Good design sells....Fact.

Good design sells....Fact.
If you are starting out in the big world of running your own business, yes it's scary, but also very exciting. One thing that we have come across is a number of people setting up their business who don't invest time and effort into their logo, branding and marketing material. That may be business cards, letterheads, leaflets and even a website.

I will call this start up "The Hard Work and Cheap Joinery Company" (HWCJC for short).

Often what we'll hear is this: "...well, I have a mate who can knock me something up in Microsoft Word, using every colour in the rainbow and a font like 'Comic Sans'." or "My son who's at school has done it for me".

This will then be followed by a strict and detailed process as follows:

1) The logo gets printed onto some card thats just thin enough to go through the printer for the business cards, but will add nice smudge marks to them.
2) Then, they are cut out by hand with blunt scissors.
3) The Letterheads, to maintain a Corporate Identity, are printed onto 80gsm (Toilet) Paper. But hey, it's cheap paper.

On to the website, which again, is to be handled by a mate who's good on the PC. First of all, he's purchased you the following domain name:-

www.freespacesomewhereinspace.com/my-new-business-setup-by-my-mate.

The site design is then handled by your "web-savvy" mate, who will maintain your corporate style with numerous colours, text saved as images (Search Engine Friendly? No.), neglecting to insert any META Tags or Keywords. The finished article will be placed into Google's top 1,000,000 results, just below "Betty's Ironing Service".

Then you start your business and wonder why you are not winning on quotes......

As a well known advert say's "...there has to be a better way". This is what another person who understands the power of creativity would do...

First of all, they would set a budget of let's say £500.00 to invest in their branding, letterheads, business cards and website.

Lets call this business "Cool Looking Joinery" (or, CLJ for short). CLJ will first of all meet up will with a creative and professional design company. Between them, they would work out who CLJ's customers are, what their target audience is, and what image and branding is needed to attract the right customers. After the initial meeting, the Designer would come up with some great creative ideas, using the right colours, a quality font, relevant and appealing imagery. These are then worked up into business cards and letterheads, linked together by a fresh and implemented Corporate Identity.

CLJ are very happy with the designs and then look at having them printed. The designer recommends printing the business cards on a high quality 400gsm board, printed in full colour, with the letterheads being produced on a 115gsm white bright paper stock which adds to the look and professional style.

The designer and the chap from CLJ progress onto the website, and the options available to best suit the need. As CLJ are Joiners, all they need is to have good web presence as they don't need to sell direct to their client base. The designer recommends work on a small, 3 page web brochure, to be produced in the same corporate style as the printed material.

They get the right domain name in "www.coollookingjoinery.co.uk" which helps customers find CLJ. Then, the Designer creates the site using relevant keywords and tags so that the little spiders from Google can find you in a heartbeat. Betty's Ironing isn't even on the same page.

Both CLJ and HWCJC both get telephone calls from Mr and Mrs Needakitchen.

They both go and have a look at the job, then go away and work out the quote. Both CLJ and HWCJC are going to use the same kitchen units bought from a well known DIY chain, both will do it in the same time frame and both have the same basic quote price.

The quotes arrive in the post. HWCJC's quote is printed on cheap paper, with a poor logo and a business card that looks like a dog's eaten it. CLJ's is printed on quality paper, is well designed and comes with a professional business card with the photographs reminding Mr and Mrs Needakitchen of the high class workmanship that CLJ have done before.

So, let's say you have the to quotes in front of you. One looks and feels professional, the other looks and feels poor. Which would you take?

We know which one the majority of us would go for... it's the one that looks and feels professional. 

So lets say for example the kitchen cost £10000 an investment of say £500 in branding and professional material was an excellent return on investment. 
The key point that I am making is good design sells and is cost effective, bad design will eventually cost you money in lost sales.

If you are starting out, take advantage of one of our business start up packs. Our product knowledge coupled with concentrated creativity can help you hit the ground running.



Call us on  01773 599159, and let us help you to make the right start in business.
Graphic Results

Refuse lorries with graphics that we have done.

Part of a large project re Anti Social Behaviour.

Tips for Direct Mail.

Direct mail (aka as junk mail if not done right!) is an great tool to help market and promote your business.
A key point is to make the direct mail so it appeals to customers. It needs to grab their attention. Direct mail is a great tool to attract new customers and to keep existing customers informed of your offers and products.


A few tips.


Consider who the target audience is.
The target audience is so important  when developing a direct marketing campaign. A data list can be created by using your in-house data base of customers and contacts. This is great if your information is up to date and correct, if it is not up to date you can waste money with the mail out as the results will be poor. Another option is to buy a fresh up to date data list from businesses like www.whichlist.com. They can help target the list based on geography, business type, business size, etc.


What is the objective of the direct mail?
You need to make a clear objective to the campaign, you need to include all the information that will get the customers attention, the offer needs to be right so the customer takes the action to respond. Make sure you put on a method of contact ie telephone number, email, web etc


Effective design works.
The design of the mailer is so important, it must be eye catching, have impact and look professional. The design and finished quality of the direct mail reflects on  your business.Think about it if the mailer looks poor then your business looks poor!


Time the mailer right.
Timing of the mailing impacts its effectiveness and the result of the mail campaign. i.e Promoting barbeques in the start of the summer season is bound to be effective. Before you mail out just check that you have enough promotional stock or staff to meet the demand.


Keep track of the responses.
Tracking the responses to the mailing is so important. This will help to measure the success or failure of the direct mail campaign. By tracking this will help to justify another direct mail campaign.


If you would like help on a direct mail campaign please call us or pop in for a chat.

The first time we have used our new logo

Our new logo in an advert for web design.

The allotment and effect on business.

In late last year we had the chance to get an allotment in Belper, we had been on the list for about 2 years. www.lizmikelucyjackallotment.co.uk/ 

The allotment was in a mess and we are making slow progress.  So why "the allotment and effect on business" then? What the great thing that we are finding is that it is creating great family time with the children and time to focus the mind.

When I was there the other day the allotment brought back to me memories of a training course that I went on many many years ago.

The training course was about sales ideas and then thinking the allotment is very much like sales.

First of all you have to prepare and clean the ground, this is like in preparing your database, ie making sure that you have the correct information or preparing the right product or service.

Then when you have prepared the soil, you then sow the seeds. This in business is like doing networking events or sending out sales letters, what you are doing is sowing the seeds for future business.

When the seeds are sown in the ground you then to nurture them. This is like nurturing the slow building of trust and relationships in business, as people in general buy on trust.

As the seeds grow they then start to turn into the fruits of your labour.  As the relationships in business grow you then get the result in sales. You have to keep working the allotment and your business to harvest the long term results.

Old phase "you reap what you sow" so I hope we get some great fruit and veg later in the year.

A new website we have designed for Treetops

Take look at our latest web design project. www.treetopsnurseries.co.uk

Treetops are a top 10 countrywide nursery group, who offer compassionate, professional care for children in a fun and loving environment.

Established in 1990, the Treetops family has grown, meaning they now provide childcare to over 1300 children, with over 600 childcare professionals.

The site is cms with a bit of fun for the children as they can map Roarie's Travels.

Are you just relying on the printed Yellow Pages for business.

Do you rely on Yellow Pages advertising for getting your new business? Is it working for you lately? Discover how you can improve your results  and probably even save money on your advertising spend.


Many businesses today still rely on Yellow Pages ads for their advertising. They often keep advertising as "we've done it for years " but never monitored the response.

Can you remember when they used to say "let your fingers do the walking" well mine do -straight to Google.


When we get a new copy of Yellow Pages it goes straight into the recycling bin. Therefore all the advertisers in Yellow Pages have wasted their advertising spend on me.

Most people now go online to look for services or products. This means that businesses need to be on the internet and be found on Google.

How can your business be found online?

An expensive way is to buy advertising from Google AdWords. If you search for your keywords, for example plumber or accountant, at the top and along the right side of the screen  you will see a range of adverts. The companies who are paying for those ads have placed high bids to show up on that first page, every click on their ads will cost them.If not controlled properly this can be come very expensive. If your business needs a quick result then Google AdWords may well work for you.

I think that instead of speading £1000's on a Yellow Page advert invest in making sure that your website works and is well optimized, so that Google considers it to be among the most relevant for the search results.

A well optimized website will cost  less than either Google AdWords or Yellow Pages advertising and in my opinion you will get more new business.