ARE Creative QR Code Design

A QR code (quick response) is one of the latest tools to connect offline people with an online service or information not ordinarily available to them at that time. A QR code is generated through any one of many sites available online, and can be directed to any of the following: 

Website - for a competition, free tools, further information on a service or product

Text information - a pdf which provides product support 

Video - direct link straight to a promotional or informative video

Directions - google maps

ME card - enables the receiver to scan and have a contact's details sent directly to an android phone

Print media and direct mail - to direct to another site such as a company or individual's social media sites

That's the background, but worthy of a mention is the possibility of customising a QR code to make it fit with a corporate colour, further promote a business and make it more of a visual tool rather than a functional one.

This is our ME card which we think looks much better than the stark black and white traditional QR Codes. Using photoshop to edit the original QR code means it is possible to add an image to the code without compromising the structure of the code itself. 


As well as adding an image to the centre of the qr code and a different background .........

.........it is possible to add a png logo or even change the qr code colour completely

 

Navigating Without A Map?

When you own or manage a small business, it isn't about location but direction,direction, direction. One of the most common reasons for a business to fail is the lack of it, no purpose, game plan or agenda. It takes a strong business owner to step back from how 'things have always been done' and look at new ways to achieve strong business relationships and generate profit. Clinging to past history is a natural reaction, but can spell suicide in our present economy. How often do you question the relevance of your branding, analyse changes in market trends or explore new opportunities for business development. When did you last send a survey or talk to your customers about their perceptions of your business?

Recently I received a call from a friend with a fantastic business in Australia who was considering rebranding it - after much discussion it turned out that was the only option he thought he had left. He had burned out and so had his business but it wasn't due to the branding itself, rather the lessening direction he, as a business owner, was sharing with his employees. They all felt that by changing name and logo, not to be considered lightly, that would give them a 'kickstart' into the coming year......

He hadn't talked to his very loyal customers to see how they viewed the service his company was providing, he had not looked at how he could diversify his business to absorb new trends in the marketplace, he had chosen to cling to the past ways of trading and expect that a fresh brand would allow him to continue as he had always done.

Do you have a plan for the next 10 months that will see your business thrive and grow?

Where will your next business venture materialise from?

Get Back in the Saddle Again

This week's Worthy of a Read comes from one of my favourite bloggers Catarina Alexon who has a business blog that we read as often as possible.

In our unsecure economy how we view our business will have a fundamental role on how successful it will be and how much business we can retain and generate.

 "you can have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing we call 'failure' is not the falling down, but the staying down................."
read the full article here

Marketing Your Business @ ARE Creative

...because people will only see what they are looking for.

Whatever the type of campaign or the medium, we can help you to maximise the effectiveness of your marketing budget. Most great marketing ideas are inexpensive and easy to implement, marketing often just takes commitment.

At ARE Creative we don't just want to achieve maximum exposure for your business, but to target those most likely to respond. We are experienced at devising simple and effective strategies to harness your talent, the unique qualities of your business and convert that to an increase in sales.

For more information on your marketing needs contact us here.

Did You Just Lose a Sale?

The answer is yes if........

• You don't thank a customer for his business
• Every penny you put into advertising does not tell you whether your ads are working
• You don't have email addresses or contact telephone numbers for your existing clients, to get repeat business
• Everyone who contacts you by telephone or email is not converted into a customer
• Every letter you write, invoice you send or payment you make does not open an opportunity for a sale
• A person visits your website and you don't hear from them again
• 4 months go by and your existing clients haven't heard your latest news and offers
• Potential clients who make enquiries by phone, email or website leave having no clear idea how you and your company can benefit them
  

How Good is Your Networking?

Would you walk up to a stranger at an event and demand something from him? And if you did, what would the result be? Yes, most likely failure. So why do so many people think they can do that online where chances of succeeding are even slimmer?

Click here to read a great article on social and internet networking from Catarina Alexon

Blogging As Part Of Your Online Marketing Strategy

Blogs have been around for many years, with several sites offering the facility for free design and hosting. Originally one of the first social media platforms, blogging has found it's way from the private and personal domain into the business community with many believing that having a blog adds credence to their business.

Why has the business community gone nuts over blogging?

In comparison to a standard, static website, a blog offers the opportunity to continually update your content. This is far eclipsing the standard SEO of using meta-tags, now it is content, content, content that will determine placing in any online search. With a static site, editing content, images and adding special offers can be difficult for the lay-person, and can prove expensive to have a web agency update your site several times each week.

If you are an innovative business owner wanting to share your products, ideas and portfolio with the online world, a blog is the platform to use. Quick to set up, often free to host and easy to edit means that having a business blog need not be all time consuming. For those who use social media sites such as twitter, facebook or linkedIn, having an updated blog is a fantastic resource to direct your followers to.

How Google Helps

Recent developments from Google make getting your blog publicized even simpler. Analytics will track your visitors, trends and keywords will help you provide target rich content, and blog search will put your blog post on the map.

Blogging with ARE Creative

We have over 8 years of blogging experience and have introduced blog design as part of our portfolio for clients. We can design your blog, host to blogger for free, even link to a .co.uk domain name for a professional look and if you would rather not edit it yourself, we will do that for you. It really is very simple. Prices start from £250 for a blog design....

....isn't it time you added a blog to your online portfolio?

Worth a read....
Where are you directing your social media contacts
Google Analytics - Worth It's Weight In Gold
Be Business Smart with Google Alerts

Do You Brand for Success?

Everything and everyone is a product. A country, a city, a company, a product, a service a person – yes you and me included. And how the market perceives the product determines its value. It’s sounds cynic, I know. But if you want a high value and be sought for on the market you have to create a brand that is in demand and sells.

Read more from Catarina Alexon

How Well Do You Know Your Business

In order to be able to successfully market your business, it is essential to gain a clearer understanding of the nature and calibre of your product. Before planning any marketing and advertising, ask yourself the following questions:

What are the strengths of our business?
What are the weaknesses?
What are the new changes in our business field?
What are our customers looking for?
Do we feel we offer them that?
How do we feel our customers view our business?
What do they actually think?
How good is our customer service?

What are we hoping to achieve in the next 3 months/1 year?
Who are our next customers?
How do we target them?
What is the best way of communicating with them?
How do we do that and still promote our company?

What is our marketing plan for the next 3 months/1 year?
How do we do that?
What measures will we put in place to test our marketing?
What is the time limit for this?

The answers to this will form the basis for a good marketing plan.

Worth a read...
When did you last get a recommendation from a client?
Don't watch your marketing budget blow away

When did you last get a recommendation from a client?

"Goodwill is the one and only asset that competition cannot undersell, or destroy".

Marshall Field.

Asking for a recommendation can be nerve-wracking and because of this, business owners can be hesitant in approaching a client for their comments. We all hope for positive feedback, but what if this is not the case. As a business owner, with negative feedback you can at least see where you are failing in customer service, professionalism or after sales. Surely that is good information to have available to you, to facilitate a strategy change within your company.

What to do with a great recommendation?

It is essential to make good client recommendations part of your portfolio and use as a valueable marketing tool, add on your website, blog or feature in advertising. Let others see what your clients think of your company and the services you offer. A glowing recommendation can have a positive effect on staff motivation also, we all like to be told we are doing a good job.

Remember, the key with recommendations, is to put them where future clients access your portfolio, hopefully persuading them to purchase your services based on what other clients have said.

Worth a read....
Our 10 day experiment with social media 
Be business smart with google alerts

A Crash Course in Social Media for your Business

Business development doesn't just happen, it comes from an investment in time and resources. Unfortunately many business owners just don't have that much free time to spare. When considering how best to market your business and spread your message, the first thing to decide is how much time you have to give to your marketing and what you are hoping to achieve from that investment?

The last year has seen a revolution in social media. There are so many ways to spread your message, we are in danger of drowning under a sea of sites offering to promote our product if we subscribe and spend our valuable time generating contacts and maintaining relationships.

How to use social media tools to your advantage?

Imagine a playground full of puddles....you only have to pick the one you want to jump in! Don't invest your time on a social media outlet that will not bring the results you are hoping for. Decide in advance what you are hoping to achieve from each social media tool, whether it is to increase your business profile, increase traffic to your site or generate new business from existing or new contacts. 

ARE Creative Crash Course

Blog - Google loves bloggers, for the simple reason that most will post new articles with keyword rich content on a regular basis.

1. Keep 6-8 articles already written and scheduled to appear daily.
2. Fill in any gaps between posts with recommendations, portfolio articles
3. Put a 'call to action' in a visible place on your blog
4. Create backlinks to other sites you like
5. Comment on other's posts and blogs
6. Set up RSS links to your social media sites so your blog article will automatically appear - ARE Creative articles go directly to our Twitter page, LinkedIn and Facebook business page
7. Link your site to blog directories such as BlogCatelog, Technoratti
8. Submit your blog to google blog search

LinkedIn - how up to date is your profile?

1. Put your collection of business cards to good use - contact your contacts
2. Add your blog site, google slideshow and business information
3. Don't forget to make regular updates including links to your site
4. Join groups of interest, start discussions and comment on other discussions

Twitter - get tweeting

1. Find your contacts on twitter
2. Feed your blog posts directly on to your twitter page
3. Tweet articles of interest to your twitter followers
4. Put your contact information and business on a twitter backpage

Facebook - do you have a business page?

1. Create one or a new facebook account
2. Link blog posts directly to your page
3. Ask contacts to 'like' or follow other pages and 'like' them

Hootsuite - making social media simpler

1. Pull all your sites together and operate from one page
2. Schedule your Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn updates in advance

These are tried, and tested, simple ways to ensure your business has a good online profile, just from some investment of time.

Which puddle will you jump in?

Worth a read:
Chris Brogan - A Simple Blogging Formula
The Pitfalls of Link Shorteners
Where Are You Directing Your Social Media Contacts

"Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted....

...and the problem is I do not know which half"

Lord Leverhulme 1851-1925, British founder of Unilever and philanthropist

So many businesses just allocate a certain mount of money to an advertising budget, spend the money every year…and they’ve only got a vague sense of whether the ads are working are not. This is crazy. As a business, if your ads are working, you want to roll them out on a larger scale. If they’re not, STOP and use the money on one of the dozens of other marketing strategies that can bring you a 100 or 200 or 300% return on your investments.

It is absolutely essential to test and measure all advertising. If you are going to engage in direct response advertising you obviously need to be able to measure that response, otherwise you are not going to know if the ad is working.

At the very least you need to know how many people responded, how many of them were converted to a sale and what that is worth to you. Then you need to compare that figure to the cost of the ad and you can immediately work out how profitable the ad was, or whether you should stop running it.

The type of response may vary depending on the type of business you are in and your overall marketing strategy. You can choose the response you want. You may want the response to be an immediate purchase. You may want the response to be for someone to contact you to ask for a brochure so you can get their contact details to add to your mailing list.

The great thing about direct response advertising is that you can tell instantly whether it is working. It either produces a response or it doesn't. One of the reasons that most small business advertising does not work is that it is a combination of half hearted direct response and highly ineffective brand advertising.

To find out how Are Creative can help make your advertising work for you email us here

Worth a read...
Don't watch your marketing budget blow away

Don't Watch Your Marketing Budget Blow Away...

“our goal is to get a client to the point where they have so much great marketing going on, they don’t need to advertise”

Advertising and Marketing
Marketing is a way of concentrating limited resources to generate opportunities that will increase sales. It involves planning a strategy that will determine who are, and how to reach, the customers that will purchase from your company. Many believe marketing to be costly and so deter from this very effective way of promoting their business. Instead theychose to advertise, which is one aspect of marketing. For many business owners the problems surface when they place a generic advert in the local paper thinking this will make a difference. Most marketing strategies are inexpensive, simple and effective. They are however, dependant on how much time a business owner is prepared to invest to see results.

Why Is Advertising Important?
People run advertising because they feel they ought to. They’re not really sure if it’s working but they are reluctant to stop it because it may be their only form of marketing. There are two types of advertising – direct response advertising and brand advertising. Brand advertising is used by companies to build and increase awareness of their brand i.e. Pepsi/Nike. Unless you have huge amounts of money which you are happy to lose, you should avoid brand advertising at all costs. For a small business it is a complete waste of money. The only type of advertising you ever want to consider is direct response advertising. The only purpose of direct response advertising is to produce a clear response.

The type of response may vary depending on the type of business you are in and your overall marketing strategy. You can choose the response you want. You may want the response to be an immediate purchase. You may want the response to be for someone to contact you to ask for a brochure so you can get their contact details to add to your mailing list. The great thing about direct response advertising is that you can instantly tell whether it is working. It either produces a response or it doesn’t. One of the reasons that most small business advertising does not work is that it’s a combination of half hearted direct response and highly ineffective brand advertising.

Testing and Measuring Your Advertising
It is absolutely essential that you test and measure all of your advertising. If you are going to engage in direct response advertising you obviously need to be able to measure that response, otherwise you are not going to know if the ad is working. At the very least you need to know how many people responded, how many of them were converted to a sale and what that is worth to you. Then you need to compare that figure to the cost of the ad and you can immediately work out how profitable the ad was, or whether you should stop running it.

So many businesses just allocate a certain amount of money to an advertising budget, spend the money every year…and they’ve only got a vague sense of whether the ads are working are not. This is crazy. If your ads are working, you want to roll them out on a larger scale. If they’re not, STOP and use the money on one of the dozens of other marketing strategies that can bring you a 100 or 200 or 300% return on your investments.

You will obviously need some sort of system for asking people who contact you for the first time where they heard about you. This will ensure that you can clearly identify when people are responding to your advertising.

Don’t Follow the Competition
One of the biggest mistakes people make is advertising in publications or on various forms of media (taxis, billboards, buses etc) just because their competitors are doing so. Don’t for a minute think that all your competitors are there because their ads are producing great results. They’re more likely to be there because everyone else is and most of them won’t have a clue whether their advertising is working or not.

What is with Marketing then?
Marketing in itself is immensely simple. It is a question of deciding who your next customers are going to be, working out how they will notice you and what you will offer them, then going for it.

Very Simply
You have something that can benefit other people, it’s just that they don’t know it yet...!
Marketing your business is not expensive to learn, it’s cheap to maintain and a 100% commitment to improving your business, lots of enthusiasm and hard work, will pay off.

For more great articles on marketing your business go here

Getting Great Promotional Gifts

We have done very well for promotional gifts this week, being targeted by a company seeking to create an impact. It is great getting lovely stuff through the post especially as the company concerned have used great straplines with their products.....that has to appeal to us as a Graphic Design Agency.

 The best gift has to be from my year 10 students at Poole High School, at the end of a 4 month teaching assignment, as a thank you...at the end of a project I have thoroughly enjoyed.

Using Twitter and LinkedIn To Drive Traffic To Your Site - 10 Day Experiment

THE BRIEF:

Conduct a 10 day social media push and measure effectiveness

At ARE Creative we have always had good SEO and frequent daily visitors to our web and blog. Google Analytics and our sitemeter confirmed they stayed for an average of 3-6 minutes and visited a variety of pages before leaving. We have never actively pushed sales from our blog, preferring to comment on our portfolio and write articles on aspects of Graphic Design, Branding, Blogging or Printing and provide an informative varied site that followers would enjoy coming back to.

THE METHOD:

Set aside 2 hours from each of 10 consecutive working days purely for Social Media Development.

We targeted Twitter and LinkedIn as the tools for our experiment. Picking 60 articles/portfolio to be published on the blog over 10 days, we set up automatic RSS feed posting to both sites from our blog. Increasing our profile and activity on both Twitter and LinkedIn required a considerable investment in time and some very necessary time management to ensure our workload still got finished. We did not change any element of the blog other than the colouring.

THE RESULT:

According to Google Analytics and our sitemeter, inbound traffic to our blog increased by 41% in the first 7 days and continued to rise.. We have had direct enquiries for Graphic Design and Marketing work, 3 contacts who we are meeting to discuss working together and 2 adverts to design.

IN SUMMARY:

2 hours per day requires commitment and does eat into a working day considerably. What would have happened if we had directed our traffic to a special offer or subscribe to our mailing list widget? 

Maybe this should be the next Social Media Push @ ARE Creative.

But my Competition is Advertising on the Number 42 Bus....

....so we should be doing that too!

One of the biggest mistakes people make is advertising in publications or on various forms of media (taxis, billboards, buses etc) just because their competitors are doing so. Don’t for a minute think that all your competitors are there because their ads are producing great results. They’re more likely to be there because everyone else is and most of them won’t have a clue whether their advertising is working or not.

When considering advertising your business, think about who your prospective clients are, what you can offer them, and how you are planning on doing that. The answers will determine what advertising, if any, you really need.

A much more realistic option than just following the competition!

Client/Vendor Relationship

Everyone wants something for nothing...no matter how we deny it. 'Working for Free' is a situation that any small business should avoid. How do you preserve a good relationship with a client when they could want more than you are prepared to give?

Borrowed from Chad Rothschild....The 10 Media Myths

Very Much Worth A Read
By Chad Rothschild

Getting Back in the Saddle Again

You can have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing we call ‘failure’ is not the falling down, but the staying down, Mary Pickford once said and it’s so true. And only you can do it. If you wait for others to lift you up, not only will you be disappointed – you will stay down.

Read more by Catarina Alexon

Direct Response v Brand Advertising

"the only way to be heard is to speak"

There are two types of advertising – direct response advertising and brand advertising.

Brand advertising is used by companies to build and increase awareness of their brand i.e. MacDonalds. Unless you have huge amounts of money which you are happy to lose, you should avoid brand advertising at all costs. For a small business it is a complete waste of money.

The only type of advertising you ever want to consider is direct response advertising. The purpose of direct response advertising is to produce a clear response.The type of response may vary depending on the type of business you are in and your overall marketing strategy. You can choose the response you want. You may want the response to be an immediate purchase. You may want the response to be for someone to contact you to ask for a brochure so you can get their contact details to add to your mailing list.

The great thing about direct response advertising is that you can instantly tell whether it is working. It either produces a response or it doesn’t. One of the reasons that most small business advertising does not work is that it’s a combination of half hearted direct response and highly ineffective brand advertising.

In the land of the small business, direct response is KING!

Here is an example of great brand advertising:
As a coeliac (no wheat, no gluten) I have listened to MacDonalds ads for years, I know the "I'm lovin' it" strapline, identify with the Golden Arches (BRAND ADVERTISING) but always thought that it was beyond my reach as burgers contain wheat. After 5 years of no MacDonalds an ad campaign hit this year promoting 100% meat burgers and no additives. It caught my attention, it served a purpose, it told me how that would benefit me, what I could gain from purchasing.

The 'DIRECT RESPONSE ADVERTISISNG' worked a treat, I knew the brand off by heart, then the direct response advert caused me to purchase.....and why, because I would be 'lovin' it'. MacDonalds direct response advertising probably won't tell them whether this ad has worked, I had my BIG MAC, wasn't that tasty without the bun and went back to good food again. An example of direct response advertising not doing so well, for coeliacs, but promoting the brand... fantastic!