The cost of everything, the value of nothing

It’s a constant lament of mine that I come across people all the time who decide to ‘knock up’ their own leaflets and flyers because they’re counting their pennies. “Recession or not”, I tell them, “You’ll resent the time it takes away from the other important tasks in your work schedule, and time is money. But most importantly: you’ll get nothing back for your efforts.” Another lament is that they brief a college leaver to do the job: a freelancer, who can do “whizzy pretty stuff” and do it CHEAPLY.

Design and marketing is not about making things look pretty. ’Pretty’ as the overriding feature generally implies ‘vacuous’, i.e. nothing to say. For design and marketing to be effective, communication must be the primary function: it is not art. To open a dialogue – a relationship with – a selected target, key issues must be addressed:

• What are you selling?
• To whom are you selling?
• What core values do you want to impress upon customers?
• What do you hope to achieve through your campaign of action?
• And the golden question: what are your USPs? 

Without good and proper design and marketing, you’ve spent time, effort and money on nothing, rendering the exercise valueless.

The concept of value and meaning takes me off on a slight tangent …

As I was clearing away the table from another rushed breakfast before getting the kids to school, the word “carnage” sprang to mind. I considered this. If I were at a crash scene, THIS would be carnage. Were I caught up in a battle with civilians dying at my feet, THIS would be carnage. I’m not alone in exaggerating for dramtic effect. Interestingly, the British masses shifted the English language towards vocabulary with greater impact (i.e. higher drama) long before texting became common practice. Gone are the days of good old British understatement, which lost popularity in advertising decades ago, lacking the action required to save itself; while superlatives and breathless exclamations now fight to be recognised for their excitement content. You don’t believe me? What I’m saying isn’t convincing enough? “Honest! It is SO true!!!!” 

Our news programmes feed us doom-laden features about wars, terrorists, and climate change because the fear excites us, no matter how far removed we are, and because our threshold of fear constantly rises. [This results in a very modern kind of stress: witnessing so much horror while remaining generally powerless, but I digress]. My point is mainly that even horrific events have to compete with one another to be heard. Saturation cheapens. 

This is why when one has something to communicate, one must choose powerful, select words, methods and gestures and choose them wisely. And when that is for the purpose of marketing, skill, insight and experience are essential. Otherwise all those wonderful things you have to say about your company will compete with each other and become – in Thomas Hardy’s words – a loud “babbling brook” of white noise.

Quality, not quantity. Unique, not en masse.

Entry: Traci Rochester

A slight shift in perception

As 2009 chimed in, I leapt outside my house and stood in the front garden, determined to be my own first foot this year (minus the dark looks and male anatomy). I was amazed by the number of fireworks lighting up the sky in all directions around the neighbourhood. It is very moving to witness a point in time when most people look forward with positive mind and steely determination to improve their lives or the lives of others in some way. The feeling was very uplifting and swept through me as if I was enjoying my favourite song at a huge gig in Wembley, or seeing England football team win the World Cup (some things you can only imagine!).

I closed my eyes.

Somehow, without warning, I heard the sounds differently. The harmony of explosion and colour, and the whirrs of Catherine wheels became loud bangs and terrifying trails that echoed around my head, bouncing like ammunition from house to house in no predictable direction. My mind transported me to the Gaza strip and how that must feel – the sheer fear of every minute of every day. I lack the ability to describe similarities in more detail: I have never experienced live warfare, nor the fear of knowing nowhere safe; nor did I ever feel as a child that even my parents could not keep me safe. I am exceptionally lucky, as most of my generation are.

I can (and do) wish for greater success in my business in 2009: that Boost continues to move from strength to strength as our brand becomes more established. But more than this, I hope 2009 sees the world become a more understanding, tolerant and peaceful place. And most of all, I dream that all the bombs become fireworks, the colours of which light up the hopes of humankind beneath them, reminding us all of our humanity and love.

Happy 70th Birthday to my darling father, James Rochester, who is a great dad, mentor and friend, as well as being a brilliant strategist and manager. He has helped move Boost Multimedia forward in a sure and systematic way.

Entry: Traci Rochester

When all those around you behave the same …

Anyone working in a service-based sector will already be familiar with the ‘quality’ debate. In other words, if you want to set your business apart from, and above, the rest, you need to market yourself in a highly crafted way, and you will be looking to charge handsome prices for the fine detail. The current recession – and let’s face it, we haven’t plumbed the depths of it yet – mean that a lot of product-based companies are having to slash prices on products to win back custom, or clear out stock etc. Customer databases all over the country will be shifting like sand, as loyalties dwindle and economy comes to the fore. And as we well know, some will thrive as the others crash and burn around them.

But how quickly will we tire of email marketing that reads something along the lines of “To support our customers during this period, we’re making huge reductions …”? I’ve already reached my limit.

Clearly this kind of marketing is a thin cloak for a deeply embedded fear that if one doesn’t move with the tide, business will cease.

With service-based companies, there is more of a quandary. If what you offer is quality of service, what are you offering the customer at half-price? 

Expert opinion seems split on this age-old debate: do you drop your prices, knowing it’ll take you some 3 to 4 years to recover, or do you drop half your clients who start looking elsewhere to appease the CEO?

It is Boost’s intention to fly against the trend. We will always offer strong solutions and excellent work. No price cuts here, though we do offer a “fewer frills” design and branding package for start-ups, just as we always have. This is because many start-ups simply require a presence / ‘toe in the water’ branding, until they have established themselves more fully and ’settled into’ their own company values. 

And we would say “Remember: just because most people are doing it doesn’t mean it’s wise. Isn’t that how the economy went awry in the first place?”

Entry: Traci Rochester, MD, Boost

You value your business HOW much?

As you may know, we specialise in graphic solutions for small to medium-sized businesses. We spend a lot of client-based time understanding the businesses we’re representing and adopting their passions as our own, to help us ‘get our mind’ into the job. Now and then however, it amazes me how few business owners see design and marketing as an investment. I’m talking about those who consider minimising their expenditure by signing up their friend’s son or daughter to do it because “they’re creative, and cheap”.

I ask them, would they commission an architect fresh out of college to design their house? No. Because their house is too precious to them. So why ask a newly qualified (assuming they ARE qualified) freelance designer, with such a narrow field of reference of the commercial world to ‘rustle up’ their website, logo or business card? Shouldn’t everything the company produces be treated with absolute seriousness? Shouldn’t every detail effuse company values and target audience, rather than simply being pretty to look at?

If you’re serious about business, you need heavy-weight professionals on the job. Design and marketing will not go away – every company needs them, and they need them done well. One little slip, one slight misrepresentation can drop sales from the black to the red. So remember, any of you who think you’re doing yourselves a favour by cutting costs in this area of your budget: your company is worth as much as you invest in it, and cheap short-term solutions will catch up with you eventually.

Entry: Traci Rochester

One I made earlier …

This month: one smug story, and one foolish.

Early October saw our system crash big time. It began as the occasional kernel panic and having to restart, but soon escalated into a full system closure, where the office suddenly became free of gamma rays and the like (a rare and strangely beautiful sensation). Now, you can imagine the havoc that can ensue: your entire system goes down one day and needs serious hardware repair which renders the machines fairly useless for the next three … it’s time-consuming and inconvenient, to say the least.

However, I am pleased to say that we really do practice what we preach, and we make very regular system back ups, so we were barely affected by the fault [it turned out to be a video card problem which failed to allow the main server to start up]. So, don’t forget: do those back-ups REGULARLY and don’t wait for a situation like ours to bite you in the proverbial before you act.

So … the foolish story. Well, I personally had my mobile phone stolen, from the security area at Bristol International Airport (yes, the irony has not escaped me). No matter how distracted you are putting your belt and boots back on, make sure you have taken all valuables off the belt and back on your person before you do anything else and certainly before you proceed to departures. Or, like me, you could have a nice little string of international premium-rate phone calls to add to your next bill – awaiting your return, and costing some £3-400.

My only cause to smile: the fact that the handset was old and only half-charged and the camera no longer worked, so once used I dare say the mobile ended its days in a bin somewhere exotic. Incredibly, I was due to invest in a new phone this week, so I consider myself prompted to do so.

As my father would say, some lessons are free in life, and some a little pricier.

Entry: Traci Rochester

Who wants to be a (secret) millionaire? I do …

Business makes the world turn in some senses but it is not the stuff of life. When you watch the “Secret Millionaire” Series, you start to get a feel for what the money you earn really can do, and it can move you to tears. It’s a fantastic ’show’, even though its format is hugely manipulative. When the programme ends, it leaves you with the feeling that there are a lot of good people without money and a lot of good people with – even if they’ve lost touch with reality a little along the way. But what it reinforces to me is that, while the undoubted heroes of each episode are those who, sometimes unquestioningly, dedicate their time and efforts to the nitty gritty of helping others or simply struggling to survive, without money management or injection, and without any ability to market good causes, all that effort becomes like treading water. 

Entry: Traci Rochester

Be direct

Ever had the feeling everything these days is a bit too direct? From headlines, to TV programme titles, to ’smash and grab’ calls to action, we’re no longer in any doubt as to content or what is required of us, in mainstream media and marketing. I read a great article last weekend, and forgive me but I haven’t kept it (my partner beat me to it and chucked it in recycling before I could file it away), so I can’t reference it and pay my respects to its author. It was suggesting that multi-channel TV listings has invoked a need to be very direct about programme titling, because there are so many channels to surf through on the remote that the title has to work all the harder to interest us. Those programmes that last half an hour, and have less space in the listings, are really up against it. Hence titles such as “The Boy whose skin fell off”, “The world’s tallest man” etc. 

The art of headline writing is hardly new. An old friend and colleague from my Future Publishing days once remarked that writing for the B2B magazine Campaign had fine-tuned her skills as she had had to write an exact number of letters and words to fit the headline space, as well as making the headline snappy, clear and relevant. Try it yourself; you’ll see what she means.

Texting can work on a similar principle, in that the urgency of the medium requires a pairing down of words (and letters), and you’d better choose well because such directness allows neither for nuance of expression nor caters for misinterpretation by the receiver. Recently I became embroiled in a debate with a past client who was dead against using text and email to communicate politically sensitive messages within groups. He claimed to be too busy to read emails and preferred phone calls. My argument for emails against phone calls is that we can write and rewrite (and rewrite) an email until we have crafted our message into a diplomatic masterpiece. It’s like a letter. This is especially useful compared to a phone call which might last a lot longer (again, not desirable when their are many opinions to collate), drift off the relevant topic, or incite a regretful comment in the spur of the moment – especially if the person you are talking to is renowned for being volatile or vague. You can chop and change your mind in a phone call but that is unlikely to happen with an email. The latter can be beautifully succinct or informatively detailed; read right now, or saved ’til later; copied to hundreds or sent to one; called upon for reference or proof. But like any other communication medium, once it’s said, it’s done.

But how do you ensure your email is read? Back to being direct, and writing headlines. Because that’s what the subject box is for. You need to nail down the attention of a client too busy to read half the mail in their inbox. And you’re dealing with a very short attention span in that regard. Use it wisely; employ this skill required of professional writers, and your communication will reach its target.

Long live email.

Entry by Traci Rochester

A wolf in wolf’s clothing

Well, it’s official, you can no longer get away with hiding the fact you’re cold-marketing to people … Your envelopes must indicate that they contain marketing material. For more, log on to http://www.out-law.com/page-9190.

All those who’ve taken the time and trouble in the past, to handwrite the names and addresses of hundreds of potential clients to whom you’re sending ‘cold’ marketing material: hands up! We’ve certainly done it. Some might say the new legislation is tantamount to sticking chewing gum under the desk while raising your arm to tell the teacher you’re doing it. 

It was only a matter of time, I suppose, until the crackdown came, on the back of “unsubscribe” options on e-newsletters and cold-calling ‘no-go’ lists. Naturally this makes the job of marketing professionals even harder, as we strive to find increasingly innovative ways to reach the intended target. 

We clearly need to change the well-known chirpy by-line to “Do call us: we can’t call you”.

Entry: Traci Rochester

Smelling the roses

Sometimes we’re so busy building our business we can go a whole day without looking up from our desks. It has often been said that designers – indeed all creative professionals – benefit greatly from drawing upon all their experiences, like a walk to the post office, or lunch in the park; they will invariably find inspiration in such everyday events, no matter how small. To be, in other words, wherever life is. But some days, you forget.

Yesterday my dearest and closest uncle, Andy Neill – a wonderful man with great character, a love of gardening and an incorrigible and impish sense of humour – breathed in his last ounce of air on this glorious planet. For him, and for all his loved ones, the hardest battle he ever fought ended. Finally. As my mother’s family and my aunt’s family grieve for him, I think of this beautiful weather, and how much he would have loved to be knee deep in soil, because he was a good, decent man who lived life to the full, whether chatting to friends or trimming his border plants. He played a truly memorable part in my childhood and contributed a great deal to the love that moves freely within and between our families.

The first time I was reminded to stop and smell the roses, was over 10 years ago by another decent and immensely gracious man, Dick Ellingham, who died 23rd February, 1998, aged 45. Shortly after his prognosis of only a few months to live, I remember rushing past him to grab a working lunch, with which to run straight back to the office we shared during that time. I hadn’t noticed him, until he said, from his spot in the shade on the park wall, “No need to rush. It’s a beautiful day – enjoy it.” I felt ashamed.

So here I sit, in front of my mac (soon to shut it down), thanking God – or life itself – for my children, for my partner, for my family and friends … for my life. In truth no-one wants the most insightful and enveloping of wisdom that comes from such an uninvited source; no-one wants to be part of the club that speaks with more resonance than a holy man. But when this wisdom is dispensed, those of us not in the club are obliged to listen and foolish not to. So my thanks go to them, for every time I remember to look out the window. 

Traci Rochester

From window shopping to spend, spend, spend!

Increased levels of web traffic have meant an exponential rise in the number of websites that go online every day. So often I hear the phrase “We just want some web presence”. To simply be online, unless you are lucky enough to have a service or product no-one else offers, is like having a shop in the middle of the Welsh valleys, surrounded by Leylandii. Let me elaborate…

Firstly, you need to tell everyone where you are, and how to get to you (web optimisation). Now, they’re standing in front of your shop. Great. What if the shop looks a mess or it’s unclear what you’re selling, and to whom? That’s down to the web design. The shop window has to be enticing, so they want to come in. When they come in, the products have to look enticing too, with clear labels and descriptions (web writing), and the customer has to be able to find what they want, easily (structural design). They have to enjoy being in the shop, walking around it. And now, you’ll want them to buy something before they leave to tell someone else how simple and enjoyable the whole experience was for them. After that, the product has to be worthy and not fall apart after purchase (!) – that bit’s down to you. Of course, Boost offers all of the web services I mention, but whether or not you choose us, or recommend us, bear these simple principles in mind and you shouldn’t go far wrong. Simply having a website these days is no longer enough, and you have to take your website to another level to make a serious investment in your business, and therefore see a good return.

Entry: Traci Rochester.