On the weekend my friends were discussing house cleaners; of the group, 3 people had cleaners (two fortnightly and one had hers come weekly).

 

 

I don’t have a cleaner – that’s not to say I am better than them, far from it: I don’t have kids nor do I have as big a house (apartment, in my case) and I have a terrible confession to make I don’t hate cleaning – shocking I know – but nearly every Sunday morning I put on some music or a podcast and get to it: vacuuming, mopping, clothes, bathroom, bedroom, windows. kitchen gets wiped down every night after dishes are done. And then during the week I will do some spot cleans here and there to keep it all spick and span. It’s just not a big deal.

My friends clearly still have to do a lot of the things on my cleaning list (e.g. wiping down the kitchen bench for example) but the nitty gritty is done by the cleaners – and that’s fine! They choose to use their hours on the weekend (which are precious and all too few) doing other things and pay someone to clean – and that’s fine.

It got me thinking that there seems to be direct correlations with marketing.

1. Many people view marketing as a chore.
2. Some people do theirs in-house and some outsource their marketing.
3. Cleaning and Marketing make you look good.

On the weekend – they were actually having a laugh about the old trope of cleaning the house before the cleaner gets there to make it look respectable enough for them.

It’s often true that when you hire an agency you will still have to do some of the work. Whether it is provide a brief for us to work to or give some insight into an article we are writing or simply give feedback.

Most clients are great but sometimes we get some push back from clients or they drag their heels on answers. They view approvals or reviewing the stats from the last campaign as a chore.

But it shouldn’t be seen as a chore because it can be fun creating plans to get people excited about your company. And just like cleaning it makes you look good!

There are simple ways to change the perception of a chore

Treat yourself:

Mary Poppins had it right a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down; reward yourself when you do it on time.

Make it fun:

She’s at it again

 

Allot the time:

We are all busy and you have to prioritise – so choose the time each week/month/campaign when you will sit down and a) do the tasks required b) discuss upcoming opportunities. It will make it easier.

Positive reinforcement

Whilst you have allotted the time review how far you’ve come – it will make it all worthwhile.

And of course, even if you are a little messy doesn’t mean you can’t pretend (we are all messy sometimes)

 

 

If you have a mess that even you can’t clean – call in the professionals

 

 

– give us a buzz sometime

Our job is often to create something new almost every day. I am not always sure that customers or even those around us appreciate how difficult it can be to create something from nothing nearly every hour of every day of your life.

For us, as artists, that can be both thrilling and terrifying all at the same time, and it can also be draining.

One thing is certain is that designers, writers, videographers and producers all inherently attempt to make something great each time. And that too can be as much trouble as it is worth sometimes.

Especially when those for which you are making things for (we’ll call them clients) are often not necessarily trained nor geared to think or do what we do.

Now this article is not to place us on some pedestal, nor to belittle clients, after all what we do exists 99% of the time solely for you, but it is an article designed to offer some perspective and perhaps seek to help clients better understand the process we go through for you.

So let’s role play here a little:

• You’re a client and you need a logo, a brochure, a video or something…
• You brief your designer, now there are a few key phrases we hear almost daily:
  • “I’m not looking for anything fancy”
  • “Don’t spend too much time on it”
  • “I need it quickly”

Each of these phrases is the beginning of the exact same process, effort and compromise as someone saying, “really make it awesome, invest as much time as you can in getting the right result, but the deadline is X”… You see the only real difference is the mentality the client brings to brief, because from this point on a client’s expectation is generally the same, but ironically, the one who suggests any of those first phrases I mentioned, are likely to be the most difficult client to deal with.

Why?

There are a couple of key reasons, the phrases themselves reflect a lack of appreciation of the time, effort and inherent skill the designer and design process entails. It also generally shows a lack of genuine personal investment in the achievement of the outcome which is distinctly different from their desire for the outcome itself.

When a designer (or, a design firm, or agency) present a client with something or a range of options, one of the most difficult aspects of our job is the flippancy for which customers either dismiss ideas, overlook the thinking that went into the work or again underestimate the skill that went into its creation.

Now, I am not insinuating that we are always right, but at the same time I am insulating that customers aren’t either.

If we have selected a certain image, or left s p a c e in a design it’s generally a considered approach to a design problem, it has been worked on and tested in all matter of ways to get to the end result – a result that attempts to blend the aesthetic requirements of the task with the need to showcase and clearly display or convey information.

Now all the words in the world can succinctly showcase my point so I thought these short videos might help.

Don’t get me wrong, you are the client and your opinion matters, but if the logo is a certain size, or the designer has left space for words to breath, it is not some sort of attempt to frustrate you, but rather it is years of education, thousands of hours working at their craft and an eye for aesthetics that make them specialists in their field being provided to you as part of their service to you.

As a designer, they will always put you first, a business we will always do the same, but the creation of all the work we do, we are always open to suggestions, but before you make them, take some time and consider if your feedback reflects the best interests of the project and if it may go against the approach your design or agency partner has put forwards with the best interests of your project, your message and your audience.

Enjoy the videos.

We flipped the good old new year’s resolution on its head and are counting down the most popular ones with a slant for the marketer.

8 – “I’m going to read more”

All of us want to knock off those books on our list, but we should also be reading more on the internet, and by that, I mean reviewing your pipeline and your statistics, spending a bit of time each week to know exactly where you stand. When you are across the ins and outs fine tuning will be a breeze.

7 – “I’ve always wanted to learn a language”

The universal language of love? Nope, I am talking the universal language of the code. Learning a coding language can be a lot simpler than one would think and even if you aren’t going to use it day-to-day it helps to be self-sufficient if you need to roll up your sleeves and do some maintenance PLUS it gives you a better appreciation and understanding of how one of your most vital business systems work.

6 – “Make New Friends”

Some of us wake up one day and realise that we don’t have many close friends, perhaps after struggling to find a ripper party to go to on NYE. Building your social following or email lists can be similar – you may have once had a thriving social media life but people move on get married, unsubscribe, have kids, unfollow you. You have to continually top up your streams with new friends that want to spend time with you.

5 – “Spend more time with family and friends”

On the flipside, nothing is better than rekindling a friendship that you hold dear so before you lose your friends engage them – keeping your followers interested in what you are doing is only half the battle, don’t foget to be interested in what they are doing, who they hang out with and where they do it.

4 – “I’m going to get more sleep”

Having a regular routine is key to getting sleep; just as having a routine like a calendar for creating content and reviewing your campaigns can keep the momentum going and not find yourself running out of time for one of the most important facets of your sleep business.

3 – “Take a break”

We often get preoccupied with work and lose focus on what’s important: our lives outside of the office which is why it’s so important to take on only what you can handle and delegate responsibilities for those that could be better handles by others.

2 – “Eat Healthy, Get Fit”

Leading on from taking a break is turning yourself into a lean mean marketing machine. If you are feeding your site with all the healthy hygiene and spend time getting massive gains from your hero content that will deliver engagement and awareness of your brand.

1 – “This is the year I will get organised”

You know you have been putting it off and doing things the hard way for too long, but this is the time to do it, clean out those drawers of unwanted items and get to organising and having everything in place. That means segmenting your DBs, making sure your followers are still engaged run a reengagement campaign. Oh, and wouldn’t it be great if once everything is organised you take a break, get some sleep, spend time with friends, new and old, and all those other things? That’s right part of organising is getting that CRM perfect and using your marketing automation platform that you set up but never really put the finishing touches on.