outside the box

"Work smarter - not harder" is one of our philosophies, and can be applied to all aspects of design, if approached properly.

Consider your marketing strategy; I know a lot of you may feel that you don't have a "marketing strategy" but you do.

In broad terms, marketing is the process in which you shape and promote the qualities and personality of your business or product as your intended market see it. So anything you produce that has your name, image or logo associated with it is part of your marketing strategy. From the word of mouth that gets you the referral, to the final invoice at the end of the job. It all counts.

We like to concentrate on is the strength of a good idea. You can chuck time and money and effort at marketing, but a good clean idea can be worth it's weight in chocolate.

Approach conventional areas in a new and different manner, and make the money you do spend work as hard as possible for you.

Simple things will make you stand out, and they needn't cost much money. For instance, make your leaflet horizontal rather than vertical, have neat and professional fax and email headers, or a corporate desktop on your computer or phone. Think outside the box - but inside your budget.

If you have a website, make it work for you, rather than it just being an internet based advert. If you are fielding a lot of calls asking about a certain area, save time and money by putting this information on the site and refer clients there...

Items that were previously printed material like brochures, can be approached as websites, cd-roms or corporate dvds. Send out email newsletters or pdfs instead of printed items and cut your printing and mailing bills to zero.

What about a professionally designed presentation to wow your clients or a multimedia greetings card? It is just a case of focussing your requirements and goals, and deciding the most effective way to achieve them.