Generally most people have a basic idea of what they believe a graphic designer does. The list probably goes something like creating logos for businesses or brands, fixing or editing images using Photoshop and probably making magazine ads… correct? Well technically yes, graphic designers do in fact do all of these things, but they’re only a fraction of what makes up a much bigger picture.
Graphic design is everywhere - just look around! I can guarantee you’ve had some interaction with a graphic designer’s work - possibly before you even leave your house of a morning. Did you pick up a cereal box this morning? There’s a great example of graphic design! Content marketing has become such a big trend in business promotion. Successful businesses have become publishing houses. As a business owner, how do you take advantage of effective content marketing without having to do it all yourself?
Content marketing is the process of creating and curating high-quality, valuable and relevant content, that aims to engage, inform and attract a targeted audience. In other words, you are educating people about your industry, business, brand, team, product or service, so that they can get to know you, begin to like you and then actually trust you enough to decide to do business with you.
Great content marketing can be a wonderful referral tool. Every business I have ever worked with over the last 20+ years has always cited word of mouth as one of the ways they get new business. Content is a great tool for your happy customers to refer others. Signwriters are an unruly, unlicensed bunch - I should know, I married one of them! In Australia, signwriting is not a licensed trade. Yes, there is a four year trade apprenticeship and yes there are formal signwriting qualifications. However to own a sign shop, you don’t need any of this. In fact, I checked out a signage franchise a few years ago and they stipulated that they only wanted unqualified franchisees! With this in mind, it doesn’t surprise me that navigating the field of signwriting as a business owner can be a bit tricky.
In today’s digital world everything changes minute-by-minute, which can make it hard to decipher what’s worth the investment and what is not when it comes to your marketing. Buyers are consuming new information every single day, so how exactly do we capture and keep a buyer’s attention?
In today’s highly competitive world a customer can find anything with just a few keystrokes and a click of a button. In business it only makes sense to make it EASY for your customers to do business with you.
Ask yourself these simple questions:
Are you customers reading about you or your competitors?
As average Australians, we are spending more and more time each day on-line. We can't get enough of our smartphones! So when your customers (or prospective) customers are hanging out online, are they hanging out with you? Are you wasting time analysing the wrong metrics?
People often ask "How many likes is enough on Facebook?" Of course, there is no definitive answer, however once we really start talking about what their objective is and what they should be measuring, it's not the answer they really want - it's a different question. To save yourself some time and energy, I thought I would share the 5 most common metric errors I've seen and of course some advice on how you can avoid these and get on with running your business. If you can imagine each client relationship is like a bank account. The currency is love and the bank account balance will reflect the overall relationship health.
The transactions between you and your client will dictate your love account balance. For example, if you deliver on time, love goes in. This is a deposit, just like when you deposit some money at the real bank. If you deliver late, love goes out - just like an ATM withdrawal. If you give exceptional service, love goes in (another deposit). If you don't call a client back, love goes out (another withdrawal). A while ago one of my favourite mentors, Andrew Griffiths said to me "Do small really well". At first I wondered if he was just being supportive of small business in general, or if he had a specific thing in mind when sharing this pearl of wisdom with me.
Either way, it has had me thinking about what this really means for me and what the key lessons are in this powerful little comment. After some thought and some real life application, here are my key take outs: |
AuthorRoxanne Grey |