www.designcouncil.org
As one of the world’s leading design institutions, we are a centre of new thinking and insight into new ways to do business.
We actively show how design can help build a stronger economy and improve everyday life through practical demonstrations and by supporting private industry and the public sector. In turn we invest in the future of UK design.
For over 60 years the Design Council has promoted design for the public good. We are a government agency with a Royal Charter, funded by the Department of Business Innovation and Skills.
Each year they carry out research into the design industry to see what is going on and gather data about different occupations, income levels, where the work comes from and to develop new thinking on approaches to design at every levelData gathered by the Design Council has revealed some interesting trends.
1.87% of design businesses employ less than 10 people
2.16% of design companies are in the North of England
3.Only 23 % of design companies are in London
4.57% of design companies say they collaborate with other companies or practitioners on client briefs
5.28% of designers are free-lance.
The design Council also tries to predict what will be the shape of the Creative Industries in the future to help us prepare for a fast changing world.
As we speak, Sir John Hegarty is helping both India and China to re brand themselves and it is predicted that China will be the world’s biggest economy as soon as 2050. How would you cope with that? Will you make a point of employing or collaborating with Chinese Designers to keep ahead of the game?
Funding to the Arts has reduced by 26%
www.artcouncil.org
Arts Council England works to get great art to everyone by championing, developing and investing in artistic experiences that enrich people’s lives.
As the national development agency for the arts, we support a range of artistic activities from theatre to music, literature to dance, photography to digital art, carnival to crafts.
Great art inspires us, brings us together and teaches us about ourselves and the world around us. In short, it makes life better.
Between 2008 and 2011 we'll invest in excess of £1.6 billion of public money from the government and the National Lottery to create these experiences for as many people as possible across the country.
They also gather data, but this time it is on the work of artists to find out what kind of work they are asked to do, how much money they make and how they feel about the future.
This report is actually about ‘Creative Yorkshire’ and investigates the life and work of artists in the region.
What is marketing?
The management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably.
Marketing roles:
- Identify customer needs
- What is your customer prepared to pay? What are your competitors charging?
- Focus in on certain markets - tell them
- Where to locate, how to distribute services, who to target
- Give them more than they expect
- How well am I doing against target/competitors?
Branding is the means by which we enable customers to recognise the quality, value, consistency and reliability of the work we do. Branding is not just about logos but about the way you behave, your personality and your personal values.
Feedback
Real time information
This was underlined by a video from Richard reed of Innocent foods who values constant online realtime feedback from his customers.
Jeff Bozos of Amazon became successful through listening to feedback then improving his website accordingly
Amazon value proposition
•To offer quality products and services using the best technology available and at a reasonable price.
•Customer satisfaction and operational frugality.
•To help people to discover exactly what they're looking for saves them time and improves their lives.
Developing a value proposition
This diagram offers a range of issues that you should consider when putting together your own value proposition.
Technology – what kind of technologies do your use and how bare you able to use them to do things differently? Most people might say that they can use PhotoShop but they don’t demonstrate how they use it to make a difference. How will anyone know how well or badly you use it unless you give an example of how your expertise could transform their business in previously unthought about ways?
Methodology – what methods do you use to plan your work and to communicate with people? When your tutor asks how well a project is going, are you able to say how you are doing against targets you set for yourself? If you could you would be able to say that you are ahead of or behind your own schedules and that would result in a more meaningful conversation with others.
Products - can be described in terms of features and benefits. Let’s look at an Innocent Smoothie for instance…………….. What are the features of this product? What are the benefits? Describing the features of a product is a mechanical and analytical process but describing the benefits is far more complex. When describing benefits, you must always define what type of person is benefiting e.g. a busy mum, an athlete, a chef, an office worker, the retailer who sells them, the transport company who delivers them to supermarkets and so on. You must identify the user in order to understand all the benefits of such a product.
Solutions – how do you work towards solutions? Are you innovative or adaptive, radical or evolutionary, big picture or small detail, anarchist or conformist, witty or ingenious?
Alliances – what other people do you or can you work with. Who do you know? Give some examples of how you collaborated with others or outsourced some parts of your project work in order to reach a better outcome.
People – this refers to the people in the business and the skills, experience and expertise's they have
Services – here is an opportunity to make a real difference. A furniture maker may offer to re-polish a table top after one year as a ’free’ service. A dress maker may also offer a professional cleaning service for silk garments. A graphic designer may offer free advertising to all their customers on their company website. These additional services help you to differentiate your company or your practice from all the others.
Have a go at writing your own Value statement and get some feedback form your classmates and friends so you can get a clearer picture of who you are and what kind of creative you are.
Tips for your value proposition
Keep it short – often when you go to business web sites they ramble on and on about being cutting edge, full service solutions, conceptually adroit, instinctively creative, web solutions, seamless service etc. Not only does this mean nothing to the average business customer but it is too long. It breaks the rules about customers’ language and it tells us nothing specific.
Be specific: Saying that you area full service agency means nothing to people outside your world. If you design web sites, logos and leaflets; say so. But don’t forget to say ‘how ‘ you do it – cheerfully, quickly, thoughtfully or radically. If you save companies time; if you can give them a new image – just say so.
Use your customers’ language. Ask your customers and your supplier what they think about you. You will be surprised to hear what they think you do well or what they think the personality of your company is.
Do you pass the ‘gut feeling’ test? When someone looks at your website will they lean forward in their seats and say ‘Yes; that’s the person – that’s the team I want to work with ‘ ? Don’t internalise everything – none of us know everything about ourselves so get the opinions of those you trust.
Another simpler approach to a value proposition
First of all, describe what skills, values and ambitions you have(internal) and then describe what customer needs you are interested in addressing
Secondly, detail you past experience including any awards, exhibitions or testimonials.
Thirdly, outline your key ambitions or future directions you will take in your work.
This is a good approach to take for Personal statements as well.
Value statements need reviewing every few months.
Use your value statement to be prepared at Networking events - Use Exhibitions, Art Markets, Galleries and Trade Shows to open networking opportunities.
At networking events everyone gathers to find out what everyone else is doing and whether their might be some opportunities to collaborate or get funding or even to find work or employees. If you want to get the most out of these events, it is a good idea to have practised your ‘Value Proposition’ so you can tell people about yourself as quickly and concisely as possible. It can be a bit like speed dating at times!
Have a 'real' network of friends you can use and only take opportunities, especially if they are working for free, if it will benefit your CV.
Understand what you are worth and always negotiate for your best price and close the deal - Don't be a busy fool.
Two types of customers:
- Consumers (End user)
- Business to Business (B2B)
The basic principle of Marketing is known as the Marketing Mix. IT is commonly known as the 4 P's ( pronounced ‘Peas’).
Product
This refers to the work you do whether it is providing a service such as Graphic Design , Photography , Fashion Design or Interior Design or a product such as a piece of furniture, making a couture garment for a client, producing an animated film or creating a sculpture or some other crafted artifact.
You must find a way to describe all of the features and benefits of your product in ways that communicate the value of it to potential customers. You may also ascribe to your product some values of your own that add credibility or a level of emotional connection to the product or to the provider / maker.
A product barely exists unless its value or features are described in some way or another.
Price
It is possible to render a product unsalable by attributing the wrong price to it. If you make it too expensive or not expensive enough, you will deter customers. You have to be aware of market values by seeing what people pay for similar products or services. The price may have a lot to do with how much it costs to make or supply the product. On the other hand, it may have little to do with the cost or manufacture or supply and more to do with perceived value.
The perfect example of this would be a painting. The canvas or board plus the paint to cover it would could to a matter of a few pounds. The true value of the painting is entirely in the eye of the customer who has some kind of emotional reaction in its presence or who admires the skillful execution of the subject. In this case, the value of that bit of canvas and paint can achieve prices from hundreds to millions.
Under-pricing your work is a serious offence; not just because you are undervaluing your own abilities and years of education and practice but because you are affecting the public perception of the work of other practitioners. It is unethical to undercut professional practitioners and it damages the integrity of your own discipline.
Place
This is about much more than the place where you sell your work in order to reach your target customer; it is about the atmosphere or selling environment , distribution networks and also the services that are attached to your product at the point of sale.
The point of sale; this need to be in the most convenient place for your target customers whether that is the Internet, a high street store, through a sales agent at a trade fair in a major European City, face to face in their business premises or on a market stall.
The selling environment is carefully constructed by successful businesses. Look at the difference between the selling environments in Marks and Spencer and that of All Saints. Consider also the difference in point of delivery between your dental practice and your hairdresser’s premises and the difference between the atmosphere of the artist’s studio and that of the retail art gallery.
Promotion
This is not just about the methods you may use to promote yourself, your work or your product to your target market but the effectiveness of those methods. More of that in later lectures.
A summary of PT Barnham's success from Modelling the Masters:
'Without promotion something terrible happens....nothing'
1. Sell something unique - Point of differentiation. Promote this.
2. promote, Promote, Promote - Be unique with promotion
3. Showcase yourself - tell your story, let people know who you are
4. Look at people you admire and look at why they stand out.
