Small to Large – Business structure and approach

Posted on June 19, 2018 by f4mmedia

There are a couple of joking metaphors that I use concerning business structures and their approaches. When it comes to marketing for your small business you can take a number of approaches:

you can be firmly DIY, which is Ok but perhaps you might have a bit more chance giving someone else some input, a different and perhaps fresh pair of eyes, different ideas and possibly some experience
you can go full on corporate and use a big or at least a big-ish agency, tons of experience, resources, outlets and so on, but then you get all of the hefty pricing, sometimes inflexibility and probably not so much direct and intense concentration on you, your business and its partiicularities
you can go small and local.

… and now to the metaphors …

I have often likened a lot of big corporate operations, basically many decent sized businesses to a tree full of monkeys:

down at the bottom there are hoards of monkeys doing the majority of the hard work, endelessly passing the fruit up the tree but when they look up what is the only thing they see – a wall of monkeys asses.

The small business like f4mmedia I tend to liken to a merry-go-round:

it may not always be going fast, providing a thrill every second, making you squeal with excitement, but there are people beside you and some at your back and you see all-sorts of things as you go round and move.

I tend to liken f4mmedia to a cornershop, which is why I use the tagline – the cornershop of content creation. What you get is that friendly, approachable, admittedly every once in a while grumpy guy behind the counter trying to provide just what you need, knowing you, usually with something for everyone and then if it’s not on the shelf ready to go and get it for you. As we say, we come with everything apart from Arkwright’s till – Open all hours reference for those who don’t know – classic UK comedy!

marketing@f4mmedia.com

design@f4mmedia.com

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f4mmedia on Font Bundles – We provide a range of resources – stock images, illustrations, photoshop, patterns, brushes – something for everyone

Source: f4mmedia | Font Bundles

Trends For 2017

Posted on January 12, 2017 by f4mmedia

At the end of one year and the start of another there are always predictions made about what is likely to happen, what will be popular, what will become successful in the coming year. Here is a round up of various suggestions in a number of fields.

With 2017 just a few days away, companies have begun charting their marketing plans. Content continues to be crucial but isn’t about who can produce the highest volumes anymore, it is about who can adapt to the diversity of multiple platforms and engage their audience across them.The compet

Source: 10 Top Content Marketing Trends For 2017 | DrumUp Blog

As 2016 draws to a close, I rounded-up 10 of what I believe will be the most important design trends of 2017.

Source: The Future is Now: 10 Design Predictions for 2017 | Creative Cloud blog by Adobe

New year, new design trends. One of the great things about web design is that it is constantly evolving. You can find trends or even just hints of things to come almost by chance as new ideas seem to populate all at once. This month’s examples are a lot of fun with websites using space in interesting ways, new online shopping experiences and the return of pastel color palettes. Here’s what’s trending in design this month: 1) Exaggerated use of space The right amount of space can make or break a design. Whether it is white, a background color or surrounds text or images, “empty” space in a design can speak volumes. Exaggerated use of space is one of those design trends that can be a lot of fun, and when used well it can be rather effective in helping users know just how to look at or use a website or app. Open space is an extension of minimal styles that have been popular for some time, but with one major exception: Rather than a symmetrical outline with space all around, these designs

Source: Essential design trends, January 2017 | Webdesigner Depot

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Content – Design, Styles, Marketing – 5

Posted on January 2, 2017 by f4mmedia

Happy New Year!

When it comes to the marketing for your business, your product, serivce, event you can take a thoroughly direct approach – simply state what is what and be damned! Fire those cannons and await a return. Then again you can also take a gentler approach. Setting a scene, providing a background, allowing people to relax into the message you gradually elaborate. In a similar way, your approach can be that big business, boardroom aired and generated, put together still with the feel of the glass windows of the office giving a wide view of the city skyline. A major tagline of F4mmedia is – the cornershop of content creation – there is an approach that has all of that convenience, it has the friendly tones of the local shopkeeper who knows you well, it is a little more informal. It may not have the grand packaging of the big business etc. but it is more comfortable and looks to make it easier to acquire.

Content Marketing Institute’s latest research reveals what the most committed UK marketers do differently, but lessons work for marketers worldwide.

Source: Committed to Content Marketing? Prioritize the Right Things [New UK Research]

Giving your marketing, your branding structure is certainly important. It allows you not only to take aim, rather than just throwing buckshot wildly into the air and seeing what you might hit, if you might hit something. It gives you the chance to tailor your efforts so that you are not wasting time, giving your efforts direction. It allows you to take stock of the whole terrain and your ROI. That structure also tends to mean that you are not rushing what you are doing, giving your efforts chance to take hold, to make themselves noticed in the whole terrain in which you operate.

Predictions for the biggest new things in design, and DIY examples to stay ahead of the the trends.

Source: We asked 16 designers about the next big trends in design

Enterprises need to embrace the lens of design thinking to innovate their legacy products & to transform the lives of their customers & employees.

Source: How Design Thinking Will Revolutionize Enterprises in 2017

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yes! we can all find a use for wood here and there – here is a range of textures, patterns -.png, .pat, .eps, .jpg – great for any project needing colour and texture, that natural feel but with a litt

Source: new wood old wood for free | f4mmedia – Sellfy.com

small business owner creating content, graphics, marketing, also dj, vj and more

Source: des bate (@f4mmedia) • Instagram photos and videos

Type design Nina Stössinger details the three steps you should follow to find the best font.

Source: How to choose the perfect typeface, by Frere-Jones’ Nina Stössinger – News – Digital Arts

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Content – Design, Styles, Marketing – 4

Posted on December 20, 2016 by f4mmedia

The messages you put out there in support of your business are not just bits and pieces of marketing, they come together as the whole story that is your branding. So, what story fits best with the people you are trying to reach – your targets? When you have decided upon the style of story, how can you decorate it to give it more impact?

Where you have a more thoughtful target group it may be useful to use a gentler narrative. Then to this sort of message you can add artier, crafted images with a gentle palette.

For those people who have less time and a more pressing life – your story and imagery needs, often, to be more direct and have brighter more direct colours in use.

Sometimes a natural background, even muted can make the point. Then using a soft, soft palette having your typography tell the story, at least in its emotive details can do the trick.

Sometimes the choice to be made is between the fully frontal business image and the imaginatively crafted art-based image. One shows that you are all business, the other, all creative imagination. Your backstory can be many things – every business and its surroundings, geographic, economic and mercantile, they are all different. Telling that story can be quite different, rather than a simple clone of this or that. In just the same way each particular element of your target audience, your target customer base, they may have similarities, but they also have slight but particular pieces of the purely individual. Make it resonate.

Do you ever find yourself noticing that a certain design element just keeps popping up? Even those tiny details that look somewhat insignificant can be indicators of design trends. That is particularly true with the elements in this month’s roundup. Each of these trends—white edges framing a web design, cinemagraphs and tiny loading animations—are seemingly simple details that enhance the visual experience for users. Here’s what’s trending in design this month: 1) White edges More web designs are using white edges or framing around the perimeter of the design in the web browser. It’s a new twist on an old idea when more websites were built to certain sizes and framing was used for odd browser widths. It’s something that faded as more designers opted for responsive, full-width designs. The new twist with framing is interesting and is a nice way to create a canvas for the design. Most of the sites using this trend include a white—common, but not mandatory—edge around the design.

Source: Essential design trends, December 2016 | Webdesigner Depot

Kayleigh by Font Bundles Store available for $8.00 at FontBundles.net

Source: Kayleigh by Font Bundles Store | Font Bundles

The mythic color standards company says it selected the bright, natural color as a counterpoint to the murky political climate around the world.

Source: Greenery: Pantone hopes its 2017 color of the year will improve our gloomy mood— Quartz

Please like the page – Source: F4mmedia

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Source: new wood old wood for free | f4mmedia – Sellfy.com

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Case study 7 – end notes

Posted on September 12, 2014 by f4mmedia

[the end of the case study notes …

Key areas put to them included:

engagement – calls to action, what can you ask them to do that will help keep you in their mind’s eye
the souvenir principle, have something they can take away – for example, business cards,
a catalogue,
content – styled to your brand and your targets

Other suggestions would include:

networking
business directories
blog articles
what can they associate you with, something external – sponsorship
e-book of services

some of our other work – the entertaining toolbox
f4mmedia on wix

portfolio on behance

portfolio on dropr

youtube – f4mmedia – business and more

youtube – futurhood av – arts and entertainment, music videos and more

f4mmedia documents – downloadable pdf’s

rising setting.

on vk – futurhood av and f4mmedia

colours heard – the other blog

Case study 5 – style is half the message

Posted on September 6, 2014 by f4mmedia

Style = colour choices + font choices + background + design + illustration +

The images you present to potential clients or customers say something deep about your business. Design gives you a particular place within the marketplace.

25 Beautiful Branding and Identity Design ideas for your inspiration.

A cornerstone of any design or series of designs is the palette used. Your key colours say a lot about you and your company – take a look at the following …

Mobile Designing Color Trends with Examples.

The Role of Color in Marketing [INFOGRAPHIC] | Social Media Today.

How do colors affect purchases? Infographic.

True Colors Infographic – Breakdown of Color Preferences by Gender.

Font use is a maor element of how you say something.

2013 Font Trends ~ Creative Market Blog.

Why Typographic Voice Matters to Your Brand | Paper Leaf Design.

Choose The Right Font – A Practical Guide To Typography On The Web | Best PSD to HTML.

… and then to style per se …

In previous posts I have shown examples of certain styles popular at present –

Quite an assault on the senses isn’t it. The point is to decide who and what your targets are. Ask yourself the question – what sort of image and lettering fits with all of that – who you are trying to reach, what you are trying to say, how you want to show yourself as a company to those prospects – then do it – complete the equation.

Free High-Quality Business Card Templates PSD | Professional Business Card | Graphic Design Inspiration.

Designing Above The Fold – Is It Still Relevant?.

10 Crucial Lessons From History’s Greatest Graphic Designers | Co.Design | business + design.

Styles and designs for each company and industry vary – for the music and entertainment side of things, for example, check out colours heard the sister blog to this one.

Case study 4 – social media channels

Posted on September 5, 2014 by f4mmedia

[the case study notes continue …

Case study 1 – building or creating – websites for your local business | f4mmedia.

Case study 2 – small local business | f4mmedia.

As I told my friend time spent currently on social media, even as a business owner, can be significant. The best known of the social media channels may be essentially the places where the consumer spends time – facebook, twitter, pinterest, instagram, youtube, but there are clear reasons for businesses to be present as well. Indeed – youtube has countless videos essentially where businesses target other businesses, as with twitter, even facebook. These are places particularly where small and local businesses can and do sell to each other. Having a social media presence also has SEO implications – social media effort can help overall with online presence and, depending upon how keywords and links are used, can aid in your whole business profile.

In addition to the usual and best known social media channels – facebook, twitter, youtube, instagram, pinterest, google+ – there are channels more particualrly of use to businesses – linkedin being the most prominent in the english speaking world, viadeo being rather more french in basis. For even the small business there are very good reasons for having a presence, particularly where you are a b2b business. You can build links, aid in your general online profile and presence, spread your brand message and generally reach potential new business.

Linkedin – The Social Media Platform for B2B Marketing.

Why B2B Marketers Should Use Social Media | MWPartners.

Some channels have disappeared or have declined to an extent making them of no real use overall – myspace, for example, even though it has partially rebranded itself as a place for those involved in music, also orkut, foursquare and so on, vk is probably only of any use to russian speakers and the like.

A beginners guide to Social Media Marketing : Creative Beacon.

7 useful pointers on creating an effective social media marketing campaign.

Which Colors You Should Avoid in Your Ads To Gain Success? | iBrandStudio.

The Do’s and Dont’s of Content Marketing – Infographic.

Small business tips: how to use social media to boost business | Guardian Small Business Network | Guardian Professional.

Case study 3 – getting the message out

Posted on September 4, 2014 by f4mmedia

[the case study notes continue …

Case study 1 – building or creating – websites for your local business | f4mmedia.

Case study 2 – small local business | f4mmedia.

To do business you need to get noticed. For b2b businesses obviously you need other businesses to take notice. Getting your message to other businesses can involve slightly different channels than those you use to reach customers within the general swathe of the public – general consumers.

The combination of medium and message is the key – the channels you use to carry the message and how you present the message delivered – style, content, background, wording.

So … what are you going to say? how are you going to say it? Your actual message needs to be keyed to your targets – your first step must have been to work out who are your targets!

Then the message needs to be framed – is it just going to be text? It has been said repeatedly that adding illustration, giving your message a graphic addition helps in conversions. Do you add music, or spoken word – some audio has real use in getting your message across. Of serious use – video! Google has made its voice heard in terms of the addition of video to websites. Video has real use on all sorts of social media channels – facebook being one, twitter another.

Advertising that works | StudioWEBER.

Web Design Trends 2015 | Articles | Graphic Design Junction.

Infographic: Why Your Busines Must Go Social | iBrandStudio.

Video Backgrounds & After Effects Templates | BlogSizzle.

5 Ways Business Entrepreneurs Can Use Video – Media Challenge Productions.

INFOGRAPHIC: Video on Social Network – How Marketers & Advertisers Are Using Video.

Top 8 Web Design Trends that Emerged during 2014.

View this document on Scribd

Fresh and Effective Ideas for Your Content Marketing | Articles | Graphic Design Junction.

5 Questions to Ask When Using Video in Web Design-Creative Beacon.

Case study 2 – small local business

Posted on September 3, 2014 by f4mmedia

Continuing the case study …

Case study 1 – building or creating – websites for your local business | f4mmedia.

Your business website is the core, sitting beside all of the basic means of contacting you the business – your phone, your email and so on. This online shopfront needs not only to be attractive to you but certainly attractive to those you want to engage with you. It needs to be easily found – thus SEO is important, helping you up the page rankings. It needs to say everything you want to say about the business. Given the fact that attention spans across the board are getting smaller seemingly by the day, it needs to say things quickly. Engage! Attract! Reel them in! A call to action is good for openers – get your prospects to do something, give them a reason to engage with you – a giveaway or something they can take away with them – use the Souvenir Principle!

10 crucial points to check before you launch a website.

This is the basic message to send …

Top 8 Web Design Trends that Emerged during 2014.

View this document on Scribd

SEO’s Two Most Important Tactics | SiteProNews.

Search Engine Optimization Basics | 4 Steps to Optimizing Your….

Post Flat Design – Collective Ray Blog.

6 Reasons Why Flat Design Will Die Soon.

Essential Principles of Website Color Scheming.

The Madness That Comes Along With The Long Shadow Trend.

What Makes a Website Look Dated? – DesignFestival.

Case study 1 – building or creating – websites for your local business

Posted on September 1, 2014 by f4mmedia

I was set something of a task recently by an old and close friend. He had been left running a small but local business providing services to other larger businesses in the area by two other close friends who retired. Circumstances beyond his control have meant that the existing contracts that are the life blood of the business are under threat – either to come to an end or be forcefully repriced because of cuts in fees to them. So the question is – rebrand? remarket? relaunch? or what?

My first examination of the whole question was to look at what presence the business has overall. Website! The basic point of contact and point of information for any business is a website. Other forms of content can add to this and reinforce the whole of what the business website – be it print, digital publishing, video, podcast, illustration or other. His basic statement was that he wanted a website that he was happy with and that was away from the norm of the usual, the run of the mill company or corporate websites.

My response –

your business website needs to present the basic information of your business quickly and attractively in an easy and accessible way
it needs to do the above with the target clients in mind
a proper assessment of target businesses being undertaken to assess what and where efforts need to be directed
a site that pleases you may not be so attractive to the people you are looking for – this is a b2b situation so think about how they see you, what pressures are there on them timewise, what will draw them in
does this need to be a responsive site, do your targets use mobiles as key on the job work tools as they are going about their normal working day
does the site draw your targets in suitably, is it punchy enough to lay out the basics of your business to those you are looking to attract
is the SEO dealt with