Here’s a great way to make business enemies, ie how to multiply the number of commercial competitors you’re up against – if you really want to! (OK, maybe the word ‘enemies’ is a bit strong.) Many early stage businesses that haven’t yet found their specialist niche sometimes offer a very wide range of creative services …
Tag: customers
Design, Pricing and Profitability
Here’s a fascinating article in Wired magazine about the graphic design of restaurant menus. And here’s another menu analysed in terms of design and pricing. These are essential reading not only for graphic designers but for anyone in the creative industries interested in marketing and pricing. So that’s everyone then. Amongst other things it includes …
Think inside the box
I’m often asked what I believe the year ahead holds for creative industries, and this is often followed by a second question – what can be done to remain strong in the tough economic climate we are experiencing? It may sound rather absurd, but my advice is to think inside the box during hard times. …
Don’t hide from customers!
Why are you hiding from potential customers?! That’s what I think when a website invites me to contact “[email protected]” instead of a named person. Are there real people in there? If so, why are they hiding? Customers want to do business with people, not with a website. As a potential client, I want to know …
Alienate and Embrace Customers
The most successful creative entrepreneurs deliberately alienate those customers who don’t matter in order to more strongly embrace those who really do matter. Not all customers are good customers and marketing is about choosing the right customers; it’s not about trying to please everyone. Of course this means you have to choose which customers not …
Powerful Customers
My aunty is 85 years old and recently she got a new digital TV with a Sky Box. I was showing her how to use the remote control and I said, “Look at this. Imagine you’re watching a TV programme and you want to take a break or make a cup of coffee. All you …
Profitable Collaborations
What are the essential elements of profitable collaborations when creative businesses work together? Some ideas about effective business collaborations in the creative industries are in these articles I’ve written: Creative Collaborations and other essential C-words published by Creative Choices (2009) Creating ‘Interprises’ published on the T-Shirts and Suits blog (2007) I’m interested in your experience …
CC: Control your Copyright
Creative entrepreneurs are rightly concerned about controlling their copyright (‘not getting ripped off’) and generating income from their copyright through licensing, ie being a creative entrepreneur. It seems that we used to have only two options about what to do with our copyright material – either give it away into the ‘public domain’, or heavily …
What Google has found to be true
One of the Ten Things Google Has Found To Be True is: “It’s best to do one thing really, really well.” I agree. It’s all about strategic focus. See also: Chase One Rabbit
New Business Models
Customers are more powerful than ever. Because of changes in technology, particularly the interactive internet (Web 2.0), there has been a fundamental and irreversible shift of power in favour of consumers. Creative business that embrace this change will thrive, by using new business models such as crowd-sourcing, viral marketing, crowd-financing, buzz marketing and plogging. The …