Advertising Agency Blog - Inspired 2 Design, LLC

If you haven’t had an opportunity, you need to take a minute and check out: www.acclaimprofessionalservices.com. It’s our newest publish, and has a very unique look that’s super customized and different for a website.

That’s what we do here at I2D. We help clients stand out.

I’ve heard a few comments of late which liken our design to predictability. I believe one statement was “I saw that and I knew Inspired 2 Design did the design.”

PHOOEY!

That’s just not possible folks. Tell me that our work looks consistent by client, and sure, we did it. But to say that Client A looks like Client B… well, that ain’t happenin’. There’s no cookie-cut looks here. Everyone gets something new and unique, that’s what your business needs to be, and that’s the direction we lead clients. In a world of competition, most companies can’t compete on product or service offering, you can’t compete on price. But you can still stand out. Your marketing should reflect your brand and saturate the world outside with your unique features. We understand it, we live-by it, and we provide it.

There are, however, quite a few things that ARE consistent at Inspired 2 Design from client to client:
1. Customer Service
2. Integrity
3. On Time Delivery
4. Experience
5. Great Prices
6. Results

If you have a business product or service that has the potential stands out, let’s get together and tell the whole wide world about it (or at least, your target market). Contact us today.

There’s no doubt that the economy has slowed down. You’d have to be blind not to see rising prices affecting everyone’s spending - across all demographics. That includes small businesses too, and of course that’s understandable. The problem, however, is self-inflating. See, if you don’t spend, you don’t contribute to the solution, you contribute to the problem, so in a way, we’re our own worst enemy. (Same with gas prices by the way… if you drive less, demand goes down, then the oil dudes slow production to make the supply drop, so prices go up… sorry but that’s the reality of dependence on foreign sources of fuel, food, goods or anything!).

But this isn’t about politics, it’s about payment. Over the last month we’ve gotten no less than 5 calls from collection agencies. And no, they’re not looking for our money… not directly. We’re all paid up thank you. No, they’re looking for us to hire them to collect bad debt from our customers. Of course, we said… no thanks, we have the best clients in the world, and they pay their bills.

Every now and again, however, every business will discover themselves in a situation that requires a little special handling. Here are some tips from experienced freelancers for getting paid for work you’ve done in good faith:

• Always send a formal invoice. Include a description of the work, who is being charged for the work and your remittance information so they know exactly when and how to pay.
• Send a reminder in a week or so. It could just be that your invoice was overlooked quite innocently.
• If you find the reminder was a little too subtle, and your client isn’t getting it, you’ll need to send another reminder. Be firm and reiterate the invoice information and due date.
• If your second reminder is not attended to within the specified time frame, send a third letter stating the account will be turned over to collections and a financing fee will be incurred for late payment. There are companies that handle this (we’ve heard from 5 of them recently) and for a small fee, or a portion of what they get back for you,  will take the account from this point.
• If all else fails, go to court. In Georgia, you’d go to Magistrate court and the allowable limit is $15,000. Check on the maximum amount allowable in your state. If you can, talk to an attorney in your leads group, or chamber of commerce.
• Report the company to the Better Business Bureau. You won’t get your money any faster, but it may help someone else in the future.
• Depending on the amount owed, you may decide it’s not worth it.

Whatever way you choose to go, be a professional. Handling yourself well is an indication of your character. You are, after all representing your business

Hype, Buzz, Press, Boost, Plug, Talk - all powerful words for advertisers. The old adage says that talk is cheap, and we concur. In fact, the best talk is free! Getting it, however, is another story.

Take the democrats. For the past few nights they’ve been buzzing away in Denver. They’re hyping themselves up and they hope to be hyping the rest of the country too, all for their candidate (who’s already the nominee for all intents and purposes). It’s really a formality, a tradition, that means nothing but free campaign advertising. With over 50,000 in attendance each night and millions of Americans watching on TV - all major networks mind you, they capitalize on the news coverage by touching over 21 million households. Even more (26 million) tuned in to see Hillary Clinton appear (and the democrats claim party unity, funny.)

No matter which side of the aisle you’re on, this type of press is something money cannot buy. There’s much to be learned by business owners if they closely watch politicians at work campaigning. Next time you see, hear or read a story covering a candidate running for office, zero-in and scrutinize what’s really at the root. If you’re keen, you’ll see how there’s room for everyone in-the-know to work the system, and create the much-desired buzz.