Delineate

It’s the universal issue for a small business – lack of resources. We’d all love a designer on hand to put into images what we’re trying to say, and with the arrival of marketplaces like Fivver and DesignCrowd on the internet scene, it’s very tempting to skip the pain of paying for a graphic designer and start a logo design project with someone halfway around the world. In fact, as the owner of a company with my biggest overhead being their wage bill, would not a jaunt of a website such as these be far easier than paying for designers to sit in our office? One of the biggest obstacles that arise from working with designers online is important aspects of your business that you want to convey is lost in translation. I’m not referring to language barriers, but in that, it’s hard to communicate the important things you want to get across, and less important without having a face-to-face meeting. Designers pick up on the nuances, emphases, and enthusiasm of a business owner when they talk about their business that often even the business owner doesn’t even know they’re doing. But for those small businesses that don’t have a trusted designer that they can call on, then here are some tips for getting the most out of a designer online.

Look out for pricing pitfalls

As with many things on the internet (and in advertising in general), often the stated price is actually the ‘starting’ price. It might cost you five (United States) dollars to get your project started, but which designers are in the lineup at that price? The more qualified designers begin in the hundreds of dollars, so be sure you have a clear idea of budget versus your expectations. Many of these sites also offer a money-back guarantee. Ensure you read the fine print. You may not get your posting fee back (which is another cost to consider).

Have a (really) clear understanding of where you want the design to be used

When you look at something in isolation, for example a website design without your content and photos in it, or a logo that’s been supplied with a Photoshop effect (embossed on paper, and on a jaunty angle), it’s hard to really visualize how it will look on invoices or a website header. Print the logo out, on white, and shrink it down to the size of a business card. See if it works as a wide, skinny (horizontal) logo on the top of a website header. Print it in black and white and see if it is still legible, and has the same impact and feeling as in colour. Finally, put it on a coloured photo and see if it holds its own.

Know your market, know your business and stay true to your values

Have you ever gone to the supermarket to buy bread and milk and walked out with ten other things? There is a reason the milk is at the far end of the supermarket - to make you walk past all the other options on display. It’s easy to get so tied up in the design process that when a designer shows you a ‘really cool’ design, you buy on emotion, instead of weighing up if it actually suits your business, as opposed to just being a shiny, exciting new object. Give your new design the grill down. Does it really appeal to your target market? Does it reflect your values? If it’s a wishy-washy, pretty logo, does it suit you as a car yard? Does your tagline work with it? Will it work on a dark background? Is it an improvement of what you already have?

Know what to do once you have the files

Nothing new, or bleeding edge is perfect right off. We know it takes time and determination (and a little luck) to build a great business. But those ‘lucky’ businesses got it right by building relationships not just with their suppliers, but with their customer as well. Are you making a transaction or building a relationship with your customer? There seems to be a distinction that businesses make between a ‘customer’ and a ‘client’. I’ve always assumed a customer is someone with whom you determine the value of a one-off transaction with, while a client is someone who’s long-term spend is calculated, and valued and therefore someone you build a relationship with. It’s far more economical to make multiple sales to one client than to spend money chasing new sales which make building a relationship a far more sustainable business model, even if you don’t see the profits straight away.

Finger pointing vs problem-solving

Another distinction in the ‘transaction versus relationship’ subject is reflected in your business model. For example, I had a client that had an issue with a sign-writer that they had chosen themselves. When something went wrong with the sign printing, instead of focussing on solving the problem the sign-writer was focussed on finger pointing. The issue was caused by an uneducated mistake on the client’s part, in that they sent the low-resolution file instead of final art work. But the finger pointing really started when we suggested that they might have noticed the file was low res and asked the client for a better file. The signwriter’s words were “I just hit print four times (for the four signs), it’s not my job to check the files”. This is an example of a company basing their business model on transactions, rather than relationships. The fear of not making a profit on this transaction through, as he saw it, no fault of his own, blinded him to the need to keep the customer in a relationship.

Be the professional

If the difference between successful brands and the lesser ones is about relationships. The accountant, lawyer, web developer, or graphic designer are paid by the client to be experts in their field. With regards to the sign-writer example, if the sign company based their business on relationships than their processes (of checking files, for example) would reflect that in having their client’s back. The ‘all care, and no responsibility’ that is given to clients by professionals in too many service-based industries in that they want to ‘help’ but not own the outcome in any way to me means they should be ditching the ‘client’ term in favour of a customer transaction.

Relationships are about the good times and the bad

The Profit’s Marcus Lemonis is a man who knows what works in business. But even more, he’s a man who knows which people work, and how to make them think differently to succeed in business. I’ve been a recent addict to NBC’s The Profit, where Lemonis buys into a failing small business in order to turn them around. He is often spending up to $500,000 per business, he has more than a passing interest in making them succeed. However, his main condition in buying in is: he is in control. Though his business acumen, systems, and know-how are what makes the business able to be turned around for the better, the biggest change he makes is with regards to the business owners attitude. In fact, much of the criteria, other than they have a viable business, is in the personality of the owners. Through each episode, there are the personality clashes and direction arguments that come with requiring ratings, but the biggest changes come when the owner is willing to be ‘coached’. The business owners learn to stick up for themselves, or the opposite, pull their heads in as they are either bullied by staff or family, or the owner is the bully themselves.

Adjust your own business role

In each episode, the owner’s attitude does a full one-eighty as they learn to look at their business in a different way. They learn to respect themselves – and what person wouldn’t when a millionaire believes in you, you learn to believe in, and respect yourself. With new attitudes comes a bigger vision for the business. The end business may not be what the owner imaged when they made the call for help, but that’s exactly the point. What they are left with is a business in which the role the business owner adopts plays to their strengths, while they delegate the roles that they are not so suited to.

Think in a different way

In one episode, Los Gemelos, a tortilla manufacturer, had an old factory that was not up to code. Their product had survived a large player coming to the market but was losing more and more of their hold, and profit, every week. While the owner’s mindset was that they needed a new factory, Lemonis’ solution was to contract another manufacturer, to use their recipe to produce the tortillas. This relationship then brought about an additional relationship, where complimentary salsas were created, to the owner’s recipe, in another manufacturing company. An additional relationship and partnership were in enrolling comedian George Lopez to endorse the brand.  The company was then able to create an unlimited supply of tortillas, that their existing factory would not allow for, and open the door to supply larger chain stores their product, as well as leverage off a known ‘brand’. 

Be real about what you’re selling

In the case of Murchinson-Hume, a household cleaning product, the owner is an ex-magazine editor who has created a line of natural cleaning products. She had beautiful labels that looked like they should be on a range of high-end wine and not on a toilet cleaner. There was a huge disconnect between the way the product was presented, and what was inside, leaving too much to the customers' imagination for them to make the connection and pay the too high price tag. The business owner was not honest with herself about what she was selling – cleaning products – and her point of difference focus was on the brand and the labels. Where, in reality, she had off-point labels and no brand leverage to speak of to gamble her whole businesses future on. In a flooded market, wine, for example, is bought on the combination of the reputation of the maker, the branding, distribution and price point, but cleaners need to operate on a whole different business model. Lemonis’ intervention and the influence of the staff had no effect on the business owner, who could not forgo the pretty labels for the sake of the business, and the two parted ways.

Extend your reach

A team of dedicated tourism marketers are selling New Zealand as a 100% Pure destination. What happens when the brand doesn’t follow through on its promises?

Increasing your marketing and creating a new logo doesn’t change who you are. A brand company can receive the best brief in the world. What would you do in my shoes if a DVD rental company came to me and asked for a rebrand – a new logo, a positioning statement, a social media campaign, to help them respond to the downturn in their business? Should I take their money knowing that only a major change in their business model, product and way of conducting business is the only thing that could save them?

I realise this is an extreme example but is New Zealand heading down the same track? We have invested heavily in changing our landscape and culture to accommodate dairying. And while it is bringing in a profit now, is it wise to continue to go in this direction when it is in complete contrast with the real, ongoing, underlying values of this country? The most disturbing and frustrating thing is that we are actually marketing New Zealand as clean and green while continuing to change the green nature of our landscape. It is frustrating because, as we spend money on tourism promotion we are admitting to knowing this is the way of the future, but we don’t want to let go of the fast, but often volatile, cash it brings us.

When it is not a priority for our country to have 100% swimmable, yet alone drinkable waterways than by advertising us as 100% Pure (view the article here), in whatever context the marketers are implying, are we not going down the path of trying to promote our DVD rental store instead of addressing the real issue with the country as a business?

As a small country, with limited finances, we can think of ourselves as the small business. Small businesses have small budgets. But, small businesses have the ability to change their business offering with relative ease (and smart planning). We do this with our clients by having that grass roots, heart to heart with them. What are the underlying values of the business? What are they passionate about? Why did they go into business in the first place?

New Zealand should ask us the same questions. We don’t need to dig too deep to find the answers.

You know what I mean? One minute you’re on your favourite shopping website then, next minute, the very item you were looking at appears as a banner ad, or on your Facebook feed.

It’s a little trick that Facebook (and Google) calls ‘remarketing’. When you visit a website advertisers drop cookies on your browser.  The result is that, when you go back to your Facebook feed, the very product you were looking at shows up!

When I first read about this targeted marketing I did feel a sense of my privacy being invaded and that Big Brother was actually watching me! The thing we forget about Facebook and Google is that these are actually not owned by ‘The People’, but by corporates whose main mission for being is to make money. Much like a TV commercial helps pay the way for us to watch free to air television, these corporates are making their money by providing a way for its advertisers to promote their wares. The only difference is that they are also, to draw an analogy, taking a peek through our windows to see what we have in our home, to help their advertisers better place their promotions.

How does it work?

What I’m talking about is a product called Facebook Exchange (FBX). When you browse a participating FBX website store (you don’t know when you are!) that 1st party places a small piece of data on your browser – a ‘cookie’. 3rd party businesses associated with that site also place cookies on your browser. When you browse your Facebook page that data is picked up by FBX and then advertisers bid to have their advert put in front of you. A little bit like how Google advertising works (where you ‘bid’ a dollar value on keywords that people may search) but on sites that you have already been to.

In sales, we call this a ‘warm call’

Where Google advertising is a coldish call – the targeted person still has to choose to visit your website as a solution to the thing they are searching – the remarketing campaign is more like a warm call. They already know you have visited their site and know exactly what you have looked at, and so they can present it back to you for another chance to buy.

What we should be asking is, is this a good advertising medium for us to try in our business? But even before that decision can be made, we’re required to have a better knowledge of our consumers and how we interact with them. Do they want to be reminded to come back to us to buy something? If we know we are getting traffic to our website, but not so many sales, and we have checked our eCommerce process (for example) thoroughly, then should we try a mechanism that brings them back?

Have you taken the time to take a fresh look at how your customer sees your business? When we look at our own business too often, we start to see what we expect, and not what is really there.

There is a place in my local food court that sells freshly made food. The area where they prepare their food is spotless, but this front facing part of their bench – the customer facing part – is home to a dozen dust bunnies sitting around the back (as they see it) of their machine. You can see that they have not stood where their customer stands and seen their business from their perspective in a very long time. The second issue is, there is obviously no one assigned to ensure the business is presented well. The chef is responsible for a clean workstation, the service person is responsible for a clean counter at the point of sale and that part of the counter. But to both these parties, ‘behind the coffee machine’ is on the peripherals of both these areas, and the responsibility of no one.

But are we all guilty of this? We ‘branders’ love to harp on about our brand touchpoints. That is, those places in our business where our customer interacts with us, be it the phone, our reception or even (especially) our retail space. Brand representatives vie for prime position on supermarket shelves, and it’s a science as to how the customer engages with the products to lure us into more purchases. For example, supermarkets make us walk through the whole store in order to grab the basics of bread and milk. Is it time we took a leaf out of their book?

Mind the gap

A little less obvious though, is when a customer needs to interact with different departments as part of one transaction. Say you purchase a printer; you deal with the sales person. You then might talk to the finance department to arrange payment. Then you are passed off (usually as a matter of default) to the technician, who delivers and installs the printer. Then, if something goes wrong, you talk to the support team. This may seem quite self-explanatory but because as a business we treat these systems as a combination of individual ‘teams’ we don’t really think of the customer’s entire experience with the company as a whole, and they can often fall into the void that is the gap that forms when moving from one department to another. 

By understanding how graphic designers work, you'll be able to produce a better brief and get more out of their services. Here's what makes them tick.

When working with people who get paid in exchange for creative ideas and designs it’s a matter of finding the right fit for your business and this starts with good communication.

You need to know your business

You need to be very clear about what the objectives are and reasons for the design project. You also need to be clear in your head regarding your business brand, it’s target audience and your point of difference. It’s not the designer's job to rewrite your business plan. The clearer and tighter your project brief, the more time your designer can spend on what they are trained for - design.

Designers need to know your budgets

Most people, creatives included, get uncomfortable about talking about dollars. They’re usually more keen to talk about the design outcomes than they are about how much that outcome will cost.

Most designers can conceptualise how long something will take. Ask them for a guide on times, and understand that this time is not usually in one go. Then know their hourly rate. 

Designers need to know your deadlines

If a designer has quoted ten hours, this is not done in one sitting, so don’t expect them to spend two five hour days to complete your job. A creative will approach your job in chunks. First, they will research, and collate ideas. They might come back later (or on another day) to sketch up the ideas that they’ve collected. They will then put it aside, to come back with fresh eyes. Expect the designer to have picked up and put down your job about four to six times before they come back to you with ideas. Yes, that’s about one week to ten working days. This results in a better quality product, and better value for money, because the designer is actually thinking about your project even off the clock, as they scope for ideas throughout their non-working day. 

Designers aren’t as precious as you think

When a designer presents you with their ideas, they are not going to throw their hands up in a tantrum if you don’t like them. There are key points in a creative process that the designer needs feedback from the client. Remember, though the drafts may be digital, they are not the final art. Designers need to know as much about what you don’t like, as much as what you do like. In fact, the negative feedback can be more valuable than thinking something is just okay.

They will throw their hands up, however, if you change your mind about your strategy, meaning they have to start the research process again. Know your strategy before you engage the designer.

Designers aren’t copywriters. Or tagline creators. Or campaign writers.

You’ve got a great product. Now you just need the right label to make it sell. Or do you? Product branding is as much about your business plan as it is about what’s in the box, or on the label.

Here’s a brief overview of what really needs to go into your product (other than the stuff in the bottle!)

Whether it’s for economic reasons or to maintain control, here’s some things you should consider before creating a website on a DIY website builder.

Manage your time

From the minute you start browsing for templates it’s like you’ve entered a time sucker. Make sure you record your time (after all, your time is your asset, so use it efficiently, and use a time deadline to keep you on task.) 

Search relevant templates

Make sure you use the search facilities that many of these sites offer. Start with searching within your industry relevant templates. Though this might seem obvious, you will be tempted to see all your options to make sure you’re choosing the right one. Remember, you’re not trying to reinvent the wheel and those industry relevant templates will offer more than just design. They’ll give you the prompts you need to think about what content to include on your site. 

Content is king

Speaking of content, map out your site content before you do anything else. Think about what you want your user to do at each page – do you want them to learn more, contact you, or make a purchase? Content with purpose is the most valuable tool you can have when creating a website. And your content should always be supported by great imagery. 

Get graphic with your words

Stay focused in your hunt for imagery. Stock photo sites like Shutterstock or 123rf.com are a time sucker. They’re like the time vortex of searching for the website template, but on hyperdrive. Use narrow search terms that are led by your content. If need be, create a ‘mood board’ of images that not only express the views of that page but, also communicate your desired look and feel for your site. Either stick with the theme of the website template, and keep in a similar style, or find a suite of images that are tied visually by colour, tone or style. The hardest part can be in choosing what not to include, more than what to publish on the site.

Make the image fit the gap

Some website builders have in-browser image editors. Use these to crop your images appropriately so the message is not lost. By focusing in on the part of the image that drew you in, you’ll make it easier for the user to see what you see too. Additionally, these can also be a great way to apply a filter to all your images in order to tie them together - in tone, or style.

Get savvy on launching your site before you want to launch

You’ve no doubt told more than a few people about your upcoming new site. There’s nothing more frustrating than being ready to launch that site only to find you can’t figure out how to redirect your domain name to the new hosting. That is assuming you have registered a domain name. (If you haven’t, then stop reading and go do it. Now!) Log into your domain name registrar site and find out where everything goes. Then do the same with your website builder. These two web places need to link up if you’re to go live. 

Don’t neglect your site after launch day

New Zealanders had a taste of one type of design process. Regardless of how you feel about the outcome, the thing that is glaring me in the face is how we were led to getting through this process.

Though this flag consultation process is far from a brand process, because our flag is not a brand (Air NZ is a brand, 100% NZ was a branding exercise, Fonterra milk is a brand.) the reasons that many chose to embrace change were based on the same rationale that I see on a daily basis from companies who want a change in the way they are represented.

They forgot about the ‘Why’

The first question that should be asked is "Why do you want to change your identity?" Reasons such as: needing a new representation when a company changes direction; Wanting to look more professional; Wanting to redefine what you stand for – these are all valid reasons to begin a rebrand discussion. But, no matter the reason, for a decision as large, and with as many implications of a rebrand, there must be a process that the decision makers are led through that, whatever the outcome, the result is one of buy in. A process is the only way buy in can ever be gotten.

The design process of your website is the exciting part of creating new website as you are lead through a process of discovery, brief writing and design. Once you're past that initial phase however, you're often flummoxed when the project is deemed 'done' as far as the web developer is concerned, and it is thrown to you to ‘provide content’.

Let's be honest, it’s blimmin' hard to write content about your own business. I know, because I often struggle with writing about my own ’stuff’, and I do this for a living. Then it gets even harder when you then have to figure out some new software in order to upload said content to the site.

Technology has now caught up with what we want our website to to for our clients. We develop the ‘map’ and design of the site at the same time as the content. With this strategy process we can then tweak pages to work to our advantage, and not be constrained by a framework that has already been created, signed off and charged for…

PLUS the price is far less than the traditional staged approach because the strategy fits hand in glove with the content and design. So you get a finished (yes, completed, launch able, written) website for the same, if not less than an empty shell.

Let's get to the nitty gritty

OK, so you’re still with me – then I think you’re on board with what I’m saying, so I can be a little more open.

I’ve had a month of people approaching me for website content. The site framework has been built, and the agency has thrown the job back to the client to ‘please supply the content’. This approach is a bit like building the framework for a house, then asking someone to come in and move it to a different spot. A house is planned, designed and then built to incorporate the needs of the customer, plus the section it will stand on, the budget of the customer and also to allow them to put their personal stamp on it. Sure, you can move a house later (usually), but it’s always going to be a bit glitchy.

In this digital age, why are we creating websites by building a framework for them, without even looking at what it need to do. If you’re trying to capture peoples attention, it’s not going to work if your site looks like a spreadsheet because it’s too hard to engage the images with the content.

We've broken the web developer mould!

You can then understand my excitement now that we’ve broken down the secret IT walls of the web and can now assist our client with website creation services – from the planning to the foundations, to the build, while approaching it with an organic and realistic process to best reflect your business online.

When we take our clients through our interviews and workshop process, we often ask the question "Who are your clients' customers?". It's something we should all know the answer to and can be the difference between creating a 'me-centric' board-pleasing, shot in the dark campaign, and a successful 'client-focussed' investment in your business advertising.

Here's a little story to explain what I mean. I'm a keen, mad coffee drinker, and I have two coffee establishments that I go to that are an extension of their roasting factory. They've put a cafe in place for anyone to be able to drink their coffee as it should be made.

The coffee industry is an interesting business model, but for any coffee supplier to be successful, then need to do more than supply great beans. They also need to ensure that their product is provided to the end user (ie, their customers' customer) in the best way possible. My two favourite coffee roasters have these cafes to a) their direct customer knows how to make the best coffee with their product, and b) to ensure the end consumer knows what a great coffee should taste like.

I was recently in a small town when we stopped into a 'tearoom' for a coffee. Always weary of the fact that a barista is a learned art, and not just anyone can use a coffee machine properly, we decided to buy a coffee - the tearoom in question did, in fact, use one of our favourite beans. As I ordered, my eye landed on several certificates sitting on the wall displaying the credentials of the baristas advertising that they trained under the watch of the coffee supplier. True to their certification, the coffees were fantastic - just like we'd got them straight from the supplier’s cafe!

The moral of this story is two-fold:

Help your customer to be a better business!

That's right, build a loyalty to your product or service by helping your customer be the best they can, which is done in turn, by you understanding their customer.

Help people understand more about their problem

By simply displaying their 'accreditation' and telling me they did, in fact understand that being a barista is a learned skill, I felt better assured that my $4.50 was being well spent (let's face it, everyone charges that much, whether they can make a coffee or not), and took away my learned fear of getting served a bad coffee from a good machine. They advertised that they knew how to use the machine, and they backed it up with a great coffee.

We've all heard the old adage that "A picture says 1,000 words", however, we underestimate how true (and important) it is. When you're trying to convey something to someone in a conversation, more often than not, you reach for a napkin and draw a sketch to better illustrate your point (pun intended)?

There is a rise on the internet of infographics, which are a compilation of ideas with a common thread, that use a long diagram to visually lead the user through a series of thoughts, and facts. Each part can be read in isolation, but they encourage the viewer to wander around the information at their own pace, picking out parts of the data that best stand out to them.

Imagine if you could get your existing or potential customer to spend time wandering around your sales pitch, absorbing the information and becoming convinced that your services or product can help solve their needs.

Sales Versus Education

Now let's get back to your sales tactics. The most effective way to help sell a product or service is to educate the consumer. In sales, we talk about WIIFM (What's In It For Me) for our customer. That is, stop telling them all the features of your product or service and simply listen to what their problem is, then get that paper napkin out and start sketching how you can solve their problem!

But let's take a step backwards and discuss your marketing. The WIIFM also applies to your marketing. To be effective, and without the added advantage of being in front of your customer, listening to what they need, you have to guess (assume) as to what the driver is that makes them pick up the phone, or visit your website in order to have that problem solved. This involves getting all the information about your product or service and putting a hierarchy together to hope that the most important issue to them appears in the main headline.

This is where the infographic can add so much value. As I mentioned, they allow a lot of information to be presented at the same time, but give the viewer (or potential customer) the opportunity to be drawn to what is important to them, and then explore the rest of the information that encompasses that information.

I know this sounds wonderfully simple in an ideal world, but the trick is to be able to work hand in hand with a creative who can help you put those thoughts into images.

How to build a visual story board (infographic)

There are tools on the internet that allow you to start putting these ideas into a visual infographic, including Prezi.com and piktochart.com. Even the most graphically challenged can use these tools to put together a professional looking infographic or innovative presentation.

However (sorry for the belated warning!) you still need to approach these applications with a plan, or you will (yes you will!) get stuck in a vortex of playing with the widget, sketching out some ideas, and then needing to start over (digitally screw up that piece of paper and toss it in the bin). There is also the risk of 'death by PowerPoint syndrome', where you add so many bells and whistles (just because you can), that the actual point is lost in a sea of spinning, coloured and over fonted (is that a word?) thoughts.

With fewer people watching their TV show as they screen on air, advertisers must think they've hit the holy grail of advertising with TV 'On Demand' websites.

Because it's easier to watch your favourite episode via the internet through a television network app, the ability to fast forward through the adverts has been eliminated. TV advertisers can now ensure you watch their advert because, a) there is usually only one or two playing per break, and b) they cannot be fast forwarded." At last", they say, "A captive audience". TV stations can better report how many views the advert has to their clients while being close to sure that their valued viewers haven't popped off to make a cup of tea instead of being transfixed to their promotion.

But unfortunately for them, they've tried to push it too far with the addition of a "Click to learn more' button appearing on the advert. While this superman of measurement tools may look invincible, one thing that hasn't been considered is the human nature factor.

When a viewer tunes in to watch their awaited show, tuning in when they finally have time, time poor as they are, then they're moderately irritated by being 'forced' to watch an advert. But if the are intent to watch a show, why would they delay their viewing by travelling away from the show in question to go and visit another website by 'Clicking to learn more"? Those seasoned in the OnDemand ways also know that if they navigate away from their show, they do it at great risk. For if you come back to watch your show, often you cannot skip ahead to where you left off, without having every advert that you missed racked up to watch before you can find your place.

Some apps allow you to continue where you left off, but with the wonders of New Zealand's regressive broadband, you don't often get that option.

I don't mind watching the odd advert or two, but when you're made to watch it, then it leaves a bad taste in your mouth – and not with the TV network, but their customer.

OK, so you may be able to measure 'click to learn more', but your results will be severely biased against you. As an advertiser, I'd find that pretty disheartening when it seemed so easy in the media sales pitch.

Nespresso have done an interesting thing. I’m not referring to changing the way we buy coffee, although that is true. Or by making us spend more on coffee, which is also true. The one thing that stands out to me is how they have taken two standards, unexciting production models, those of selling coffee and of selling hardware, and turned them on their head. They've switched out the business models for each and changed the way they do business.

Let's look at the two parts as we are used to seeing them:

1) Coffee Machines

This is the thing you make your coffee in - from a plunger to a full 'grind your beans, put the grinds in a pressurised machine and express your coffee'.

Normally, once the machine has been sold the transaction is over, until five or more years down the track when you need to buy a new machine. These machines are made and marketed by manufacturers and sold via appliance stores, like most appliances. For the top end machines, these are sold via distributors.

2) Coffee

This is the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) flavour part of the coffee making marriage. It is sold by the bean, grind, instant, or those sachets that make a fluffy coffee. These are sold at supermarkets or coffee bean specialists and rely on the best shelf positioning for them to sell.

So what has Nespresso done that's different? Most people view of being in the business of 'coffee machines'. We refer to the machines as 'Nespresso's. However, Nespresso doesn't actually manufacture machines. They've spread this between Breville (a known home coffee machine manufacturer), and DeLonghi (a known appliance manufacturer) - and worldwide, also Krups and Magimix. So by the time the manufacturer has made these you can see there is not much room for Nespresso to make a lot of money on them compared to if they'd manufactured the machines themselves.

These machines are available for purchase directly from Nespresso, but also from appliance retailers.

Let's talk about the other side of the business, the coffee. The only way to buy Nespresso coffee is through their own retail chain! Either through their online store or by going into a Nespresso store. Each 'coffee' serve (or pod), is $1, and you can only buy them in lots of 10. So the minimum purchase for any customer is $10. But, because you have to make a special trip - online or to a physical branch - you're going to stock up. In fact, for 'mailing purposes' you have to buy a minimum of 50 coffee serves online. That's now an average spend of $50!

Why do we keep buying $1 coffees that we drink at home?

You can have the option of buying 'other brand' coffee pods, and many people will take that option. But the quality of the Nespresso coffee pods and the choice they give in flavours, married with the buying experience of going into a Nespresso store keeps the customers coming back. The packaging is beautiful, and the experience of cracking open a sleeve of pods, and popping a pod in the machine surpasses the feeling a no-name pod can give.

The price point is interesting as well. We can justify our spend by comparing it to a cafe coffee, it's one-third to one-quarter the price of a cup of coffee. It's also consistent, so we know what we're getting, so as a consumer the price objection can be overcome. They make sure it's not compared to an instant coffee, that's for sure - making it all about controlling our perspective.    

How can you make your company better through letting go of parts of your business, while strengthening control of other parts?

The first step is to get an outside perspective of your business. Then through a little bravery, and some business modelling before you make any changes in your business can help ensure that you have a plan, know that it should work and identify any parts that just don't fit.

Take a look at the business model canvas below for Nespresso, and witness how simple it is. For those of you that are not familiar with this type of business modelling, contact us on the form below. We can walk you through it, and also help you see how this tool could be applied to your business.

We have a very strategic process when we help our clients' to develop a look for their business. It's quite intimate, in that we delve into what the business stands for, and who will love it, and who won't. It's reliant on an open communication between the business owner (client), the brand strategist (the boundary pusher), and the graphic designer.

The designer wants to create something unique and different, the strategist wants something that sincerely tells the businesses story, while the client wants something that feels familiar.

You see, the client is not a plagiarist, a copy-cat, or a wanna-be, they simply gravitate to something that is familiar, and safe. It takes a lot of backbone be the different person on the block, and in fact, we spend most of our impressionable years, our teens, trying to fit in – or stand out just enough to fit in with the other people who stand out just enough. So it's not surprising that we all feel the need to fly under the radar, in the land of tall poppies, it takes a lot to stick out.

Our job is to hold our client's hand and help them to discover what makes them different, but then to help them communicate it to a bunch of people who are on the same page, who feel that they can trust this business because they feel the same way. Someone to forge ahead and zag, when all others are zigging. This is what makes a good brand. And once our client can confidently know why they have their particular different logo, then they can go forth, with gusto, and lead the way for others to embrace their difference.

The design process of your website is the exciting part of creating a new website as you are lead through a process of discovery, brief writing and design. Once you're past that initial phase, however, you're often flummoxed when the project is deemed 'done' as far as the web developer is concerned, and it is thrown to you to ‘provide content’.

Let's be honest, it’s blimmin' hard to write content about your own business. I know, because I often struggle with writing about my own ’stuff’, and I do this for a living. Then it gets even harder when you then have to figure out some new software in order to upload said content to the site.

Technology has now caught up with what we want our website to do for our clients. We develop the ‘map’ and design of the site at the same time as the content. With this strategy process, we can then tweak pages to work to our advantage, and not be constrained by a framework that has already been created, signed off and charged for…

PLUS the price is far less than the traditional staged approach because the strategy fits hand in glove with the content and design. So you get a finished (yes, completed, launchable, written) website for the same, if not less than an empty shell.

Let's get to the nitty gritty

OK, so you’re still with me – then I think you’re on board with what I’m saying so I can be a little more open.

I’ve had a month of people approaching me for website content. The site framework has been built, and the agency has thrown the job back to the client to ‘please supply the content’. This approach is a bit like building the framework for a house, then asking someone to come in and move it to a different spot. A house is planned, designed and then built to incorporate the needs of the customer, plus the section it will stand on, the budget of the customer and also allow them to put their personal stamp on it. Sure, you can move a house later (usually), but it’s always going to be a bit glitchy.

In this digital age, why are we creating websites by building a framework for them, without even looking at what it need to do? If you’re trying to capture people's attention, it’s not going to work if your site looks like a spreadsheet because it’s too hard to engage the images with the content.

We've broken the web developer mould!

You can then understand my excitement now that we’ve broken down the secret IT walls of the web and can now assist our client with website creation services – from the planning to the foundations, to the build, while approaching it with an organic and realistic process to best reflect your business online.