A look at the life and thoughts of a young scottish entrepreneur, or realistically.... the yammerings of a 20 30 something t-shirt printer from Scotland!
Self Employment, Comics, Small Businesses, Networking, Crime Fighting, Motorbikes, T-shirt Printing and so much more....
I found this surfing online while researching a 4Sight slot for 4Networking in Falkirk, I was doing my slot on branding and seeing this really blew me away at how easy it was for me to identify ALL the letters. Now remember most aren't even the company logos just part of their brand name. It was inspiring and really got me thinking about how much time i spend establishing my business as a brand. I do really want that, for my company name to go in with these as a easy to recognise brand.
How many can you identify?
Do you think branding is important for your business? Is there a company in your industry that has a really identifiable brand? If no to any of these why do you think that is? Don't you think then that your business could jump on this fact and take advantage of it? Ah so many questions. But it's definitely food for thought, even if you don't want to be a global brand you should aim to be a local brand. I want that for my business and if that is the goal i can achieve then i'll be happy, now if we can have a brand as big as one of the guys above i'll be over the moon, but baby steps to start with.
I've added another picture below that i found online that i think is a nice wee tool for getting branding your head round branding your business, the one thing i'll add for leaving a strong impression which i think is very important to small businesses is YOU, make yourself memorable, people will remember you and what you do if they remember the smile you had when you greeted them, the tie you wore, the strap line you used to do your 60 second pitch at the meeting. As a small business you are your best marketing tool as it's you that people are going to be dealing with, so make the impression count.
Answers for the A-Z are:
A - Adobe, B - Barbie, C - Coke Cola, D - Disney, E - Ebay, F - Fila, G - Google, H - H&M, I - IBM, J - Johnson and Johnson's, K - Kellogg's, L - Lego, M - MTv, N - Nintendo, O - Oakley, P - Puma, Q - Quicktime, R - RAC, S - Sega, T - Texaco, U - Unilever, V - Virgin, W - Walkman, X - Xbox, Y - Yahoo, Z - Zurich
If you listen to local commerical radio you'll know that list of local businesses that advertise with the station. You may even know some of the jingles for the businesses. You may or may not like those jingles! What's my point? Have you ever concidered radio advertising for your business? Well like all advertising, tread carefully with it. Not all businesses suit radio advertising.
We tried it before Christmas and although i believe it will have given us a bit more exposure i don't think it suited what we do. In comparison we occasionally have a stand down in the local mall and that can get us more business. I think this is because people can see the t-shirts and gifts up on the stand so it visually flicks a switch in their brain, they walk over pick up a flier and head off on their way. Radio advertising we have a guy saying our wee catch phrase then 15 seconds later its gone. The same person that may pick up our flier upon seeing it in the mall may never even register our radio ad.
I understand that this is all down to what ever suits your business, as of course ever business is different, but can small businesses benefit from radio advertising the same way as larger local businesses.
I remember from years ago we would listen to the radio before going to school and a local taxi company had there jingle playing, it was really annoying but extremely catchy. The company is still going strong in the area and to this day if i go for a night out back home and i need a taxi they are the only company that i can call, because all i need to do is sing the old jingle while i dial.
My advice for any small business thinking of taking on larger scale advertising;
seek advice - either from your accountant, a business advisor, fellow businesses
take your time - don't rush in, take your time thinking it over and if you do decide to go for it make sure you have time to organise a good quality jingle, slogan or strap line, you need to make sure it'll work for you.
advertise - if you can compliment what you are doing by advertising in other places, such as magazines, events or even highlight things on your website/blog
professional help - can you afford to get a PR company to help you out, to take full advantage of what you are doing? remember it's still your company and you need to control everything that is associated with your company. Bad or bland PR and advertising is a waste of your time and money.
Don't forget though taking a risk might be worth it for your business, but sometimes if it sounds to good....
Having the chance to enjoy the holiday period and watch a bit of TV I have had the chance to look over the last few months. We really went all out this year with our advertising, the aim, to build brand awareness. When folks think of t-shirt printing we want the to think of Pink Nik Designs.
Yet our goal is always to present ourselves in the best, honest and most positive light. I don't understand why large companies like Max Factor, Pantene and various others use mis-directed advertising to sell their products. Actually do know why but my problem is the way in which these companies do it. If you have to put a disclaimer in the advert stating that the final effect was enhanced in post production, surely that's not good advertising. I will accept people will see these adverts and think, wow that's for me, but surely the aim is to present and honest representation of the product you are selling, not what you wish you were selling. If what the product is meant to achieve needs to be added in after the commercial is shot then this product isn't doing what it claims and the advert needs to be changed. Show us what it can honestly achieve. If all it takes is to show the regular mascara compaired to the all singing all dancing then surely that would be enough to convince us.
People are becoming more aware of how advertising really works and how companies are representing themselves surely it is in the best interest of every company to show they are representing themselves in the best possible way, so that if the light does get shone on you and your product it won't crumble at the first review. There are so many sites out their that are allowing people to voice their opinion of your product and service that you better be honest about what you are doing and if you aren't then maybe you should stay away from the spotlight.
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:
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/
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!!
Man i can't believe that it was March when i last posted anything! It seems like such a long time ago now. We've been super busy, which i think has been a result of the networking and careful advertising we have done. Although i must admit there's some advertising that we signed up for that i reallly don't know how effective it's been, but i think i just need to give it time to see how it goes. We had a chap in the office yesterday saying he's had our flier since October, that's 8 months before he came to see us. But the upside is people are holding onto our details when they find it.
I find that networking, although more time consuming, gives the better quality in after sales. I have to admit though that i believe networking isn't just for getting sales, but what you do get is quality! I've been missing networking, it really inspires me and i'm learning new stuff all the time. Which is why i maybe haven't been so regular with the blogging here for a while. Although i'me super excited about the rest of this month, i'm going to 3 networking events and all 3 are very different.
Tomorrow morning see's me heading into a breakfast meeting starting at 7am (i'm hoping the breakfast is worth it), next week i'm going to the first meeting of a women's networking event in a local pub starting at 8pm and finally at the end of the month there's a networking BBQ in a club in Edinburgh that should be a total blast.
But i'm happy because i'm getting married in just over 2 weeks and i think when i come back from honeymoon i'm gonna jump back into networking, i really have missed it, the next few weeks will help me get back into it.
Well, here we go again! As of the 12th of January until Sunday the 18th we've a stall up in the Mall (Howgate) in Falkirk. We have been offered this as last years winner of their local best business idea. So if you've read my blog about the pro and cons of this type of advertising it hasn't always been the best for me! But the good thing i do get from it is a bit of free press in the local paper. So we're back again and for anyone interested we're doing a special offer if you order 15 or more t-shirts for stag or hen night then we'll give you a further 10% discount on the total of you're order if you print out the voucher at the bottom of this post! Happy Shopping! :)
VOUCHER NO LONGER AVAILABLE
remember to print this page of and hand it over when you place your order or you wont get the discount.
Advertising online is something that I'm quite passionate about! I really enjoy designing an advert or a spot for my company to sit in! I'm well up for linking websites with other business's to help share the love! But what really grinds my gears is these Internet directories that will try to snare you into ridiculously priced advertising spots to be the best posted, highlighted or whatever else they wish you to do.
But what i have found is that there are a few places out there that are totally worth the cost with out signing your business into some bizarre contract that leeches money from you on a slow and painful basis. The only real down side to them is that they have a rating system that puts you in the ranking order based on who is best rated.
So here's the appeal... anyone that would be willing to say that you have dealt with us, whether it be an enquiry or used our service, but I'm looking to get some rankings put on the the sites for us without me cheating and using my googlemail and yahoo mail accounts to lie! Coz I would like this to be realistic! Even if it's just coz you met me at a networking meeting and thought i was polite! that would be great!
And in return we'll do the same for you, if you have a business we'll rate you and put you on our links page. If you have a bebo we'll give you some love! and if we get enough ratings we'll even offer everyone that's done it money off their next order but only if we hit 50 ratings! Good news is to be tops we only got to beat 2 reviews but we still gotta have goals! :D
So come on don't waste any more time reading this click the link below and get rating.
One of the scariest things when you run your own business is what you do about advertising.
There are loads of well priced and even free ways to advertise. You’ve just gotta do your research. It does take time, but before you sign a cheque for some company to print your ad in some paper or put you on some screen, ask yourself one question, “why should I do this?”
Ask yourself, have you heard of the place your advertising? If so why and how? I advertise in a local paper and the reason I agreed to that is that the place I worked when I was a student, used to advertise in it. So I knew the name, knew they were reliable, had built a good reputation etc, so I knew I could trust them.
But also don’t get sucked in by the big players either. There’s a huge directory everyone knows of, (they’re yellow) and they offer everyone a free listing, which is fab! But they will phone you and try to sell you there big products. Now, you know the name, you know they have been going for quite a few years, understatement of the year, but just watch because their product really only works for some many people.
I know quite a few businesses that live of the work they get from this directory they don’t advertise anywhere else, but I also know others that never hear a peep from them. Like if you are a bio chemist, I don’t think folks are going to look you up in an online business directory, but they probably will if you’re a pest control guy/gall! So maybe you don’t need anything more than the free listing.
But the thing that amazed me was that once you give one of these companies the time of day the rest come to knock at your door, and even more amazing they can be quite aggressive when you don’t want anything. "But why not? Surely you would be happy to take on more business?" well duh! “Then why don't you want to take an advert with us?" then come the stats as to how awesome they are! They really can pull you in! Learn how to say no.
But there is another way, my dad feels that when they call you it’s a great opportunity to sell them one of his fire extinguishers, he’s had no sales yet but definitely talked to a few more managers than he would have on the days they call. Maybe next time I’ll see if they need a t-shirt done up!
Twitters own business site