nailing down the pieces...

in taking on the arduous task of re-designing your own brand it often becomes apparent that nothing ever satisfies you when it comes to your own profession.

if this is something you can relate to, i would leave it to the fact that i truly enjoy my job and what i do despite the setbacks of the, oft times, uncreative project or two or lack of appreciation for your profession. truth is, at the end of the day, we are a mere communicator or voice for those who lack creative ability to make themselves heard. i'd love to think and suggest that we are geniuses and thrive in a local community where the regular joe-coffee chooses to design his own flyer with a lot of comic sans laden text and clipart from an office max purchased cd-rom. (yes, i said cd-rom, you'd be surprised to note how many people i discover still going this route).

my point is, this. we are our own worst critics. when a client comes to us and asks to design this or that we welcome the responsibility they have laid upon us. however, no matter how they tear up the design, rework it and change where we started it is, and will never be, complete in our eyes. we will always find a word that needs kerning or a pixel on an image that needs airbrushing...

so to never be fully satisfied leads us to our current gargantuan task which we began several months ago. when we set out to redesign and brand fs last march we had a goal of designing in a month, pushing the site live and creating a certain "shock and awe" aura about our studio and the work we create. i'm not sure we fully achieved that but i'm never sure because of my prior stated thought that we are never fully satisfied. it's the nature of the beast and one that drives us toward one day achieving the "finished piece."

so now, over the course of the last year, we decided a newly / fresh designed fs site every year would be awesome, if time allowed us. so here we are. attempting away and putting ourselves through the proverbial wringer yet again.

today's blog isn't necessarily for our subscribers as much as it's a chance for me to throw my philosophies and thoughts about "why do we do this to ourselves" out there.

it has been a few months since the first mockup created by the hands of our adroit senior designer, tracy...and days, weeks and now months later we feel we've arrived at something totally new and refreshing. a look far beyond our prior site, so take a good look now. it's about to flush and be replaced...

stay tuned. fs makin' it happen in twenty-ten.

cheers,
the franchise

. jack and the bean stalk .

I just sat down with one of our biggest clients to discuss several projects currently on the table. They are very personable and have developed a great working relationship with us over the 5 years. They are a great client being that they are very responsive and always tend to our questions and need for content in a fast and efficient manner. But I don't need to kiss ass any longer.

The meeting this afternoon brought about some very simple points that we should all bring into meetings with new clients, old clients, potential clients and so forth. We live by the mantra that no client is too big or too small. We've built websites that are over 190 working pages and also created sites that are one-offs (all of the clients information / contact / etc all on one simple page). With each job comes a new set of obstacles and challenges but the focus is always the same: Make them believe they are our only client.

So often I hear stories from clients who tell us of their past experiences with design firms and ad agencies and the song they sing, especially with agencies, is that it was like being at the meat counter: "Pick a number". . .

I am not, by any means, knocking agencies or larger studios, simply saying that though we're small the goal is still there, make it happen quickly, efficiently and with the client in constant contact. You can read into everything and anything someone says but until the effort is put forth and a solid product is the result of said effort one can only speculate.

We don't want to scare away Billy the Baker and Harriet the Hairdresser just because they are a one man/woman shop with very little capital for advertising. We welcome them with open arms because if their marketing and overall identity is solid it will build relationships and instill trust with potential customers. But I digress from my point. The point is this. Both, Billy and Harriet, will experience the same attention to their needs as our AT&T and t-mobile clients and feel as though they are the only one we are working with at that given moment because we are so fast to respond and eager to create a time-tested product for their business.

Several simple points for making this happen can be as simple as dropping in with coffee for the office. Respond to their emails right away. Even if you have nothing to update them on, assure the client you are working diligently to deliver by the respective check point (which reminds me, create a timetable to give your clients an idea of when they can expect to SEE something). Send the client an "end of the day email," it only takes a few seconds to shoot someone an email to say "hey" and keep them in the loop. Return phone calls as soon as possible and follow up emails with a phone call, especially when delivering files. So often people don't use one of the greatest inventions of Sir Alexander Graham Bell to communicate. It's all left to email and text messaging. The spoken word is truly lost and communications are left to technological means which makes us sad.

At the end of the day love what you do. Check in with yourself and make sure you're putting frustration aside to complete a task to the highest level of quality and one which suits your clients needs. Go above and beyond what's expected to leave an impression they soon won't forget and always give them an idea or two that will keep buzzing in their brain and keep them coming back for more.

In the famous words of my good friend in the business: Justin Brodeur: "One to One Son!"
It's all about the one to one relationships that allow our business to grow upwards and outwards one client at a time. Make it happen and keep checking back for more . . .

cheers,
the franchise
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franchise studios | www.franchisestudiosinc.com | twitter // the_franchise

South Coast Business Alliance Launch

We launched the South Coast Business Alliance's (SCBA) website today. Feel free to check it out. They are a great organization nested in the south coast of MA. Our CVO served a 2 year term as the groups president and still preside over the Oktoberfest committee and serves on their board of directors.

Their main purpose is to make the south coast a better place to live and work through community development, by helping at-risk you and finally via networking and business relationships.

http://www.scballiance.org/

enjoy and cheers

CoStar Productorial

CoStar is the largest commercial real estate information company in the US.

franchise helped them carve out a piece of the market via a "productorial," which is an online interactive marketing piece:

http://www.costar.com/Products/RetailDemo.aspx

this project was complete a couple years ago, but franchise has since done several pieces like this for other clients including Boston based; ConnectEdu.

we feel we easily separate ourselves from other companies producing these productorials due to our creative graphics, use of motion and engaging actors. the interactivity of the piece also allows an enduser the ability to jump to any point in the presentation and skip over information that may not be pertinent to them.

just one more tool in the always growing belt of our small studio.

rebeccacorreia.com

Good afternoon all...

It's been awhile but I assure you our absence is only due to our busy-ness and not due to slacking...ok, maybe a little slacking.

Anyways, down to the dirt, today we pushed www.rebeccacorreia.com live, you should check it out. She is a locally born and raised singer/songwriter who has since transplanted to Nashville to pursue her career in music. She has definitely hit the scene hard down there and is already making significant progress. Keep up with her on Twitter and her new site...she's not to be missed.

Other happenings in the last several months have included our design and launch of www.2020aec.com as well as several posters for them and an email blast or 4.

Rose Alley Ale house finished out our design project with a full beer menu. Be sure to stop down there for a tasting they have one of the largest selections on the South Coast and are located on Front St. in downtown New Bedford next to Cork Wine & Tapas.

franchise is also happy to announce the workings of an upcoming project with our friends over at medium studio in downtown nb. They rock and are definitely worth a looksie ( www.mediumstudio.com ) So stay tuned...

cheers,
the franchise

DC, Rose Alley & more...

Rollin' out the last conference at the Westin @ Arlington in DC this week. tourDEfranchise is coming to a solid close.

Rose Alley Ale House in downtown NB just finished approved and rolled out their new menu's hot off the presses from fs. Be sure to stop on down there, have a delicious Delirium brew and check out the menu's.

Food is great too, recommend the Steak Tip Salad with crumbled bleu cheese or the bbq bacon burger! Lobster Roll and homemade onion rings always in the spot too!

Advanced Eye Centers Inc. has brought us on board to rebrand their entire practice. Brochures, Posters and a totally fresh new look to their online marketing / website as well. More to come from that tip.

in the meantime..get outside, let the sun hit your face and enjoy late spring in NE y'all.

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the franchise

Rose Alley / Dallas / UGLY / etc and so forth...

The studio is super busy this week working with TruTax to build out their site. UGLY is also moving beyond their splash page and into a site build as well so be on the lookout for that one...

We are also in Dallas @ Rosewood Mansion at Turtle Creek producing another conference for Global 360 / BPM Live...

Rose Alley is also working with fs to develop a consistent menu look across their many menu's..updates and designs to come as soon as we roll it out..

OH...and in case you want to feel good, be good and live well, check out our good friends over at EMBODY!
www.iembodyhealth.com

Fan them on FB and get on with living life feeling great...they know what's up and are sure to WOW you.

more to come y'all..

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the franchise