One Monkey – Is Your Website Secure?
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One monkey may not stop a show
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Is your website secure?
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When Is It The Right Time To Rebrand? – 5 Telltale Signs
Over time, businesses grow and evolve, and so should their branding. After all, Nokia started out as a paper mill company, but most people now associate their name with quality phones and electronics. They have made sure that their brand clearly reflects that. If you are unsure if it is the right time to rebrand or not, look for these 5 telltale signs.
1. You Are Failing to Stand out
The primary purpose of branding is to ensure that your customers are easily able to differentiate you from your competitors. If your logo, name, or message looks too similar to that of others on the marketplace, you are bound to lose out to your customers. Rebranding and focusing on what truly makes you unique will remedy the problem.
2. Your Brand Has Become Too Complex
If the message and image that your brand gives across to your audience are that of a confusing mess of various contrasting offerings with no common narrative, then you are likely to not find it very effective. Branding should be simple and streamlined. Focus on your business’s core values and product and rebuild your brand around them.
3. You Look Outdated
This is the first logo of Google. Do you think that the company would have found much success with branding if they had stuck with the original? Time changes a lot of things, including taste, expectations, and aesthetics. Your brand should reflect that and should modernize accordingly.
4. Your Products Have Changed
Remember our example of Nokia? How humorous it would have been if the famous phone company had a brand logo of a paper product. Since branding is all about what experiences your customers have with your products and services, if they change, so should your branding.
5. You’re Undergoing a Merger or Acquisition
At times, two businesses will merge, or one business will buy another to form an entirely new entity. Mergers and acquisitions are almost always time to consider rebranding.
Your rebranding should incorporate whatever the other company will be bringing to the table. Failure at brand alignments translates to failure in getting a coherent message across to your customers.
Take Our Help!
Still unsure if you should rebrand or not? Reach out to us, and we will gladly help with that. Drop us an email at info@printandwebdeisgner.com.
What Does ‘Branding’ Mean?
The word ‘branding’ today has become a buzzword for a wide variety of different meanings and concepts. This is why, not surprisingly, the answer to the question, “What does branding mean?” is not so simple. Here we attempt to find as comprehensive an answer as possible.
What is Branding?
Imagine an Apple product, what is the most noticeable thing about it? Most will answer that it is probably the logo. However, branding is more than just about logos and names; it deals with association and perception.
When people shop for Nike shoes, they associate the brand with famous athletes and perceive the product to be of good quality. The Nike logo isn’t just there to tell customers that it was made by a certain company, but also to trigger a psychological response in them that compels them to be attracted to the product.
At its core, branding is a sum of all customer experiences. Apple’s brand is so strong because ownership of their product makes people feel good about themselves, and the products themselves have a proven record for great functionality and quality.
With Nike, consumers have found the athletic wear to be of the highest quality, and have also seen famous people wearing those products. The sum of all these experiences is why the brand is associated and perceived how it is by the public.
When a business is building a brand, they are effectively trying to control and plan the experiences that they want their clients to have.
Branding – Getting Started
Getting started with branding is a lot like a journey of self-discovery for your company. You have to clearly find and define your company values, vision, targeted demography, and goals first. Afterward, you want to develop an effective marketing strategy to commutate this to your audience.
But, remember, since branding is all about experiences, you will also have to ensure that the experiences your customer gets out of using your product or services remain consistent with these defined aspects. In fact, this shouldn’t be just tied to products and services but to every aspect of your business – how you answer calls, what you or your salespeople wear, etc.
Help Us Build Your Brand
Whether you are just starting out or already are an established business, we at Print and Web Designer can help you build your brand and attract more customers. To get started, or if you have any queries, email us at info@printandwebdesigner.com.
How to Give Feedback to Your Designer in an Organized, Effective Way
Proper communication with your designer lies at the core of getting the desired results by hiring their services. However, if there’s too much back and forth between you and your designer and you are still not even close to getting the results that you wanted, chances are that they are unable to understand your requirements.
If you want it to be a fruitful collaboration, it’s important to know how to give feedback to your designer in an organized and effective manner.
Here are the top tips for providing constructive design feedback that your designer can actually work upon.
Be Precise About the Changes Required
The obvious way to ensure that your designer understands your needs and preferences is to define them precisely.
Avoid vague statements like ‘make it pop.’ Pinpoint what needs to pop more. Is it the text? The images? Or the color scheme itself?
It is a commonly received comment for many designers. But what you need to remember is that making something ‘pop’ can hold different meanings for different people.
For your designer, it might mean brighter, more attractive colors while all you wanted was the make the titles and subheads bigger and bolder.
Try Not to Micro-Manage
This may seem to contradict what we just said, but there’s a fine line differentiating the two points.
While you definitely need to be specific about your design requirements, it’s important that you try not to be too specific. Laying down the framework down to the minutest detail only prevents you from leveraging the designer’s expertise on the subject.
Tell them about the problem and analyze their suggestions. For instance, you can say that you don’t like the font type because it looks too casual for a site that addresses business owners, and then see the solutions that they come up with.
Use Visuals Where Needed
Providing your designer with links to other sites that you like is never a bad idea. It gives them a fair idea of what you want your own website to look like and thus, allows them to interpret and implement your request for revisions more effectively.
For example, if you feel like the proposed site layout isn’t very easy to navigate, send your designer the link to one that has a simple user interface. This helps them understand what you have in mind.
When you know how to give feedback to your designer, rest assured that you will get a website that is truly exceptional yet completely in line with what you had envisioned.
If you are looking for a professional web designer to help you create an attractive website, get in touch with Print & Web Designers today!
Drop us an email at info@printandwebdesigner.com.
4 Reasons You Should Invest in a Blog Designer
So, you have finally decided to jump on the blogging bandwagon but aren’t really sure how to go about creating a blog? Or have you already been blogging for quite some time but still haven’t reaped the amazing benefits other bloggers rave about?
Regardless of what the case might be, the solution to both these problems is the same – you need to hire a blog designer.
Why?
Well, here are all the reasons to invest in a blog designer.
1. Helps You Create a Lasting Impression
Not judging a book by its cover is a good philosophy to follow in life, but unfortunately, it doesn’t apply to the digital world. With the sea of blogs out there, users normally use the visual appeal of a site to quickly decide whether they need to browse further or hit the back button instead.
A professional designer ensures that your blog creates a lasting first impression on visitors that compels them to navigate further.
2. Saves Your Time and Money
Setting up a blog can be a challenging task, especially if you aren’t a computer geek. Hiring a blog designer saves you the headache of having to learn to code and understand how HTML, CSS, and whatnot work. They help you get things right in the first go and so that your blog is up and running in no time.
3. Generates User Engagement
Blog designers help you optimize the site layout so that you can convey your message effectively. They enhance the user interface and make your site easy to browse and follow. This, in turn, generates user engagement.
When the user engagement increases, you can expect to see the desired results too. Whether it’s encouraging visitors to subscribe to your newsletter, buy a certain product, or provide their feedback, rest assured that your readers are more likely to follow your call to action if the site is well designed.
4. Offers Customization
Using premade themes might be an easy and cost-effective way to start blogging. But it compromises the overall user experience as your blog will end up looking like many others.
If you hire a blog designer, you get the exclusive opportunity to style and customize your site whichever way you want. From the color scheme and font type to special features and everything else in between, you call all the shots for what your site should look like.
Here to Help: Hire a Blog Designer
Blogging is a land of golden opportunities. But you can’t avoid them unless you have an attractive blog to begin with. To set up an incredible blog that is completely in line with the message you are trying to convey, get in touch with P&WD today!
Our team of skilled designers can help you craft the most impressive blog you have ever seen. Drop us an email at info@printandwebdesigner.com.
5 Questions To Ask a Designer On A Free Consult Call
From designing your brand logos to your campaign banners to templates for your marketing effort, designers are an integral part of your business success. Before you consider working with one, here are 5 questions to ask a designer on call to make sure they are the right fit for your needs.
1. Can You Tell Me More About Your Design Process?
It is important to get the designer to go you through their entire design process. Not only will this help you understand exactly what you are paying for, but will be able to better coordinate with your designer in meeting the project needs and deadlines.
2. Who Will Own the Design?
Who will be the final owner of the end product is something you should definitely ask the designer you will be working with. If you do not have ownership of the design, you would be severely limited in what you can or cannot do with it.
3. Who Will Be the Person of Contact?
Since a designer may be working with numerous clients or be part of the designing agency, other individuals may be acting as a liaison between you and the designer. It is important to know exactly who you have to contact in case of any emergencies or whether the design project requires any revisions.
4. Can I Get a Quote?
Some designers may list their prices on their websites while others won’t. In the case of the latter, it is important to get an estimate from them to make sure you plan our budget accordingly and don’t get surprised by any unexpected extra charges.
Be sure to also ask them on exactly how they arrived at their rates so you know you aren’t being charged unreasonably.
5. How Will We Be Communicating?
For the successful completion of any project, communication is crucial. You should ask them how communications will work between you and them as well as through what mediums (phone calls, emails, VOIP). The easier it is to communicate with the designer, the better.
Looking for a reputable professional designer for your design needs? Get in touch with the design pros at Print and Web Designer. For further details on our service or any queries, email us at info@printandwebdesigner.com.