Lorraine Carter Archive

Lorraine Carter

Thursday 15th September 2011, 8:00 am

QR Codes – A Hot Trend for Cross Platform Marketing to Grow Your Brand

By Lorraine Carter

A QR Code (short for Quick Response) is a specific matrix barcode, storing information in both the vertical and horizontal directions, readable by dedicated QR barcode readers and smart phones / camera phones. 

QR Codes were originally developed in 1994 and used in the vehicle manufacturing industry for tracking parts etc, but are now being used very successfully in integrated marketing campaigns across the globe. The technology has seen a huge uptake in Japan and South Korea. 

A smart phone user can now scan one of these QR Codes in magazines, newspapers, on transport and billboards, business cards, products, packaging, on a PC, TV or cinema screen and it can take the user to a URL (webpage), video, send them a text message, save a vCard or event to the users contact book or calendar and even compose an email. QR Codes effectively create a direct link between the physical world and online arena. Continue reading →

Lorraine Carter

Monday 22nd August 2011, 10:18 am

16 tips to writing a hot design brief to get the biggest bang for your buck

By Lorraine Carter

Over the years I have seen a lot of different brand design briefs of all shapes and sizes from the brilliant to simply dreadful, with too many in-between lacking sufficient substance to really get the best potential return for the resources invested.

Why is the brand design brief so important? This might sound obvious, but you need to know what you’re aiming for to hit the goal ! In short it’s a critical factor in ensuring your brand design project is successful and you get a real return on your investment.

Think who, what, where, when, why and how? Your brief should be, to some extent, an extension of your business strategy. It should reflect the desired commercial endeavours of your business and provide all the detailed information necessary to understand your business dynamics in depth and should clearly define the results you want to achieve i.e. the commercial objectives of the project.

In many cases over the years we’ve had to write the client brief, following in-depth discussions, questioning and probing, to ensure project clarity on all fronts, which the client has then endorsed and signed off before the project commences.

The following are some tips on how, and what to include, to write a great brand design brief so you can get the best return for your money. The questions posed should give you roughly 80% of your brief content with the remainder resulting from and thorough an in-depth discussion with your chosen brand design agency. Continue reading →

Lorraine Carter

Thursday 14th July 2011, 1:31 pm

Top 10 reasons for rebranding to grow your Business

By Lorraine Carter

Brands are constantly evolving to ensure they keep abreast of changing needs in the market place. Even some of the greatest brands in the world need rejuvenation.

Brands like Guinness, Coca-Cola, Starbucks and Kellogg’s are iconic, global in their status. Yet when you look at their market leadership over the decades, they have all changed even if it has been in a more evolutionary sense over time, rather then radical overhauls.

However some branding does require an extensive change in order for the business to achieve the required regeneration for growth and profitable returns. 

Revitalisation maintains and celebrates the history and heritage of the brand but shows its target audience (current and future) that you are adaptive to change. Change is necessary to stay relevant to the times in which a brand exists and to ensure its future success. Some of the reasons for rebranding, relaunching and revitalising a brand include the following: Continue reading →

Lorraine Carter

Monday 13th June 2011, 8:44 am

Top 10 tips to keep your Brand on track

By Lorraine Carter

Business is becoming more and more competitive. With the internet at your customers finger tips the playing field is leveled and your competitors are no longer just the businesses down the street. Depending on your product or service they are in another country or indeed on another continent.

As leaders of any business large, medium or small, how do you succeed in a dynamic world of increasing complexity with a much larger set of competitors ? Here are some brand, design and communication tips for consideration.

1. Know your ideal customer intimately

Understand and know everything you can about your ideal customer. What makes them tick. What they love and what they hate. Have a bulls eye focus to meet their needs. Then tailor your brand to be irresistibly desirably to them. To be their number one product or service of choice. Continue reading →