Design Method
AGENCY LIFE
Well that didn’t start well did it 2020! I promised to write more and give back more to the industry this year but no sooner had we got going everything got sort of flipped upside down! Its scary running a small business at the best of times, so to now be faced with such a unprecedented, global pandemic which is eff ectively halting industries in their tracks, it is new territory for everyone And I think that’s the key in beginning to learn to get our heads around this all – pretty much everyone is in the same boat and its so important to remember you are not alone. So, if you feel frightened or unsure please please make sure you reach out to friends, colleagues and people in the same industry as you – I guarantee they are feeling the same way, and I guarantee it will help!
I am very lucky to be surrounded by a great network of people both professionally and personally and feel so much better talking this situation through with as many of them as possible. I am not afraid to admit to being a little scared about what’s in store. We have survived 2 recessions and Brexit so tough times have come and gone but nothing quite like this!
Marketing budgets are inevitably going to be among the first things cut – rightly or wrongly (that’s another blog post all on its won!!!) – so agencies will be facing a tough, uncertain few weeks and months ahead.
Its important to be pro-active and positive so I have tried to list a few tips I have found have helped me over the last few weeks, in a hopefully non-patronising tone, in the hope it may help… well, anyone really!
The government is doing their level best to lend support to all businesses so I have taken a slightly different tone with my thoughts, and whilst this is specifically with the creative industry in mind, I think it can apply to anyone!
From a selfish point of view its been quite cathartic too!
STAY IN TOUCH.
I don’t mean sell sell sell, but reach out to your clients, see how they are doing, what they are up too and the effect it has had on them, their job and the industry they are in. I have many clients I am lucky enough to call friends now, so its been a really positive experience chatting this through – hopefully for them too!
KEEP ACTIVE
Shout out to Joe Wicks here! The perfect of example of what I mentioned above. He has routinely kicked my ass every morning for the last 2 weeks. personally, I like to try and keep fit, I feel it eleviates stress and keeps me in a positive mind set. Do you have to feel like it every day – no – but do you feel better once you have done it – unequivocally YES!
STAY CREATIVE
Whether its a hobby – I love drawing – self initiated work or ‘free’ work then there is a real value in keeping the creative juices fl owing. I have found time to do all 3 in between our ongoing billable work… even working late a couple of times to finish some self initiated work. My wife thinks I am hiding from the kids and their school work, but I am not – honest! I have added some of
my creations to this page so you can see what I have been up too!
BOOKS
I have a stack of design books I have always used for inspiration but its been nice to really pour over these and really take a lot of new content in! Its surprising what you miss when simply flicking through – try it! And make notes! You never know when they may come in handy
SOCIAL MEDIA AND NEWS
Now this is a very personal decision I have taken – I am allowing myself 30 minutes of web browsing and phone time a day (beyond work specific research) as I found I was getting bogged down in exponential graphs and harrowing health and death statistics. I know it’s bad out there but I have decided to process the facts myself, in the vein hope of staying sane!
SELF PROMOTION
Things will get back to normal one day, so make sure you are ready to go go go go go go when things do. We have taken this opportunity to create new online content, new business initiatives and update our portfolio… We are not rolling these out yet, but saving them for when a sense of normality as returned so it feels great to have some ‘ready to go’ content in our back pocket.
BE READY
As I have just said, when things do start to return to normal, you will need to be ready for client work so make sure you are sharp and ready to be helpful… we will all need to be a bit more creative with budgets as I suspect we will all have less to work with. Now is the time to really push the envelope and pull out those thoughts and ideas you may have discarded as being too off the wall… marketing teams will be forced and ready to really think outside the box so it could be a really exciting end to the year
Well, I hope these little tips help – My main aim here – along with hopefully not sounding patronising – is to just try and share a little insight into what is going on at Pelling Design… how w e are dealing with it, how we are coping and what we are doing to help ourselves!
Stay safe everyone and let me know any other tips we can try whilst in lock down!