Archive for the 'design' Category

The effect collateral and manuals have on purchase, loyalty, and the user experience

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by
Nick Rice
on August 30, 2006
in branding, business, design and strategy
. 0 Comments

Kathy Sierra has a great post on how much time, effort, and branding is put into creating pre-sales materials while post-sales material like user manuals is pure function.

I find it interesting how corporations are structured to support this mismatch. Marketing handles the glossy slick brochures and outer packaging, while either engineering or Pubs handles the user manuals, set up guides, packing materials, and quick reference sheets in most companies. Very few companies put a lot of thought into creating an experience that is reflective of the brand after a user buys their widget. I know we talk a lot about Apple in the design and user experience space, but they truly do take every opportunity to create loyal customers. Everything from pre-sales collateral to unpacking the device to installing the software and using it has been thought through from the point of view of a normal user not an engineer buried deep within a company that sees these products every day. That creates passionate users. Passion breeds loyalty. And loyal users are a key component of keeping the doors open and the lights on long term.

Here’s a great quote from Kathy:

As a potential customer, I’ll find your attention to user learning a lot more convincing than your attention to new sales. Rather than using your brochure to show how much YOU kick ass, I’d much rather see no-marketing-spin hard evidence of how you’re going to help ME kick ass.

Kathy reminds us that users don’t care about your features. They only care about how improve their daily life. When a user sees your product as an enabler to getting more done or doing things better, they become loyal. If you concentrate your efforts on generating loyal customers, you’ll quickly discover that you need to focus more on the activities that happen post-sale. If you offer generous support, information, and ease of use as soon as they open the box you will create loyal users.

Obviously you have to get people to buy your products first so I’m not saying shift all of your resources. The glossy slick brochures, have their place. And are very effective at what they’re designed to do. I’m just saying put more thought into how you can improve the user experience throughout the life of your product not just pre-sale.

technorati tags > presales, post, sales, collateral, user, experience, customer, loyalty, marketing, publications

Live or die by documentation

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Nick Rice
on July 25, 2006
in design and marketing
. 0 Comments

For some reason the rigorous documentation practices that drive software development have not migrated to the creative space. The ability to write down your expectations, audience desires, and overall strategy is critical to ensuring success.

A lot of professional design firms that I worked with as a Fortune 500 marketing manager didn’t even have a standardized project management process. This was very scary. To think that you’re spending thousands if not hundreds of thousands or millions on an agency that just “wags” it scared me to death.

Trust me; I know how hard it is to get senior executives to give good direction on projects. They like to be elusive and provide vague instructions on what they want. They believe that it “empowers” their staff. For a lot of people, documentation freaks them out. They are not comfortable seeing everything on paper without any wiggle room. Most clients know that the unexpected will happen (budgets change, timelines decrease, management overhauls, etc…). When everything is written in stone, no one is sure how to handle these changes.

I’ve written about it before (here, here, and here). Documentation is your savior. It allows both client and agency to be on the same page concerning deliverables, strategy, timeframe, and budget. It’s not fun or glamorous; but it’s the #1 way to ensure that your projects meet and/or exceed all expectations. And that’s the #1 driver of customer satisfaction.

technorati tags > marketing, process, collateral, project management, documentation, budget, timeframe, strategy, audience, creative brief

Creative Constraints

Published
by
Nick Rice
on July 21, 2006
in advertising, design and management
. 1 Comment

Johnnie Moore’s post on constraints got me thinking about limits that clients naturally put on projects. It always surprises me that no one likes to talk about budgets or deadlines up front. Especially considering that those two very real constraints drive 99% of all marketing projects. After all who is going to pay an agency to work forever with no goals or defined invoice amount?

The true genius of a creative person is finding the best solution available given project constraints. It’s not unreasonable to renegotiate deliverables to fit within constraints - and that goes for client expectations as well as agency desires to produce top notch materials on every engagement.

It’s hard to fault a designer for wanting to do the best job possible on each and every assignment. Unfortunately the business world is one of realities more so than possibilities. The trick is doing the best job possible under the deadline and budget restrictions. That’s hard for a lot of creative directors and producers to wrap their heads around. You have to make conscious design decisions that meet the project/brand goals while staying on time and budget.

As an agency, we have to set client expectations up front about what is possible within given project constraints. With margins thinning, it’s a fine line to walk between customer satisfaction and agency profitability. And I don’t think that’s a bad thing. The days of multi-year retainer client/agency relationships are gone. I’ve heard a lot of mega-agency people talk about retainers as if they are an open bucket of money without defined deliverables or deadlines. In reality, retainers are just multi-project engagements under contract with one agency. You still have the same constraints as one off project work; you’re just not fighting off other firms for each job.

We have to learn to embrace constraints. Use them as fuel for out-of-the-box creative thinking. Great work comes from finding unique solutions while meeting all goals (project objectives, client satisfaction, timeframe, budget, agency goals and designer expectations - probably in that order). Budget and timeframe should determine level of effort on a sliding scale. A seasoned design professional will know what is possible when they understand the constraints. After that it’s a matter of aligning client & agency expectations with those constraints and everyone involved making purposeful decisions to stay on target.

technorati tags > marketing, communications, advertising, level of effort, constraints, retainer, projects, budget, deadline, project management, designer, client, agency, creative

How to live happiliy w/ a great designer

Published
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Nick Rice
on July 19, 2006
in design and strategy
. 0 Comments

I had to include this post from Godin… It’s good enough to be considered professional development for a lot of marketing managers and company presidents.

Why do some organizations look great… and get great results from their design efforts and ads… while others languish in mediocrity? I think it has little to do with who they hire and a lot to do with how they work with their agencies and designers.

Here are the things your design team wishes you would know:

  1. If you want average (mediocre) work, ask for it. Be really clear up front that you want something beyond reproach, that’s in the middle of the road, that will cause no controversy and will echo your competition. It’ll save everyone a lot of time.
  2. On the other hand, if you want great work, you’ll need to embrace some simple facts:
  3. It’s going to offend someone. If it doesn’t offend them, then it will make them nervous. The Vietnam Vets memorial offended a lot of people. The design of Google made plenty of people nervous. Great work from a design team means new work, refreshing and remarkable and bit scary.
  4. It’s not going to be easy to sell to your boss. That’s your job, by the way, not mine. If you want me to do something great, you’ve got to be prepared to protect it and defend it. Come back too many times for one little compromise, and you’ll make it clear that #1 was what you wanted all along.
  5. You can’t tell me you’ll know it when you see it. First, you won’t. Second, it wastes too much time. Instead, you’ll need to have the patience to invest twenty minutes in accurately describing the strategy. That means you need to be abstract (what is this work trying to accomplish) resistant to pleasing everyone (it needs to do this, this and that) and willing, if the work meets your strategic goal, to embrace it even if it’s not to your taste.
  6. Help me out by pointing out the work you’d like this to be on a peer with. If you want a website to be like three others (in tone, not in execution) then point it out. In advance.
  7. Be clear about dates and costs. Not what you hope for, but what you can live with!
  8. You don’t know a lot about accounting so you don’t backseat drive your accountant. You hired a great designer, please don’t backseat drive here, either.
  9. If you want to be part of the process, please go to school. Read design magazines or take a course from Milton Glaser or get a subscription to Before & After. By the way, that one link is the single best part of this post.
  10. This one may surprise you: don’t change your existing design so often. Not when your kids or your colleagues tell you it’s time. Do it when your accountant says so.
  11. Don’t get stressed about your logo.
  12. Get very stressed about user interface and product design. And your packaging.
  13. Say thank you.
What I like about this is that he’s not talking about an artist, he’s talking about a designer. There is a difference. Because the marketing communications & advertising industry has done a poor job of aligning itself with business, a lot of of business people still think of designers as artists. Designers are really just communication specialists. They are trained to find the simplest, most effective way to get your unique message out to your unique audience. They are simply proficient at another part of business. There’s no mystery to the creative process, but it may seem that way when people don’t follow Seth’s advice above.

technorati tags > graphic designer, marketing, relationship, management, professional, development, performance

KFC is pushing it…

Published
by
Nick Rice
on July 11, 2006
in branding and design
. 0 Comments

Geez, I can’t believe that someone is going to fall for this. Or better yet, pay an agency to come up with it.

More comments

technorati tags > icon, logo, KFC, YUM, branding, rebrand, strategy, advertising

So, what’s this going to cost?

Published
by
Nick Rice
on July 9, 2006
in ROI, advertising, business, design, marketing and strategy
. 0 Comments

In my opinion, one of the most consistent hot-button issues when working w/ vendors is price. I’ve personally seen it more times than I care to think about in my life on both sides of the marketing communications table. I’ve asked the question to dozens of firms and I’ve answered the question from dozens of clients. So believe me, neither side has it easy.

As the client, you’re struggling between “good enough” and “best available”. You (and your customers) want best available, while the finance guys like good enough. Seth Godin talks about it here. You get this feeling deep in the pit of your stomach as you’re watching the agency go through their pitch. You just know that they would work hard for you. You know they would bring all of their world-class expertise to bear on your project. You’re thinking, “they know the industry, they know my business, we get along and their work is top notch”. It’s exactly what you’re looking for. But you have a feeling they’re going to be outside of your budget or at least outside of your idea of what their services should cost. You hate to bring it up because you know that budget shouldn’t be the ultimate deciding factor on what solves your problem or need. Sure there are cheaper firms out there, but these guys have it all and they’re right here in front of you.

From the agency side, you can see it in their eyes. During the discussion and demo the client’s eyes light up. They ask the right questions. They understand what you’re about. But there’s a hesistation, a slight glint of uncertainty. You know that sooner or later you’re going to get the price question. Charging by the hour isn’t really an option because clients demand to know at least of range of prices to consider before signing the dotted line. Charging by the project, or value pricing, is a strange magical mix of time, hourly rate to cover overhead, and some profit padding. Either way you sense there is going to be sticker shock.

In my experience, this scenario happens most often when agencies are presenting to budget spenders not budget deciders. Budget spenders are only worried about their bucket of money being spent efficiently. Solving greater business concerns are typically a secondary requirement otherwise known as “nice to have”. If you’re on the client side and this firm provides the solution you need, then move them up the chain if you cannot make or justify the decision yourself. Become their biggest proponent. Get them in front of the true budget decider. She/he can find the money required to solve problems. Your foresight and problem-solving abilities will be recognized and rewarded. Unless you truly do not have the money available, price is rarely a reason not to buy.

Back to the agencies; if you cannot get past the price question, one of two things is happening. You’re either not working with the right people (budget deciders versus spenders) or you’re not providing enough value to the clients and the price objection is an easy way to say no and move on to another agency with better relationships and/or better offerings and value.

technorati tags > price, client, agency, marketing, communication, budget, seth godin, vendors, value

Very cool news aggregator

Published
by
Nick Rice
on July 5, 2006
in design
. 0 Comments

I told myself that I’d only blog on M-W-F, but I keep finding these cool little sites and posts that I want to pass on. So, check out http://www.marumushi.com/apps/newsmap/newsmap.cfm.

It aggregates headlines from GoogleNews. The use of multi-variant data to display news category (world, technology, health), most popular story, geography, and date works really well. You can sort by “squarified” or standard layout to change the view to your preference.

I think it’s great to show what a different point of view can do. Same data, completely different presentation layer.

technorati tags > google news, map, data, presentation, visual, news map

Strategy by Design

Published
by
Nick Rice
on July 5, 2006
in business, design, entrepreneur, management and strategy
. 0 Comments

I had to provide this article from Tim Brown. Tim is the President & CEO of IDEO, one of the largest and most respected design firms on the planet (think Leap chair, Palm V, Apple’s mouse, standup Crest toothpaste, HP industrial design, etc…). Tim breaks down five points to develop and execute your strategy by thinking like a designer. The summary is that design thinking can help everyone from the executive team, employees and customers better understand your vision and unique value prop. This is accomplished by translating strategic concepts and ideas into visual realities. It’s about storytelling. It’s about evolution, simplicity and consistency.

I believe that a business must innovate and communicate better than the competition in order to grow. And who does innovation and communication better than designers? It’s their God-given gifts to the world. Unfortunately the design community has done a poor job of aligning themselves with the business community. And because of that, a lot of executives will read this and think “artist”. But not the smart ones.

Article courtesy of FastCompany

technorati tags > strategy, design, IDEO, Fast Company, innovation, communication, talent, skills

Choosing the right agency/design firm

Published
by
Nick Rice
on June 16, 2006
in advertising, business, design, entrepreneur, marketing and strategy
. 0 Comments

The good folks at the Small Agency Diary have a new post on choosing the wrong client. I thought I’d flip it around and talk a little about choosing the right agency/design firm.

You flip open the latest issue of AdAge or the Yellow pages and see a list of agencies so long your eyes cross. Some you may have heard of but most you have not. Some look like legal firms (partner + partner + partner + partner & assoc) and some look a little funny (watermelon toad, autonomy, or similar). All of their websites look similar (client list, portfolio, why we’re different - which doesn’t look that different after all). How do you pick?

Here are the highlights - in no particular order…

  1. Obviously you have to have some type of immediate connection w/ their account team. If you do not like them, there’s no way you’re going to be happy doing business with them.
  2. Check out their work, but don’t get too caught up in it. Any agency worth their salt puts a lot of thought into new ideas for a particular client & project. You’re looking for a consistent new-thought-generation process. You may or may not like their work for other clients, but that really doesn’t matter if the work was effective at meeting the goal for that particular client. The agency should be able to generate work that suits your organization, customers, and business objectives.
  3. Talk about budget early and often. Talk about how the agency will scope out the level of effort required to meet your goals. Doesn’t matter whether you’re buying months of international TV spots with a lot of high-end digital effects or just a local newspaper ad - talk about how they come up with their bid.
  4. Most importantly, you probably have an idea of what you’re looking for. TELL THEM! Don’t expect their account or creative team to be mind readers. I know you’re looking for new ideas and a fresh perspective, but tell them what you’re thinking. The last thing you want is for them go off on some tangent that you know the President will hate. If you are one of the very few people that really doesn’t have any idea what you’re looking for; then you have to be open to their suggestions when they come back. It’s a waste of your time & money to have something in mind and not discuss it. A test of their creativity is how well they function within boundaries - budget, timeframe, brand guidelines, etc… They are working from your direction, be sure to give it.
  5. And for pete’s sake, write everything up! Whether it’s your creative brief or theirs, make sure that both parties are working towards the same goal. You need to have detailed information on deliverables, scope, timeframes, and budget - and agree to all of it before work is started. I know you’re busy. I know this project has to be finished on time. But trust me, if it’s not written down and agreed upon, it will become a point of contention. Projects tend to show signs of success or failure within the initial 13% of the project. You have to have everything lined up before you begin. Otherwise you put a lot at risk - including your next promotion if not your career.

What’s the point of Marketing Communications?

Published
by
Nick Rice
on June 15, 2006
in ROI, advertising, branding, business, design, marketing, social media and strategy
. 0 Comments

To keep your name in front of your target audience? Yes, but that’s really about long-term branding not revenue or ROI.

To support the effort of your sales team? Sure, that’s important but they typically are just looking for another excuse to call the customer. A new white paper, brochure, or sales tool is a great reason to reach out.

How about differentiating yourself from your competition? Interesting, but Marketing Communication (marcom) is simply the vehicle for talking about your true differentiations like consumer benefits, unique business model, industry leading features, etc…

I believe it’s really about changing behavior.

It’s easy to make money off of run-rate business - typically you don’t have to work very hard to keep it flowing. The real challenge is getting a brand new customer to buy. Becoming a preference in his or her eyes - now that’s a big deal (a long term, strategic, profitable big deal).

Marcom is the art & science of combining your value to the audience, your unique elements, and a reason to act NOW. I believe that a “call to action” is a critial component of any marketing communications effort. It could be as simple as a unique URL to visit to or some type of bundled promotion, but you need something to keep a new customer moving towards a purchase.

Marketing communications is about creating a bread trail for your audience to follow. Get them hooked, keeping feeding them value, and they will buy.