Final Dialect Presentation

Open publication - Free publishing - More dialect

End of Module Evaluation-ouce255

During the course of the module I have learnt many different things, that where previously undiscovered. I have special developed skills in business terminology. I think I have applied this relatively well through out the module, and I think we made the most of our new found terminology and understanding in the group presentation. I also during the course of this module learnt how to work as a team, and how the business environment would work, for example allocating jobs with in the group. This is something I will continue to develop through my time on the course. I also just have a better understanding on how the creative industry works from marketing to business structures.
Understanding how individual business work, will help when applying for jobs after graduation as it will enable me to target a particular USP of a company and change my portfolio or interview around there personal requirements. It has also made me realise that although your design work in very important it is also about who you are as a person that can get you jobs. On a more current level I feel the freelance work I have previously done I have been somewhat taken advantage of as a result the enterprise module helped me to realise this.
With in the work we developed I felt that we had a good range of research of our presentation on dialect, with good technical understanding of the business structure and marketing and promotion , and this is something that will continue to effect the way my design practice develops in the future. I think the task I did were also representative of this.  I especially enjoyed the marketing mix lecture and there for I think I have a strong understanding of the this and was particularly interested in the self promotion aspects and I am fully aware of what needs to be done in the future to get my name out there.
The weaknesses with in the module are based around time management leaving the tasks till quite late on the end of the module, this was due to being swamped with other work. Although this is something I will defiantly improve on next time. I will also develop more fully the research for the presentation next time as I was left with a sense that more could be done. So all my weaknesses are based around time management.
Things I will do differently next time include: Better time management Research more on swot analysis With the company we set up I would like to do a real life promotional event or networking event, it would be good to the see results of work.
How would you grade yourself on the following areas: (please indicate using an ‘x’)  5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor
	1	2	3	4	5
Attendance				x
Punctuality				x
Motivation				x
Commitment				x
Quantity of work produced				x
Quality of work produced				x
Contribution to the group				x
The evaluation of your work is an important part of the assessment criteria and represents a percentage of the overall grade. It is essential that you give yourself enough time to complete your written evaluation fully and with appropriate depth and level of self-reflection. If you have any questions relating to the self evaluation process speak to a member of staff as soon as possible.

End Of

Further Enterprise Research

Enterprise research

Company Structure

Kaizen approach through continuous improvement through internal audits.

Benchmarking

'Benchmarking is the process of identifying "best practice" in relation to both products (including) and the processes by which those products are created and delivered. The search for "best practice" can taker place both inside a particular industry, and also in other industries (for example - are there lessons to be learned from other industries?).'

Performance or Competitive Benchmarking

Businesses consider their position in relation to performance characteristics of key products and services. Benchmarking partners are drawn from the same sector. This type of analysis is often undertaken through trade associations or third parties to protect confidentiality.

Assessing relative level of performance in key areas or activities in comparison with others in the same sector and finding ways of closing gaps in performance

Marketing Mix

Product driven through diversification. Hopefully we will stand alone due to our creativeness


Sales Forecasting
Problems with sales forecasting

• Social changes, for example: fashion or environmental awareness
• Technological changes in production would affect costs and cost behaviour. (Perhaps upgrade our macs or programmes). 
• Economic and political changes, e.g. interest rates, employment levels - all affecting forecasts. 

We recognise that all forecasts are subject to error: the further the forecast into the future, the greater the error is likely to be. 

Ansoff's matrix

 SWOT
An example of a SWOT analysis for a small management consultancy.

Marketing audits, reviews of the efficiency of the marketing function. 

Organisational structure: 

Person culture; typical of small professional organisation

Survival of a small firm 

• Supplying a personal service
• Working in areas where growth is naturally limited

We will try to counteract or prevent these two problems through adding value through a personal service. We will make communication one of our main objectives. Through an effective and continuous dialogue with customers we will hopefully avoid. 

Our strengths will be:

• Quick response time to customers
• Efficient communication within the company
• Resulting in good labour relations 

Which will hopefully result in:

• A prevention to lacking ambition

THE 4 P's 

Price:

Voucher code on mailshot 10% off 

Recommendation deals. 

Place:

Mail shots sent to top 200 companies

Voucher code on mailshot 10% off 

Local business journal 

Product:

Branding and identity services as previously mentioned, looking to diversify after 2 years and using emerging talent within our company to create a unique selling point. 

Promotion:

Advertisements

Mail shots

Networking events

Porters Matrix

Porter's Matrix - Business Structure.

Porter's Generic Competitive Strategies

A firm's relative position within its industry determines whether a firm's profitability is above or below the industry average. The fundamental basis of above average profitability in the long run is sustainable competitive advantage. There are two basic types of competitive advantage a firm can possess: low cost or differentiation. The two basic types of competitive advantage combined with the scope of activities for which a firm seeks to achieve them, lead to three generic strategies for achieving above average performance in an industry: cost leadership, differentiation, and focus. The focus strategy has two variants, cost focus and differentiation focus.

1. Cost Leadership

In cost leadership, a firm sets out to become the low cost producer in its industry. The sources of cost advantage are varied and depend on the structure of the industry. They may include the pursuit of economies of scale, proprietary technology, preferential access to raw materials and other factors. A low cost producer must find and exploit all sources of cost advantage. if a firm can achieve and sustain overall cost leadership, then it will be an above average performer in its industry, provided it can command prices at or near the industry average.

2. Differentiation

In a differentiation strategy a firm seeks to be unique in its industry along some dimensions that are widely valued by buyers. It selects one or more attributes that many buyers in an industry perceive as important, and uniquely positions itself to meet those needs. It is rewarded for its uniqueness with a premium price.

3. Focus

The generic strategy of focus rests on the choice of a narrow competitive scope within an industry. The focuser selects a segment or group of segments in the industry and tailors its strategy to serving them to the exclusion of others.

The focus strategy has two variants.

(a) In cost focus a firm seeks a cost advantage in its target segment, while in (b) differentiation focus a firm seeks differentiation in its target segment. Both variants of the focus strategy rest on differences between a focuser's target segment and other segments in the industry. The target segments must either have buyers with unusual needs or else the production and delivery system that best serves the target segment must differ from that of other industry segments. Cost focus exploits differences in cost behavior in some segments, while differentiation focus exploits the special needs of buyers in certain segments.

More Promotion

Promoting our business.

Twitter:

A ever growing networking site that could be useful to promote awareness, many believe that it may be announcing day-to-day activities but we believe that it is becoming an easy way to start to promote an emerging business. 

Facebook:

Another form of social networking that allows for free advertising, we would also have control on how we project ourselves and who we aim our business at.  

LinkedIn:
Professional database. May be more relevant for us to be seen by other business'.

Award Winning Designers

Award winning designers...

Entering competitions such as those shown below will help us constantly challenge ourselves and also get our names out there. Potentially, by doing well in these competitions we will also get recognised by industry professionals and companies too.

Smart Objectives

Objectives should always be SMART:

• Specific - for example, you might set an objective of getting ten new customers.
• Measurable - whatever your objective is, you need to be able to check whether you have reached it or not when you review your plan.
• Achievable - you must have the resources you need to achieve the objective. The key resources are usually people and money.
• Realistic - targets should stretch you, not demotivate you because they are unreasonable and seem to be out of reach.
• Time-bound - you should set a deadline for achieving the objective. For example, you might aim to get ten new customers within the next 12 months.

Dialect Finances

Open publication - Free publishing - More dialect

Below are all of the finances for the businesses. To work our what we would all need to earn to survive we each worked out our individual living costs. Luckily they all came out at around the same amount: £25,000 So this was included to work out what our daily charge rate should be.

Our total overhead costs as well as paying our student loans back were also included within this plan and the results can be seen in the issuu document below.

Location of Business and Group Roles

Location of our Business

We have chosen to locate ourselves in Leeds in the QU2 building

It has a fantastic location in the centre of Leeds, it is a very short distance from the train station and also near the ring road so easily accessed from the motorways (M1, M62, M621) and it is on the direct bus line through the city centre. It is much cheaper than our original plan of basing our offices in London and it is at the heart of a creative city and ideally for looking for new and upcoming design tallent as there are 3 main universities in a 10 minute walking radius (Leeds Univeristy, Leeds College of Art, and Leeds Metropolitan).

By basing our offices up North in Leeds the rent is much lower than down south, we will be saving money in our start up costs. To begin with all our clients will be from our surrounding area, keeping our travel costs lower and in the future we hope to expand our client list to down south and around the London area.

By using these premises, our gas, electricity and telephone bills are included in the rental price.

We have chosen to rent a 4 person office space at £365 per month. There was the option of having a 5 person space at £500, we were tempted by this idea as we felt that the new designer that we will be employing per project will need a design space but we then thought that not all of us will be in the office every day of every week; I as the client liaison may be out a majority of the time having meetings with new clients and will not all be designing every day, in which case we can come in on alternate days.

The city of Leeds is bursting full of young and upcoming tallent and many creative opportunities; from the surrounding universities as well as many business opportunities. This will provide us with a constant influx of the best new upcoming talent from our surrounding areas, also giving the graduates a chance to have an experience in a the design industry and to meet potential companies they can one day work with.

The technology of lap tops and imacs allows us to be flexible in where we base ourselves, we will have imacs in our main offices and have our laptops for when we go to meet clients.

http://www.qu2leeds.co.uk/index.htm

This is a map of the Leeds Metropolitan university campus and you can see the location of our premises in releveance to the centre of town (the Light building)

Group Roles

All the members in the company will be part of the designing team as well as their other rolls

Ben Harwood - Accounting and Finance / Designer

Sam Edwards - Senior Director / Designer

Chloe Wilkinson - Creative Director / Designer

Emily Fairbank - Client Lei-son / Designer

Breaking the business research into sections

Ben Harwood - Accounting and Finances, Loans, Investment

Chloe Wilkinson - Marketing

Sam Edwards -  Promotion

Emily Fairbank - Competitors and potential Business, SWOT analysis of competitors

Competitors for Dialect

Chosen Competitors

From the selection of design agencies that I have looked into and analysed, I have condensed the group to 3 main competitors and analysed them using the SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) model. These business's range in size, services and location;

THE ENGINE ROOM

BML CREATIVE

FUSE 8

Points to look at when looking at the competitors

• their services / skills
• size of the company / type - freelance?
• client relationships - are the in close and constant contact with their clients?
• Type of design work they creative - print / digital / web 
• Location / accessibility
• Client List?

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• Located in Huddersfield
• Centre of town and walking distance from the train station
• Easily accessible by car - close to the M1 and the M62
• Team of 6 people; 4 designers and 2 accountants
• The team's members have a range of between 14 and 20 years of experience in the industry
• They provide a 'Gok Wan treatment' to the clients business
• Range of services; Branding, Web design, Photography
• Variety of skills; marketing, graphic design, branding consultant, communications, media relations, retail product promotion

• Located in the North East part of Leeds (7-10 minute drive from the centre). Its location makes it accessible but not as accessible as it would be in the centre although their rent of their premises will be lower than it would be in the centre, however it is not as close to the train station. Their location is slightly further away to the main motorways (M1 and M621) than Dialect's location will be, but still very accessible. 
• Small design agency
• They provide a range of creative services; branding, web design, graphic design, creative marketing and email marketing. 
• They provide 'high quality and affordable creative services' and that their speed and efficiency with their work creates low overheads and keeps within their clients budgets with 'low overheads.'
• Provide a free design quote for any client who is interested in working with them. 
• The believe that 'branding is a science for every type of business' and that they are the 'best branding agency in Leeds.' They also state that they are 'a small but passionate' business

• Large design company which is based in both Leeds and London (and Russia). The office is located in the west of Leeds so not as accessible as Dialect 
• The technical team is based in Russia while the digital team is based in London
• Their whole company consists of 74 people with a range of skills and specialisms providing a large range of project opportunities. The company started in Leeds with only 3 people (vast expansion in the last few years), when the company grew to 12 people they had to move from that location
• The company started in 2000 so has been going for 12 years - they have more experience than Dialect but because of the size of the company a there is a less 'personal' client contact. 
• They offer a range of creative services; branding, corporate brochures, product brochures, advertising, display materials
• The offer a 'rewarding and engadging' experience for the customer
• Their client list included; Universal, NHS, Miele, Storm - London and Red bull. 

Propeganda Designs

This is marketing and branding company that is based in Leeds, although they do brand and re-brand companies I do not feel that that will be one of our main competitors. Their company is made up of a large group of 9 people with a variety of different rolls and skills and experience in business areas such as client services, operations managers, accounting, client relations, public affairs and brand management.
Propaganda work in a variety of areas. branding, PR, Advertising and Design. They are a larger business than Dialect is and consists of a team of 9 people. 

 Propeganda have a strategic approach to brand development which that have called BRAND DISCOVERY, above is the model of how they approach brand development.

Their Location


Center of Leeds and very close to the train station (marker A) and our location is marker B, although we are further away from the train station and edge of the city, we are still very easliy accessible and 5 minutes driving distance from the train station. 

The Engine Room

This is a branding agency that is based in Huddersfield, even though they are not based in the same city as our company is, they are still based in West Yorkshire and will be still competing for the same clients. Their premiss are located in the center of Huddersfield and walking distance from the train station so are very easily accessed by this and also from the main nearby motorways; M1 and the M62.


They are a team of 6 people; 4 of which are designers and 2 are the accountants. They range from having 14 - 20 years of experience in the design industry.


They say that the combination of their team provides a mix of creative thinking, design and strategy which can transform their clients business. They are a small team of graphic designers, strategists, marketeers and brand consultants that will give a 'Gok Wan treatment' to the clients business.

 The Engine Room's location in relevance to Leeds

 Their location in relevance to the nearest motorways 

The Team

 Portfolio of their work

Comments from their clients about what they wanted / needed when they came to the Engine Room to brand / rebrand their business. 

England Agency

This is a large design agency based in Leeds who offer a range or services including branding, advertising, packaging design, and web design.


They are a larger company and offer a larger range of services in comparison to Dialect, however our company will offer a different type of services as we specifically work with branding. With England being based in Leeds, they will be one of our main competitors. Despite this business having more experience and being larger than ours, we feel that we have closer relationships with our clients and


England promotes themselves as a design agency that has a very in depth and thorough look at their clients business. They define their business, their competitors, their behavior have an in depth investigation into their products and their services. From this they look at their clients current and potential customers and how their customers feel about their business. Through this England is able have an effective understanding about how they will brand the company.


They claim they have a 'wealth of experience' in branding and have created award winning brands which were created through their passion and obsession combined with a strong understanding and awareness about the company and the current market.

 

 England Agency is located in the centre of leeds, point A on the map is our premisis location and point B on the map is England's location.

 This map above shows how England is very accessible and close to the M62, the M621 and the M1, and also because it is located in the center of Leeds it is very close to the train station. 

Brainstorm Designs

This is a design agency that will be one of our main competitors as they are based in Leeds on Bradford road. They offer a range of sercives; branding, print and website design and they are a agency of 6 people that was set up 10 years ago so they have a more years of experience in the industry.
Brainstorm Designs promote their close client relationships, making their company more appealing to potential clients
"You'll get to collaborate with the people who are actually working on your project. No account handlers, no account managers, no account directors. We cut out the layers, ensuring we get to the solution quickly and effectively."


About their company;
Our team of self confessed design-a-holics are driven by a passion for design and the power it has to make a difference to our clients and their products and services. We don’t create ‘pretty pictures’ - our work really communicates with your target audience.

BML Creative

http://www.bml-creative.co.uk/



Large Creative Marketing Company based in Leeds and works with clients all over the UK. It offers a variety of services including branding, wed design, digital and creative marketing


They advertise themselves that 'whatever you require to promote your organisation, our unique approach helps to build brand awareness, improve customer perception, generate traffic sources and most importantly - win you business. 


They are a small business located in the North East part of Leeds (not as close and as accessible as Dialect will be)


They quote that they offer 'high quality / affordable creative services

DS. Emotion

http://www.dsemotion.com/

This is a large design agency that is based in Leeds and London.
They specialise in design, branding and marketing that 'focus on brand driven solutions that add value that will unlock the company and provide clear and strategic thinking.'
This agency's main selling point is that they are committed and build long term relationships with their clients which adds great value to their work.
They say that they react quickly to the changing market; this is a very important selling point for a client  as they will always need a design agency that is the most aware of the surrounding world influences to go get the best results.
The also offer a FREE 1-hour consultancy about the branding - incising factor for a potential client.

The Company Services

Fuse 8

Design agency in Leeds that offers design services in branding, corporate brochures, product brochures and display material. Their selling point as that they provide will create a brand that will create an exerpeince mentum and they will have continuous involvement in aiding this, as well as the brands being given a rewarding and a 'return on engagement'.