#offline marketing tips

[mikemacdirect]

Taking Your Marketing Offline

Taking Your Marketing Offline

These days, online marketing is the most used way to promote a business but that does not mean the more traditional methods like marketing offline should be ignored. There are some businesses to which they are better suited, and many others where it is a combination of online and offline marketing that is the most effective for them. With that in mind here are some ways you can take your…

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4 Key Insights to Web Design for Offline Local Marketing Clients

It's Friday, Friday... gettin' down on... okay, okay I'll stop!

Hope your week was great! On my front, I'll say it's been a little more productive, but still a little less active than I'd like. I've spent more time mentally reorganizing the flow of my business activity from the ground up. See, I juggle several hats: mystery shopping, retail audits, offline marketing & web design, digital publishing (aka I write Amazon e-books) and so much more.

For the past month, my focus has been on working on the design of an offline client's website. This particular client started a new business creating Candy Buffets. She started by having themed parties for her children, and then decided to go into business with her services after the children really loved the candy bar buffet she created one year. Needless to say, she went from being a stay at home mom to a stay at home mompreneur truly working on her passion. Best of all, her husband supports her and pitched in with design ideas.

I ended up overcoming a few interesting challenges and learning a few lessons with this contract. Pull up a chair,  relax for a second and soak this in.

4 Sweet Lessons from My Offline Candy Buffet Client

1. Your Client Doesn't Always Know What She Wants. Be Patient & Persistent, Not Pushy.

First, this client was very vague about what she wanted/needed, but became very particular as the design came together. Now something like this would annoy a few web  designers who are impatient and  and looking for a quick and easy check. Designers like these will want to throw together a cute, flashy site without much respect to the clients immediate and long term needs. Huge mistake, especially when you end up having to make corrections repeatedly if you rush and forget key web usability and design components required in the core sitemap and the owner's business objectives.

2. Schedule Clients & Projects Accordingly.

My client's project started in late October  and finished in early December. Initially, I was asked to quickly redesign the "ugly" site from HTML and give it a basic clean but attractive appearance that highlighted the key offerings of the business, complete with an organized gallery.

Since I'm used to creating the basic skeleton of my own websites from scratch within a two weeks or less, I assumed this project would be quick and to-the-point. I estimated two to three days, a week at most, since most of the material was supplied.

While the redesign was attractive and everything the client asked for, the project didn't end here. The client's husband, who I've also designed for, felt that his wife needed to have the best possible presence for her business immediately. She was on a budget, but he was willing to make up the difference in exchange for a powerful design that set her apart even though she was a new business owner.

After a a heavy series of competitive research & analysis, the site was rebuilt using Headway to develop a dazzling look that enhanced the cute, nostalgic, fun feel of the business, set a strong foundation for brand development and reflected the owner's effervescent personality.

Although project time more than doubled, it highlighted the need to set timelines that allow me to pace myself accordingly and take into account the unpredictable nature of working with clients. A longer schedule means a slower trek to the finish line, but taking time allows me to avoid burnout, leave room for important changes during design optimization and work on projects for both myself and other clients.

3. Adhere to Your Own Level of Excellence, and Raise the Bar for Clients if Needed. 

Most clients are referred to me after a less than pleasant experience with another designer that was all about controlling the project, throwing up a quick solution and collecting a check. Usually, as a clean-up designer, I hear the ugly details of things gone wrong and easily notice components of the design that are severely lacking for the amount paid for service.

Some web designers are notorious for nickel and diming their clients instead of providing a value-packed experience that goes above and beyond to meet client needs. It behooves me that other web design businesses are so careless, but it gives me an edge. If I'm able to transform a nightmare into a masterpiece and throw in extra value that's not anticipated by my clients, I am able to create an exceptional reputation for my services, even when I'm not the "best" or "brightest" of the bunch when it comes to web design.

4. Creative Challenges Strengthen You as a Web Designer.

Sometimes, clients have the most ridiculous-sounding requests. It could be to completely copy another business' website and throw their name on it, or to "make a website from the business card" (that's pretty common). Not each of these requests are truly executable or in good taste, so  what do I do when a client has a request I can't fulfill?

My job as a design expert is to know when to inform clients of limits, but more so to find creative solutions to problems other businesses won't work on, or that my clients have faith in my skills to solve. Instead of running like I'd sometimes prefer to, I'll invest a healthy amount of time to investigate how to bring my clients' desires to life or implement close alternatives before I either outsource the problem or give up. To date, I've rarely had to turn away a client due to an inability to meet their expectations.

Find ways to remove "no" from your professional vocabulary as much as possible. Provide solid, creative solutions when you can your client. Don't give up until you've exhausted all alternatives.

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