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!
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​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?
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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.
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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.

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:

Can you believe it is February already?

If you haven't started connecting with the right audience just yet, don't panic, there is still time.

If you want to achieve different results in 2017, then you need to be doing things differently. But habits are hard to break! You may have mapped out a great plan for your marketing activity, connecting with customers, reaching out to new customers, keeping in contact with previous customers (I get it - your plan is awesome), but somehow February has rolled around and you haven't quite got it all happening just yet. Don't panic, there are still 11 months to go.

​Here are some tips to help you get back on track:

​Vanilla is great for ice-cream, but not for branding. 

I don't hate vanilla, in fact I love it! What I do hate is bland. Bland is simply not something you want to associate with your marketing activity. Whether you're working on your brand promise or brand delivery, there is no room for vanilla.

EVER.

Google has recently changed the way it does business. More specifically - the way it chooses who goes first when displaying search results. The good news is there are a few quick and easy ways to ensure google still shares the love with you:

1. Make your website responsive. 
More and more people are viewing web content on mobile devices (think smartphones and tablets). Google knows this and will prioritise these sites over sites that do not respond.