Recently I lost a pitch for a web design project that I really wanted to work on. A lovely client with a great product. No shame there though as these things happen – life doesn’t always go according to plan. The issue though was more about how I lost it…
I’m very pleased to announce the launch of a new website so, like a proud father, let me stand back and show off the new online presence for Jon Bockelmann-Evans. Jon is a registered psychotherapist, a chartered physiotherapist and an all round healthcare expert; one of his specialisms is dealing with stress in the workplace. He is also a fantastic presenter and gives inspring talks at businesses, schools and other organisations.
In the classic book Miss Smilla’s Feeling for Snow by Peter Hoeg, the story tells us that the Greenlandic Inuit have something like 27 words for snow; covering all the different types which occur in certain conditions.. Now this may or may not be an urban myth but it is certainly true that when armed with the correct knowledge, a seemingly featureless situation can be read in countless ways and fantastic & intricate detail can be revealed, which was otherwise hidden.
The other day I was doing some one to one coaching with Harry Holland and we stumbled across something which is perfect evidence of something that I’ve been trying to preach for a while; Internet Strategy. When people ask what I do, I have been known to say “Internet Strategist*” as I’m trying to convey that this aint just about websites; this is about joined up thinking across all of your online presence.
A few weeks ago I blogged about speculative work. To re-cap, a client wanted to work with myself & Russell Britton but they needed a website mockup first. I don’t normally do initial mockups and I certainly not for free (for more details on the reasons why, check out that previous article). Not allowing your process to be changed (or, at least, bent totally out of shape) is key for me. By defining a consistent process, I’ve been able to continually help clients; and I believe it’s that process which clients are ultimately buying into.
I’ve been reading Mike Monteiro‘s excellent book “Design is a Job” and it got me thinking. Mike and his partner run Mule, a very successful design studio in the US, but this success did not happen over night; they’ve made plenty of mistakes along the way (as I have done!), many of these mistakes involve clients & money.
In a previous post I’ve talked about the type of projects & work that my company is looking for – I find it useful to state this as, even though Jojet has been running over 10 years, I still find that some people don’t know what I do. Anyway, what I thought I’d focus on in this post are the traits of the clients I love to work with.
Harry Holland, “Skyfly”, Oil on canvas, 2008, 92x65cm
One of the things I always try and explain to people is that social media is very much about the long game. This isn’t just a matter of setting up a Facebook page and then you’ll sell 500% more Whamo bars or whatever. This is a much more softly, softly approach.
