New brand for No Stress Accounts, I hear you say???

That's right accountancy with a difference, The Accountancy Office offer a professional service without the stress of collecting mountains of paperwork for 12 months.... finally!

Logo Design fit for a bride

Has been away for far too long!! Although I have been busy with the launch of Urban Mind Photography.

While on my photography travels I met up with a local wedding dress designer. Maggie creates bespoke gowns from beautiful materials with an outstanding attention to the tiniest of details. It was a pleasure to re-design her logo as it was to photograph her dresses.

Special offer from the Chamber of Commerce

I've now had a phone call from the man himself (Alistair Druett! The coordinator of the Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce networking events), informing me that they now have a special offer of £15 for all of those people wanting to try out a breakfast networking event on a bargain!  

For that you'll get: 

* A Full English breakfast at a professional venue (If your veggie like me or have dietary requirements, just inform them when you book)

* A seat amongst potential clients with time to pitch to all of them

* As much tea, coffee and orange juice you can drink in 2 hours!

The events are held early morning so you can get them in before work and they often organise a short presentation by a local business that can be helpful with a number of issues i.e. ways of saving money with government legislation and hints to cutting down on computer time and errors...

I can't stress enough that this has been the most cost effective and successful way of generating new clients.  Grab it while you can, it's a great opportunity to meet people and most of all make money!  

                

Free listing heaven

Even if you haven't got a website you can still list your business on most online directories. You know what it's like when your doing a presentation, all of the information that you've stored in your brain disappears as soon as you open your mouth, so here they are:

Google Maps
Yahoo Local (City Vistor too, but you'll need to be persistant)
Access Place
Free Index (this one is great you can add a profile with images)
Touch Worcester
Business Magnet
Scoot

Here are a few to get started with but there are many and some are better for particular trades. The trick is to type your industry (Florist, cleaner..) and area into different search engines (Google, MSN, Yahoo - the most popular), and look for the directories that pop up on the first and second page. Now make sure that your details are on them and if there are sections to write about your products/services fill those in too, as you may find that you could get a higher listing position if you do this well.

If you haven't got a website it may be a good idea to at least have a page with your details on so you do have some online presence. This will also help for future search engine positioning when you decided to go ahead with your website. Sara x

Brand exposure and a church!

I have talked about my love for networking before and I am still a huge believer in getting out there and talking to people about your products/services. Face to face communication is the perfect way to show potential clients how motivated you are and what you can do for them. Networking leaves a lasting impression and can lead to other opportunities that can benefit your business. For example, my latest project has been for a local church, branding for a roof appeal of course! This is a freebie but in return Urban Mind will get public exposure when the website goes live, a mention in the local newspapers and the company brand will to be placed on the large poster that will be placed on the scaffolding to display the new website appeal address. I'm also hoping that this will secure me a place in heaven...x

Raising your company profile

Raising the my company profile been a constant challenge, coming up with different ways to catch peoples attention is a full time job in itself! At the start I decided that advertising in the Yellow pages would be a great way to get my name around... It cost an absolute fortune and after being in for what seems like an eternity, NO ONE has contacted me because they found me in the book. That's not to say that it doesn't work for all sectors, tradesmen excluded, just not for Graphic and Web design, so please check this out before spending a fortune on this type of advertising!! However, you can get a free line in all of the books (Yellow pages, BT phone book and Thomson local) which is definitely worth doing.

After learning quite a harsh and expensive lesson I went on-line, and while having a web presence is quite important you can still add your business details to search engines and directories for free without a website. Google Maps are extremely useful for users searching for businesses in particular areas and are often located on the first page of a Google search. Urban Mind appears in the Google Maps section at the top of the first page when searching for Graphic Design Worcester and Worcestershire. Yahoo Local also offers a free listing but after submitting the online form you will get a phone call to 'check your details', then they'll try and sell you a listing that sits at the top. After you say no, you are told that it will take 6 weeks for the free listing to go live. I filled the form in 3 times before my listing was finally published, so be persistant!!