CREATIVE VULTURES

Lately, I’ve been hearing stories of these mythical creatures. Trust me, they really do exist. I’ve seen them with my own eyes. I’ve seen them swoop down on friends and business associates. I’ve seen them tear apart marketing materials without so much as a nod forward. I’ve seen them instill fear into the most confident of beings with the simple drone of their voice.

These are the creatures that will tell you everything that is wrong with your marketing materials without you asking, and in too many cases make you believe it. They live on your doubt and fear of business success.

So with that said, I’ve devised a list on how to spot creative vultures and how to dismiss them (as many of my friends and business associates have practiced).

HABITS OF A CREATIVE VULTURE:

• Creative vultures lurk on the outskirts of networking meetings (they’re not regular guests at these gatherings, but pop in on occasion - usually late).
• They introduce themselves with a great deal of over-confidence (while their samples provide limited creative ability).
• During the social aspects of the gathering, they’ll swoop in and tell you everything that’s wrong with your business card (brochure, flier, photos, etc).
• When you inquire about their business, they’re evasive as to their core business (ie: will share nothing more than a business card, website always under construction, etc).
• Their thought process is SELL, SELL, SELL (they have no interest in building relationships).
• Their SELL process is fear (you can’t be successful without their services).
• They promise you the best product for the least amount of money (don’t forget to ask about the fine print).

HOW TO DISMISS A CREATIVE VULTURE:

• Listen politely and smile (and move away as quickly as you can).
• Tell them how you really feel about your creative materials (especially if they’ve insulted your creative ability).
• Ask them for further information (and see if they can supply it).
• Tell them you’ll be in touch (whether you have any intention of doing so or not).
• Kindly excuse yourself (and quickly find someone else you’d rather talk with).
• Tell them you already have a designer/photographer (whether you do or not – though this will no doubt lead to questions of pricing).

HOW TO AVOID A CREATIVE VULTURE:

• This simply isn’t going to happen. Just except that they exist in our world of business and follow the cues above.

If, unfortunately, you’re stuck with a creative vulture lurking in your shadows (they either won’t accept that you’re not interested or they just can’t take no for an answer), you may have to swoop down on your own and tell them to shove off. Be brave my fellow business people. These creatures do exist, but remember, you have the final word as to their staying power. They’re actually quite harmless as they usually don’t have the ability to provide what they promise.

NOTE #1: While these creatures do exist, this article is written tongue in cheek (can’t take life too seriously, you know).

NOTE #2: If any of my business associates ever observe me acting as a creative vulture, please, please, please just tell me to stop (eventually, I’ll thank you for it).

WORKING WITH YOUR DESIGNER

Not only do designers design, we also translate. There are rules to be followed and terms to understand. We don’t expect you to know all these rules and terms, but a professional designer will share with you the correct terminology, the issues of licensing and copyrights, the materials needed for the job and the reasons why you can or can’t do something.

Below is a short list of frustrations designers live with on a daily basis. It’s important to understand both sides of the equation – yours and ours. I hope this helps prepare you to work with your designer on your upcoming marketing materials.

DO –

• Share your ideas. Designers are not mind readers.
• Be honest with us. Your contract will allow a set number of revisions. If you need changes, tell us. Don’t accept something you don’t like.
• Understand the term VECTOR BASED ART. This is art work designed with paths and lines that can be reproduced and/or manipulated for professional looking copy. If you don’t have vector based art, this can be produced by your designer.
• Know the difference between CMYK and RGB. CMYK refers to print. RGB refers to web.
• Share your budget. We know how long a project can take and whether we can work within your budget or not.
• Understand the terms of using stock art and/or stock photography. These terms often refer to print runs or back links. You must be willing to follow the terms.
• Provide high resolution (300 ppi) photos. A photo can be downsized and maintain its integrity. It can’t be enlarged and maintain its integrity.

DON’T –

• Ask us to pull your logo (or any other art, for that matter) from your website. This is an inferior rendering and won’t reproduce well on your marketing materials.
• Ask us to pull art or photos from someone else’s website. This is a copyright violation and could land you with a major lawsuit.
• Assume you own the work after completion. Unless you’ve made arrangements to purchase the copyright of the work, you’re buying usage rights of the work. The designer owns the copyright.
• Ask us to provide free services outside the terms of your contract. Would you do that to your customers? Please ask us for a cost estimate of additional work.
• Tell us you need the final product in two weeks and give us the information ten days later.
• Tell us how easy the job is. What you think should take an hour may actually take eight hours.
• Tell us your nephew, cousin, brother-in-law could do the job. If that was case, he’d be doing it.

Future articles will explore some of points on this list in more detail. We’ll talk about copyright, licensing and usage rights, why your website doesn’t provide quality art, contracts, revisions and more. If there’s any particular issue you’d like to see addressed in Creative Edge, please email me.

BUSINESS MARKETING 101?

Or maybe I should title this TALK TO ME, PLEASE.

This post is a bit off the beaten path of my normal posting. No pictures, no art. It's business.

Lately, it seems that the whole idea behind marketing has been e-marketing. It's crammed down my throat every day, every minute, every second. I go to networking groups, where my intention is to get to know you and your business, while I hope your intentions are to get to know me and my business, but instead I'm basically told the only way I'm going to get business is through e-marketing. Facebook; LinkedIn; Google; Flicker; Picasso; and now, Google+. I have to write blog posts and articles and post them online and cram my name into every web directory that will let me so I can be number one on the all impressive Google search (I don't even use Google to search). I'm supposed to register on Google places and get recommendations on Yelp and every other site that serves the same purpose.

You know, if I had time to do all of this, I wouldn't have time to do any work.

Here's my point, if there is a point to be made. Today was organization day for me. Cleaning out my computer files, backing up, all that good in house stuff that must be done, and while browsing through my client files, it occurred to me that not a single one of them came from my website, my Facebook page or my blog. They all came because I introduced myself and started a conversation or through a referral. Amazing! Good old fashioned marketing.

What every happened to that? Good old fashioned marketing. What ever happened to people talking to people?

The gripe about all of this is when I'm making business decisions, I want to know who I'm making that decision with. I'm not going to get any sort of feel from deciding to use your services based on a website, Facebook page, etc. And while I do grasp the idea that the media out there on the internet is simply an introduction, it's never enough. Now I have to set up an appointment with you to see if you can provide the services I need. Then I have to find others in your industry and set another appointment, do cost comparisons, and there's that all important personal touch that's part of every business transaction. So let me ask you, do I spend all my precious time bogged down with appointment after appointment, or do I call a business associate or two and ask them if they know someone they'd recommend for the job? You better bet it's the latter.

Seriously, what ever happened to the art of communication? (Ah, there's my third title for this post.) I really hope it's not dead. While I do believe that the internet serves a purpose for business, it's an aid to marketing, not a solution.

I don't need to know how to e-market. My clients take themselves seriously and they take their business decisions seriously and without communication...personally, I'd have to rethink my business tactics.

Is it just me? Does the business world still market itself via human contact? Is e-marketing the do all, end all of the business marketing?

I'd really love to hear some input on this.