Ditch design frustration forever!

You know the scenario – you are in charge of producing a multi-page document for your company.  You present the draft to your CEO for approval and he makes a number of changes (as they do!). Then you present it to the Board and the Chairman wants a few changes. By now it is version three, and the Treasurer wants to update the latest figures, and so it goes on.

It can be a difficult job to then try and explain in writing to the designer via email what the changes are –especially when they all have different ideas. It would be so much easier if you could just get your hands on the document right!?

We at Positive PR have recognised this industry fault, so we went searching for a better solution for both the client and us. Our searching was successful with the launch of a new software program called CS Live.

 

CS Live is super simple and allows you to view the document yourself in a web browser, and mark the changes you want, post discussions notes, write comments, circle areas with a red pen – you name it. This can be done in a collaborative fashion, with input from other staff members, Board members etc. We can then see the changes you want and complete them. And best of all it is free for our clients.

What is CS Live?

CS Live is part of the Adobe software suite, that creative designers like us use.   It harnesses the connectivity of our software with the web to be able to provide changes online.  It is completely secure and we send you a special link to view the document.

Why CS Live?

Increased efficiency

Fewer meetings, less email, and less searching means more time to focus on what we do best deliver exceptional work on time and on budget.

Better budget management

Increased efficiency means the client and designer are able to better meet the budget.

Works with your workflow

From project concept to delivery, CS Live connects you with people, content, and data when and how you need to, helping keep our projects in motion.

Better ways to collaborate

CS Live enables us to work more efficiently with colleagues and clients, whether they’re in the next office or 3000km away, so everyone feels in the loop and in control.

Want to see a demonstration?

Contract Tristan Pye, Graphic Designer to view a demonstration on how it works – design@positivepr.com.au

We look forward to working with CS Live and our clients in 2011.

Thank you! How often do you thank your customers?

The word customer is derived from the noun – custom, which means to make purchases or give orders.

One of the biggest mistakes businesses make is forgetting to thank their customers. It is very easy to forget that customers are the one thing that keeps businesses running. Customers are the heart and soul of a business and without them, well, life can get pretty tough.

Therefore a simple thank you will have your customers returning time and time again, and will be more likely to refer your services. Who know two simple words could accomplish so much?

There are so many ways great ways you can thank your customers. We have outlined a few ways below to get you thinking:

1.       When ending a telephone conversation, finishing a meeting or signing off on an email, say thank you

2.       Make sure your sales staff thank the customer – there is a resentment when a customer has to thank the sales staff, for taking their money!

3.       When you receive a new client, send them a short email or nice card and thank them for choosing your business

4.       When your client makes comments or suggestions, thank them for taking the time to provide you with feedback as to how to make your business better

5.       Each month, randomly choose a loyal customer from your database and send them a small gift to thank them for their continued business

6.       Acknowledge milestones – customers who have been loyal to your business for 3 years, 5 years, even 10 years – and send them an appreciation gift

7.       Find out when your customers birthday is, and send them a text message or Happy Birthday phone call

8.       Hold an event at your business and invite your loyal customers to preview your new/improved ….

9.       When you see one of your customers achieving something special (awards, new premises, new products etc) take the time to write them a note and congratulate them on their achievement

10.   Invest in branded promotional merchandise that you can send your customers when you want to thank them

Customers will be grateful that you have made the time and effort to make them feel valuable and important.

So show your appreciation and say thank you to your customers and clients. They’ll thank you for it in more ways than one!

At Positive PR we can help you to thank your customers from as little as $100 with thank you email templates, email flyers and personally designed Thank You note cards.

Your brand is more than a logo…

What does the word ‘brand’ actually mean and can it go out-of-date?

The word was derived from the Old Norse brandr meaning "to burn" referring to the practice of primary producers burning their mark onto their cattle with a hot iron stamp, as a way of ownership.

Today we take the meaning to be ‘the identity of a specific product or business’. In layman’s terms this means a brand is the personality or feeling that your business projects to your customers.

However it is important to know that a brand is not just a logo.   A brand is much more than simply the symbol, monogram, emblem or icon you use to represent your business.   A brand is everything that is tangible and intangible about your business.

So now that you know your brand is something much bigger than your logo emblem, we challenge you to take our branding audit…..

1.       Does your brand tell people who you are?

2.       Does your brand portray what you do?

3.       Does your brand include a UPD (Unique Point of Differentiation)?

4.       Do the colours correctly reflect the mood/tone of your business?

5.       Does the design style reflect your position in the market place?

6.       Is your brand consistent across all promotional platforms?

7.       Have you exploited all your branding opportunities?

Figuring out who you are, what you do well, and your unique selling point is the first part of the branding process.   Designing a logo that reflects all of this is the next step.  

Logos are an instant way to communicate to your time poor customers through strategic use of size, colour, layout and type. This is where you differentiate yourself from your competitors by highlighting the combination of attributes that makes you, you.   For example are you heritage, quality and prestige or are you modern, quick and value for money? You can say all this and more with effective branding design.

How much value can your brand provide your business?   
 This is called brand equity and is considered an asset because the more perceived value your brand has, the greater your ability to build your business or sell products.  There is an actual methodology that analyst perform to determine the brand value.  I have listed below the brand dollar value alone for the world’s top global brands – you may be surprised by the numbers:

  1.              Coca-Cola              $67 billon

2.              Microsoft               $56.9 billon

3.              IBM                        $56.2 billon

4.              GE                          $48.9 billon

5.              Intel                       $32.3 billon

6.              Nokia                     $30.1 billon

7.              Toyota                   $27.9 billion

8.              Disney                   $27.8 billon

9.              McDonald’s           $27.5 billon

10.           Mercedes-Benz     $21.9 billion

(Source: Business Week, 2006 – Methodology:  Interbrand)

Can my brand go out-of-date?

Yes, just like that perm/mullet you may have worn in the 80’s, a brand can date like fashion.    This is when a ‘brand refresh’ may be required - which can be subtle or a major update.  Brand refreshing is important especially if the business has had a previous negative reputation, has had an ownership change, or is heading in a new exciting direction.    A refreshed brand can tell the public very quickly things have changed for the better.

The above is an example of a recent brand refresh that we have just completed for Maclean Partners.   The top logo was their original logo which they had for many years.  We simply refreshed the logo but kept the consistent element of the prominent M and the colour blue, so that it was what we call a ‘Just Noticeable Difference’.  The new logo is fresh, contemporary and has different marketing applications.

How do I know if my brand is right?

You will need to talk to a branding expert about what your business does and how this corresponds with your current branding.   

At Positive PR we love all things branding, so we are offering a free 15 minute branding review, until Christmas Eve.  So give us a call and let’s talk about your business brand!

Shining the light on publicity

Let us get your story into the publicity spotlight, so you can send your message to the masses. Using the media to communicate key messages to the wider public can be very effective. Publicity is an extremely cost effective way of getting your message to a lot of people within a short space of time. It can persuade, inform, educate, delight or shock.

A story that is going to gain publicity needs to have one or more of the following elements:

·         Well known people – politicians, celebrities

·         Timeliness – the news is current and or relates to other news

·         A local angle – relevant to a small regional community, a state or country

·         Public interest – it will be useful for most people to know about it

·         Novelty – it is quirky, cute, unusual, “a first”

·         Achievement – by an individual or organisation

·         Emotion – humour, conflict, tragedy or romance

·         ‘st’ factor – wost, best, biggest, first, least, most

At Positive PR we put a media value on the publicity gained in a report format so you have it on record and can see your return on investment. The media value is what your editorial coverage would cost if it were advertising space. We find out how much it would cost you to place an ad the same size, colour and page position. One client who is in the arts industry recently invested $1250 in publicity and got a return on investment of $26,659. This means the editorial coverage received would have cost them $26,659 in advertising, but instead all they spent was $1250!

Publicity is free and has credibility in that it is written by someone else who thinks your story has value. We have solid relationships with all media outlets in Townsville and North Queensland and have a 90 per cent hit rate with articles being published.  

It is very important not to confuse publicity with advertising. Journalists will often remove any content they see as advertising, and if they don’t the sub editors will. Things that may get removed include prices, times, phone numbers, email addresses. You have no control over how your information is used by media outlets, if you want complete control you will need to take out an advertisement (But let’s save the difference between advertising and publicity for another column!).

Here is a recent article from the NQ Confidential in the Townsville Bulletin (Saturday, November 13 2010). The article puts the Watermark in the spotlight for their brand new cooking classes, it also promotes Positive PR supporting their clients. We pitched this story to NQ Confidential because it is known as the local gossip column. We believed the Watermark was one of the only restaurants in Townsville selling the most famous ‘macaroon’ and we wanted to let the cat out of the bag – so they say. The key to media picking up your story is knowing where it should be placed within news.

There are many different sections of news. In a newspaper you can have: News, Business, Columns, Sport, Entertainment, Travel, Food, Property and the list goes on.

On television there are also various styles of reporting from News Bulletins to Current Affairs, Lifestyle, Travel, Game and Children's.

And for radio it is much the same: Current Affairs, Talkback, Rural Programs, Community Service Programs, Gardening, and Entertainment.

Do you think your business could use publicity? Book in a 20 minute consultation with Katrina and let see if we can make some news!

Meet the Positive PR Team

“a fusion of specialists promoting your business”

Kristen Goldup

Director

Marketing, PR and Branding specialist

B. Business Communications majoring in PR

Diploma of Business – Hospitality Management

I love figuring out where your business is at, and how we can make it so appetising, your customers are begging for MORE.   My best thinking is at 5 am while I am in bed sipping a cup of tea and jotting ideas down in a notepad.  I have a fetish for quirky teapots and have a secret crush on the 60’s TV series character - Donald Draper.

Katrina Hinschen

Publicity Co-ordinator

B. Journalism

I have a passion for community and telling people’s stories and thrive on variety. I think working to deadline is the biggest rush, although not good for one’s sanity. On Friday nights you’ll find me with friends having a laugh over wine and cheese. My latest obsession is reading food blogs and strangely enough I always read magazines from back to front.

Tristan Pye

Graphic Designer

B. Communication Design majoring in (Print) Design

A life spent travelling from gallery to gallery, through more than 30 countries has given me a unique perspective on art and design.   Enjoying a long coffee filled breakfast is my favourite way to pass the time on the weekends and I can’t get enough of vintage tourist posters.

 

Do you need to book an appointment to see a specialist?

dishing the dirt...

Welcome to Positive PR's blog. Please bear with us as we find our feet! We endeavour to keep you up to date with the goings on at Positive PR and hope you enjoy.

They say ‘change is as good as a holiday’, which if true would mean Positive PR has been sailing around the Caribbean for a few weeks now! Yes there have been many positive changes here at the agency, so let me tell you about them:

• After an ownership change last month, I have taken over as director of Positive PR.
• We have welcomed a new team member - Tristan Pye into the role of graphic designer. Tristan was born in Townsville, but has spent much of his life abroad and has a unique international perspective on design.
• We have installed a new software system called TRAFFIC. This means we are able to do a better job in scheduling work tasks, planning projects, tracking deadlines and providing instant quotes.
• Katrina our publicity co-ordinator has been consulting with key media leaders to enliven our Townsville Press Club events.
• We have launched our Marketing Momentum program, which provides clients with a dedicated marketing manager one day per week. We still have vacancies on this program if you would like further information just give me a call.
• And we are only weeks away from launching our new website.

We hope you enjoy our blog and we welcome your feedback.

Positively yours

Kristen (Director)

 Now tell us where would you love to be sailing right about now?