show.

3)    Why are you doing everything yourself? Handling everything yourself is counter productive. If your business is a vanity project for you then keep doing it the way you are doing, but if you want to grow your business eventually to sell, to pass on to your children or to expand into a nationwide business, do you think it’s possible to do this all yourself? No one else does. One of the greatest things about being an entrepreneur is that you can enlist help and support and contract with folks to take care of some parts of your business that you may not be an expert in. If you need to be the expert and the “go to” person for everything in your business then you may want to start considering delegating. Until you learn this you won’t be able to grow your business. 

4)    The economy is slow and I’m saving cash right now. Yes the economy is slow, but this is where new opportunities are. Other weaker competitors may be downsizing and cutting their public relations and advertising spends, it may be a prime time for you to gain exposure in media and with your brand because others are operating in the “fear” mode while you are operating in the here and now and moving progressively forward you can take advantage of some great pricing out there for banner ads, radio, media coverage, trade shows and event participation. Locking in sponsorships with key events can position your company as a “player” in your category, but you can’t do this if you have your head buried in the sand thinking that some day money will fall from the skies and then and only then will you be able to think about advertising, marketing, public relations and branding.

5)    Can I cope with the growth? Will this change my business and is this what I really want?

It’s as simple as making a flow chart and looking at your organization. Do you have the bandwidth to suddenly handle a surge of new business? Is your website capable of selling your product efficiently online?

Would an article in “O Magazine” suddenly send you into a panic? Would you need to rethink your brand strategy, your communications, the photography for your product and other aspects of your business? The time to think about these things is BEFORE you launch your brand, communications and vision out to the public. There are solutions for all your businesses’ needs. Step back and take a 4000 foot view of your business. This means getting out of the daily grind of thinking that you are bogged down in your own business dealing with operational issues. Focusing on growing your business will produce greater results. This includes: improving your company’s brand, image and visibility in the marketplace. If your website was done by your brother-in-law to save money, yet it can’t complete a sale online or provide statistics and metrics about visitors per month, it’s time to move on and get the website redone and correctly.

6)  What will a new logo, brand or package design do for my business? I’m just fine the way I am.

A new logo and brand can do many things. It can help a reluctant buyer change their mind that your product is “ready for prime time” and finally submit that purchase order. If the product, brand, and press kit are professional looking you have a better chance of it meeting with a better reception with prestigious publications and TV shows. Real Simple, O, and Rachael Ray and Martha Stewart Magazine, The Wall Street Journal and The View are sent hundreds of products and press kits. Yours needs to stand out and be professional. Your brand needs to speak to the types of customers you are trying to attract and the story needs to be compelling and interesting.

7) Why don’t you have the time to look into new ways to grow your business? Have you ever watched a new competitor on the horizon a little jealously because they are getting great press, their product is appearing on store shelves and you are hearing about them from people in your community? What is their secret you ask yourself? Often the launch of a new company or product that is successful is fully planned and integrated. When you consider that this new competitor may moving faster and gaining ground in your category it may be because they spent money on a worthwhile and effective campaign. While yours may be a three or ten-year-old-company it may take a long time to get that kind of visibility if you are spending your money and time in the wrong places. Getting somewhere faster can actually save your company money and man hours.  Consider your brand as an investment. What is this investment worth? What should the investment accomplish? And how long will it take if you continue to handle things the way you have been? If your company’s website and communications materials aren’t optimized for Search Engines  (Google, Yahoo, Explorer, Safari, etc.), you are missing opportunities and leads for your business. What is it worth to have pre-qualified customers find you and order your product? What is an ongoing commitment from a 100+ retail store chain worth to your business? Only you know the real answers to these questions for your particular business. Sometimes it just makes sense to budget and move forward instead of waiting, wondering and watching as other newer businesses start overtaking your category.

Sandra Evans is the Founder and Co-Creative Director of & Associates an integrated marketing, design and branding, public relations firm that specializes in producing results for clients. www.andassociates-ca.com

info@andassociates-ca.com

415 887 9230

 

 

These design tips have been developed to save you money, time and provide the most efficient process to ensure the best results, minimize mistakes and reduce cost overruns due to client changes. These procedures are common in any design practice. 

1) The client needs to decide if the agency will be taking a larger project management role for the project or if you have internal staff capable of managing some of the details. It makes sense to have the agency handle the additional responsibilities if you don’t have the “bandwidth” to have someone internal handle the project from start to finish. This could also mean that the agency manages printing. This is the first “process” question that should be addressed when talking about your project: How will it be managed and who is doing what on the project.

TIP: THE ADDITIONAL COST FOR HAVING THE AGENCY MANAGE THE PROJECT START TO FINISH IS NEGLIGIBLE WHEN YOU CONSIDER THAT THE AGENCY CAN ENSURE THAT THE PROJECT WILL BE DONE CORRECTLY AND YOU WILL RECEIVE THE FINAL MATERIALS ON TIME. HANDING OFF PRINTING OR KEY DETAILS TO INTERNAL STAFF AT YOUR OFFICE CAN MEAN THAT THE PROJECT IS DELAYED OR WORSE, NOT DONE CORRECTLY.

2) It is the client’s responsibility to provide the “specs” for the job: i.e., the sizes, specifications and printing information to the design firm or agency for their specific project(s) before the agency starts the project.

For example, before the firm can design an advertisement they will need the size and will need to know if the ad will have a border, will it bleed? Is it four color? What is the line screen or resolution of the ad? The print publication can send the client an ad sheet you can send this along to the design firm. If you bought a certain size ad then you need to tell the firm what the specs are.

This is also true regarding packaging projects or trade show booth graphics or any design project. Do you have the actual booth size, label size or even best a template or outline of the print area? Do you have the printing specifications? It can be helpful to know what type of printing process will be used for the project.

3) Content development and copy writing. If your budget includes copy writing and the design firm is developing and handling this for you, you need to supply in a word document an outline and any information that will be associated with the project. It may also be a good idea to have a “creative input” session either in person or as a conference call before the project starts.

Do not supply outlines or final content information as an email as emails get lost and revisions and changes sent as individual emails will definitely not make this process as efficient as it can be. Do not supply final content as a scanned document or PDF. It needs to be in a word document. Research information is fine to send as a scanned document, but final content should always be in a word doc.

Please don’t point the design firm or agency to the website or a past brochure for your “final content.” If you are responsible for providing the final content for your project, then you need to provide it in a final approved document. The design firm won’t know what on the website or brochure is current or what is to be deleted. Invariably there will be changes to your old content so its best to take the time to put it into one final approved document and a word document is best. 

If you are supplying the content (no fees to the design firm or agency for copywriting) then you need to supply the design firm or agency with all final copy in a word doc. Once they receive your final approved content, then they can begin your project.

TIP: IF YOU AREN’T ABLE TO DEVELOP AN OUTLINE, YOU MAY WANT TO HAVE A STRATEGY SESSION WITH THE DESIGN FIRM TO DEVELOP THE PROJECT PLAN AND LT THEM TAKE THE FIRST STEPS AND A LARGER ROLE IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND PRINT  MANAGEMENT, BUT BE PREPARED THAT THIS WILL COST ADDITIONAL FEES. 

You can ask the design firm or agency to do the due diligence and research for your project specificiations, but by having the design firm call your suppliers, vendors, printers or manufacturers or magazine to determine the specifications for your project this raises to new level the project management done by the design firm and they will likely have to bill you for additional project management time. If your idea is just an idea at this phase, you may enlist the design firm early but be prepared for additional costs.

The design firm or agency will call the printer to make sure all details are covered once they are in production, but it is the client’s responsibility to provide the specifications about the job to the firm. Otherwise you could be facing additional charges or worse, surprises when you receive the final product. Design firms are happy to work with clients on these issues, but having at least one conversation about how the process will be undertaken is always a good idea before the project starts.

4) Quality of images, photographs, logos, and previous design elements that firm is to use.

The design firm or agency will need your previous design as Adobe Illustrator files, PhotoShop and not PDFs.

They will need logos to be 300 dpi resolution or higher a either EPS files, jpeg, Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop files.

If you supply any photographs or graphics that you want the design firm or agency to use, they need to be jpeg or tiffs and 300 dpi or higher resolution.

5) Changes, Revisions to Content

Minimizing changes is always a challenge for print and design projects. The best approach to do this is to have one document with all the final copy approved. 

We suggest that clients send a word doc with the current content and either use the Track Changes tool in Word or add the changes and then highlight them in yellow.

Do not send changes in emails.  Emails, especially separate ones with separate changes will likely be confusing so we advise that you put the changes into a word document.

Changes need to be as complete as possible. If you send additional changes beyond one time then you will likely be charged additional time to make the changes.

It’s best to send the new revised complete content with the changes. This way the designer won’t get confused about what stays in and what is to be deleted.

TIP: USE THE TRACK CHANGES TOOL IN WORD AS THIS IS THE EASIEST WAY TO PREVENT CONFUSION.

Note about changes – Please realize that this is your brand and product and that you have been “living with it’ for a long time. Many clients think that design and agency firms can instantly “fill in the blanks” for information that we don’t have. We will need the actual information from you.

6) Approvals

Please try to send your comments and/or changes within 48 hours or at least 72 hours from when you receive the presentation from a design firm or agency:

Please gather all your changes/comments (if they are from several people, compile them into one word document).

TIP: HAVE ONE PERSON BE RESPONSIBLE FOR COLLECTING THE FEEDBACK, SYNTHESIZING THIS INFORMATION AND PRESENTING IT TO THE AGENCY. DESIGN BY COMMITTEE AND APPROVAL BY COMMITTEE WILL DEFINITELY MAKE THE PROJECT TAKE LONGER AND TIME USUALLY TRANSLATES TO ADDITIONAL FEES.

If approved, send back approved. Some agencies require signed hardcopies.

If not approved, send back need these changes.

TIP: FORMALIZE YOUR APPROVALS. HAVE A SYSTEM FOR THIS SO THEY ARE EASILY TRACKED. It could be as simple as subject line from project lead says: PROJECT #1234 APPROVED if using email. Sign and date a  print copy and scan or fax or messenger back to agency. This is important. Once you sign for something it’s finished and billed.

Once approved and signed off, the design firm will start to prepare to send final materials to the printer (if the design firm is managing the printing for you) and the client is responsible for the printed product. So be sure to really look at these and approve carefully for all final printed materials.

If you aren’t detail oriented and think you can’t find all the details, please find someone in your office who is. You will be glad you took this extra step!

TIP: FIND SOMEONE WHO IS GOOD AT DETAILS TO HELP IN THE APPROVAL AND CONTENT PHASE

7) Who’s on the team for this project?

Please try to provide the design firm or agency with one approval person.

It helps to have another person to help facilitate the project such as an admin or assistant.

The design firm or agency may have questions and will need to have someone available or someone who knows how to reach you.

These procedures aren’t designed for the benefit of the design firm or agency. They are actually a win-win for the client and the agency if you follow them judiciously. Because printing and design is so precise and particularly if you are simultaneously working on several projects you will be glad that you took the time to learn from the pros how to more efficiently work on creative and design projects with design firms and agencies.

If you follow these tips you may save money which you can use on other things for your company: Possibly ad an additional trade show, print ad or another design project by keeping design and text changes within the scope of the original budget. Remember that old saying in the building trades: Measure Twice, Cut Once.

It’s best to have your content and strategy complete and check and recheck the work before sending it to a firm. And if you need help getting the project started, enlist the design firm but determine in advance how much of the project management role they will handle for your project. If you have a large trade show and event schedule, it may make sense to have the design firm handle the additional project management details for you. Communication  and having a clearly defined process in advance will help you achieve the best results for your project and meet your deadline.

 

Sandra Evans is the founder and Co-Creative Director of  & Associates a design, branding, event, marketing and public relations firm. For more information visit:

http://www.andassociates-ca.com

info@andassociates-ca.com