If I call you and are blown off, I get pissed.  My clients react the same way.  I had a client call me recently about coordinating a meeting, but I was busy.  I emailed him the next day.  He sent me an email asking if I got his voicemail.  In other words, people want to be called back.

I have a contact form on my website on every page and I try to respond in a timely fashion when I get an email.  I frequently hear “wow, you’re the only company that has called me back.”  It weird that that’s my advantage over my competition.

I think with email, text messaging, and voicemail we all are too comfortable avoiding actual conversation.  As a designer and web developer, I am always on deadline or in meetings, but you can’t avoid people.  That’s called blowing people off.  Full disclosure:  I hate talking to people.  I have to force myself to do it because it’s part of my job.

The reasoning:  ”I know they just want to ask about their project and it’s not done yet.”

The reality:

• You don’t know why they are calling.
• You still have to talk to the client.
• If you can’t meet deadline there is a problem that needs to be addressed.
• You are trying to avoid an unpleasant conversation…by pissing off the other person.

Returning calls is good business, common courtesy, and just a basic rule of human interaction.  This is just a little reminder.

I have a call I need to return right now by the way.

Just “making the logo bigger” because the client says so may destroy the quality of the marketing when the client’s concerns could have been met without wrecking the design.  Here’s some things to keep in mind:

• Some “solutions” just don’t fit.  It’s better so avoid those “square peg, round hole” situations take take time/money and give you poor results.
• Clients don’t know everything that could be done.  We’ve been in business since 1998, perhaps we’ve done some professional layouts before?
• There may be a good reason for an element the the client is unaware of.
• Designers are experts at what they do, so let us find the best way to move forward.
• Designers can try a bunch of solutions without having to present each one and wrack up hours of billable time presenting solutions that don’t work.
• Would you tell your doctor, mechanic, or plumber how to fix a problem, or would you tell them what the problem is?
• We just want the project to run smoothly and give you the best product we can.

I respect client’s input and always remember who really owns the project.  That’s why I want to know what needs to be fixed, not just how you think I should fix it…Not that we don’t nail everything on the first shot.

Contact us if you have any questions.

Don’t blame the design firm!

The old logo was clever.  The “11″ in the negative space represents the fact that there were really 11 schools and not ten.  Of course that had to change now that the Big Ten is 12 schools.  I’m sure that Pentagram, the design firm, presented an update of  the logo incorporating a hidden 12, but the committee didn’t want to to the same old thing.

The new logo screams COMPROMISED DESIGN.  It’s boring and complicated at the same time.  Why dose the ‘G’ look like a zero and the “I” look like a one?  That reads as “B10 Ten” and makes no sense.  I think the reason this went bad was that the firm was told to tack on the word “ten.”   I’ll bet the committee figured that nobody would get the logo without the word “ten.”

Here’s the actual logo the the Big Ten.  If you go to the design firm’s website, they show this version, and not the version with the additional ten.  It’s super sleek, hip, simplified, and sill maintains that college feel through typography.

Isn’t this a ton cooler than the logo at the top that was originally presented to the world?  This simple logo makes sense.  By just saying “Big” (depending how you look at it) the logo de-emphasizes the number of teams.  That’s a good idea since there are 12 schools and not 10.  I wonder what the response would have been to this logo if everyone saw this instead of the compromised design.

This approach is kinda like the new Mountain Dew bottles that just say “MTD Dew” or Gatoraid logo that now I think is just a “G.”  You could argue that this isn’t the approach for the Big Ten, but clearly, this is the direction the committee agreed to at one point.  Not everyone would be happy with the “mountain dew” approach, but now no one is happy.  Some president who didn’t have time to go the first marketing meeting got scared and freaked out on the new logo direction.

Here’s Pentegram’s website…That’s where I got these images.

If a design firm is not allowed to carry a design through, but made to compromise the design, it falls apart.

“I know we said we wanted to go with this new logo, but my wife didn’t like it.  You have to just add the word “ten” at the bottom. Then the logo will be all things to all people.”

I’ve heard people blame the design firm.  They did it.  They should have refused to compromise.  Get a grip.  It’s not Pentagram’s logo, it’s the Big Ten’s logo.  I’m sure Pentagram tried to fight this.  In the end you can’t blow off your clients.  Would you go back to a barber who gives you a crew cut when you only wanted a trim?  Design is a business.

I hope that in the end, they use the “B10″ (or “BIG”) version of the logo.  I suspect that is what will happen.  It would be a shame to scrap the whole thing.

Now don’t get me started on the division names….Leaders and Ledgends?

What is wrong with the old site

Sure in 2005, this was the state of the art in web design, but now it’s totally dated.  Notice how it looks so small on the page.  Back in 2005 designers were focused on a set standard size of 800 X 600 to fit laptops.  The content scrolled in boxes if needed.  Today, monitors are larger and the trend of limiting the length of a web page is over.  The site looks plopped into the middle of the page and way too small.

On the homepage, there is very little text (originally there was no text).  Search engines have little content here to index.  Back in 2005, Flash sites were big.  I didn’t build the site as just one animation as some did, but this old site relies way too much on Flash.  Again, search engines will not be able to index a site properly is it’s just built in Flash.  It may look fancy, but you won’t get too much traffic if your site is Flash.

One of the most important sections is the portfolio section.  On the old site, that’s a nifty Flash animation that slides the samples through as you click around.  If that wasn’t bad enough for search engine optimization (SEO), the detail of each project were contained in pop-up windows.  Not only is that annoying to clients, they may have pop-ups blocked, and search engines won’t want to follow those links and index the site.

• In general, the site provides no call to action.  It doesn’t make the visitor want contact us unless they are really wowed by the portfolio.
• The site had a bad structure for SEO purposes.  Pop-ups and Flash animation is killing our SEO.
• The site looked small.
• The site was built in tables which is a totally outdated way of building a website.  Today, designer use cascading style sheets (CSS) which give us greater control and options.
• The old site is way too beige.

How is the new site better?

It’s new…New is better in a website.  Old websites are outdated, not classics.  This is a fresh new look that our existing customers will notice right away.  We brought in the blue, but kept the site consistent with our marketing.  We have the same colors, images, and logo as the old site…except less beige.

This homepage has actual content on it.  We built the site for SEO.  There are keywords as titles, links, heading, and text.  We’ll keep tweaking this to keep it up to date, but this structure is better for updating purposes.

This page is meant to speak directly to our customer’s needs.  If you’re looking for a designer, you have a project you need designed.  We tried to as simply as possible, say that we have the capability and skill you are looking for.

The call to action here it to contact us.  The phone number is huge and up top.  The contact for is an easy way to contact us as well.  Some visitors will prefer to email right from the website.  We tried to provide  as many options for contact us as we could.

The portfolio section is fixed.  We built it in straight HTML and CSS.  It’s not as slick as the old section, but it will function much better.  It’s easy to navigate for the visitors and the search engine robots.  Due to the fact that we’re redoing the whole site, we used more recent works in our portfolio.

It’s good to rehab your marketing just so that you take a fresh look at what you are doing.  The old site was working fine in some respects and it wasn’t urgent to “fix” it.  Sometimes, you have to say “If it’s not broke, break it.”

Now I can move on to work that I actually get paid for.

OK, I only sent this to 787 people and 54 folks did open it.  I’m not thrilled with this low response rate.  My marketing goal is to get one new, good client, so I need to get back to work on this.

It would be odd to tell a law firm that I can get clients for them…If I can’t get my own clients.  Obviously, if I’m talking to a new client, I can point out they they responded to my marketing.

What to do next?

The first thing I am going to do is build my mailing list.  I didn’t let the relatively small sample size stop me from sending out the initial blast.  My experience is that you should always be marketing and not waiting for ideal situations.

I could follow up the four people that clicked on the site with a phone call.  Would that feel creepy if they figured out that visiting my site initiated a phone call.

The most important thing I’m going to do is to keep at it.  Prospects don’t usually respond to the first piece of marketing that they see.  I usually see a big response after I send out round number 3.  The key here is to not annoy my list with spam.

I’ll post updates to my law marketing email blast.

The logos we all know and love are not the logos companies had as successful start-ups. Apple’s original logo was Newton sitting under a tree. Nike was a brand created for an already existing shoe company, not a start-up company. Walmart, Exxon, Toyota can be considered successful start-ups (they are fortune 10 companies now), but they didn’t start with the branding we know today.

The great logo success stories are re-branding efforts of already successful companies. IBM could afford to pay for their branding because they were a big company…like all of the logos we know and love.

OK, I’m talking to start-up businesses here and cautioning against spending too much of your capital upfront on branding before you have a company. Sure, there are businesses like clothing lines where your company is a brand, those are different.

Kozmo spent a pretty penny on their branding. The reason we don’t applaud this logo is that the company went belly up. How could that happen? They had a great brand.

A new company needs to present itself as professional. A new company needs to be flexible. If your focus changes you better hope your branding can change. Any marketer who tells you that you need to spend a huge budget on branding to avoid a costly rebranding process, just point out that you would rather be Apple than Kozmo.  They did have a nice logo for a start-up.

Chicago Graphic Design Firm

Chicago graphic design

Chicago graphic design firm.  Chicago marketing firm.  Why repeat “keywords” online?  It’s called search engine optimization or SEO for short.  Chicago graphic design firms and chicago marketing firms are keyed into these terms as the will drive business to your site.  As you can see, I’m repeated the terms chicago design firm, chicago graphic design firm, and chicago marketing firm several times in this blog.

Other variations I might consider are chicago graphic design firms, graphic design firm chicago, marketing chicago, marketing firm chicago, chicago marketing firms, chicago web design, web design chicago and chicago web design firm.

Google and Yahoo send out their robots to index the internet.  When they come across a phrase like chicago graphic design, they log that as a term important to the site it is linked to.  When someone does a search for chicago graphic design, my site may come up sooner due to my “inbound” links.

I have a client who is a kansas city bankruptcy firm.  I just advised them to make similar links on their blogs and thought I should take my own advice.

OK, this is totally over the top…But I think this communicates a simple activity to build traffic and something to think about when you are writing your blogs.  One final one… chicago graphic design!

These days, it’s harder to get a business loan.  Some people are starting that business because they were laid off.  Maybe the timing is off, but you have to start that business now.  What do you do if you have “no” marketing budget?  How can you make your startup look professional?

As a graphic designer, I’ll share some insight and tips to give you the bare minimum to get off the ground.  I wouldn’t suggest doing design yourself, but you can hire a graphic designer and not break the bank.

PART I: LOOK PROFESSIONAL…The minimum.

Do I need a logo?

Yes, but don’t sweat it.  Simple type with a simple tagline is fine in a pinch.  Avoid exploring a “mark” -  you won’t have the budget to get to the point where it doesn’t look like clip art.  A full logo design process should take a minimum of 20 hours of design fees.  I bill $85 per hour, so that’s $1700.  Choose an initial logo that can be executed easily and look professional.

Here’s a simple logo for “ScrapCo” that look me less than a minute to put together.  Sure, it’s not blowing anyone away, but it looks professional and took little of your budget to design.  If this was on a business card or in a website it presents you as a professional company.  My logo is “just type” but I hired an outside designer to do it for me.  I was wasting time trying to communicate so much about my business in a logo that I lost focus of it’s basic function…showing your business’s name.

My tagline isn’t “making the world a better place,” but it’s “graphic design | marketing.”  By simply listing what you do in a concise manner, you complete the logo.  Your logo and tagline should do the same thing…State your name and what you do.  People think of taglines like “Coke, The real thing.”   Coke is not a startup.  Everyone knows what Coke is.  A good first tagline for Coke would be “Coke, A Cola Soda.”  Isn’t the Coke logo just a type treatment?

Also, choose your company color.  Better yet, have a designer do it.  As you see, ScrapCo went with a blue and gray combo.

Do I need a website?

Hell yes!  These days, your website is your most important marketing tool.  Buy a URL (web address) and set up a website.  How can you have a website with “no” budget?  Use a template or have a designer build a simple site.  Incorporate your logo and colors.

You can host a site on WordPress, a free blogging site.  There’s an upgrade so you can have “scrapcoindusties.com” instead of “scrapco.wordress.com.”  This blog is hosted on WordPress and I’ve upgraded to have my own URL.

Google, GoDaddy and lots of other hosts provide a click-and-build website package.

If you go with a template, I would still have a designer look at it.  You’ll want custom images and colors so that your site won’t feel like a lame template.

What about business cards, envelopes, and letterhead?

Printing business cards is cheap.  You can use an online printer like VistaPrint and get a ton of cards easily.  I’ve never had envelopes and letterhead printed.  I have my documents formatted to print my logo and info as part of the document.  I run my envelopes through a printer to address them, so I “print” the envelopes as I need them.  Don’t spent money on that stuff if you don’t have it.

PART II: REAL MARKETING

Ok, so how do I get customers?

This should be your main concern!  The logo, the website, the business cards don’t matter without clients.  Without a budget, it takes more work.  Perhaps it is better to think about marketing yourself to get business as an activity rather than waiting for your marketing to build business.  You play an active role.

Hit the phones.  You have your minimum pieces in place to back you up.  Direct prospects to your website for more info, or send them a letter and business card to follow up.

Hit the internet.  Register your site, blog, comment on blogs, and yes, social network.  Join LinkedIn and connect to everyone you can/know.  Direct traffic to your site through your networks.  Put links to your site in your signature when you comment online.

Email marketing.  Build a database and send out emails.  You don’t have to pay printing costs or postage costs associated with direct mail.  Plus, when the prospect receives an email, you can link them to your website or blog for unlimited information.

Once you are off the ground and have some success, go ahead an give your company the redesign it deserves.

When it comes to design, people feel it’s perfectly fine to get your mom’s opinion.  Sure, graphic design in not brain surgery, but IT’S NOT JUST A MATTER OF TASTE.  REALLY.  I know the size of type in magazines and newspapers (it’s not 12 pt), if know what colors read better together, and I’ve done thousands of professional layouts that  I’ve been paid for.  You could say that I’m an expert.

I’ve never had a client say that they’ve paid another designer for a second opinion before having me make their logo way too big.

Just remember that you have the right to disregard the opinion of your graphic designer, your auto mechanic, your lawyer, and your doctor, but you are dismissing the advice of experts.

Don’t get me wrong, I respect my clients and their personal expertise of their industry and audience, but I just want some respect for my profession.  I may just start wearing a lab coat to meetings.

It’s so easy to just copy and paste.  Of course, it’s just as easy to discover the plagiarism.

Businesses cannot act like lazy high school students.  Write your own content.

It’s amazing that a business will pull the same crap.  I know it’s easy to cut and paste, but it’s also easy to do a Google search to see who’s stealing my content.  A professional doesn’t commit plagiarism.  I’m not a lawyer, but I do know that it against the law to steal your content from another website.

• Put your message in your own words.
• Hire a writer if you have trouble.
• Tailor your message for your customers.
• Don’t steal.

I could have just copied this from another blogger…Wow, that would have saved me some time!