Have you heard of the project triangle..

‘Good, fast OR cheap’?  Pick two.

This might help you decide which two are for you:

1. Good & Cheap
You’re getting a great deal, the quality you desire at a discounted price – but (of course there’s a but) top-paying clients would get first priority. Like when you’re shopping – you have to wait until the summer sales if you’re not willing to pay full price. Just like a home-cooked meal – it’ll be worth the wait.

2. Good & Fast
If you’re hiring a bar out for a party you have to pay in order to compensate for the loss of sales from the other paying customers – same in the design world. Over-time comes at a price, but think of the quality you’ll get…

3. Fast & Cheap
Imagine going into a restaurant  it’s fast, you get a burger for $2, whilst it might smell good – it’s not good quality, it’s likely it’s not even real meat.

Remember time is money and you get what you pay for. You can’t be furious that you don’t get fillet steak when you pay for a burger.

Luckily, with graphic design if option 3 is unavoidable you can at least add
the good later on.

Your Website Goals

The first step to having a great website is understanding what you want from your website. What are the main goals of your website? Do you want your website to provide information about your products/services? Do you want it to drive people to call you for more information? Do you want your website to sell products online? Do you want your website to do everything? It is also important to make goals that you can track and measure. For example you can track how many sales you get from your online store. You can then analyse your website sales figures to see if the website is successful. Alternatively you can set up a 1300 number that only appears on your website. This way all calls you receive on this line are generated from your website. The more you can track and measure the more you can see what is and what isn’t working.

Your Audience

Once you have established your website goals it is time to understand your audience and what they want. The more you can understand your target market the more effective your website will be. Identify your target market and start talking to them (they could be current customers, friends, family etc.). Find out how they interact with websites and what techniques they respond to (Do they like to see customer testimonials? Do they want to see product photos? Do they want to see that you are a small friendly local business?). Take what you learn from them and put it together with your knowledge of the industry to work out the best strategy for your website. Researching your target market also comes back to how you want to position your brand which we covered previously in our 3 Steps to create a Strong Brand post.

The Future of Your Website

One of the key steps a lot of businesses skip is thinking about the future of their website, just as it’s important to think about the future of your business. Consider how you would like your website to be working for you in 1 year, 2 years, 5 years and beyond. Think about what you might possibly need and what direction your industry/business is going. By considering and anticipating the future you can make sure your website has the potential to grow as you grow without the need for creating a whole new website. Making sure you have a flexible website solution from the start will save you time and money in the long run. It will make your life a lot easier when it comes time to update or change the direction/goal of your business, and your website.

Find a Designer Who Understands your Business

After establishing these key areas it is time to talk to a web designer. A good web designer will understand your business and work with you to design and build a website that meets your goals, speaks directly to your target market and has the potential to be easily tweaked in the future.

Stay tuned into the Spicy Blog this month as we are talking about all things Start Up Business. If you liked this article please click the share buttons below and if you have any handy tips that businesses should think about when approaching a website please add them in the comment section below. We’d love to know what you think is important when starting a new website.

Good luck!

Are you starting your own business and not sure where to jump in? First of all, congratulations on taking the leap. I know it’s scary setting up a business of any size, and for you to make the decision to go ahead and do it you must have a pretty cool idea — something a bit different or something you’re passionate about. People often ask me for tips on how to set up their branding. This month is very exciting, as we will be exploring the topic of starting a new business.

In terms of solid branding, the best advice I can give is to do it right the first time. People often come to be going “eek! Sarah please fix my website, logo etc” because they’re cousin’s nieces’ dog did it a year ago and he went to Germany for Oktoberfest and doesn’t answer emails anymore.

Granted, your business model may change as you get going and gain momentum. You may discover a niche in your business that may take over from what you may have initially thought was going to be the bread-winning element of the business. That’s why setting it up from a business perspective and with simplicity and flexibility in mind is key.

Step ONE in setting up your business brand: Brand positioning.

Without this step you might get sick of your logo in 6 months time, or you may need to get your website redeveloped because it doesn’t represent your business anymore. Brand positioning is a simple exercise that clarifies the direction of the company. Good questions to ask are:

• Where do you sit in the market compared to your competitors?
• What are your unique selling points?
• Who is your target audience?

With a clear direction for your brand, you can more clearly identify your business strengths and will be able to communicate them clearly to clients, suppliers, partners, investors, and of course your graphic and web designers!

Step TWO in setting up your business brand: Logo.

When we think of a brand the first thing that comes into our heads is an image. The logo is the establishment of a direct relationship of a business with its potential customers. A good logo:

• brings professionalism and credibility to your business name
• represents what you stand for
• sets you apart from your competition

This is where the fun part (for us graphic designers anyway) starts! The design of the logo is the foundation of the brand. I could go on and on about logos but one key thing I’ll reinforce is simplicity. Often the simplest logos are the most memorable. There’s no need to squeeze every aspect of what your business does into the logo, you can do that in a tagline, or supporting text. Rather, it’s often better to make sure that the logo is flexible enough to account for a momentum shift in your business. Check out our blog on what colours represent in logos for more info.

** Very important note: Even if your business is solely online, do not omit steps one and two. Quite often people say “I’m starting a business, I need a website.” and when I ask them about a logo they hadn’t considered it yet. In order to create a successful website that works for you, you’ll first need to think about your brand strategy and have a logo.

Step THREE in setting up your business brand: Consistency!

Anyone who has heard me speak about branding before knows the important of this one. Familiarity builds trust and trust builds sales. People trust in things they know. So if they see your logo over and over with the same colors, the same fonts, and the same style, they will be more likely to buy from you. Simple as that!

–> Check out some examples of our branding here

This month the Spicy team will be blogging about all things Start-Up. We understand small businesses and what they need to get off to the right start. Over the month we will be guiding you through the steps of setting up your business.

- 3 Steps to Create a Strong Brand
- Where to start with your website
- Start a brand with a small business budget
- The triangle (fast, good or cheap – not all 3)

Stay tuned to the blog and our Facebook for all the latest news. If you have any great Start-up tips or resources please let us know in the comments below. As always we’d love to hear your thoughts on what you think would be great blog topics.

Please read the email at the bottom of this post.

Most of you would have heard about the flood that recently devastated our neighbours in Nadi, Fiji. As you can read from the email below children and families are in need of clothing. This is a call to action for all our local Spicy clients and colleagues. Friends of Spicy, freight forwarding company Fracht Austraila, and one of their generous customers, is organising a wonderful way to help the Fijian recovery – They are collecting kids’ clothing to ship to Fiji.

Children clothing is in need, so any clothes that do not fit your children, please donate this to the children of Fiji, who have no clothes to go to school in. Clothing will be packed unless you have 20-30kg to donate (no more than 30kg per box) then please help by pack this into a box if you can.

Since none of the Spicy team has kids (yet, still 8 weeks away for Mike and I!) we need your help. We will be collecting clothes at our graphic design studio in Seaforth all next week to help out.

What: Children’s clothing

When: Please drop off any day next week 9.30am–6pm by next Thursday April 26th.

Where: Our studio – Shop 7, 6 Brook Rd. (behind Essence Hair salon) Seaforth, NSW

Contact: 02 8084 5554 if you get lost.

Dear Everyone

Now that the flood has receded and the impact of this devastation is so horrific that words don’t even explain the pain that people are suffering with no homes, food, cloths and no books and clothing for their kids to go to school. This is the worst disaster we have experienced in Fiji.

Yet people are so strong but the reality is the reality, these people need help.

I ask from everyone that please go through your draws and find those cloths that you don’t want and haven’t used for a long time, from kids to adult. For the people of Fiji, this will be worth so much as at the moment they don’t have much to go by.

I will distribute it to those who are in desperate need for it. We really need help!!!!! And your items will be our treasure.

I am sure many organization are organizing fund raising especially for food, so let them find their distribution channel to get it to all the needy but i just want clothes for people who i know that are badly affected.

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

Cheers

Uday

 

Addition! Just got this from a friend who was just there:

Hi Sarah,

We just got back – it’s the saddest thing I have ever seen.

The Fijians on the whole have very little – they exist on or above the poverty level . The flood affected areas we traveled through 2 weeks ago – they have lost everything.

Houses have piled all the stuff they have lost – all their beds, all their linen, all their soft furnishing – on the sides of the roads,  its massive.

They are hurting – but somehow they have kept their infectious smiles and attitude to recover, sadder still , Australia has offered an embarrassing $1million dollars in aid.

Good on you guys for chipping in – I know first hand how immensely grateful they are for the most basic items – we left all our clothes over there !

Matthew Godden, Pearla Plumbing

 

Looking forward to having a full car by next Thursday!

Present the unexpected! And if you’re doing that do it in style like this guy. It’s certainly memorable. It works so well because it’s integrating profile with cover image.
 

Good Ol’ Toyota always thinking outside the box. Whether you love dogs or the brand this appeals to all age groups, genders and facebookers! Simple and effective might be the way forward…
 

Showcasing the brand, using more than one image will stand you out from the crowd, do it in such a way that’s in-keeping with your brand and you’ll have a supercool professional looking page.
 

Gorgeous layout. The logo doesn’t need to be the profile image.

Remember to update the image on a regular basis, keep it current so people will continue to like your page.

What you’d expect from Quicksilver. Over the years they’ve solidified their brand and we never seem to tire of looking at surfers!!
 

An actual ‘timeline’ of the company… now there’s a good idea! We love the layout, images have been chosen carefully to work together and not take too much attention away from the posts. This really depicts what the company is about.

A long wide image frame lends itself to show an interior or landscape, this almost looks 3D. Architects and interior designers could have a lot of fun.

The message here has been kept simple. Why not announce your recent success, special offer or new service.

…And if you have the rights to use an image of a hot model to endorse your brand – USE IT!

Lots to think about.. Just keep in mind you want to compliment your website, be fun and show your brand’s personality whist keeping an element of professionalism.
 

Happy facebooking!

If you have recently added a new cover image let us know about it by posting it in the comments below or on our Facebook page!

You can find us on Facebook at facebook.com/spicybroccoli

Here are the key points of her presentation for you to read through.

The 5 C’s
Competition
- Good branding makes you stand out from the crowd

Credibility
One of the biggest reasons for people buying a brand repeatedly is the credibility the brand has among the consumers. As credibility grows, customers will recognize your brand and associate that good quality.
You can build your brand credibility with:
- high quality product/service
- ensuring consumer experience during points of contact is consistently positive
- providing evidence/statistics/facts about the benefits of your product/service
- testimonials and referrals from happy customers

Connection
- Branding can create a connection between the product and the clientele. Where there’s a strong connection, branding can be a good motivator for clients to continue to buy.

Clarity
- Not many business owners are aware that good branding is actually a method of communication. If the design of the brand is right, it can communicate the message to the customer without the aid of expensive advertising. So in the long run, good branding from the start can save you money.

Cold hard CASH
- Charge premium prices for your premium products. Think of your favourite product. Chances are it probably has nice packaging, and something you feel goo about buying because you know it will last.

Here are some of the photos from the evening.

Make sure to check out our facebook for more about branding and design.

To celebrate social media week were have put together a Top 5 Facebook tabs. The welcome tab provides an opportunity for businesses to get more likes, build their database and extend their branding. It’s also a space within Facebook to let a bit of the company’s personality shine through in their own branded style.

Adobe Facebook

Adobe Systems uses their Facebook welcome tab as a microsite. It is a website within the Facebook website where users can navigate through their products/services and discover partner social media channels.

Holden Facebook

Holden use a strong call to action straight up with “Like Holden on Facebook” to encourage people to follow their business. It also promotes products and current competitions it has running.

Microsoft Facebook

Microsoft uses a simple fan-only content technique. They ask you to “Just click Like” and you will be rewarded with cool. In this case, when you like their page they reveal a cool animation.

Coles Facebook

Coles uses the “Like us” with an arrow as the first call to action. The rest of the content emphasises their current campaign featuring Curtis Stone.

Coca-cola Facebook

Cokes first call to action is “Like Coke? There’s a button for that!” with an arrow. The rest of the page is dedicated to their other social media channels and current campaigns.

You can see from these examples that there are many different ways to utilise the Welcome Tabs. It can act as an information point, entertainment point or it can be more focused on a certain area of your business. There are many possibilities whenever you are working with social media. It is important to consider why people are on your facebook page and try to give them content that is relevant to your business as well as valuable.

We have previously posted about how to set up Facebook welcome tabs but this method has now been replaced with an even simpler way. Below is the NEW (and easier) WAY to to add a welcome tab to your business page.

Step 1

Login to facebook with your personal profile, go to this link and click on the “Add Static HTML to a Page” button.

Step 2

From the drop-down menu select the business page and click the “Add to static HTML: iframe tabs“  button. (If you don’t have a business page yet you can create one here.)

Step 3

You should be taken to your business page wall.  Now from the left hand side menu you should see a star with the text “Welcome“. Click the welcome link and you will be taken to your Welcome Tab page.

Step 4

You should see two text area boxes. This is where you can add welcome tab design. This welcome tab supports HTML, CSS and javascript (These are the codes used to make webpages to learn more go here). We are always open to help out with design and development.

Step 5

When you have added the code to the boxes click the “Save changes” button. Note you also have the option to have a welcome tab with two states. This means that if a user is not a fan they will see welcome tab A and if they are a fan they will see welcome tab B. This is optional.

Step 6

Log out, go to your business page and click on the “Welcome tab” from the left hand side menu. You should now see your welcome tab. When you are happy with the welcome tab you should set it to the default landing page for users. Log into your business page and click “edit page“.

Step 7

Click the “Manage Permissions” and you will see the label “Default Landing Tab” choose your welcome tab from the drop down and then click “Save Changes“.

And it’s just that simple! If you have any questions don’t hesitate to contact us or leave a comment below.

While its great that your business is versatile and can offer so many different services, emphasising and promoting your specialty will allow people to see you as an expert in your field.

If you were looking for the best bamboo in your area, and you saw a sign saying “Timber R Us: Teak, Bamboo, Oak, Pine & Cedar” next to a sign that said “Bamboo 4 You” Where would you go?

You would definitely be more inclined to have a look at “Bamboo 4 You” first, before the other. This is because your customers will think that you focus all of your effort, including skill development, on that one specialty, and therefore they will benefit.

By being an expert in your field, you add authority and respect to your business.
It’s best to promote your specialty with strong full flavoured branding.