What can we help you with?
What is it we do?
We occasionally ask ourselves the same question. Usually at around 1am when we’re still here working…
Simple. We do communications. That means we help businesses, organisations and individuals communicate a message. Often, it’s a sales message. Sometimes it’s a campaigning or educational message. But we find a way to say it honestly, clearly and (we hope) memorably no matter what the medium or message.
BRAND AND IDENTITY
Branding – that’s brand development, implementation and strategy. If you’re interested in improving, refreshing or renewing your brand, give us a call
You already have a brand, whether you’re a small business or a multinational. The question is how you control, develop and maintain it. Your brand needs to reflect you clearly. We can help improve awareness, opinion and the value of your brand, and give your customers something to be proud to belong to. We do it by finding the real differences in your business and communicating them honestly.
Key points - branding and identity
PRINTED LITERATURE
Your brochures and literature are your public face - they reflect your business
Winning clients and customers is difficult and expensive. Firstly, you need solid, thought-through, factual propositions that are grounded in your product or service. It needs to be original, enticing and engaging. Then, every word, every image needs to work hard (very hard) for a living.
Key points - brochures and printed literature
WRITTEN COMMS
Or ‘Why you should always use a copywriter’
Once you’ve got a customer, what are you going to do with him? What about his monthly statements? Bills? Cross-promotion? Reports? These are just as important as the ad that recruited him. We help our clients with a great deal of their written marketing. A few projects we’ve been involved recently included: Statements and bills, Standard letters (writing, designing and producing), renewal letters, call-centre scripts, annual reports, statements and cross-promotional material.
Key points - brochures and printed literature
PUBLIC RELATIONS
Why you should be dealing with the media
No matter what your business, you could get the media working for you. How? By giving them news, information and stories about your organisation. Give them timely, relevant information and they’ll love you forever - and give you column inches for nothing that you’d otherwise have to pay for.
Key points - public relations
CONSULTANCY
Get someone outside to give you a fresh perspective
With all the day-to-day demands on you, how do find time to develop creative marketing ideas and new perspectives? You could get us in. We’ve worked clientside as well as in agencies, so we know the realities of corporate life and politics. We know what works and what doesn’t. And we can give you a range of ideas, suggestions and implementable answers quickly and effectively.
Key points - Consultancy
CONCEPT AND DESIGN
Design that works for its money
We reckon that design is an integral part of any communication project. It doesn’t matter what it is - a brochure, a sales letter, a website - the way it’s designed is vital. It’s about designing for meaning. That means design work that enhances the message, that adds another layer of meaning.
Key points - Concept and design
- Brand and communications audit
- Brand voice
- Logo design
TECHNICAL COMMS
The hard stuff
Agencies often see technical communications as too dull, having too many constraints, too much to say. We think differently. There’s no reason technical manuals, instruction leaflets or apprentice teaching material needs to be dull. We find ways to make it relevant, interesting and easy to understand.
Key points - technical communications
PRESS ADVERTISING
How to wring every last penny from your ads
Press ads - ah, a great chance to win awards. Er, no. Not in our world anyway. We’d rather your press ads were building your brand and getting people to your website, calling you or even clipping the coupon. Press ads cost a LOT of money to produce and insert, so they should work very hard indeed for their living. Ours do.
Key points - press advertising
MULTIMEDIA
Live on line
You can do almost anything on the web. Whether you want to is another matter altogether. We’ve written and designed a lot of sites ranging from hideously complex interactive setups to simple holding pages. We know how people read on the web (clue - they don’t, they scan for meaning) and how to get them to understand your message.
Key points - technical manuals
- Use a proper web copywriter. One who understands about writing for meaning AND for search engines (without it being crass and obvious)
- Think about the structure first - not the information. People need to understand the concept before the detail.
- Make the most of the opportunities for your clients and customers to interact with you on the web.
SEMINARS
A chance to talk face to face
Seminars are an incredibly powerful way of demonstrating your expertise to a lot of prospective clients at once. They’re ideal when you have something relevant to say, but it’s complicated and hard to understand. A well-prepared seminar makes it a lot easier to explain the points you want to make.
Key points - technical manuals
- Don’t - just please don’t - let your presenters bark at PowerPoint slides. It’s not big or clever.
- Vary your presenters - get different members of staff to present different elements.
- Venues are VITAL. There are lots of cheaper alternatives to the local business hotel that will be a real draw for your audience.
