Pink Nik Designs Website

Pink Nik Designs Website
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Monday, October 19, 2009

Yay

I'm feeling really encouraged just now, i've had a few folks mention this blog and so far no bad feed back! I don't really do this thinking people need to know this (although maybe you do :D ) because i know a lot of the things i talk about are out there already, but i like to share what i'm learning being a new business owner and this logs my thoughts on that journey, but if it can help someone else then that is a nice bonus!

THANKS FOR READING! :D

Friday, October 16, 2009

A thought on Comparative Advertising


"
Comparative Advertising
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Comparative advertising is an advertisement in which a particular product, or service, specifically mentions a competitor by name for the express purpose of showing why the competitor is inferior to the product naming it.This should not be confused with parody advertisements, where a fictional product is being advertised for the purpose of poking fun at the particular advertisement, nor should it be confused with the use of a coined brand name for the purpose of comparing the product without actually naming an actual competitor. ("Wikipedia tastes better and is less filling than theEncyclopedia Galactica.")" - article link


The first, and only time, i have visited America was in 1996, i was 16. I remember sitting in a friends basement watching tv and the adverts coming on. I was surprised at the advertising, with everyone telling me that this form of advertising was perfectly normal over there. I had never seen advertisers being so blatant as to say "we're better than blah". We sat telling our American friends that they just don't do that in the UK and we think that it's better advertising.

Then about 10 years on and it starts on our advertising and I'm shocked! well maybe that's an exaggeration but i can't believe that we finally caught up with the US to advertise with the same techniques.

Doing a little research i have found that this kind of advertising is regulated in the UK by the ECJ (European Court of Justice), where in recent years when any disputes have risen they have decided who's in the right. One article i read described a dispute between to supermarket giant's in the UK, one of which weren't happy at the way the other was using the information they had about them, but according to what I've read so long as the adverts conform to directive 84/450 which in brief states that so long as the advert is:
  • not misleading;does not create confusion;
  • does not discredit or denigrate the third party trademarks;
  • does not take unfair advantage of the reputation of a trademark; and
  • does not present goods or services as imitations or replicas of goods or services bearing a protected ­trademark or trade name.
This whole form of advertising is meant to keep the customer informed, everywhere these days it's all about price comparisons. The customer is wanting the cheapest price and in the current economic climate i think it's only fair everyone watches their penny's but i really don't agree with these adverts.

Every time an advert comes on tv now for one of the supermarket giants and it has price comparisons it gets me really angry. I feel it is the lowest form of advertising, it's like high school "we're better than you" groups.

I know businesses try to keep up with what their competitors are doing and they evaluated it as to how this compares to what they are doing but to then go out and say we're better than them because we're cheaper, means nothing. Walk around your large local supermarket you know the 2 I'll mean and look at the prices for products "we're cheaper than B by 1p"! Well wow! is this what it is reduced to we're cheaper because we can knock a penny of the price. A supermarket can win an award by having the cheapest products because they knock 1p off their prices to ensure the ones they can't give you a decent discount on they can still be cheaper.
So when they say we have 10,000 product cheaper than B it's only because we've knocked 1p of about 75% of them.

I'm wailing on supermarkets as they are most prominent on tv doing it just now but banks are just as bad, if i hear Howard signing once more about comparisons I'll shoot myself!!
I like the adverts used just now by 2 specific companies for the same reason, they show you something that is worthwhile using about their company.

For example: Morrison's main adverts just now are showing that their butchers are in house, they are highly trained and the meat freshly prepared for you. Their butcher will help you pick the right piece of meat for what you're wanting to cook because they are highly trained and friendly. All just for you.

The Royal Bank of Scotland's adverts just now are telling you how they have branches open on a Saturday. Why? because if your to busy during the week you can do it on your day of, they're there for you when you need it.

These 2 companies are showing that they have something, that may not necessarily be unique to them, but it's certainly something that people will look at and think Hey that could be helpful, my bank or supermarket doesn't do that.

The other thing that i don't like about comparative advertising is that your competitor can use your trademark in their advertising. This just should not be allowed the reason something is trademarked is to stop other from using it.

This just all seems like below the belt advertising, what happened to being creative when doing advertising, this is just lazy advertising.

My favourite response to comparative advertising is Windows reply to Mac advert that PC's were old, slow, uncreative and almost useless. But Windows came back with a great set of adverts showing a creative, unique and varied group of people that use a PC for work and play, no mention of their competitors, just taking their turn to respond to the claim that PC's can't do much of anything.

In my mind this is creative advertising, as this advert would have worked well on it's own and now some time on from those adverts it does work well as a stand alone advert and not a response to a claim made by a competitor.

I feel that it is up to businesses to show that it's creative advertising that is going to get people further, showing customers them broader scope of benefits that they'll get from using your business, not just a saving on price because using a business should be more than that. The whole experience should be something to shout about.

Here are the websites that i used for research into this:
http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/in-practice/comparative-advertising-ecj-fizzes-it
http://www.lawdit.co.uk/reading_room/room/view_article.asp?name=../articles/comparative%20advertising.htm
http://www.out-law.com/page-7985
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_advertising

There were a couple more but I've lost the links, which i am looking to find to add in here.

Friday, October 9, 2009

How To: Twitter

Here's some tips and sites that are realy useful for any of you lovely folks that may want some more info. if you have a look at these sites and feel you need a bit more help then there are now several places offering courses on how to use social media for marketing, Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce for one, but be sure to note that they probably use these resources as the basis for what they wil be talking about.

Twitters own business site
"Dry, boring feeds rarely draw many people. Successful Twitter business accounts, though, can take many forms. They may be personal and chatty or they might even have mostly automated information. But no matter the style, the key is to post messages that your followers will find compelling."- http://business.twitter.com/twitter101/

Twitter 101 for Business Blog
This link is for a specific post that i think is particular interesting, have a look at the slide show, but definately check out the rest of the blog.- http://twitter101.blogspot.com/2009/07/20-ways-to-tweet-for-companies.html

Chris Brogan
"Ideas About WHAT to Tweet11. Instead of answering the question, “What are you doing?”, answer the question, “What has your attention?”"- http://www.chrisbrogan.com/50-ideas-on-using-twitter-for-business/

Pistachio
This site has lots of really good usful links to articles and tips that are worth checking out- http://pistachioconsulting.com/featured-articles/twitter-for-business/

More useful links (list will get updated or add your own links)
Dosh Dosh - 17 Ways to Use Twitter: My Experiences So Far

Twitter: my reply

this post is basically me having a vent, a rant and possibly a moan..... but i'm gonna put up some useful links for those that are interested in finding out more about twitter, as i feel the places charging to give you this information is a bit crafty when there are a lot of resources free online, suprise, suprise. :)


i'm a huge twitter fan, i think it's the one thing i g33k out about most of all! :D i've been reading some articles and forums recently about using twitter for business and a lot of places, such as the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce are offering courses for using social media.... twitter included. i've been thinking about this alot recently and i do see the potential of twitter for business and i use it as a way of promoting my business and so far i think it works well. it is allowing me to contact customers, get inspired about business, follow my interests, keep on top of news and much more.

i think this is my response to those that i've read slamming it as a fad and that the amount of time it takes to maintain something like this is pointless! these people as far as i'm aware don't use twitter, which for one i find this strange that they are being down about it because they don't like it. fine don't use it but don't knock it for that and for generalising that i'm wasting of resources even trying to use it. the good thing about twitter is that it isn't necessary to spend hours on it, but a bit of time can make the difference.

there is potential but it's not for everyone, there are certain things advertising wise i wouldn't touch for my business but it doesn't mean they don't work, in my opinion they aren't for me and that's fine i won't waste my time with them but i certainly wouldn't tell someone else that it wasn't worth their time or money, as it may turn out to be a useful income generator.

so if twitters for you, then great come follow me @ twitter.com/pinknikdesigns, but if it's not for you then fine but don't tell me i'm wasting my time!!

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Thought about holidays


My husband and I were fortunate enough that our families gave us a honeymoon as a wedding present but it's raised some interesting points for me to think about! The main one being: How do you work a holiday round your business? Fly half days during the week and an extra day for a long weekend don't really count. I'm thinking like our week away to Menorca.

My husband get's a little annoyed that I take my blackberry and laptop away with me wherever we go, but I try to explain that I am my business and that I need to be close at hand if anyone should need me. Again I'm very fortunate that my family is willing to jump in and lend a hand at looking after things if I go away, but they don't know the complete in's and out's! I suppose more training would be in order so they know the best suppliers to go to when they need something and how best to price an order that doesn't meet our standard price list, as well as a few more things. But I feel that while I'm not really in the position to have someone fully trained up yet this still leaves me taking my blackberry and laptop as part of my luggage!! Hunting down a wifi spot or getting my mobile internet working isn't always useful, so my blackberry is my connection to the world.

The only thing is taking 30 minutes out when your swimming, bbqing or exploring to chat about work related things doesn't always work well as you may not have all the info to hand etc, or training may not have been finished on the thing needing done. I took a day off during the summer to finish things of for our wedding or something like that and I ended up spending the afternoon on skype talking my sister through how to setup a design that was needed while we were gonna be away after the wedding. FYI the desktop sharing function on skype, but like i said fly half days and long weekends don't count.

I've seen several business and know one or 2 others that take a week or 2 in the year and shut shop, let their customers know they'll be closed and that's it holiday time. As far as I'm aware these businesses don't get a lot of on the spot sales, I do know that they get large orders with deadlines and people are informed that anything required during the holiday time has a deadline date and after that, well too bad, but maybe not quite as douchey as that. This works for them, or it seems to but for myself i feel that my business can't close for a week, have the phones down or diverted as this may put people off, send them elsewhere and generally loose us customers. And here we are back to my dilemma!!

So I'm happy that I've had a holiday this year and that there are people that can take care of things while I'm away. I guess whether you take your business with you on holiday comes down to personal preference, but I feel that if i were forced to not take laptop or blackberry and never to seek out a wifi spot the least i could do is have a living breathing answer service for my customers, be happy in the knowledge that the ones that have time and want to use our service will return and that if they don't well, their loss i guess.

Or maybe i could save a little space in my carry on for my blackberry...................

Update: 08/10/09
After making this post a few friends on Facebook saw the link and I got a couple of comments I wanted to share....

"Now that's tough even when you work in the holiday business! The trick is to choose a time when you are traditionally quiet, and let everyone on your contact list know at least three weeks before you go away that you are on holiday. You'd be amazed how many folks need you when they know you are about to take a holiday"