WHY BRANDS SHOULD WRITE BLOGS

Whether you call it copy, content, news, updates, articles or blogs, writing words that you share regularly with your customers is becoming more and more important for businesses.   Blogs generally fall into one of the below topics: Product information  |  Service information  |  News  |  Corporate messaging  |  Industry education  |  Work reviews  |  Industry updates  |    Blogging was once considered the domain of young people who wanted to share their every thought, sort of like a diary online. Now, bloggers are major influencers online and writing a corporate blog has a host of benefits for your brand. Here’s why you should be putting pen to paper (or keys to screen) for your business.   Become an expert voice in your industry or space Blogs provide an excellent avenue for brands to share insights on your product, service or corporate mission and culture – heck, it can provide you with an opportunity to criticise your competitors or call for greater legislation. A blog provides you with an opportunity to share your knowledge with your customer base and allows you to position yourself as an expert within your field. But with great power comes great responsibility – make sure that you have a clear, strong, correct message and take time to really consider what it is you want to say, who you’re targeting and what you want them to get out of it.   Contributions to SEO – particularly with googles new changes Blogging contributes in a number of different ways to your search engine optimisation – it provides more keywords for Google to index from your site and updating content attracts users to your website in the first place. The Google algorithms are constantly changing, and in the latest update in June of 2018, Google announced that they will be giving greater search results to those brands who create engaging, regularly updated content that people want to read. So whether you’re publishing blogs on topics that people regularly search relative to your business, or whether you’re explaining concepts, strategies and processes, what you write will contribute more than ever to the discoverability of your brand.   Forced consideration Sometimes, particularly with new products or services, brands just create these things out of a perceived customer need. The marketing strategy, the communication strategy, where precisely the product or service fits in the market – that can be a bit…

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REDESIGNING MY OWN LOGO

I have always maintained that one of the biggest issues in small business is that you, the owner, almost shouldnt have time to work on your own business – because when you do, that means there’s not as much work coming through the door. Like the mechanic who’s car is always falling apart, or the hairdresser who hasn’t had a colour in forever. It happens to us all. While I make a really active effort to make sure that my content is being updated, my website is fresh and my socials are looking great, there’s usually something that gives in these situations. And for me, it was my branding. I had simply out grown it. But the challenge and time it was going to take to sit down and rework was daunting. Really daunting! The problem with creating your own design work is that everything you touch must be the epitome of your work. You have no client to bail up and fall back on and cry about because they chose the wrong concept or gave you too restrictive a brief. This must be the pinnacle of what you can do, the hallmark piece that represents your style, your aesthetic and your approach. I know my lovely friend Kate from Two Wild Hands struggled with the same pressure when working on her own wedding recently, although hot damn did she pull it off. The aim was to create something simple, a mark that would stand the test of time but show creativity, multiple streams of service and embody the simplicity and clean lines that I truly love in good design. There’s some cute nod’s to things like responsive design and feminism there, but ultimately I have aimed to create a logo that encapsulates where I want my design to be, and I am proud of this design. If you’re feeling daunted by the idea of doing the hard work to get your own stuff up to scratch, here’s a cheerleader in your camp saying just go and do it. You will feel 100% better than if you didn’t. If you’re ready to overhaul your logo, your brand, your marketing collateral, social media or your product, I want to help you. All you have to do is get in touch and I will help make you something that YOU love as much as I love my new logo.

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KAYLA + LEWIS WEDDING STATIONARY

I love working on weddings. As a graphic designer, normally something I produce is the first indication of the style of the event that guests are invited to, and that’s a pretty special thing. It is an incredible opportunity to be part of someone’s dream day, whatever that looks like and to help alleviate some of the stress around weddings.

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Should you work for free?

When you are first starting out as a graphic designer, everyone is desperate for work. Whether you’re still a student and you need pieces in a portfolio to get that first job, or whether you are wanting to start a freelance business – everyone has done a free gig at one time or another.

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People who tell you starting a business is easy are lying to you.

I had a fairly in-depth conversation with a good friend the other day about life and business and everything that is going on, and she made a fairly sweeping statement – “It’s so nice to hear from someone who is doing cool stuff but didn’t just fall into it.”   Maybe it’s that others wrap it up in a fairy-floss coating, but I cannot believe that anyone in business for themselves, whether its full time, part time or a side hustle, could have “fallen into it”. It sounds too much like that stupid idiom you see plastered on Pinterest and Instagram “Love what you do and you will never work a day in your life”.   It’s just not bloody true.

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You have to want to be in Business.

I am very lucky in life that I have been raised by two people who have run their own businesses. My mother has run multiple businesses over the past 40 years, most notably when she ran a plant hire business in Wollongong, employing 5 staff and with plants placed in all major hotels, pubs and clubs; her most recent endeavours The Secret Garden and My Productive Backyard and when she conned my sister and I into selling veggies for her in our neighbourhood (we were cute sales people and made more money that way). My father has run his own financial planning practice, Innovus Advice, for the past 10 years but ran someone else’s practice for years before that as a partner and managing director.   Why am I telling you all of this?

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What the hell is social media engagement?

Engagement is one of the most tossed around terms in marketing. No longer is it just a phrase we use in digital marketing, now we are talking about the engagement at events, the engagement with printed collateral and the engagement of our spouse with the dishes (I have the data – the engagement is none). But what does it actually mean?

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HOW TO TURN YOUR SIDE HUSTLE INTO A BUSINESS

I took the not-so-conventional route to growing my side hustle into a business, and now my major source of income. Or maybe it is actually a more conventional route. I started freelancing as soon as I knew I could do design. I had originally gotten into graphic design because I wanted to one day own my own business and have the flexibility that that brings – so I went into this experience eyes wide open knowing that running my own business was in my future. The vision with the side hustle was to start small and work my way up. Get a book of clients together, enough to cover my salary, and then when I got there, quit the corporate job and go legit. And I guess it kind of worked out like that – but there are some things I did well, and others I didn’t do so well that have taught me a few things about the change from nights-and-weekends side hustle to all-encompassing small business.   Start small, but make a start Get your side hustle going, whatever that looks like for you. Start an Instagram and talk about what you’re doing, or start trading your services with your mates and go from there. Be serious about it as future business, register yourself for an ABN, speak to a financial advisor about how to work this into your tax and create a brand. However you choose to start is completely fine, but make a start and do it intentionally.   Build it up slowly No-one is going to go out and tell you to quit your day job and make candles full time. And if they do I think that’s really crappy advice. Yes, if you’re loving your side hustle more than your job and you KNOW that’s what you want to do full-time, then have that as a goal. But that takes time of the side hustle being just that – so don’t just go and pack everything in so soon. Work out whether the business model is sustainable, work out whether it’s truly something you can do for a career and not get sick of it, work out how you are going to cover your monthly expenses. Get your ducks in a row. Use the time while the side hustle is that to work out kinks – are you any good at chasing invoices? No?…

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We combine the best of design with the best bits of marketing to create a wholistic experience for your customers, offering a one-stop-shop solution for our clients across Australia. It is this integrated approach that offers the best value for our customers.

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