As the credit crunch forces businesses to tighten their belts across the country, ask yourself before you tighten your own belt if what your business needs right now is less marketing and less promotion?

During a downturn it’s common for marketing budgets to be cut, however there are other ways of reducing your spending during a difficult time than cutting your spending where you actually need it the most.

It’s also not uncommon for businesses to fold during a downturn - don’t become one of those businesses, you can tough it out and when the other firms are folding around you, watch your own brand become stronger as you gain an even greater share of the market!

Here are some tips to keep your head above the water…
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Concerned about what your customers think of you? You should be - and Stationery Direct printing service can help improve that all important company image.
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Big thanks to The Urban Kitchen today who sent me these very delightful gifts to thank me for my assistance over the years since they started their business.

The Urban Kitchen approached Truly Ace in 2004 to design a brand image for their gourmet catering business.

The Urban Kitchen not only offer corporate catering, and catering for events such as birthdays, wedding and hen parties, but also very popular cookery classes at two different London area locations.

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I applied to the very popular ‘Designers-Who-Blog’ website some time ago, which showcases, well - ‘designers who blog’ (does what it says on the tin), and hadn’t heard anything and so thought maybe I’d been forgotten.

Then last week whilst checking my inbound links I found the piece written about me by Cat (click), it’s really really nice!

For about the trillionth time, a day or so ago I heard a familiar question aired on a business networking forum; “What is the difference between a logo and a brand”.

Often it’s asked because people don’t believe that a logo is a brand and they seek to challenge those who might say that a logo is a brand. They are right a logo isn’t a brand.

But unfortunately they often don’t really appreciate how a logo is very intrinsically linked to a brand. Without a good logo, you will struggle to build a solid and convincing brand.

I’ll explain;

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Whilst I’m aware that solar power exists, it never really occurred to me that one day a company would offer something as forward thinking and ethical as solar powered web hosting!

Lightbeing Creations, which is an ethical web design and hosting company, offer solar powered web hosting, I daresay they are one of the first to do so.

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I don’t often post links to other people’s blogs as it feels a bit lazy to me, I do like to try my best to create new content for this blog, but I thought this particular blog was so useful I just have to.

So many times I find myself explaining to potential customers the different components that make up a web design project, from the actual design, to the build and to completion and onwards and I found today a blog by Simon Jones of Zako Media Web Design that sums it all up perfectly and even offers some solid advice to boot…

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You may have noticed if you have been here before, that the blog style is different. You may have also noticed you can’t post a comment because I’ve messed up the comment section in my attempts to pretend to be a web developer.

I’ve messaged my website developer asking them to bail me out asap….hopefully normal functions will be resumed soon!

Lesson learned: Stop being impatient and leave things that you don’t know barely anything about to the professionals

I’m in a funk, a funk about the state of my house, and the state of the concept of ‘customer service’.

I don’t even know where to start.

I think the funk first began about two days ago after pouring through the pages of Ideal Home, when it became quickly apparent to me that my home is far from ideal.

Why?

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I’m a supporter of the No Spec campaign and never under any circumstances work for free, and indeed without a deposit, however with the exception of registered charities.

A few weeks ago I was unduly flattered when I was approached by Cancer Research UK to design posters and more for their campaign in my local town, who advised they were looking for a creative designer (they probably asked everyone and I was probably the only half decent designer who said yes! ha ha).

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