I know there are some of you who read this column who are not (yet) business owners, and who may be thinking about taking that leap of faith to launch your idea. If that’s you, have you considered the following?

• Do you have enough capital? Most businesses take between six and twelve months to start turning a profit large enough to provide you with a reasonable income. Even if you start generating sales and income immediately, there are many start up costs that eat into your profit. So make sure you have enough cash to sustain you during that time, and/or a budget (for your personal finances and your business) that is realistic and sustainable.
• Do you have a marketing plan? Your first few customers or clients are crucial to starting a loyal fan base, so think of ways to engage those people. Be prepared to spend money on marketing (yes, there are many free marketing ideas, but you will usually need to spend some money to get your product or service in front of the right people)
• Do you look the part? It continues to amaze me how many businesses don’t take the time to ensure they look professional and trustworthy. Branding your business doesn’t necessarily involve spending a lot of money, but spending the time to think about what image you are projecting is vital. You need a great first impression, so if you are meeting potential customer face to face, consider how you (and anyone representing you) dresses, speaks and interacts. If first contact is online, ensure that you have a website that functions well, looks great and is optimised for search engines to find you.
• Are you prepared for the long haul? Running a business is not a ‘walk in the park’. It requires endurance and a commitment to your long term goals. Be prepared to give 110 percent and you just might make it!

Michelle Grice writes a weekly column for business women in The Western Weekender

Getting your logo designed can be tricky to navigate, so here are some tips to help you navigate the process!

1. Branding process

Your logo is just one element of your whole branding. Therefore any discussion with a graphic designer should include questions about any existing branding, or some in depth questions about your business or organisation (such as your target market, the products/services your offer, and so on). This helps the designer to get a good impression so they can design a logo that is appropriate.

Most graphic designers will include a number of concepts in the price of designing a logo. You should ensure that any ideas you have will be considered, but you should also be open to allowing the graphic designer to come up with concepts, based on their impression of your business. A good designer is likely to come up with some ideas that you never would have thought of!

2. What program is it being designed in?

Logos should always be designed in a program such as Adobe Illustrator, or a simliar program that can create vector images (this blog article explains it really well). If anyone tells you they use Photoshop to design logos, do not use them! Your logo will be limited to the size of the original image - if you need to make it larger, it will be pixelated. Vector programs like Illustrator also give the designer much more scope with effects and endless possiblities for design.

3. What final file formats should I be given?

Some graphic designers choose to provide only 'raster image' files (e.g. JPG, GIF, etc) and then charge you a (much higher) additional fee for an 'EPS' (or vector) file. The reasons for doing this can vary, but generally it is a way of ensuring that you will continue to utilise their services (because they 'own' your original logo files).

At Shel Design, we choose to provide our clients with an 'EPS' file within the standard cost of designing any logo (as welll as JPG and PNG), as we know how important that file is for your business or organisation. If you need to work with signwriters, uniform companies and other promotional companies, an EPS file is essential. It can be enlarged to ANY size, it can be manipulated to work in reverse colours (e.g. if you need colours varied when the logo is placed on a dark background) and it has a transparent background (very important!). Plus there are other 'design advantages' that I won't bore you with, but that are also important too!

And we want our clients to come back to us for future jobs becuase they love our work, not because they are beholden to us!

4. Check portfolios

It is always a good idea to look at other logos a graphic designer has created (most graphic designers have a website with a portfolio - if not, ask for some samples to be sent via email or view them in person). See if you think the quality appears to be good and the variety wide.

If you are ready to have your logo designed by Shel Design, contact us for a quote!

A few months ago I wrote an article (Finding a Human Connection) about the amazing rise on social media of the blog (and Facebook page) called ‘Humans of New York (HONY)’. That article was about the marketing lessons we can learn from this enterprise.

Since that article, HONY has continued to increase its social media followers and has impacted them (and his photography subjects) in powerful ways. Over the past couple of weeks, the owner of HONY was able to raise over $1,000,000 (and counting!) for a school in one of the toughest districts of New York. This campaign was not intentional: it began with one photograph and interview with a student from the school, and it snowballed from there.

The reason it snowballed is largely because Brandon, the creator of HONY, is a great storyteller. Most often the caption he posts under the photo is simple and unembellished. But he has a way of being provocative in that the whole story is not always told. He leaves questions unanswered. This in turn makes the reader ask questions, either about the subject or of themselves. The result is that we feel connected to these ‘ordinary’ people because they are going about their ‘ordinary’ lives. But the photo and story create a sense that there is no ‘ordinary’.

So what does that mean for us in our businesses? How can we use this example to help people connect to what we have to offer?

The answer to this is not the same for everyone! And of course some of us are better storytellers than others. But time and again, marketing gurus will tell us that we need to find a way to tell our business story in order for potential customers to connect with us. But I think HONY has given us some clues: keep it simple and honest, and show the ‘humanness’ of your business.

Michelle Grice writes a weekly column for business women in The Western Weekender

Most women starting a new business are full of ideas (which is great) and passion (even better!). But it can be easy to get caught up in the ‘fantastic idea’ and make mistakes that can be easily avoided. So here are some tips for starting out:

Take time to test: you absolutely need to go with your ‘gut feeling’ when starting a business. But if you do not take the time to test and research, you are likely to fail (and fail quickly). Talk to experts and people who have been in business for more than five years. Work out who your target market is and see what they think of your idea. You might receive feedback that you did not anticipate and may find you have to do some more work before you launch. That does not mean you should give up! The product or service you launch may look different than what you first envisaged, so be open to change.

Market aggressively: you are competing with many other products and services, and advertising ‘noise’ in general, so you cannot expect that your idea will ‘sell itself’. No matter what it is, you have to create a comprehensive marketing plan. This does not necessarily mean spending a lot of money, but you do need to have a clear plan of what and how you are going to promote.

You cannot do it all: at the very beginning, you will likely be the one doing every aspect of your business. But if your idea takes off, you must bring in other people with specific talents and skills. Associate yourself with other business owners and start building valuable and trustworthy relationships so you can draw on those networks when you need to.

Michelle Grice writes a weekly column for business women in The Western Weekender

Have you seen the Facebook page and blog called ‘Humans of New York (HONY)’? When you find the page, you may wonder why I am recommending it. It’s not a business. It’s got nothing to do with women in business. But just today I realised what an amazing example it is for business owners.

The creator of the page says: “I began Humans of New York because I thought it would be really cool to create an exhaustive catalogue of New York City’s inhabitants…but somewhere along the way, HONY began to take on a much different character. I started collecting quotes and short stories…these portraits and captions provides a worldwide audience with daily glimpses into the lives of strangers in New York”.

Although it is not a commercial/business venture (aside from a #1 New York Times bestseller book that has now evolved from the blog), the creator of this page has tapped into a dazzlingly simple ‘niche’ market.

The page creates a ‘global village’ culture, where readers feel connected to the subjects. His images provoke response. His stories are not embellished – he just lets the words speak for themselves.

This popularity has come about because the creator of the page has appealed to basic human emotions. The absolute best marketing does exactly that too. Luxury car advertisements are a classic example. Rarely do these ads give the viewer a list of specifications or the price. Instead, they sell a ‘feeling’ and appeal to desires. They want you to fall in love with the product first.

What we can learn from Humans of New York is to find ways to appeal to the most basic of wants and needs in order to elicit an emotional response to your product or service. This will be far more successful than trying to convince potential customers to buy in to your latest sale without first investing themselves.

Michelle Grice writes a weekly column for business women in The Western Weekender

You may have heard about the Australian insurance company who launched an advertising campaign right after last week’s MH17 airline tragedy: "Is MH17 Malaysia Airlines tragedy a sign to consider life insurance?". They were rightly condemned for this and it was very quickly removed. This was a blatant form of ‘cashing in’ and it is deplorable that any person or business thought it was acceptable to do this.

But it is actually not this sort of ‘cashing in’ to which I am referring in the title of this article. Each time there is a disaster or a wide-spread tragedy, most of us feel helpless and many of us want to find ways to help. As business owners, we are often in a great position to coordinate assistance, but here is the difficult part: at what point do we cross the line between genuinely assisting victims of a tragedy and ‘using’ the tragedy to provide exposure for our businesses?

In the days following the MH17 airline tragedy, a well-known women’s media website posted on social media: “Details here on how to leave messages of support and condolence…”. But rather than linking directly to the Prime Minister’s condolence website, it linked to an article on their website.This crossed the line for me as there was no need to go via their site and it was viewed by many followers as ‘cashing in’.

Perhaps asking yourself the following questions will help you decide what action is appropriate:

-       Can I achieve the same or similar outcome if this is done anonymously?

-       Am I really being generous or am I (truthfully) seeing this as a way to gain publicity for my business?

-       Can I partner with larger aid agencies by posting links to their campaigns, rather than donations coming via my business (in response to my ‘special promotion’)?

-       Am I prepared to support this cause long term or am I just getting caught up in the hype of a topical issue?

Michelle Grice writes a weekly column for business women in The Western Weekender

Travelling overseas the past few weeks gave me an opportunity to experience many different ways that people ‘do business’. While some differences were simply cultural differences that I was more than happy to roll with, other differences were great examples of ‘what not to do’!

One of the places we visited was a theme park, which upon entry, provided us with a glossy, comprehensive looking map so that we could find our way around. It was available in English as well as a number of other languages: so far, so good!

Unfortunately the map was not only difficult to understand, it actually made navigation around the park harder, not easier. So we decided to ignore the map and follow the signs around the park to get to the attractions we wanted to see. That worked well until we got to a junction and there was no sign telling us where to go next!

What was obvious to me was that the management of the park had not taken the time to assess their maps and signage from a newcomer’s point of view. It made perfect sense to them because they were familiar with the layout of the park.

This got me thinking: how often in your business do you make assumptions? Do you have a Frequently Asked Questions section on your website that answers all your customer queries? Do you provide basic information about the services you offer? Do you give clear instructions for first time visitors?

It might be time to assess your marketing materials (including signage, forms and other materials that customers interact with) to ensure that you are helping your customers rather than hindering them.

Michelle Grice writes a weekly column for business women in The Western Weekender

If you have been in business for longer than five minutes you will have read or heard about the fact that your business branding extends well beyond your logo. But sometimes I wonder whether than message has really sunk in!

Recently I was driving in the car with my administration assistant. She noticed a van on the road near us and remarked that she had been thinking of trying out that company. As we drove closer to the van, she noticed that the driver was smoking and she remarked “well, maybe I won’t now!”. This company was in the natural health industry, so the image of someone smoking was incongruous for her and resulted in her forming a negative opinion.

This business had a great logo, solid marketing messages and attracts a ‘cashed up’ niche market. But they failed on a basic aspect of branding – everything that customers see and experience about their business should reinforce their message. And unfortunately, seeing the driver smoking did the exact opposite.

It was highly unlikely that the driver of this van was the owner of this business, and as such, the business owner does not have ultimate ‘control’ over everything that every staff member does. But what they do have control over is the policies they enforce, the culture they create and the consequences for staff who perform outside those boundaries.

In addition, if we had contacted the business to let them know what we saw, the reaction to our complaint would have given the business an opportunity to ‘redeem’ themselves. The way you deal with a ‘branding glitch’ speaks volumes about your commitment to, and the validity of, your marketing messages

Michelle Grice writes a weekly column for business women in The Western Weekender