Essentially we couldn’t be at the top of our game without the speed and accuracy of our artworkers. With several proofing stages and a number of different people and departments to liaise with and gain sign off, we have to be on the ball at all times. Besides the professionalism of our artworkers,  one of the greatest benefits Jaz Media has is our own in-house print, so each proof is fully pagenated and made up. We’ve found this makes a real difference to speeding up proofing and minimising amends at the later stages.

We have built our reputation up over the last 12 years and have retained clients due to quality and service. As an established SME in these challenging times, we’re very fortunate to be growing our client base year on year, with strong brands and an enviable capacity in artwork and design. Our market research and testimonials tell us we are a lead agency for educational publishing, something which is reflected in our portfolio.

• To view our portfolio contact Clare on 01242 224485  or email Clare@jazmedia.co.uk

• If you’d like to join our first class artworking team please send your portfolio and CV in the first instance to: Stella@jazmedia.co.uk

Listen. They’re all around you (blog ideas). Listen and ask questions and listen some more. You will find out just what’s on peoples minds, you’ll hear an instant list of topical concerns, questions and curios which are ideal Bloggers fodder. Turn what you hear into stories and reports, – okay and possibly Google a few facts to add credibility, but most of all use what you hear and get writing.

I will give you a simple example of what I heard this morning. A favourite ex Jaz Media employee has just had a baby and some of the off the cuff remarks could be translated into the following blog ideas.

• Maternity leave and how it affects the team.

• Baby names and what they will mean as an adult (welcome to the world Skye Amelia! our new bundle of joy at Jaz Media)

• Procreation and how every creation is different

• DNA – if your parents were creative does that follow down the line?

• Office romances and the resulting fruit! (not in our case but this was mentioned as a friend of a friend had had a fling with a colleague and …)

So these are just a few ideas, the outcome of our conversation was that we were asking Mum and babe to come in for coffee and cake and that leads me on to tax deductible entertaining, what selection of complimentary drinks should you offer staff and visitors (peppermint, camomile, earl grey, builders, decaff, ordinary instant and water in our case) and who should pay for a gift from all the team if all the team are not up for giving a gift – AND can you reclaim the VAT on a staff gift? In fact the VAT jungle in general is enough for several Blogs worth.

I think you get the picture – ideas are all around, way before you have time to tap into Google. Just listen!

As Jaz Media had been around since 1999 and had managed very well, never had a bad debt or money worries and never having had to do any marketing or promotion for new business, the recession hit us like a mid-life crisis. We could no longer rely on what had worked before.

So here’s what we did:

1. We wrote a business plan and included a short and middle term strategy. This takes some doing because what you often believe to be true, is in fact not true. Example: All our clients know we have in-house print. We found through a quick survey that this wasn’t the case!

2. We developed an elevator pitch. Sounds simple – a summary of your business offering which , should you get the chance to be in a lift for a few floors with an influental person, you can reel off a concise pitch that captures the essence of your business and makes it memorable. Example: Jaz Media is a marketing communications agency that has great ideas and gets results by using common sense - it’s our objectivity and clarity of thought that clients buy into.

3. Never having had to prove ourselves in the past, we got some relevant credentials to support our elevator pitch and give us further credibility where needed. Example: We asked clients for testimonials and their agreement for us to use them freely.

4. Through obtaining the testimonials we realised our clients valued our high standards over and above price. This led us to gain certification to substantiate our high standards: Example: We gained our ISO 9001

5. Our business plan outlined a trend we harboured but never really spoke about, in that we care which clients we worked with and favoured those in certain sectors more than others, so we wrote a list of preferred clients in our strategy. Example: Anything to do with the environment, education, health and well being

6. In order to further attract clients in our preferred sector we set up further initiatives and gained credentials to make us attractive. Example: We gained ISO 14001 and developed a sustainability program and a number of supporting policies.

7. Our strategy showed we had four key areas we wanted to promote, so we homed in on these areas and created a simple sub-brand for each area Example: Designeye, Printsource, Footprint, Thinkdigital

8. In addition to the sub-brands, we rebranded Jaz Media. The rebrand included a new website and a range of collateral we had never used before. Example: Presentation documents and portfolios for each sub-brand and general marketing tools for email and postal mailings.

10. We embraced the challenges of change by doing more than the basics. Example: We now target new business in a much more proactive way, we ask for recommendations,  we tailor our portfolio to every appointment, we told people about our areas of expertise.

11. We realise we’re not the only ones suffering and now find time to network and are more open to offering and taking support: Example: Attending workshops, seminars and exhibitions. Network more widely by connecting on Twitter and Linkedin.

12. Celebrate success – there’s nothing like adversity to pull everyone together and as a business we’re all on this journey together. Example: Take time to appreciate the distance already travelled and celebrate the efforts and rewards as a result.

So now we’re ready for whats to come, we’re proud of what we’ve achieved and know we have everything to throw at this double dipper. Come what may, we’ll come out fighting.

Take a brochure for example, with all the concept work done and paid for, you need to capitalise on your investment and make it work for you. And if you’re measuring your ROI, the additional cost of postage is an obstacle you can do without.

So What to do? Well turn page technology offers a good option this can then be emailed direct or burned to a disc and posted out more cheaply. With a bit more technical input your existing concepts would work nicely on an iPad and if you are working in the latest CS software you will know just how easy it is to really get creative and produce something with a Wow! factor. On a smaller budget you could slow release your brochure by creating a news blog or feed it bit by bit on an adapted email campaign.

Adversity always brings opportunity and the increase imposed by Royal Mail could just be the catalyst you need to change the way you market for ever.

As the calm after the storm settles all around, it’s easy to let the panic of no new clients shine through. This is when being part of a small business or a sole trader makes you feel particularly vulnerable – you really do need new clients (aka income) and you need them now! 

Why is this panic a bad thing? 

Well for one – it shines through. Even if you think you’re hiding it well, let me tell you your esiting and potential new clients will pick it up from a mile away. 

Let me give you an example. The bottom line is looking a bit thin for the up and coming months, you have to keep the cash flowing so you are red hot on invoicing and chasing payments, whereas you may have been more relaxed in the past. Chasing clients for payment when they are already good payers is a sure way to create niggles, and show signs of money troubles – none of which is good for secure client relationships.

While your behaviour may not be as extreme as this, our subtle panic cues do come across to other people and make it unattractive to existing and potential clients. 

Let’s face it – who would you rather work with? Someone who’s confident and projects this confidence into everything they do or someone who is desperate and panicky because they need the new business now? 

So, although you’re worried, how do you overcome your fears and project a confident professional business? 

The most important thing is to come up with an action plan and more importantly, get on with it. The more you put your heart and soul into getting things done, the more your attention will be taken away from chasing new clients. 

To put this into perspective, your action plan should take you back to basics – revamp your business plan, create a marketing strategy, work out your cash flow and get a realistic picture. As soon as you focus on reality rather than fear and worry of what MIGHT happen, you’re be more confident and in control.

Most of all Plan your Work and Work your Plan.

In essence, ideas and innovations themselves exist in a kind of network, with some ideas connected to others, clusters of ideas within other clusters, and so forth. Your best new ideas, and a company’s most breakthrough innovations, will come when you tap your weakest links by interacting with the disciplines you know less about, or the experts you rarely consult, or the people you associate with less frequently.

Conversely, the surest way NOT to have a creative breakthrough is to rely on all the experts you already know, and all the disciplines you’re already familiar with.

One of the best sources of inspiration and somewhere to broaden your ideas would be through your social network, Twitter followers, Linkedin connections and Facebook friends. Explore your weakest links and create strength!

• Usually bots will have an unusual (for normal twitter folk) avatar depicting a scantily dressed lady, a cartoon character or a stylised image.

• The bot will have a nonsensical or rediculous biog, claiming to be into moon space potato growing, keeping the streets safe for beetles etc

• The tweets made by bots will try and get followers by promising to follow back or offer to increase the number of followers you have

• Additional tweets will enthuse about a word or phrase you have used in a tweet and try and create a rapport. E.g if you like cats you will love these… followed by a weblink.

• The tweets will also try and get you to click onto a link/visit a website by using familiar twitter phrases such as it ‘worked for me’, ‘have a look at’ etc

• Because the tweets are machine generated, the language may seem a little ‘off’, slightly out of the range of a quick misspelled tweet

So how do you attract this unwanted attention in the first place, well like all viral applications, once one person has allowed a bot in, they remain until locked out. The way they find you is by picking up on popular words and phrases, iPad for example is a bot favourite.

One of the more sinister sides of a bot is when they are used to plump up followers for financial gain, the greater number of followers the greater the value/influence of the account. With so many different marketing techniques, the ability of a bot to generate thousands of followers virtually out of thin air and at little time and expense, is not to be underestimated.

So, how can you get rid of them?

• Use tools to locate and avoid twitter spam such as TwitBlock, TwerpScan and TidyTweet.

• Avoid spammy topics such as iPads or if you want to talk about it use DM.

• Don’t be tempted to sign up for a service that will help you get more followers – this will lead to more problems as you will then also be taking part in the process.

• Block any followers you identify as spambots.

Besides the fraudulent aspect of bots, it also removes the authentic experience of the hardworking tweeter who wants to enjoy social networking for any number of genuine reasons.

Stella Barnes, Jaz Media, Marketing Communications, Cheltenham

All of this must translate into a healthier work force, meaning less sick days away from work.  Lower blood pressure, combined with the release of endorphins, means a more relaxed person.  And a more relaxed person has higher productivity, is more efficient, more accurate, has higher energy and works with greater purpose.

Surprisingly many places of work do not encourage laughter, because in order to communicate on a level that allows humour it could be seen as not working and not working means not productive… A vicious circle indeed. So how can you make your place of work full of fun without turning it into a circus?

“The human race has only one really effective weapon, and that is laughter. The moment it arises, all our hardnesses yield, all our irritations and resentments slip away and a sunny spirit takes their place.” – Mark Twain 

Of course you can create an intentionally fun atmosphere – have initiatives that are fun  and be purposeful in maintaining an element of light heartedness. And if you feel this would be too much of a change to your working day dynamics, you can simply look at yourself and how you interact with people, and allow others the time of day to create a bit of banter, smile more and see the lighter side of life when it shows itself.