Choosing Your Technology Wisely
November 16, 2008 by Duncan · 2 Comments
As a graphic and web designer I am constantly on the lookout for new technologies, upgrading my skills, testing new software and dabbling in different programming languages to see what can fit into my arsenal. By keeping on top of technology and in the know allows me to evaluate and improve my efficiency as a designer by adding what I find to be a benefit through my review and analysis.
Two main factors that determine my decision to incorporate any technology is “will it make my life easier by saving me time” and “will I be able to better assist my clients by offering a more varied toolset giving them more options?”
All Choices Are Client Driven
Both considerations are aimed at the customer, the less time it takes me to complete a project the less expensive it will be and if I can foresee problems before they arise the cheaper it will be to the client in the end.
To successfully complete a graphic or web design project you first have to lay the foundation by accurately establishing the client’s objectives, predicting barriers and then choose what technologies to use, it is all about time versus money and how long it takes to build solutions to obstacles, the more flexible the technology you choose the better.
Working For the Man
I have come a long way since 1998 when I first started immersing myself in the latest and greatest. At one time I was the go to guy in the electronics department at a big box store where I got to play with all the new high-tech gadgets quenching my thirst for knowledge and proving to be an invaluable experience which has helped me get to where I am today.
So you would think that when it came to me purchasing electronics for myself I would be very knowledgeable (which I think I am) and avoid any gimmicky thingamajigs that are on the market but I to have made a couple of bad decisions at one time or another and I thought that I would share one with you.
I am not your average user when it comes to computers and related equipment for the simple fact alone that I tend to spend at least ten hours a day in front of a screen, I’m a power user so my equipment gets used and abused much quicker than most so I tend to purchase better quality products.
Over the years one of the best companies I have found has been Logitech, I have never had a problem with any of their mice or keyboards in the past ten years and they produce solid, quality products and I have always trusted them.
A few years ago I purchased a wireless keyboard mouse combo which looking back I have to admit that I only bought them because they looked really cool and that they were wireless. I put my trust into Logitech and they didn’t disappoint, their products worked flawlessly.
The Mouse from Hell
Logitech MX Revolution
So a couple of years later when they brought out there fully loaded wireless MX Revolution laser mouse that was touted as being the most sophisticated mouse released to date, I had to have it. It worked great out of the box but soon I started having issues with it and as I surfed the net to find out how to correct the bugs I was shocked to find out that many people were having the same trouble, it was a $140 piece of crap riddled with various problems depending on your system configuration or how close it was to another wireless connection, it should of never even hit the market.
My first mistake was trust; you should always research a product before you purchase it no matter who the company is unless you have had experience with that particular product. The second thing I did wrong was falling in love with the heavy marketing campaign that went along with the product, Logitech had never done anything on that scale before and I ate it up.
The most important thing that I forgot right from the beginning was the fact that it was just a mouse, all I needed was a simple little $10 device but I wanted the Ferrari and I got burnt.
Back To Basics
Feeling a little bit humble from the experience I have now gone back to a corded keyboard and mouse setup. I stuck with good old dependable Logitech but ironically I didn’t really have to do much research on either product because there weren’t many corded options to choose from (sign of the times I guess) and I can say that they are both top notch and best of all no more changing or recharging batteries.
Sometimes we just get caught up in the details and get lost, we are inundated with so much technology and information out there today that we tend to forget what we were initially looking for all the while being hit by a constant drove of advertisements selling similar products and services.
Below is a breakdown of the three mistakes I made that got me into my little predicament. Although it wasn’t a very costly lesson, more of an inconvenience I feel it is these little experiences both good and bad that allow me to grow by being able to look at myself from different angles be it the designer, client or the consumer.
Marketing
- Advertising and promotion can sell anything, it is a proven fact. Just look at all those really bad infomercials that use to be on TV late at night, they were on at that time because airtime was less expensive for those hours but now they are on at all hours of the day. If this kind of marketing didn’t sell product then you would never see them on and the funny part is that the advertisements are so obviously low budget and the ads still work. Don’t believe the hype.
Device or Deception?
- What are you really after a tool or a toy? You rarely get both in the same product and these days everything is packed with so many different options that you don’t need but you are paying for and the whole idea of convenience has run amuck taking over simplicity and usability. When your scanner, printer fax machine goes on the fritz you have potentially lost all three, try finding a mobile phone without an MP3 player or camera and it goes on and on just be aware and don’t get caught up in all the so called enhancements.
Research
- Product reviews are a great way of finding out how well something works in the real world but you have to be careful because they can also be a savvy marketing campaign by the manufacturer to exploit the public’s naivety. Trustworthy reviews should come from third parties and watch out for advertisements of the same brand or company from the same source as the review.
Freelance Marketing Strategies during Economic Downturns
October 3, 2008 by Duncan · Leave a Comment
These are tough times and no matter where you live or what your occupation is you will most likely find yourself at some time or another in an economic downturn. As a freelancer your livelihood can be severely affected by businesses decreasing their advertising and marketing budgets to reduce their operational expenses balancing out their bottom-line.
Tightening the purse strings is the classic stance companies take during a financial slump and although the repercussions are felt throughout all industries how are we as freelancers supposed to prepare and weather the storm? How long will all this last? These are both great questions I have asked myself over the years and I will let you know what has worked.
Adding to the piggy bank
Managing your way through tough times by putting a little percentage of your earnings away each paycheque and cutting back on expenses can only get you so far in these economic times of uncertainty, so besides the use of tried tested and true “saving for a rainy day” methods you also need to change your marketing strategy and cater to your clients both current and prospective by showing them that you can save them some money by hiring you.
Prove Your Worth
Because I worked in the pizza industry for many years I will use it as an example of how you can approach your current and existing clients. Say for instance you are hired by a pizzeria that mail out flyers four times a year with every season autumn, winter, spring and summer. This is the only marketing and advertising that they do and it has worked for them for over ten years.
Their print material is a standard double sided two fold full colour brochure and the total cost to print and send it out every quarter (every 3 months) comes just under the $40 000 budget they set aside annually. How are you to seamlessly save them money and provide the same benefits of their marketing and advertising campaigns?
Here Are the Numbers
Now we are going to do a little math, I have used round numbers to make it easier to understand. The $40 000 yearly budget is for 4 ad campaigns which works out to $10 000 quarterly. It cost $1000 to design, $6000 to print and $3000 to deliver the flyers to every mailbox in town.
This is what you should do
Create a website that provides all the pizzeria’s basic information like the history of the business, contact info (blah blah blah) but most importantly the details of their menu. Of course you can get fancier but the menu is the most important part of the formula, essentially you are going to remove it from their print advertisements making their flyer smaller which costs less.
So let’s say that you have built the website and you cut the flyer in half by removing all the menu items only keeping the seasonal specials letting the readers know that the full menu is on the website of course. The flyer will now be significantly less to produce, we’ll say a third (it will be cheaper than that) so the $6000 it use to cost to print will now only be $4020 that is a savings $1980 which will translate to $7920 over the course of the year or 20%.
The Canadian Brownie
Now you also have to factor in that the website hasn’t been planed or paid for so you will need to take another $2000 away which would make the final total of savings come out to $5920.
Like I said the numbers I used are rounded and I know for a fact that the price to print would be cut closer in half rather than in a third but I wanted to show that it doesn’t take much to trim the fat. You can also play with two colours instead of four and try different kinds of paper to get your print costs even lower.
This is just a basic explanation. I never went into how much work is actually involved into making up a marketing plan like this; it is not easy and will only get better the more you use it. It can also be adapted to many other industries and businesses that have marketing budgets and do print advertisements annually.
Pick an industry and do your research, find out how much it would cost to put together a marketing package like this. Hit all the businesses in that industry with your numbers, clients understand numbers and it is your confidence and ability to save them money that will get you work in an economic downturn.
What a Client Wants vs. What a Client Needs
September 3, 2008 by Duncan · Leave a Comment
Unfair Abusive Customer
The customer is always right mentality has never really sat well with me; I have worked in the customer service industry for many years and found that it is usually the unfair abusive customers who use this phrase to their advantage only to get what they want. Thankfully this doesn’t apply to your average consumer.
This kind of thinking is a “Big-box” type of customer service model that has been done to death and is so cliché. It may work in those types of industries or not I am not here to dispute that, where I know it doesn’t work is in the Web Design industry.
Here is a good example, say a first time client who owns a bookstore and who has never had a website before wanted to finally get a web presence, that’s great right? Say they also wanted a shopping cart on the site so they could sell their books online.
What they want is a website that they can tie into their already established products, services and business model making them some extra money. What they need is a basic website telling potential and existing customers about the company, what is going on, store hours and contact information.
Website Owner’s Have an Obligation
Having a website is a responsibility and if they can’t live up to a little one how are they going to be with a much larger and sophisticated one? You also have to let your clients know that just because you build them what they ask for that people aren’t just going to come and use it.
If you don’t have an existing audience or a limited number of visitors you are really going to need marketing and advertising which costs lots more money if you want to let the world know you are out there. Ideally and financially it is better to grow and adapt to achieve client expectations.
A Freelancer’s Obligation
As a professional it is your job to tell your client the truth and not to up sell them on extra services that they don’t need. Be honest and tell them that to justify having a shopping cart on a website you are going to need a certain amount of traffic to make it beneficial to them. To convert visitors into shoppers is a numbers game.
Until you get that target amount of visitors surfing the site a shopping cart is not going to be worth the extra cash to your client. You can built them what they need instead, keeping track of their web statistics and future proofing the design with the knowledge that they want a shopping cart at a later date.
So by telling the truth and not going for the up sell you can potentially get two or more websites out of them. Let them know that websites are like any other type of branded material they have and every so often they need to be redesigned, reproduced, rethought out and recreated.
It is this type of honesty that brings back repeat business and makes every potential client a lifelong customer. Which in the end is they type client you want.
