Marketing

A warning: Twitter should never be used purely as a sales channel or somewhere to go on about how great you are.

Nobody will listen if all you’re saying is “Buy our products”. That’s not to say that Twitter can’t benefit your business though, you just have to understand the medium to make the best of it. The thing about Twitter is that it’s a level playing field. If you don’t connect with other people, no-one is going to connect with you. The obvious exception here is if you are a celebrity. Assuming you’re not, you need to start making connections. You can do this by ‘Following’ people who have something in common with you or what you do. If they say something interesting; reply to them, or point other people to their Tweets.

This kind of mutual appreciation is where Twitter (and to be honest, business in general) really starts to work. I’m much more likely to consider using a company if a friend recommends them than what amounts to a cold call. But as you build connections, you’ll start to find people much more receptive to your suggestion to check out your “latest update to the website” etc.

Staying in touch with world events, live!

Staying up to date with current events can be tricky. Of course you can watch the TV news and read the papers, but what you’re getting is an organisation’s opinion on what is (and therefore what is not) worth hearing about. Enter the hastag. A hashtag (any keyword preceded by #) is the way for anyone to contribute to a live, unedited stream of information about any topic. Anyone searching for the hashtag in question will get live updates from around the globe as they are being written.

Here’s an example; a search for #ukelection or #leadersdebate will currently put you in the centre of the debate surrounding the impending general election in the UK. Another current example; a search for #ashtag gives announcements of flight cancellations and delays, lift-sharing schemes and other news connected with the Icelandic Volcanos. If I were the sort of person to use a term like ‘grassroots movement’ I would use it now. Thankfully I’m not.

Sharing things you like

Imagine you’ve just heard Tesco is selling everything at half price for the next 24 hours (which it isn’t) you could very easily tell all your followers and share the discount love. And if you were going to post that kind of thing often, you could even think up your own hashtag. #amazingdeals for example. You could become know as the ‘Dealmaster’. Just imagine!

It’s just good fun

And finally, using Twitter can simply be good fun. Only today I got caught up in a rather amusing game, the object of which was to replace the word ‘Heart’ with ‘Arse’ in song titles. Anyone could join in simply by adding #songsthatreplaceheartwitharse to their Tweet. Juvenile? Yes. Entertaining? Judge for yourself. Here are my favourites…

• When The Arseache Is Over – Tina Turner
• Why Does My Arse Feel So Bad? – Moby
• Write Your Name Across My Arse – Terence Trent D’Arby
• You broke my arse in 17 places – Tracy Ullman
• Theres a hole in my arse that can only be filled by you – Extreme
• Quit playing games with my arse – Backstreet boys
• Arse Shaped Box – Nirvana
• There must be an angel (playing with my arse) – Eurythmics

And a few of my own suggestions…

• My Violent Arse – Nine Inch Nails
• Arse Attack Man – The Beastie Boys
• My Arse is the Worst Kind of Weapon – Fallout Boy

You can signup now at twitter.com
And oh yes, you should follow me on Twitter!

Let me know if you can think of any other good uses for Twitter.

Pete Clark
Cogdon, Clark & Tranter

I firmly believe that it is the designer’s job to make sure both text and image work harmoniously. You can’t do that if you’re ignoring the text. Too often I see otherwise excellent design work spoiled by shoddy copy. I’m talking about spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, bad typography or just plain nonsense. Consider the following example (taken from a well known crisp packet) that was recently highlighted by Martin Lewis of Money Saving Expert.

Now I’m sure ‘Made with real ingredients’ probably came fully formed from the marketing department, keen to point out that no imaginary potatoes were used in the production process. But in the face of statements like this, I either get depressed or slightly militant. I prefer to speak up. If the client has supplied all the copy, read it and make sure it makes sense. That’s part of your job. The client is paying for a professional service so that’s what they deserve. If you point out something and they ignore it, at least you’ve tried. I know it’s not always easy, but don’t you just love a challenge?

Here’s another one…

‘Full length DVD player’ – as opposed to what? Those kind that only play half a film? At least this model includes black colour. My last DVD player didn’t include black colour.

Pete Clark
Cogdon, Clark & Tranter

I recently discovered this show, called simply ‘Graphic Design on the Radio’, and thought I’d share it with you all. Adrian Shaughnessy is probably best known for writing the essential ‘How to be a graphic designer without losing your soul’ as well as founding the design company Intro. Amongst the interviewees you’ll find Stefan Sagmeister, Rick Poyner and many other influential figures. There’s an archive of shows available to listen to online.

From the site:

Graphic Design on The Radio is a radio show about graphic design. It features interviews with leading designers who talk about their work and play music that has inspired and influenced them.

Listen now and rejoice in the lack of overplayed rubbish! http://www.graphicdesignontheradio.com/

Pete Clark
Cogdon, Clark & Tranter

Digital Music Marketing Campaign Planning by AIM (Association of Independent Music)
Monday 12th April 2010 6.30pm – 8.30pm in The Box at QUAD, Market Place, Derby

FREE to CIN Members (contact cin@derbyquad.co.uk ) Or £5 / £4 – book through QUAD Box Office 01332 290 606

Following the success of the London Connected “Introduction To Digital” music industry training days, AIM has incorporated a higher level of essential digital music marketing tips and tricks, online advertising, digital tools and campaign building to make up AIM Digital Training.

If you’re serious about your digital music business, then this is the event to take you to the next level.

Over two hours, AIM’s Digital Training will take you through digital music marketing, building a campaign around the key components of Digital PR, Advertising, Social Networks and Content Creation.

There will also be an opportunity for attendees to ask any burning questions you have on digital marketing techniques and how to apply them to their own artist or album projects.

AIM’s Digital Training Event is presented by David Riley a highly experienced professional digital music marketer (behind the Prodigy “Invaders Must Die” campaign) from Good Lizard Media (www.goodlizardmedia.com)

You could argue that there was no real point in using non-standard tape, after all I’d already made my decision to purchase. But this little touch gave the otherwise mundane act of opening a packet a little suspense. And that in turn reinforced my satisfaction at buying the CD – very important in the face of reduced sales figures.

As designers, we can use this kind of psychology to our advantage. We can add value in all sorts of situations just by making a few careful decisions about colour, typeface, paper etc.

Why not ask yourself if there are any details you can change on your next project to make it stand out a little. Has anyone got any further examples of little touches they’ve seen that have made designs stand out?

Pete Clark
Cogdon, Clark & Tranter

It will be interesting to see if the likes of The London Contemporary Orchestra (whose average age is a mere 25) is enough to give these events the traction they deserve. For more information on how you can attend these events visit: http://www.roundhouse.org.uk/whats-on/series/reverb

Apple Tablet

With the new year coming along I can only see one thing that is going to change everything. That’s the Apple Slate. Suddenly you can sit on your sofa, floating around the web watching video reading text in ways which feel less like sitting at a computer and more like reading a magazine. Done right the technology has the ability to enable creativity to become even more accessible. Better keep an eye on this thing.

Some shots above which I captured of the wonderful wooden toys by Derbyshire sculptor Andrew Frost which have been in our Market Place over the festive period, a project which I led and was achieved through a partnership of Derby companies and organisations. There have also been some tempory pieces public art appearing across the city over the last few days which have been captured on camera, this Formula 1 car was created in Abbey Street car park… impressive, if anyone else have any snow related public art creations they wish to share, please do share them with us here at CIN by posting a link to them in the comments, as we love to see creative things popping up across our city and delighting us.

To find out more about the Christmas Playground project visit www.christmasplayground.co.uk

The toys are today being moved today to the childrens ward at Royal Derby Hospital for children there to continue to enjoy.

Posted by: Dawn Foote

In terms of the open editions I sell, I am always happy to sign them, they are printed on the same high quality art paper, and its not like I intend to make 1000’s of prints of a piece (unless a great offer comes along ).  So to a certain extent they are similar to a limited edition.

With all that in mind, the reality is when you start selling you art, a lot of buyers will only buy limited editions, and the smaller the edition the better. In fact quite a few people ask me to do one off commissions for them, where there will only ever be one piece in existence.  I totally get that, its nice to own something special and unique, especially by an artist you really like. I have a few limited editions by Julie West which I totally adore. They feel even more special because they are limited edition.

I guess the bottom line is, I just want people to see and enjoy my work. So I will continue to do both open, limited and one off commisions, so anyone can own my work.

The economy seemed to have dropped off a cliff; clients were getting the jitters, payment terms and cash in the bank suddenly became massively important to me and a general batten-down-the-hatches spirit seemed to prevail over the country.

With any downturn, and this is the second I’ve run a business in, the key thing to hold on to is it the thought that it won’t last for ever. And this time I’m reminding myself that when the good times return (as they surely will), that they won’t last for ever either.

In fact, I’m going to write a letter to the directors of BCS to be opened in five years’ time outlining what we saw, what we did, how we reacted and what got us through this recession so they can (if I’m not here for some reason) steer the company through.

So now I find myself sitting in my office thinking about 2010. I believe there are a few key factors to consider. One is that a lot of organisations have cut deep on staffing and as workloads increase will struggle with capacity and servicing issues. Another is that there is some excellent talent out there looking for a home. I’m sure you’re smart enough to see a link here and take advantage of it if it’s relevant to what you do.

So my prediction for the following year is that it’s going to be one that will be good for those of us working in the creative industries sector who are well outside of London, with its associated overheads/fees.

Yes, us.

It’s a time when larger local organisations are going to spend on things like creative services but are going to look for real value.

They will be looking for someone who can service them well, which can only be aided if you are in a sensible drive time as you just can’t beat face-to-face time. They will be looking at the actual talent they can purchase from and not take a blinkered London-centric view.

In addition, middle-end and SME operations are going to be looking to increase market share, as they have very lightly reduced everything else down (head count, new product development etc) and now are focused on increasing sales. I can see this is going to be a year of opportunity for all of us in CIN and now is the time to get a strategy in place to take advantage of it.

So, my New Year’s resolution will be the same as the one told me by an MD of mine 25 odd years ago, probably as we were coming out of our last recession… “Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell and advertise” (Ted Turner).