Tips & Tricks Archives - Breakaway Graphics

Your Essential Guide To Social Branding

Sheana — Wed, 12 Dec 2018 16:08:41 +0000

Social Branding 101

Social branding isn’t simply a case of just going on Facebook and chatting with your customers under the auspicious canopy of a fancy branded image. It goes a lot deeper than that. It’s about ensuring that every action you take on social media embodies and reflects the essence of your brand. To help you nail that perfect but elusive social media nirvana formula, read on for our essential guide to social branding 101.

Implement a solid CSR initiative

The concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a new one, but it’s increasingly becoming a crucial aspect of a business’s social branding. CSR refers to a brand’s commitments to social and charitable causes. A shining example of this is apparel brand Patagonia, whose marketing channels are permeated with messages of sustainability and environmental concerns. By aligning themselves so publicly with such a hot button issue (and by actually fulfilling their commitments to them), Patagonia convey a powerful social brand that speaks to their customers. And it works. Consumers are increasingly buying from brands that have a genuine, visible CSR commitment.

Identify a social cause that matters to you and your customers and make it part of your brand strategy. Set up a charity initiative or donate a percentage of your profits to a cause. But most importantly, make your CSR visible. Weave it into your social media channels and let your customers know the good work you are doing. As more and more consumers choose to align themselves with brands with a conscience, it behooves you to be vocal about your support for social causes.

Identify a social cause that matters to you and your customers and make it part of your brand strategy.

Find out what matters to your customers

Social branding isn’t passive. It’s a proactive idea that relies on listening to your customers and finding out what matters to them. Just as a relationship between two people relies on each person being aware of their partner’s needs, hopes, and desires, so too does the relationship between a brand and their consumers rely on the same.

Brands have the advantage in this respect though. They have a range of social listening tools that can help them learn more about their customers, helping them to reposition themselves and their social brand accordingly.

Such tools include Twazzup, a simple application that provides alerts in real-time when your brand is mentioned on Twitter. Alternatively, you could use HowSociable for a more holistic view of social mentions. And for mentions outside of social media, Boardreader lets you search forums and message boards for keywords or phrases.

Monitor what people are saying about your brand online, then adjust your marketing efforts accordingly. You could capitalize on positive mentions, or head off negative ones before they become an issue. But by interacting with them on a meaningful level, you’ll help bolster your social branding with ease.

Offer personality, not a sales pitch

While it’s tempting to focus on chasing the almighty dollar as a brand, try to avoid turning your brand personality into a constant sales pitch. An excessively self-promotional tone across your website, email, and social channels will simply repel your customers.

Indeed, studies show that 45% of consumers unfollow a brand on social media as a result of being overly self-promotional. As a rule of thumb, employ the 80/20 rule: 20% of your content should be promoting your brand, and 80% should be content that content that engages your audience.

Social branding is about building relationships, rather than a one-way street of sales pitches and image boosting. A strong social personality leads to repeat customers and regular sales, even if your product and service can also be bought elsewhere.

A good example of this can be seen in the many dropshipping stores on Exchange. These are businesses that are selling the same thing as thousands of other websites. But they’re successful in making themselves look and feel different to their competitors because they have good social branding. Their customers buy from them not for their products, but for their brand. The evidence is clear: social branding works and adds value to your business.

A strong social personality leads to repeat customers and regular sales, even if your product and service can also be bought elsewhere.

Be speedy and responsive

A brand ignores its customers at its peril: people don’t just expect a reply when they reach out to you, they expect it to be quick and compassionate. A swift and empathetic response to your customers portrays you as a brand that cares about their consumers, in turn augmenting your social branding. An example of how this can impact your branding can be seen in the case of disgruntled businessman Hasan Syed. He made headlines after he spent $1,000 promoting a tweet blasting British Airways over some lost luggage, after they ignored his original complaint. It was seen by more than 50,000 people and was very bad publicity for the airline.

image via Twitter

On the flipside of this is fast food restaurant Wendy’s whose speedy response to one of their customers led to the most retweeted tweet of all time. Carter Wilkerson asked the Wendy’s Twitter account how many retweets he would need for a year’s free supply of nuggets, and the company promptly replied with ’18 million’. The tweet went viral, garnering support from Apple, Google, Microsoft and other big brands. Twitter even included the story in its Q1 shareholder letter of 2017 (and Carter did finally get his year’s supply of nuggets). This brief exchange generated a huge amount of free publicity and goodwill for Wendy’s, proving the importance of engaging with social media followers.

Social branding is vital when it comes to your business’s success. Brands are so much more than their product or service: they are a personality, and they should act as such. You are under scrutiny from your customers 24/7, so you need to work to convey a positive brand that your audience will engage with.

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How Iconic Brands Are Developed

Sheana — Thu, 05 Apr 2018 03:23:48 +0000

THE THREE ELEMENTS

Many assume that a company’s brand is simply its logo and colors. Most of my clients are surprised to learn that it is a much more intricate and thoughtful process than that. I tend to start with asking a client to describe the company as if it were a human being because a brand is a company, personified and what better way to start understanding WHO the company is than to define its qualities and values?

There are, though, three major facets of a company’s brand:

The logo (the mark that makes a company recognizable), the presentation (the marketing plan and optics), and the personality (message).

BRAND

The Personality

The perceived characteristics of the company as a whole.

LOGO

The Face

A brandmark identifies a business in its simplest form.

IDENTITY

The Presentation

The visual aspects that form part of the overall brand.

IDEATION

SO WHERE DOES IT START?

The Brand Expert should start by becoming familiar with the products and solutions on a fundamental level in order to start with a blank canvas. Then, by looking at competitors in the market, the brand expert can examine strengths and weaknesses to identify where there are voids that needed to be filled.

Next? Brainstorming. This is far more than basic word association and shouting out ideas, directions or personal opinions; it’s a step-by-step, tried and tested, thorough technique used by Marketers and Brand Experts worldwide but only understood and utilized by few because it is a highly specialized sub field.

Starting with Latin root words then word combinations and finally brand-new words, the Brand Expert will carefully check definitions against multiple languages and even check slang words that could be negatively associated. Sometimes you find one that works in English, but wont work in Spanish or French. Often, through the process, you find a word that fits the core messages and has no conflict linguistically, but come to discover that another company has already scooped up the domain or has already trademarked the word. It is an arduous process.

Sony

Sonus is the Latin word for sound, but the name also comes from the founders considering themselves ‘sonny boys’, a Japanese word that suggest smart young men.

Fage

The word φάγε (translated from Greek to English as FAGE) both the singular imperative verb meaning ‘Eat!’ And is spelled using the first initial of the founders.

Google

A play on the word “googol,” a mathematical term for the number represented by 1 followed by 100 zeros – reflects the mission to organize a seemingly infinite amount of information on the web.

THE LOGO

THE FACE OF A COMPANY

Used for identification, a logo represents and identifies a company or product immediately (and simply) through the use of a mark. It does not sell the product directly but rather derives its meaning from the quality of the product it symbolizes. The logo is the FACE of the company.

The 5 elements that make an iconic logo: Describable, Memorable, Effective without color, Scalable, and Relevant. See more about the logo development process here.

MESSAGE

DEFINING A PERSONALITY

This part of the process involves carefully defining the mission, vision, essence, and purpose of the company as well as establishing the Brand’s characteristics and promise.

Misson

What the company wants to do and how they want to do it.

Vision

What the company wants to become.

Essence

A three to five word summary of the brand’s space and how it fits in.

Purpose

The driving force behind the Brand.

Character

If the brand were a person, this is how you would describe them.

Promise

What the company ideally provides to the customer.

INDENTITY

A Company’s Identity might be defined, more or less, as the combination of all of the elements that make up the company’s aesthetic – a visual presentation of the company as a whole. Identity design is based on the visual elements created by a Brand Expert to build cohesive and appealing sales tools, marketing collateral and tradedress. A specific set of guidelines are developed, inspected and examined to ensure that a Company’s Brand Identity remains intact throughout all avenues and each element adds value to the overall visual feel. To learn more about copperplate identity, read my blog about it here.

Marrying these elements, the Brand Expert will create a Brand Manual and Style Guide which should be studied and followed closely as it illustrates how the Identity is applied throughout all mediums by using exact color palettes, specific fonts, pre-approved layouts, etc. By establishing and following these guidelines early on, the company can begin the process of building brand recognition, customer loyalty and achieve success by offering a cohesive message and visual aesthetic no matter where the customer encounters them.

Logo

The symbol of the brand.

Collateral

Marketing collateral includes flyers, brochures, books, websites, etc.

Signage

Both Interior & exterior design.

Letterhead

Letterhead, business cards, envelopes, etc.

Packaging

Includes the actual products sold and their tradedress.

Other

Any additional visuals that represents the business.

BRANDING

Many people have little or no understanding of what a corporate brand actually is. Essentially, a company’s Brand is the way the AUDIENCE interprets the company. This opinion can be shaped by the way the company presents its personality and corporate image combined with the message and how it interacts with the audience, however branding is a massive topic, a complicated task and a multi-faceted concept with a little bit of unpredictability added in. As such, it is not something that should be taken lightly. Through proper planning, research, ideation and development, the end consumer’s perceptions, reactions and emotions can be reasonably predicted.

The fundamental purpose of the company’s Brand is to add value, importance and create loyalty to the company. Every product or service a company sells, every message it sends, every advertisement it places, absolutely every part of a company’s message should represent the parent business as a whole to achieve this. It is the research, development, ideation processes, and objective communication of a company’s core message that defines a brand as much as the end result of these practices. You see, the consistency of the message (whether verbal or visual) and a company’s actions is what defines the company, announces what drives it, promotes where its values lie, and why.

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The Urban Dictionary of Social Media Marketing

Sheana — Thu, 13 Jul 2017 20:54:51 +0000

by Victoria Greene: Brand Marketing Consultant & Freelance Writer.

I work with online businesses and ecommerce merchants to create high-performing content and marketing strategies that yield successful results. I am always happy to share my expertise and love discovering new potential collaborators.

For new business owners and executives who are new to the world of social media marketing, one of the more common challenges you’re likely to come across at the start is attempting to digest all the jargon. Social media is a minefield of odd words, phrases and acronyms that make perfect sense to those who are fluent – but are inclined to baffle the new and uninitiated. Nonetheless, as you explore, you will become more confident. Don’t give up on social media just yet, because it could be just what you need to build an online community around your business. And it’s not going anywhere soon. Here is a guide to some of the more common slang words surrounding social media (don’t forget to read up on social media etiquette as well).

At mentions

At mentions (also know as @ mentions) are used on Twitter. They essentially do the same thing as Facebook’s tagging system, enabling you to mention someone in your tweet, which will automatically send them a notification.

Avatar

Your avatar is much like a profile picture. It’s an image – or sometimes just a username – that represents you online. This could be on social networks, as well as places like online forums. If you set up a Gravatar account, you can set an image to follow you from site to site, so there’s no need to upload one every time.

Bookmarking

You’ve heard of a physical bookmark – bookmarking is not much different, except that it’s digital. If you find something online that you enjoyed or would like to save for reading later, you can bookmark it either directly through social media websites (see bookmarking on Facebook) or through an external bookmarking manager like Pocket.

Brand ambassador

Brand ambassadors are very valuable. They are your best customers: the ones who love your brand so much that they will voluntarily share the positive experiences they’ve had with you on social media. Brand ambassadors are essential to building a good online reputation – even in this digital age, we must never underestimate word-of-mouth marketing.

Clickbait

You’ve probably seen clickbait around, you perhaps just didn’t realize it had a name. Any marketing material that relies on an overly hyped or sensational headline to try and entice you to click falls under the category of ‘clickbait’. Clickbait articles are designed to generate revenue and nothing more. They might sound like ‘People are doing something seriously weird with their McFlurrys’ or ‘How old was Rooney Mara when she first ate pie?’.

Facebook advertising

Facebook has its own advertising system that allows businesses to reach a precise audience with relevant, targeted adverts. There are various pricing options available for most marketing budgets, as well as the ability to select your audience by demographics such as age, location, and interests. Arguably, Facebook advertising is one of the more efficient ways to advertise online. Here’s a beginner’s guide.

GIF

GIF is shorthand for Graphics Interchange Format, and on social media they act as small animations or video clips – characterized by being rather jerky. They are usually just a few seconds long and played on a loop, often with subtitles (but not always). GIFs can a fun way to illustrate a point and are perfect for young, playful businesses to share.

via GIPHY

Hashtag

A hashtag can be a word (or group of words) that starts with this sign (#). The words are grouped together and are usually to categorize information and ideas, making your posts more relevant and visible for other users. Examples of popular hashtags (right now) include #wimbledon, #dontsteponabeeday, #thingsbleachcantclean and #mondaymotivation.

Influencers

Influencers are social media power users. They have large online followings and with them, the ability to sway the thoughts and opinions of others. Influencers tend to be well-connected, activists, early adopters of new products or technology, and social media savvy. Popular influencers in 2017 include Zoe Sugg (beauty), Lilly Singh (entertainment), and Mark Fischbach (gaming).

Meme

An internet meme is a catchphrase, image, concept or other piece of media that spreads. Mostly memes come in the form of an image, but they can also appear as videos, websites or hashtags. Memes commonly take their roots from popular culture, although not exclusively – they can come from almost anywhere. They provide a fun and playful way to express a point on social media. Here are some of the internet’s favorite memes.

New media

‘New media’ is really just another way of describing social media, though in the past it’s been used to describe all kinds of digital media. A more accurate description would be any digital communication channels that promote collaboration between users, rather than that which is static, such as a print magazine.

News feed

On Facebook, your news feed is very simply the central column of your homepage – the one that you will inevitably start to find yourself scrolling through. The news feed is constantly updating with new stories, pictures, events and other media from your friends and the people/businesses you follow.

Newsjacking

Newsjacking is when a person, brand or business capitalizes on a popular news story in order to amplify their sales and marketing efforts. Newsjacking can be effective, but it must be done with care and consideration, and only when truly relevant. Here’s a guide to successful newsjacking on social media.

Retargeting

This online advertising technique is used by social media marketers and ecommerce merchants to display ads on social media to users who have previously visited their website. Retargeting campaigns can be highly effective, reminding users of the products they were interested in but perhaps didn’t get round to purchasing the first time round. Retargeting functionality can be added as part of your online store setup using apps and/or plugins.

Tagging

Similar to ‘at mentions’ but for Facebook, tagging is where you can attach a person’s name to a picture, video, or status update. Tagging has a lot of meanings online, so it can be easy to get confused. So for example, if you were to upload a photo to your page that featured three of your staff members, you could individually tag each staff member and they would receive a notification and be able to see (and display) that photo as desired. Facebook tagging is becoming more sophisticated thanks for facial recognition software.

Troll

No, they don’t live under bridges – although who knows, maybe some of them do. An internet troll is an altogether different (though equally unpleasant) type of beast. They go around posting on social media and in the ‘comments’ sections of articles and forums, deliberately inciting arguments with irrelevant, hostile or inflammatory comments. Their primary goal is to make people angry and provoke some kind of response. If you ever encounter an internet troll, here is what you should do.

Viral

When something ‘goes viral’ on social media, essentially all that means it that it became very popular and got widely shared – usually in the tens of thousands or millions. So you might say “this Breakaway Graphics blog post has gone viral!” if it were shared and then reshared thousands of times on Facebook or Twitter. But it’s not always an article – equally (perhaps more often) it is a video, meme, infographic, or even a GIF. Virality is highly sought after in the marketing world, but can be difficult to achieve, as there are multiple factors (timing, relevance, shareability) at play.

Although some social media terms can be tricky to understand at first, most of the time they actually relate to something very simple. All it takes is a little getting used to – and just like learning a language, the more you immerse yourself in it, the quicker you will pick it up.

What other social media slang words do you find confusing? Let us know in the comments below (no trolls please) and we’ll see if we can help.

The post The Urban Dictionary of Social Media Marketing appeared first on Breakaway Graphics.

Copyright Myths

Sheana — Mon, 04 Aug 2014 20:40:37 +0000

In my job, Copyright Laws and Intellectual Property come up for discussion on almost a daily basis. As a Freelance Designer, I uphold and respect these laws even if it means I loose an account due to refusal to copy or mimic someone’s work. Why wouldn’t I? Copyright Laws protect my designs too and let’s face it, my designs are how I make a living. So in an effort to set the record straight, I have compiled a list of the most frequently misunderstood laws and commonly held false beliefs.

1. If it’s on the internet, it’s not copyrighted. Wrong. Every picture, article, song, video, and design is protected by copyright law. As a rule of thumb, if you would like to use an image you found on the internet, contact the author and get permission. If permission is not received, don’t use it.

2. If I can’t find the author of an article, I can use it. Nope. Anything that is created has an original author. In the digital age where people think anything on the net is fair game, it can be exceedingly difficult to track down where the article originated if it has been re-posted multiple times but, again, that doesn’t mean that the original author has given up his rights. Don’t publish anything that you don’t have permission to use.

3. If it doesn’t have a copyright notice, it’s not copyrighted. You guessed it….wrong. As I stated above if it was created, it has an author and it is by default copyrighted. While it is good practice to watermark your photos and designs or include the standard ‘Copyright [dates] by [author/owner]’ on written pieces, leaving it off does not relinquish your rights as copyright holder.

4. If it’s an old photograph, the copyright has expired. Maybe, but probably not. The shortest Copyright Term is the lifespan of the author plus 70 years. Photographers, for example, might transfer the copyright to another member of the family prior to his/her death thereby ‘renewing’ the copyright. Once again, ask for permission from the copyright holder.

5. If I change it 10%, it’s a new work and I am the copyright holder. This is just ridiculous and completely wrong. I’d like to ask: what exactly constitutes 10%? Changing the font? Reversing the photo? Applying special effects? Replacing one name throughout an entire story? This is hands-down the biggest, most widely held, completely incorrect copyright myth out there. The notion that a photograph can be scanned and reversed and is now no longer the original work of the photographer is simply stupid. If you cannot use the photograph without the permission of the author, why would be be allowed to use it for manipulation to create your own work? The same principle holds for design. Derivative works can actually be considered property of the owner of the original work with the major exception of parody which is a super gray area for which I am not properly educated to elaborate on.

6. Ideas cannot be copyrighted. True. An idea cannot be copyrighted but the work based on that idea can be. This is where copyright law starts to get confusing. I understand it to mean, in a story for example, a woman’s husband is having an affair, she finds out, the story unfolds. This is an idea. VS. Jane, a high powered attorney, finds her husband Curt, a car salesman, cheating on her. Jane and Curt’s characters are copyrighted as are the actual words used to tell the story and what actually happens in the story.

7. If I don’t make money off of it, it’s not infringement. Wrong. It’s like saying, if I don’t get caught, I never committed a crime. I believe this idea stems from misinterpretation of ‘Fair Use’. Each case determining fair use is different and takes into consideration many aspects of the alleged infringement so don’t assume that you can use whatever you like just because you don’t make a profit by using it. I write this blog without profit, that doesn’t mean that I can simply hunt around the internet for articles I find interesting and paste them here as if I came up with them myself. In fact, even if I gave the original author full credit without gaining his or her permission to reproduce the work, I’d be in violation of copyright laws.

This is, of course, not a comprehensive explanation of copyright laws and I am by no means a lawyer (so don’t take the above as legal advise). The myths listed above are simply the one’s I encounter most frequently in my day-to-day life as a designer. There are many more out there so when in doubt if you didn’t create the work, you shouldn’t use it. If you’d like more information regarding copyright and intellectual property laws, visit http://www.copyright.gov/. For more information on copyright infringement, visit http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap5.html.

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Home Office, Not Homework

Sheana — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 20:57:31 +0000

Many professionals and freelancers work from a home office: perhaps due to familial or personal restrictions, perhaps because the commute to the company office is too far, or perhaps that’s just the way they like it. Whatever the reason, once a designer finds his- or herself in a situation where work is performed under the same roof as laundry, a few small actions can make all the difference in maintaining a healthy life-work balance and not getting caught doing homework.

A Dedicated Space.

Remember when you were a student and you would sit down in your favorite spot to do homework? Maybe it was the kitchen table, maybe it was a little desk in your room; either way, you did your best studying when you were in ‘your spot’. This can be true for the home office too. It is preferable to have a dedicated room if you plan on working full time from home although this may not be an option for everyone. At the very least, you should have a specific area to work and be devoted to only performing work in that area. What I mean is, don’t do your Skyping® with family or play games from your work area. Similarly, don’t take your laptop into another room to work. You wouldn’t eat in the bathroom or vise versa (think about it…..yuck!), think of your home office the same way. This little trick helps the human psyche to distinguish from work and play subconsciously.

The Switch to 9 to 5

If You’re Not a Student, Why are You Doing Homework?

I would be willing to bet that is the hardest adjustment to make since working from home means being near the office all the time and never actually ‘leaving’ your office building. The work is always there, lurking in the background and beckoning you to pay attention to it. If you are not diligent at keeping your personal and work time clearly separated, you stand the chance of putting in way more hours than necessary. Is it really necessary to work on that proof at 2 a.m or spend all day Sunday making updates to a website that no one will even see until Monday? No, it isn’t. Resolve yourself to working on client projects only during your regular work hours. By answering phone calls and emails only during posted hours of operation, you send a clear message that you are a bona fide business like any other. Also, actively disconnecting your personal time by physically shutting your office door (or shutting down your computer) when the work day has ended will help remind you that just because you’re ‘at the office’ doesn’t mean you have to be working.

Of course, business owners and freelancers are often required to work on things not necessarily related to production or billable time like bookkeeping, billing, and filing. Setting aside time to do the extras like making backups on Friday evenings and sending out billing on Monday mornings you can accomplish most of these tasks when a regular employee would be performing opening or closing duties and not get stuck doing them on your personal time.

Making Your Space Awesome

One of the most wonderful parts of having a dedicated office space in your home is your ability to do whatever you want with it! You can surround yourself with all the things that inspire you. You can be as messy or organized as you want and you can place your office essentials in a place that is easy for you to access, not down the hall where everyone can get to it. It is YOUR space. Paint the walls in a color that induces creativity or keeps you motivated. PANTONE® has a great resource on their site to help you pick just the right color to fit the mood you want to create in your work environment (http://www.pantone.com/pages/paint/moodselector.aspx). Being creative by nature will surely help in constructing a space that promotes your personal productivity.

Go to Work!

Some designers swear by acting as if their home office is an actual commuting job. They may, for example, get up, take a shower, get dressed, and have a cup of coffee before ‘leaving for work’. This is a great tip if you are having a hard time adjusting to working from home. By creating a routine, you are again training your psyche to distinguish work-time from playtime.

Avoiding Distractions

(addressing the friends and family issue)

When you were a kid and little Bobby came by your house to see if you could play, your mom opened the door and explained that you were doing your homework and could not come out until it was done. Well, your Mommies can’t help you now so it’s up to you to address the common assumption that since you work from home, you can ‘play’ whenever you want. This may be technically true but let’s face it; we all have bosses, our CLIENTS who depend on us. By being honest and frank about your working hours with friends and family, you can avoid the hassle of constantly having to explain that you are not sitting around all day eating Cheese Puffs and waiting for something to do. You wouldn’t dare interrupt your friend’s workday to ask if they could walk your dog, or check your mail, or run an errand for you….they shouldn’t do this to you either.

Improving Every Day

Everyday is an opportunity to improve your work environment and adjust to a designer’s ever-changing work load. Obviously, the above cannot be implemented in a manner that never allows for change (heck, we’ve all had an all night deadline at some point!), but making a continued effort to balance one’s life can’t be a bad thing. One of the most fantastic benefits of setting your own hours and working from your own space is that you can alter your schedule to suit the ever changing needs and obligations of life. If you’re having an off day, go catch a movie or take the dog to the park. Feeling a little less than creative? Pull out the sewing machine or canvas and oils and work in a different medium for a few hours. You have the freedom to make your own choices, your own hours, your own environment…..take advantage!

Please feel free to comment with additional tips, experiences, or questions about maintaining a healthy work-life balance when your work and life happen to coexist in the same space.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Sheana — Sat, 07 May 2011 20:54:32 +0000

What are your business hours? Regular business hours are Monday through Friday, 9am to 5pm Eastern Time. Although I am often working much earlier and much later than my posted hours, I ask that you please respect the hours of operation. The time I put in before and after business hours is often when I am most productive and I prefer not to be interrupted by phone calls unless it is a design emergency.

Where is your office? Can I come by? I choose to work from home as I have found that I am most productive in the work environment I have created here. I do not take any meetings at ‘my office’ but am happy to meet you at yours.

How long will the project take? That would depend entirely on the scope of the project, availability, deliverables, and the clients ability to provide feedback in a timely manner if time is of the essence.

Can you fit me in immediately? Anything is possible! However, if you are a new client, I will work you into the production schedule based on current projects. Breakaway Graphics, LLC schedules projects several weeks in advance as I take great care in offering the highest level of attention to each of my valued clients. To ensure that each client receives my best work, I never schedule more than two or three large-scale protects at once. This also allows me to fit in projects for my long-term clients for whom I work for all year. Depending on the scale of your prospective project and Breakaway Graphics, LLC’s production schedule, I may ask that you allow a lead time for your project.

Are you available on nights/weekends/holidays? As a general rule, not often, however if there are special circumstances preventing our meeting during regular operating hours I will make exceptions, of course. In the event that I am required to work outside the scope that was previously agreed upon (such as failure to supply materials in a timely manner to meet a specific deadline), hours will be billed at one and half times my regular rate.

Can I have the Layered (editable) files to make edits myself? Due to use of outside third-party materials in advertisements / publication designs and intellectual copyright laws, the simple answer is probably not (click here for details). If I am creating a logo or brandmark for you, you will be supplied vector files that can be edited with the proper software once payment for services rendered is received. There are special circumstances where you may ‘buy out’ the files should you need them. You will receive non-editable finalized print or web-ready files upon the completion of any project.

What happens if I don’t use up all of my hours? Your return on investment is of utmost importance. If for any reason less than 75% of your monthly hours remain unused, half of the remaining hours will be applied to your next month. This ‘rollover’ is allowed each month based on the month immediately preceding it but do not accrue.

How do I pay you? When can I have my product? The monthly fees are due on the first of the month and no later than the 5th. For your convenience, auto-drafts can be set up so there will never be a lapse in production. If you’d like special accommodations regarding the due day or would prefer to split monthly payments into two separate amounts, please ask. Per-project fees are due at the time of the invoice. Finalized project files (see above) will be released after payment is received. All invoices will accrue late fees after 30 days.

Can you help with printing? Yes. If you should require help with choosing a printer for your project, I am happy to provide you with several printer options. I will also provide quotes and pricing whenever possible. In lieu of attaching an additional fee on top of printing prices, I will only bill for the time it takes to research, contact and quote printing prices and the time it takes to upload, send or order prints. I ask that you provide me with a payment method to place any orders as I am unable to provide payment for printing to be reimbursed upon invoicing due to TN state taxing laws.

Why should I choose you over another designer who charges less? Graphic Design and Logo Development are not simply the ability to operate the required software: it is as much art as it is skill and aptitude. Being that the effectiveness and success of your brand/campaign/publication/etc depends on it, I would urge you to choose your designer as you would choose the house you live in. Like a house, where the purchase price is directly related to the soundness of the structure and the level of it’s amenities, the cost of a good designer is directly related to the quality of their work and the skill and experience of the artist. I choose my clients and projects carefully, so please feel free to browse my portfolio and contact me for a free proposal if you value and like what you see.

What can I expect from you? As a client of Breakaway Graphics, LLC, you will always receive my utmost attention, creative expertise, respect and top-notch customer service while I create your deliverables and for the lifetime of our partnership. You will be guided and educated throughout the design process so you will always be informed on what to expect from me and when to expect it. When you have a question or concern, I will happily take the time to address it to your satisfaction. You will always receive a response from me within 24 hours of email or telephone contact during regular operating hours. I, and any of my affiliates, will always utilize the best time management skills and design techniques to offer you the very best deliverables and to avoid unnecessary charges to you. Customers always receive a fully custom experience that will result in effective, attractive and timeless designs so we allow for as many revisions, modifications and variations as the customer needs to achieve this.

Have a question not answered here? Please contact me or ask a question below and I will happily answer any questions you may have concerning hiring Breakaway Graphics, LLC.

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Common Marketing Mistakes

Sheana — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 20:48:16 +0000

Let’s face it, these days, more and more business owners are shifting from using marketing professionals to promote their businesses and choosing to take a more hands-on role. This is mistake number one, but we’ll get to that a little later. For now, let’s think about how or why you got into the career you’re in. Maybe it’s because you loved it….maybe because you are especially good at it….maybe it’s just a way to make ends meet. Whatever the case, you have the job you have because, at some level, you like it or possess the skills to excel at it. The same is true for marketing personnel; be it graphic designers or advertising executives. We marketing professionals have a specific knowledge about what works in the market place, what designs and words provoke a response from the reader and what outlets are the most effective in seeing a return on your investment: this is why you need us. I have collected five of some of the most common marketing mistakes people make.

1. “I can do this myself”. Perhaps you can (and even have some success), but if you run a successful coffee shop, please stick to making coffee (we designers need your delicious coffee in the worst way!). While some of your ideas and marketing strategies may actually bring in some new customers, how many hours and dollars have you spent to do so? A marketing professional can work for you while you focus your attention on your own business. We can also make sure you are not spending all that hard earned money on something virtually ineffective. This mistake is a big one because if you make this mistake, you are very likely to make the mistakes listed below…these are big no-nos in marketing. In fact, they are often the opposite of effective marketing.

2. “I have to tell everybody everything”. While all the services you perform or all of the products you sell may be seriously top-notch, someone is only going to take advantage of them if they are interested in the first place. This is probably the most common and annoying mistake in marketing: TOO MUCH INFORMATION. Small business have small budgets for the most part and seem to not be able to resist the urge to use their marketing dollars to tell everyone everything about their business. It’s the usual: ‘I’m spending a good deal of money on a full page ad in the newspaper and since it will only run one day, I need to appeal to every reader”. Do you really? Or would it better to place that full page ad in a specific magazine, with a longer shelf life, that your target audience is most likely to read, and promote one item and sell the heck out of it?

3. “Creative advertising adds shock value and will make us memorable”. This one can be 100% true, if it’s done correctly, but more often than not, the arrow misses the mark and the result is either just confusing and ineffective or (worse) it’s offensive. Groupon’s Super Bowl ads are a really good example of the latter, proving that even marketing professionals can get it wrong sometimes. If you want to be clever, fine. But try the idea out in your store first and see how your customers react. When in doubt, hire someone who knows the market, the area (something that works in San Fransisco might not work in Middle America) and how to create something clever that will not (1.) waste your money and generate little interest and (2.) will not offend the entire readership. The second part of this mistake is the ever-infuriating: ‘let’s be deliberately vague to force the reader to our website”. NO. To the consumer, this is wasting their time….no one (and I mean NO ONE) likes for someone to waste their time. You won’t be seeing any of that green if you tick them off before they’ve even given your product a chance.

4. “I have to send updates, tweets and e-blasts as much as possible”. Please, if you do this, stop. In a previous blog post on email and social etiquette, I addressed these mistakes in detail but I will add here that, as Americans, we are bombarded 24 hours a day with advertisements. Someone recently told me that on average, we see over 3500 different ads on any given day. The idea that “well if everyone else is out there all the time, I need to be too to stay in the game” is just plain wrong and goes against the basic principals of effective marketing. I’ll put it this way: when I first moved to my new house, I was constantly annoyed by the planes that flew over head every twenty minutes. Now, I don’t even notice them. This is called acclimation and desensitization. When you send constant FB updates, tweets, mass emails, texts and other messages to your customer, that message just became the plane. I can tell you, I have not opened a single mass email in four years. I see ’em in my inbox and simply hit ‘delete’ and, as a rule, if a person or business posts updates more the three times a day on social networking sites, I hide them, without exception, period.

5. “If I offer discounts or coupons, I can get and keep more customers”. Nope. What you are inadvertently telling your customer is that you don’t believe that your service or product is worth the price on the tag. What happens next is you perform a service (or sell a product) for less than it’s worth and that customer does not return again until they can get it for the same price as before. These are not customers you want. If you are trying a out a new advertising outlet, it is occasionally a good idea to offer a SMALL discount or incentive for mentioning that particular ad. This method allows you to track the success of that ad and get people through the door but (and this is a big but) make sure that the discount is not a deep discount (something more like 10% off any second product purchased) or that the incentive is a freebie that does not cost you (like a sample tube of facial cleanser you get from your sales rep). Also be sure to include an expiration date or you run the risk of having to honor that promotion until the end of time. (OK, I embellished a little there: but definitely include an expiration date).

So in conclusion, don’t do what everyone else is doing cause those everyone else’s aren’t looking to a professional for advice and more frequently, are trying to do it themselves by utilizing the cheap and easy route. Let’s face it, to them it’s cheaper to come up with their own ad concept than to pay someone else to do it but that idea lends truth to the quote by Red Adair: “If you think it’s expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur”. The normal, everyday person does not have the training, experience or knowledge about effective marketing. They end up spending unnecessary time and money on the things that are obvious, misguided and potentially inefficient. Efforts that are so obvious, that they blend in with the other do-it-yourself advertising and marketing strategies out there. The moral of the story is this: don’t do what everyone else does and instead, let a professional guide and help you, that’s what all of our training and experience is for. We make a living by making your business successful, utilize our expertise.

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Email & Social Media Etiquette

Sheana — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 20:54:49 +0000

(STOP THE JUNK, ALREADY)

I am sure you’ve noticed, as I have, that every person, business and place has a website, email and Social Media page. While I am by no means discounting the need for such marketing tools as Facebook (Breakaway Graphics has one), I have noticed that many people are committing some very serious social no-no’s in an effort to get their business on the top of everyone’s think-list. Let me start by revealing a very important tip about marketing:telling everybody everything about your company or product is NOT an effective form of advertising, knowing and targeting your market is. Although there is much validity to the concept of Brand Awareness, being a constant annoyance to your Facebook fans or every person who’s email address is in your address book achieves Brand Awareness…but not in a good way. Which leads me to our recommendations for proper Email and Social Media Etiquette:

1. Do not hold hostage people’s email addresses. In my line of work, I send hundreds of emails including proofs, proposals and questionnaires every day. Many times, I am sending proofs to advertisers on behalf of the magazines I work for, other times I am sending out a design questionnaire for a prospective client. In either case I am not soliciting the services or products of the email recipient, I am simply doing my job. Yet by virtue of my having sent an email (even just one email), I am now on that recipient’s Email Marketing list. This is the World Wide Web equivalent of the junk mail that arrives in the mailbox outside your house. What to you do with that junk mail? You toss it out without even a glance. For me, the same is true with unsolicited and unwanted ‘junk email’. Email provides us with a certain amount of anonymity, let’s keep it that way. Don’t add anyone and everyone to your e-marketing list, it’s unprofessional.

2. Resist the urge to ‘spray and pray’. Maybe I’m ‘old school’ but Facebook is for reconnecting with friends and family first and brand awareness second. Facebook has quickly become a welcome addition to small businesses whose marketing budget is small and has made it to the top of marketing plans, but it should not be used to bombard your ‘friends’ and ‘fans’ with useless information. A Facebook page for your business is now as important as having a website, however people who are in search of your product or service, actively seek out your website or go to your store front. On Facebook, it’s the other way around and posting ‘updates’ ten times a day can have an opposite effect than the one you are intending. When I log onto Facebook and see twenty-one posts in a row featuring every house a Real Estate Agent has for sale (this actually happened!), I either ‘dislike’, ‘de-friend’, or ‘hide’ that person. It’s just annoying. Keep your business updates to a maximum of two or three a day, no more or you risk alienating potential customers.

3. Keep it relevant. If you have successfully implemented the above guidelines to your email and Social marketing, it’s time to think about what you’re putting out there and when. Once a customer has realized that you are not sending out updates and emails everyday (and have stopped associating your name with ‘spam’ or ‘junk’), they are more likely to pay attention to the emails and updates you do send. Make sure that the update you’re posting or the email you’re sending is current and relevant. Are you having a 50% off sale this weekend? Great, but don’t send it out on the Monday before. People are busy and will forget about your sale by the end of the day. Email an announcement on Friday morning, then post that announcement throughout the day for your Facebook friends (remember, no more than three times! Maybe in the morning, around lunchtime, and in the evening…TOPS!). Then post it again the day-of but change it up with adding something new like ‘What a turn out! Stop by now before all the good stuff is gone!’. Any more than that and you’re that friend that calls your phone four times in a row without leaving a message, you know the one.

4. Have a purpose and solicit a response. If we break it down to basics, what is the reason for placing an ad, sending out a marketing email or posting on Facebook: what is the response you want? If you find yourself sending out those mass email updates, make sure you have a clear reason for doing so. Is it to get people into your store? To generate more business with a discount? Perhaps it’s to give your customers some relevant news or tips. Whatever the reason, make sure it’s clear and simple. This goes back to guideline #2: no one wants to know every item you carry in inventory or every little service you do. Just pick one or two things to feature and run with it. Remember, less is more.

5. Utilize the science of advertising. All of the above suggestions bring me to what you should do with email marketing and social media. Facebook has a wonderful way to advertise your business on a budget. Their advertising options make it easy to really target your market and get your product right in front of the people who are interested in it. Think of it like this: if you were a pediatric dentist, would you advertise in a photography magazine? Or would it be a better use of advertising dollars to place an ad with a parenting magazine? The same is true for Facebook. Rather than committing social crimes #1 and #2, why not spend a little bit of money and have them place your ad in front of all the right people? As for your mass marketing emails, instead of assuming everyone who sends you an email must want to get your updates, ask them if they are interested or have a sign up sheet in your store front. Please don’t put that person in a position where they will have to spend their time trying to get removed from a list for something they were not interested in in the first place.

I know that we’re just a little design firm in Austin, TX and are not likely to change the bad habits of an entire generation. I do believe that I can, at the very least, reach the people reading this blog. With any luck, some people will agree with this post and feel the need to join the movement by re-posting (yes, on Facebook) or linking to this site. Who knows, maybe just one person really can correct the crimes of many…

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