Alice Elliott's blog

Thoughts of a visual marketer

Saying exactly what in the tin

Friday, July 10th, 2009

Following on from my visible networking material idea I came across this business card from Jill Wigmore-Welsh. I wanted to share it with you because it stood out from all the other business cards at this networking meeting I went to.
Why? Because the first thing it said is what she does, but in a way [...]
How to use your customers to promote your business

Wednesday, April 1st, 2009

Customers are extremely important to your business, where would it be without them? This may sound obvious, but there are some businesses that trundle along taking no notice of this vital element.
When analysing a business promotion, take notice of to whom they are talking to. Who is the main objective in their marketing message? Who [...]
Don't just say it one way

Friday, March 13th, 2009

If you look at the BBC website newsdesk, you’ll see lots of different links to their news items. It looks like there’s lots of news there, but in fact there isn’t. If you investigated further, you’d find that quite a lot of the links go to the same news article. Why is this?
People view the [...]
How blogging and article writing help market businesses

Wednesday, March 11th, 2009

One way to get attention is to make a big noise. Any child will tell (or show) you that. And making big noises in business are one of the ways of getting your customers to look your way, and finding a method of getting more traffic to your website will certainly be welcome.
But making a [...]
But what is this advert really saying?

Tuesday, February 24th, 2009

I’ve just finished an advert.
The process was that it needed to be made ready for print: the image at 300 dpi, changed from RGB to CMYK, collect the logo from the original and superimpose it onto the new one (using Photoshop to separate it from its original background), work out what font was used for [...]
How to get your leaflets to start working for you

Wednesday, January 28th, 2009

First, we must consider the purpose of a leaflet: to promote a product or service and bring in sales. Unfortunately that is only half the story, because in today’s world a single ‘blast’ of marketing will not work. We live increasingly rapid lives, bombarded with stimuli and competition, ever filling in-boxes and constant [...]
Condense and Pinpoint for Focus

Tuesday, January 20th, 2009

Speaking at a networking session today with a would-be catering manager, I helped her visualise how to set up her business for marketing purposes.
Her forte was in organising dinner parties, so I suggested she should create five different kinds of hostesses, each with a different kind of dinner party. The reason behind this is if [...]
Consistency is the key

Monday, December 22nd, 2008

Whilst cleaning my bathroom I was struck by the Body Shop bottles on the shelf. That got me thinking on a variety of levels.
One: how the contents of the bottles matched the colours on the labels. Silly really, but I liked that consistency.
Two: the labels themselves were simple and uncluttered, and each bottle matched its [...]
Do you want to buy from me? No thanks, I don't know you.

Tuesday, December 16th, 2008

A sales rep rang me up today (just as I was about to go out to a networking meeting) and tried to sell me her income protection plan. Apart from not being in a very receptive frame of mind, I was irritated that she tried to pin me down to a time, first before Christmas [...]
Get decluttering to clear the way forward

Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008

Marketing is all about raising awareness and forming relationships with potential customers. It is also analysing what your customers want and need, and providing a solution within your products and services.
During a credit crunch it is wise to focus on the areas that sell well. Declutter and remove the things that aren’t necessary or are [...]