President Kennedy
Okay, you won’t believe this … I’m not even a US resident and I got the Americans to let me run for President … it’s all over the news!
Thankfully having the name “Kennedy” swayed them — they don’t seem to mind the idea of another Kennedy in the Whitehouse.
Thanks to Paul Gram on the Copywriters Board for the heads up on this one! Nice viral marketing at work!
Put an end to work on spec
I read tonight of a new online business venture which not only encourages work “on spec” but uses it as a model for designers. What a disaster!
Before I get into this post, so you know what “on spec” means, from No!Spec, the definition of work “on spec” is:
“Spec” has become the short form for any work done on a speculative basis. In other words, any requested work for which a fair and reasonable fee has not been agreed upon, preferably in writing.
Back to the story.
The site in question — which I have no intention of promoting with a free link — uses this approach:
by having bidding designers (at least 25 entries) submit completed concepts rather than just proposals in the competitive process
Why have they determined that this model of business is okay for graphic design? Why should a provider — in this case a designer — invest their time, equipment and skills in a project where they’re one of at least 25 submissions to the client. So they have a four percent chance of being paid.
You wouldn’t think of doing this in other environments.
For instance, if you’re building a new home, do you ask 25 builders to build you a house “on spec”, and then choose the one you want to pay for? Hardly! Would a hairdresser cut hair all day “on spec” in the hope that 1-in-25 clients likes them enough to pay for it? No!
Design is no different.
Now, if you’re a new designer (or copywriter, desktop publisher etc) then you might want to take on some “free” work — pro-bono — to build up a credible portfolio before you have a lot of successfully completed projects under your belt. In that way, it’s a legitimate way to build up your reputation by showing a client the type of work (and client) you are capable of producing.
And there’s certainly a difference between creating personalised marketing samples to attract a client and creating full projects you “might” get paid for as one of several or even dozens of potential skilled providers.
But that client then expecting you to undertake full projects without the surety of payment … makes no sense for the provider … so in the end it’ll make no sense for a client. It devalues the intellectual property skills of the provider, devalues their time and ultimately costs clients more money anyway as that lost time is compensated for with paid hours.
A better approach — which I use regularly — is to guarantee my services and involvement in a project. The risk is on me to produce something suitable, or risk not being paid in the unlikely event my work doesn’t fit the bill. But — other than for poor performance — my involvement in the project is paid for, not “on spec”.
If a client is asking for work “on spec” because they don’t know you — then along with a guarantee you could use samples, existing work and client testimonials to help prove your value. So there are certainly ways to persuade a client who isn’t aware of your capabilities of your suitability for a project.
Stick to these proven, persuasive approaches and steer clear of the “on spec” requests!
Category Ads Don’t Make Sense
I just saw on TV an ad by Bigpond for DVD home movie rental. Creative, humorous ad … but nothing really special. The only thing is, the main thrust of the message was to sell viewers on home DVD rental, not necessarily Bigpond home DVD rental.
So they’re really just promoting the “home DVD rental” category, and not saying anything at all about how different they are to competitors like QuickFlix and others.
Epson have been doing the same thing lately — ads on the back of IT magazines advertising their products, but again showing no difference compared to competitors like HP and Canon.
The current ad shows how a stapler isn’t as good at multi-tasking as an Epson printer — yet Canon and HP multifunction printers are in the same category and perform the same functions.
Another recent Epson ad showed how their printers had individual cartridges for each ink colour (the main image was a case of pencils with one nearly used up) — again, just like their competitors HP, Canon et al.
If consumers are “duped” into believing Bigpond and Epson are the only companies to offer such products … once they realise that’s not the case, what will their perception be of Bigpond and Epson? Will it be lowered when they realise competing products also offer the same features?
So in that case, what’s the point of promoting a “category” of product like multifunction printers when consumers later realise yours is just of several choices? You might convince them to pick a multifunction printer, or get home DVD rentals, but you’re not ruling out your competitors in your marketing.
Wouldn’t you rather get people hungry for your own product, and see good reason to choose you over a competitor?
Thanks Al
Last week Mel and I were guests of Alan Kirke at the StreetSmart Hawthorn Connect Group meeting.
The StreetSmart group is run by Alan and comprises small business owners and entrepreneurs who get together regularly to discuss business marketing, swap info on news and success stories, have a “hot seat” session and network together.
The main topic of this month’s meeting was copywriting and that’s the reason Alan got me along, to go through the main points of a Yanik Silver copywriting CD that the members had been listening to. We also enjoyed the information shared between the connect group members and also had fun adding some input into the special hot seat session.
One of the best things I was able to “take away” from the meeting was how the members literally “kept each other going” with ideas and inspiration — aside from having regular goals and responsibilities, the ideas shared were very valuable and an excellent reason to keep up with their membership. That regular get-together outside of everyone’s normal business environment was a great way to stay focused on the future: a proven concept that has worked for a long time and always good to see in action.
We also picked up a business lead for copywriting, so that’s another good outcome from our breakfast meeting.
PS: If you’re interested in Alan’s Hawthorn Connect Group and their monthly breakfasts, drop me a line and I’ll put you in touch with Al.
More Getting Attention Insights
Let’s Connect is a presentation from Dutch agency IN10 in Rotterdam. The opening statistic highlights that only 5.5% of viewers are attuned to ads during tv ad breaks.
Again, while it’s based on big company tactics and “brand communication” it has plenty of lessons for small business on how to connect and get attention in modern marketing.
Some of the slides here refer to the briefings published by trendwatching – an excellent website that highlights “consumer trends and insights from around the world.”
The free monthly trendwatching briefings are well worth the viewing time — and the notification emails are some of the very few messages I allow to directly land in my inbox without being filtered (along with sister site Springwise — a weekly summary of new business ideas).