As a member of a church in Swindon that continues to grow, I met with one of the leaders a couple of weeks ago and had a conversation around Church Marketing.

The biggest problem that I think churches come up against (from reading round the internet) is the argument from members of the congregation that Marketing is not in the bible.

Sure I agree that Jesus never said that all churches should have a website, properly designed flyers and leaflets, social media accounts and so on, but he did say 'go into all the world...' - it is the gospel we need to market more effectively.

To over come the point that many might raise about church marketing, the aim for the church should be to share the gospel etc... in my opinion. The gospel never changes, but our marketing strategies must if the Church is to make a lasting impact in our world. It's about becoming more relevant without being pandering to tolerance.

Here are some simple bullet points to think on... to get you going as a member, leader or overseer for a local church. There are no surprises here either...

1. Goals and aims

Take a strategic approach to developing a marketing/communication vision. Think about what do we want to achieve and Why?

2. Alignment

How do these marketing/comms aims align to the values of the Church, vision of the Church and the Bible?

3. Audience

Identify key target audiences such as the Church congregation, specific groups within the Church and specific groups / individuals outside of the church.

4. Current marketing activity

Ask yourself: What do we do in terms of current marketing/comms activity (everything...)? What is the marketing/comms budget for this year? Who does it? Is it measured and working?

5. A one year plan

Messages and marketing requirements for the next 12 months. Including: Events / High Sundays, Campaigns / specific weeks planned (prayer and fasting, outreach etc), Internal comms, Ministries and events they will hold (Sunday School, Kids Church, Homeless Projects etc) - Put these all on a calendar or wall planner in your admin office to show the marketing/comms timeline for the next 12 months.

6. Measuring tactics

Decide how to measure the effectiveness of the marketing campaigns/activities?

7. People

Who will be involved in the Oversight and Ownership, Strategic planning and guidance, Delivery, Admin / Buying

Filed under  //   Branding   Church Marketing   Marketing  

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Recently I have started seeing many people diversifying the services that they offer in business, but into areas that are not their core specialism.

Take it from me... I've been there.

You can't be all things to all people and my firm belief is that you should focus on what you are a specialist in, and niche niche niche.

One of the core problems that many businesses struggle with, who start to diversify, is that of identity.

If you offer one type of product and service, then offer something else, then something else, then introduce something else... people wont remember everything that you do.

When talking to someone about your business, product do you choose to talk about? Everything or just one?

Most people who try and be all things to all men (and women) will try and cram everything that they do into one conversation. What will the person who they are talking to take way from that? If you focus on one thing and give them one nugget to keep hold of, when they hear someone else talking about the thing you mentioned, they will probably remember.

John Adams (2nd president of the USA) was once quoted saying: "It's simply a matter of doing what you do best and not worrying about what the other fellow is going to do" - even though this was almost 200 years ago I so believe in this.

A jack of all trade becomes a master of none! A lesson that I learned in my last business.

I was also told by a business coach once, that one of the behaviours of a failing business was they they try and put hand to anything that they think that they can do in a desperate attempt to try and stay afloat. I think that this is one of the things that my previous business did.

My plea to you... if you can diversify your product offering because you have identified a new niche... resource this well and maybe try to separate this as a new brand or a new business. It can be a great way to grow your income or a business portfolio, but not resourced, financed or marketed in the right way could result in failure.

If you want to chat on this some more and find out what my experience of this was... just get in touch.

I will be honest and also say this... I'm still learning this all too, I'm far from perfect!

Filed under  //   Branding   Business Advice   Marketing  

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For years I have been using Lynda.com as a source of training and insight into many things.

At first I thought the branding that was done for Lynda was similar to the leaning books for Dummies - IE "How to play the Guitar for Dummies" etc etc. The yellow and black were very similar.

Today I have stumbled across another site, but this time I think that the logo is very similar to Lynda.com...

Emma (www.myemma.com)

I found it by seeing this advert and clicking to see what it was all about - thinking that this was a spin off from Lynda.com as it used similar coloring (orange is not yellow I know), and a female name as the company name.

The logos of these two companies are very similar in style and colours...

...but is there also anything similar about the names of the companies? Lynda ... Emma?

I am no lawyer or intellectual property expert, but could this be another case of passing off?

Filed under  //   Branding   Identity   Logo Design   lynda.com   myemma.com  

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Update: 3rd Feb 2010 - Website now live at www.tridentgeotech.com

Filed under  //   Branding   Identity   Ko-juhnt   Portfolio  

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New logo design for Arnold Aranez of http://www.aranezmedia.com.

(Designed by me!)

Filed under  //   Branding   Identity   Logo design   Portfolio  

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I feel like it has been a while since I wrote anything decent here on my blog... why?

Have I become less opinionated? Have I just got nothing to say? Has the new found energy I had at the start, worn off already?

No... I have been a little busy with a couple of projects.

Swindon Local Trades - www.swindonlocaltrades.co.uk

and

The Design Rush - www.thedesignrush.com

Swindon Local Trades

Swindon Local Trades is a swindon business listing and swindon business directory with a difference. The aim is not to make a huge amount of money by taking people's hard earned cash in return for putting their phone number on my site... then ask for more money to upgrade to add their web address... and more money still to add a description of their business.

Free registration and first month free followed by a small fee of £5/month to stay listed - With this you can add as much or as little as you like to the site. Links to your website, phone numbers, contact details and a full description. There is one option to upgrade your listing to a bespoke HTML styled listing through ProfileRush. With this you can add video, images, audio - just about whatever you want.

The main purpose of the site is to promote Swindon business to Swindon People. Keeping trade local is important to any town or city... the aim is to help Swindon grow the trading within the town and boost the local economy. If your are interested and want to sign up and advertise business in Swindon - Register today.

The Design Rush

Start-up businesses and small businesses that are in need to simple, cheap, quick logo design, banner design and website design, can now benefit from the expertise of Creative Rush, but at budget prices.

If all you need is a logo to slap on the side of your white van, or a 3 page website to get you online - The Design Rush should be your preferred option.

When you start out in business, cash is king. if all you need is an identity mocked up to use on invoices, business cards and a starter website - don't pay more than £699.00 - Buy from The Design Rush today. Plus enter our competition for a chance to win an iPod touch.

Filed under  //   Branding   Identity   Logo design   Marketing   Stationery Design   Success in Business   Web design  

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Is it just myself and Bruce that think that it is strange seeing a Cadbury's product in anything other than a purple colour?

It is yummy though!

Filed under  //   Branding   Cadbury's   Marketing  

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Just a quick one...

The Design Rush website is open for business!

After a long time getting things sorted on the site I am very happy to announce that the site is up an running.

Logo design from £99.00 through to Logo, Stationery and Web design for just £699.00. Bargain!

Visit the site today at www.thedesignrush.com.

PepsiCo group recently decided to take all of its major brands through a brand refresh process. Following on from Pepsi's new look, the breakfast orange juice brand Tropicana was the latest to be tackled.

The iconic, recognised, creative, individual 'does-what-it-says-on-the-tin' visual of an orange with a straw in it was replaced - with a picture of a glass of orange juice... Hmmm. I wouldn't say the words original, inspired or creative spring to mind. To be honest, it's hard to know where to start to critique this particularly uninspired re-design.

I'll give it a go though... the photo is so simple it has had the accusation of stock photography levelled at it; the white background is less stark and sophisticated, more empty and boring; the sans serif font less simplified and more simply dull; the insipid yellow less thirst-inducing than the intense orange. In fact, the only positive thing I have to say is the design of the cap in the shape of any orange. But why rely on my opinion - take a peek at the public's reaction:

'bland', 'boring', 'ugly', 'unrecognisable', 'generic', 'bargain brand feel'...

The reaction has been so bad that PepsiCo have taken the decision to pull the new packaging after just six weeks, reverting back to the orange and straw look.

So what does the branding agency - Arnell - responsible for this fiasco have to say? Apparently they are 'supporting' PepsiCo's decision to abandon their design. So let's get this straight - they've produced a design which is so bad it is withdrawn after 6 weeks - and they're not even in a position to defend it? They state that the package withdraw is "exactly what [PepsiCo] should be doing". There seems to be no acknowledgement from the agency that what has actually happened is a very costly and embarrasing mistake. There's not even a hint of an apology for getting it so wrong, for not delivering on what they were hired to do.

A refresh to a well-established brand can be very rewarding - drawing in new customers, while reviving the old faithfuls by showing you're not out of date. But it is a risky business, because what you don't want to do is upset and lose that fan base you've taken so long to build. Which is why within any rebranding/brand refreshing process there are a number of steps - from defining the purpose and desired goal of the work, to assessment to see if the new design is meeting those criteria. Most importantly there should be an element of market testing, some research, before product launch. By the number of complaints received, it seems clear that this was not adequately done - surely a true sample of regular Tropicana users would have been able to give adequate feedback that the refreshed brand was missing the mark somehow. This failure seems to reflect a lack care and respect for the product, and is hard to defend.

Perhaps a better course of action would be to identify what went wrong and produce a new look for Tropicana which actually meets the brief? Instead Peter Arnell, chairman and chief creative officer, has announced he is "glad Tropicana is getting this kind of attention" - apparently advocating the old adage that no publicity is bad publicity. In reality, an army of Tropicana fans now can't even find the drink on the shop shelves as it blends in with its rivals, which is frankly likely to cause a drop in sales.

While not all the blame lies with Arnell - after all, a company as big as PepsiCo surely has a marketing department who should also have been carefully monitoring the entire rebrand process - the agency should be hanging its head in shame for such an almighty mess, which, at its politest, has been described as a 'tactical mistake'. An error of this magnitude with a brand of this size - well, it's pretty unforgivable.

Oh - but at least they're keeping the new orange shaped cap. So it's not a total loss then.

See what others think - here

Filed under  //   Branding   Marketing   Mistakes   PepsiCo   Rant   Tropicana   Web design  

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From time to time we come across clients that ask us to complete work for them and in using their logos find that the files supplied are just not good enough. They are either a low-res image or a very pixelated version that will just look rubbish.

A recent request came from a lady who runs a successful business and wants her logo to look a lot less 'like it was designed in Word' - This is just what I mean.

We have today released the details of this service aimed at helping these customers in need.

The Creative Rush - Logo repair service.

Creating your logo for you from any pre-existing printed material, a photography or even a doodle on a beermat - if it just needs artworking into the professional design formats so that you can send them off to print, this is what we can do for you.

• Basic logo repair
  This is if you already have digital versions of your logo that have been created in anything from MS Paint to PowerPoint, or anything in between. This service cleans your logo design up and puts it into professional logo formats used across the industry.
• Complex logo repair
  This is where you do not have any digital version of your logo and want us to look at working something up from previously existing printed materials - anything from a doodle on a beermat, a photograph or existing letterhead. Again this service cleans your logo design up and puts it into professional logo formats used across the industry.
• Rush Repair Service
  This is for those in need of getting the above done in 3 hours. Some people find that they have gone to print or need to send the right logo to press for an article going out. They send over their logo and get told "We need a high res or vector version to use" - Within 3 working hours from instruction we can supply these to you for you to forward on.

For more information download the logo repair PDF price list from - www.creativerush.co.uk/logorepair or contact the team on 01793 600769

Filed under  //   Branding   Identity   Logo design  

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