I think it was David Ogilvy, founder of Ogilvy & Mather, one of the world's greatest advertising multinational agencies who said, "Don't buy a dog and then do the barking for it".
People telling me how to do my job (on their behalf) is a problem that I encounter almost every single day. It is not that annoying - I'm used to it and, not meaning to be a braggard, I can generally prove to them in a few minutes that when it comes to having ideas, I'm better than them. That said, I have several clients whose creativity and ingenuity is outstanding and I very much enjoy working with them to enhance their concepts.
I also have clients who, no matter how many times I suggest better ideas, don't want me to change a thing. They want it done exactly as they have told me - usually in minute detail. Fine! I'll do it and I'll bank their money. But come on! Why have they come to me really? Why do they waste my talent? Why do they ignore my experience? And quite often, how the hell do they expect their idea to generate any new business?
And what is really annoying is this: They will direct me and instruct me and ignore my advice, but will be very quick to change to a "better" designer when it dawns on them that the idea they forced on me is, as I predicted, ineffective.
Perhaps I should learn to stand my ground. I have, and do so when its worth it. I've also learned not to waste my breath arguing the toss with people who have made up their minds. Like I've already said, I'll happily take their cash, but I also have my pride. When I feel a client is simply using me like a cheap hooker, I'll sling my hook.
But all is not lost. I do have a cure for this problem that works some of the time...but I have to want the client's business enough to use it. Quite simply it is to create and execute, unbidden, my own idea. When put up against theirs, they can see the difference - and the sense.
This quite often works, but there is still a stumbling block: I don't do it to prove myself right. I do it for the sake of the client's business, and for this they can expect a fee. They can see before them their own execution and mine...They have already paid for theirs... they can choose to pay for mine as well, but I 100% own it and its copyright until the money's in my bank. They could (and this is the risk I take) just as easily choose to stick with their own idea and I have to forgo the fee and regret the wasted time.
I want my clients to put their faith in me. I'm very experienced and I have genuine talent that I itch to use. I want my clients to benefit from it. I want their businesses to grow so that they spend even more with me. I also have a testimonials page on my website where I like to display comments from satisfied clients - according to my website's visitor tracking, its one of the most popular pages.
And so endeth the lesson. I have up till now manfully resisted the use of dog metaphors but the urge is just too strong: My clients' tails are usually wagging. Their own ideas are not always a dog's dinner, even if they are barking up the wrong tree. Or just plain barking... But please! If you are a client of mine or any other self respecting creative consultant, please let us off the leash. I had better stop now.
Until next time, I'll take a bow-wow-wow.
Showing posts with label creative. Show all posts
Showing posts with label creative. Show all posts
Friday, October 17, 2008
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
The Economic Meltdown...Yay?
I refuse to let this "credit-crunch-economic-downturn-recession-depression-crack-of-doom-disaster" get to me. No way Jos´e!
First off, my phone hasn't been ringing any less. There are still lots of people wanting to set up new businesses. In fact, I think that given a bit of time, there will be an increase in business as more and more people set up small businesses offering more agile and cost effective services to businesses struggling to survive.
I'm definitely aiming a little higher too - I want to get more "proper" design work, creating stuff for clients who are beginning to baulk at the cost of their design or ad agencies' services. I'm a one-man-band. I don't have to pay account managers, secretaries, receptionists and others. And if I did recruit (and I just might be doing that soon) I'd be looking for freelances who I'd pay by the job, without having to increase my charges to the client.
Now more than ever, clients are going to demand value for money. And that's where us small guys come in. Many of us are hugely experienced, quick and burdened with mortgages we have to pay - at all costs. We're genuinely hungry. Unlike salary men and women, we have to work hard. We cannot loaf or pull sickies. We know the real cost of a holiday (earn nothing and pay for flights and accommodation). In short, we represent real value for money. Sure, there's a dearth of account handlers etc, but how many clients need an account manager when they can go direct to the source?
In times of economic hardship, those businesses that increase their marketing activities are more likely to survive - and can even overtake their competitors. Carefully chosen freelances or boutique agencies allow businesses to continue marketing whilst saving on costs. We are also very likely to increase the freshness and vibrancy of the work as the lines of communication shorten between the creative at his Mac and the client-side Marketing Director.
Yes, the economy is in trouble. Yes, we will all feel the effects. But life goes on. People still have to buy and sell at any level. Business will follow the path of least resistance. Small businesses are that path. Embrace us!
First off, my phone hasn't been ringing any less. There are still lots of people wanting to set up new businesses. In fact, I think that given a bit of time, there will be an increase in business as more and more people set up small businesses offering more agile and cost effective services to businesses struggling to survive.
I'm definitely aiming a little higher too - I want to get more "proper" design work, creating stuff for clients who are beginning to baulk at the cost of their design or ad agencies' services. I'm a one-man-band. I don't have to pay account managers, secretaries, receptionists and others. And if I did recruit (and I just might be doing that soon) I'd be looking for freelances who I'd pay by the job, without having to increase my charges to the client.
Now more than ever, clients are going to demand value for money. And that's where us small guys come in. Many of us are hugely experienced, quick and burdened with mortgages we have to pay - at all costs. We're genuinely hungry. Unlike salary men and women, we have to work hard. We cannot loaf or pull sickies. We know the real cost of a holiday (earn nothing and pay for flights and accommodation). In short, we represent real value for money. Sure, there's a dearth of account handlers etc, but how many clients need an account manager when they can go direct to the source?
In times of economic hardship, those businesses that increase their marketing activities are more likely to survive - and can even overtake their competitors. Carefully chosen freelances or boutique agencies allow businesses to continue marketing whilst saving on costs. We are also very likely to increase the freshness and vibrancy of the work as the lines of communication shorten between the creative at his Mac and the client-side Marketing Director.
Yes, the economy is in trouble. Yes, we will all feel the effects. But life goes on. People still have to buy and sell at any level. Business will follow the path of least resistance. Small businesses are that path. Embrace us!
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Lets talk about the money
Most people know that if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.
It never ceases to amaze me therefore, how little people are prepared to spend on their marketing. Sure, times are tight and start-ups need to watch their pennies, but I see more small businesses wasting their money on bad design, bad websites and marketing collateral than I see wise investment.
The problem is multi-faceted and not just the fault of the small businesses. These days, anyone who owns a computer and a bit of (often illegally copied) software can call themselves a designer (I own a pen but that doesn't necessarily make me a great writer). And some, the gifted salesmen among them, do very well out of selling their clients bad or at best, mediocre work.
The client walks away happy; he got a bargain and he likes the colours. His market may think otherwise. They, unlike the designer or his unwitting client, can tell the cheap and nasty - especially when they are shopping around. Brand A is compared to Brand B and first impressions start counting.
A good designer will first of all be visually literate. He'll create work that has balance, elegance and is appropriate to the product and its market. The design will sit well against competing brands yet will be unique. Quirks will be "right" and any experiments or abandonment of convention will be carefully considered and supported by well reasoned arguments.
Lets face it, clients come to designers because they need someone to do something they cannot do themselves. Its a tragedy that quite often the designers are no better than the clients. I see it all the time in branding, brochures and websites. I see where clients have happily shelled out money for work that would get the "designer" fired from even the most junior position in a proper agency.
And the irony is, using a decent designer probably won't cost much more anyway. As designers, bogus or otherwise, we all know what sort of rates clients are prepared to pay. We all get to quote against each other and even know that sometimes, we've lost work to someone who is genuinely going to give better bang for the clients buck. But not often. The reality is that every day, the DTP revolution empowers more and more people, save a for a tiny few, to flood the world with bargain basement mediocrity.
Am I angry about this? Well, yes and no. Yes, I lose business to the wannabes who have also driven down the price and perceived value of good design. And no, there are still some clients who appreciate the value of quality design - and those who have suddenly found the wannabes to be, err... wanting: those who have contacted me or one of my "proper" competitors to rescue their brands, their websites and marketing campaigns from obscurity.
It never ceases to amaze me therefore, how little people are prepared to spend on their marketing. Sure, times are tight and start-ups need to watch their pennies, but I see more small businesses wasting their money on bad design, bad websites and marketing collateral than I see wise investment.
The problem is multi-faceted and not just the fault of the small businesses. These days, anyone who owns a computer and a bit of (often illegally copied) software can call themselves a designer (I own a pen but that doesn't necessarily make me a great writer). And some, the gifted salesmen among them, do very well out of selling their clients bad or at best, mediocre work.
The client walks away happy; he got a bargain and he likes the colours. His market may think otherwise. They, unlike the designer or his unwitting client, can tell the cheap and nasty - especially when they are shopping around. Brand A is compared to Brand B and first impressions start counting.
A good designer will first of all be visually literate. He'll create work that has balance, elegance and is appropriate to the product and its market. The design will sit well against competing brands yet will be unique. Quirks will be "right" and any experiments or abandonment of convention will be carefully considered and supported by well reasoned arguments.
Lets face it, clients come to designers because they need someone to do something they cannot do themselves. Its a tragedy that quite often the designers are no better than the clients. I see it all the time in branding, brochures and websites. I see where clients have happily shelled out money for work that would get the "designer" fired from even the most junior position in a proper agency.
And the irony is, using a decent designer probably won't cost much more anyway. As designers, bogus or otherwise, we all know what sort of rates clients are prepared to pay. We all get to quote against each other and even know that sometimes, we've lost work to someone who is genuinely going to give better bang for the clients buck. But not often. The reality is that every day, the DTP revolution empowers more and more people, save a for a tiny few, to flood the world with bargain basement mediocrity.
Am I angry about this? Well, yes and no. Yes, I lose business to the wannabes who have also driven down the price and perceived value of good design. And no, there are still some clients who appreciate the value of quality design - and those who have suddenly found the wannabes to be, err... wanting: those who have contacted me or one of my "proper" competitors to rescue their brands, their websites and marketing campaigns from obscurity.
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