The advice of pretty much every guest speaker expressed how crucial it is to build a strong portfolio and a consistent online presence. I decided to explore different social media platforms and see what kind of opportunities I could get involved in and the best ways of showcasing my work and brand. Through my research I discovered various accessible mediums offering me the necessary opportunities to enhance my professional skills.
After browsing through twitter, I managed to find some free online courses in Photography and Script writing, two disciplines that I am extremely passionate about. Ohh, did I mention that they are free courses? well yes they are absolutely free! This opportunity is part of a project by future Learn, with the hopes of encouraging people to improve their knowledge without having the burden of a huge bill afterwards. Once I had enrolled, I was immediately able to interact with my fellow course mates through the class forum. People from all over Europe had found this opportunity and like me were keen on networking and learning more about these sectors. This is a great opportunity which I would recommend for anyone looking to improve their knowledge, making connections with people internationally as well as getting an insight into their chosen art forms is a great place to start.
Sunday, 27 December 2015
Tuesday, 8 December 2015
Guest Speaker | Design Bootcamp
With 33 years of freelancing experience, Peter Mickleright's knowledge and tips on entrepreneurship provided an insight into the life of freelancer. The session touched on do's and don'ts, putting a price on how much your time is worth, branding and maintaining your own business. Design Bootcamp was created to combat how ill prepared aspiring creatives are in the beginning stages of their careers. Peter described his career choice as being a lifestyle rather than a job and felt that it was his duty to pass on his knowledge and experience.
The 2 in 1 session was very informative and helped me put into perspective the value of my work and how this should be reflected in the rates I charge. After applying his formula to myself and my current earnings, I learned that the rates I have been billing clients were nowhere near as much as I should have been earning. After speaking to professionals and ex-students, this seems to be is a common mistake among creatives starting out. Its as if we are blinded by our lack of experience and therefore forget to consider the quality we produce and the investment in time, learning our disciplines and in equipment/tools we have already brought. Despite realising this tremendous loss, it has was beneficial for me to have gone through that period in order for me to work on producing content of a standard where clients were willing to pay for it and generally conducting business in a professional manner.
I have learnt that the foundations for a good working relationship is to make a good first impression, the location of an office/workspace is crucial. Having a clean and tranquil environment to work in and a place to conduct business with clients is essential. As a creative, networking and forming connections with other creatives who specialise in different areas to you does not only benefit both you and your contact but also the client. This integration within the creative community is so valuable and essential in order to stimulate growth. A support system within this competitive industry is imperative, a number of online companies some of which include salt, purple and creative recruiters; act as a catalogue for freelance opportunities makes getting into the freelance realm that bit easier.
The only aspect of taking the freelance route is the lack of respect for his intellectual property rights and the risk of clients not paying for the service requested. Although Petes horror stories are real occurrences within this field, this alone would not discourage me from exploring this option. Being self-employed has always appealed to me, having the freedom of working smart rather than working hard, knowing that my client base will be built on the quality and standard of my work and my passion for my disciplines are reasons that would motivate me to start my own creative business.
The 2 in 1 session was very informative and helped me put into perspective the value of my work and how this should be reflected in the rates I charge. After applying his formula to myself and my current earnings, I learned that the rates I have been billing clients were nowhere near as much as I should have been earning. After speaking to professionals and ex-students, this seems to be is a common mistake among creatives starting out. Its as if we are blinded by our lack of experience and therefore forget to consider the quality we produce and the investment in time, learning our disciplines and in equipment/tools we have already brought. Despite realising this tremendous loss, it has was beneficial for me to have gone through that period in order for me to work on producing content of a standard where clients were willing to pay for it and generally conducting business in a professional manner.
I have learnt that the foundations for a good working relationship is to make a good first impression, the location of an office/workspace is crucial. Having a clean and tranquil environment to work in and a place to conduct business with clients is essential. As a creative, networking and forming connections with other creatives who specialise in different areas to you does not only benefit both you and your contact but also the client. This integration within the creative community is so valuable and essential in order to stimulate growth. A support system within this competitive industry is imperative, a number of online companies some of which include salt, purple and creative recruiters; act as a catalogue for freelance opportunities makes getting into the freelance realm that bit easier.
The only aspect of taking the freelance route is the lack of respect for his intellectual property rights and the risk of clients not paying for the service requested. Although Petes horror stories are real occurrences within this field, this alone would not discourage me from exploring this option. Being self-employed has always appealed to me, having the freedom of working smart rather than working hard, knowing that my client base will be built on the quality and standard of my work and my passion for my disciplines are reasons that would motivate me to start my own creative business.
Thursday, 3 December 2015
Trends | Digital Marketing
Digital Marketing is a reformed approach to businesses communicating with customers though the use of digital technologies. The aim of this interactive form of reaching consumers improves and promotes brands, increases sales and retains customers. Digital marketing began in the 90's with web 1.0 platform. Google was founded closely after this in1998, later leading to the discovery of social media platforms including blogger, myspace, Facebook and Twitter; beginning the period of web 2.0. today it is very common for businesses to utilise these platforms to advertise their services and products. In 2014 a study by we are social found that approximately 2.3 billion people are active users of social media platforms, proving that this medium is an excellent way for companies to reach a lot of people all over the world.
Cookies
The cookie is widely used in the e-commerse world to collect data about users and their search habits. The introduction of this tool changed the game of digital marketing, allowing companies to filter their advertising content depending on the user; this method is commonly used by companies such as Amazon and Ebay.
Argos
Argos has made significant progress in paving the way of digital retail, through their new initiative to reform the company to keep up with the digital age and to maintain their status in retail. John Walden's (Managing director) plans of transforming Argos into a digital retailer has really impacted the way we shop, by integrating convenience with familiar technologies. The series of concept stores across the UK were launched in 2013, with a new fast track service the household company provides customers the option to use in store iPads, free wifi to connect personal devices and pay and collect stands offering a quality service to each customer. Although the traditional catalogs have not been abandoned, Argos' aim to cater to the needs of their customers with urgency has been successful in changing the way we shop.
Asos
Asos' innovative use of social media to drive their #BestNightEver campaign was an amazing phenomenon in digital marketing. The campaign was based around the online tendencies and biggest inspirations of their target audience. This authentic marketing strategy reinforces celebrity influence on consumers by allowing buyers to instantly purchase the products they see in the music videos of urban artist, this clever interaction eradicated the barrier between the audiences, artists and products, whilst taking Asos to new heights. Furthermore, the huge buzz around the brand generated their best sales result during the launch of the campaign in December 2012 in time for the festive season.
The success of this on demand strategy was due to their extensive market research as it was evident that the platform the chose was a reflection of what their audience wanted.
Cookies
The cookie is widely used in the e-commerse world to collect data about users and their search habits. The introduction of this tool changed the game of digital marketing, allowing companies to filter their advertising content depending on the user; this method is commonly used by companies such as Amazon and Ebay.
Argos
Argos has made significant progress in paving the way of digital retail, through their new initiative to reform the company to keep up with the digital age and to maintain their status in retail. John Walden's (Managing director) plans of transforming Argos into a digital retailer has really impacted the way we shop, by integrating convenience with familiar technologies. The series of concept stores across the UK were launched in 2013, with a new fast track service the household company provides customers the option to use in store iPads, free wifi to connect personal devices and pay and collect stands offering a quality service to each customer. Although the traditional catalogs have not been abandoned, Argos' aim to cater to the needs of their customers with urgency has been successful in changing the way we shop.
Asos
Asos' innovative use of social media to drive their #BestNightEver campaign was an amazing phenomenon in digital marketing. The campaign was based around the online tendencies and biggest inspirations of their target audience. This authentic marketing strategy reinforces celebrity influence on consumers by allowing buyers to instantly purchase the products they see in the music videos of urban artist, this clever interaction eradicated the barrier between the audiences, artists and products, whilst taking Asos to new heights. Furthermore, the huge buzz around the brand generated their best sales result during the launch of the campaign in December 2012 in time for the festive season.
The success of this on demand strategy was due to their extensive market research as it was evident that the platform the chose was a reflection of what their audience wanted.
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