by josiet | Jul 1, 2020 | Article
Accomplice Ltd trading as Hailsham Creative and
Nettl of Eastbourne North
Like many business we have had to re-invent ourselves over the past few weeks. After an initial ‘Lance Corporal Jones’ moment (“Don’t panic!”) and a period of shock, we talked to our franchise operators and were offered an opportunity we couldn’t refuse. To become a Nettl partner, enabling us to deliver better designed and more responsive websites.
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Franchise?
You have in the past known us as Hailsham Creative @ Printing.com – printing.com is the franchise that we bought into several years ago, run by Grafenia PLC. This enabled us to offer, alongside our design services, competitively priced, good quality print from printing.com’s main hub while at the same time being able to shop around local suppliers to ensure we got the best price and product for our customers. Brilliant.
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So who is Nettl?
Nettl is another arm of Grafenia PLC. It came into being as Grafenia’s response to the changes in the world of print. An increase in the use of websites and in viewing those sites on mobile devices has meant a great change in the design and coding process. Pretty much every business, large or small, that needs printing, also needs a website and, more often than not, signage. Now Nettl can offer it all.
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Doesn’t it take years to learn coding and SEO? Don’t you have to keep up to date with fast moving technology?
Yes and yes and the beauty of Nettl is that we are part of a much larger team that includes the ‘Geeks’ – these brain boxes have all of those skills and knowledge and have their fingers firmly on the pulse of the technology world. And they are ours! This leaves us free to do the designing and building of the websites using the latest Nettl software with a wealth of expert support behind us.
So, having made use of the quiet lockdown weeks by doing online training courses, video seminars, test projects and sample sites, we have now gone from offering the very simplest, basic starter websites to being able to offer the best website solution for pretty much any project, with added functionality and integrations, totally responsive for viewing on any platform. See, we’ve even started to talk ‘website’.
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Here are some examples of sites created using the Nettl system
inspireplus.org.uk
supportwealden.co.uk
pickhams.com
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So where does Accomplice Ltd fit in all of this?
Accomplice Ltd is the name we registered when we became a limited company way back in 2004, having been trading simply as Accomplice before then. When we moved to offices in Hailsham we started the trading name of Hailsham Creative as that better explained what we offered… and where. When we joined printing.com we added that to the name. We now work from a home office in Wilmington, East Sussex and still have close connections with Hailsham so, rather than change name once again when we left Hailsham, we kept the Hailsham Creative name as we’d grown fond of it and our branding was pretty well known. Now we’ve swapped the added printing.com to Nettl and we are offering exactly the same service as before but with with added website ‘wow’.
In a nutshell, we’ve evolved and are pretty excited about it!
So next time you see the name Hailsham Creative or Nettl of Eastbourne North, you’ll know that we are the ones for web… and whatever other design, print and signage needs you may have.
Jim (Jimbo) and Josie Tipler
by josiet | Feb 24, 2020 | Article, News
We are delighted with the fabric display range that we can offer to our clients. Here you can see our Mwow! TOTEM pop-up stand, frame and fabric cover. It’s quick and easy to assemble, lightweight and looks and feels great.
Our lovely clients, Experience Holidays were also really pleased with their large curved backdrop:
‘Jim recently suggested, designed and created the Curve banner for us and we’ve just used it for the first time at a consumer show. Not only does it look incredibly professional and eye catching (we even had comments from other exhibitors about it), but I’m sure it will also stand the test of time due to the materials used. It’s easily portable (collapses down into a small carry case), and straightforward to put together. We chose to have a different image on each side of the fabric, so that we can decide which to use at each event and as such it provides excellent value for money too. Thank you Jim – as always your advice and expertise were spot on!’
Angie Watson, Director
Experience Holidays
You can view the full range of fabric displays here:
BACKDROPS / BANNERS
by josiet | Feb 12, 2020 | Article
Starting out …
So you have had a brilliant idea for a business, you’ve done the research and found there is a market and decided this is something you really want to do.
You then need to decide on what format your business will take and consider other matters such as accounting, staffing, location and licences – look at the advice on www.gov.uk/set-up-business and more general advice on www.gov.uk/business-support-helpline.
Still want to start your business?
What is the next thing to think about?
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- Name
Come up with a long list of possible names. To help you shortlist, do internet searches for each possibility and see if there is someone else with the same name and check Companies House and see if the name is registered. Also check on web domain companies to see if the name is used in a domain already. Once you’ve crossed off the impossibles, you can then look again at your possibles.
Double check the internet for reviews with the same name – a list of ghastly reviews for a something anywhere with the same name could be a turn off for potential customers.
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- What’s in a name?
It’s really good to have a story behind your name – it doesn’t have to have anything at all to do with the type business, it could be the name of your first pet, or a word based on a favourite quotation, or anything that actually means something to you. You can always add an explanation to the name such as Rex Computer Services. A bit of research around the subject of your business is good – the history behind it, any notable names linked to it, any images that immediately crop up when you do internet searches.
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- Branding and identity
Your name becomes your brand. The story behind the name can help with the identity of your brand. If you’ve named Rex Computer services after your first dog, the dog could become your brand identity.
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- Website
A website that can be viewed on a mobile, tablet and desktop not only helps potential customers to firstly find out about your business, but also adds legitimacy to your business and helps to reinforce your brand and identity.
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- Social media
Many people will immediately search on social media for your business to look for reviews, more information and to find out a bit about you personally. If you don’t have time to spend on regular updates, there are lots of companies out there that can do this for you. A simple Facebook page, Twitter account and linkedIn profile with your company name, details, branding and identity is a good starting point. Remember not to use these solely as a selling platform – mix in personal posts and photos so potential customers get to know you – and interact with other accounts.
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- Business cards and promotional literature
When you are starting out you need to get the word out there as many ways as possible. Always have business cards with you – you’ll be really keen to talk about your business so make sure you hand over a card to everyone you speak to about it. Even if they are not interested in using your services, they may well know someone who is. Leaflets, brochures and other promotional literature are good for direct mail campaigns, instantly handing over more information at face to face meetings, and great to leave in suitable venues for passing potential customers.
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- Stationery
It may seem old fashioned to have printed letterheads, but sometimes you do need to provide your registered company address and other details on a business letterhead. It is also a good introduction to other local business to send an individual letter on your new letterhead. Remember, the more often your brand and identity is seen, the more likely it is that a potential customer will start to recognise it and remember you and your business.
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- Advertising and signage
There are lots of different ways to advertise yourself. Posters, banners, signage if you have a shop front, magazine adverts, newspaper articles. If you have a company vehicle or van, it is a large, free advertising hoarding – get vehicle signage. Spread the word, shout about what you do and get yourself noticed.
So, how can we help you?
We can help with name ideas, branding, identity, promotion, print, signage and websites. We can also suggest some experts to help with social media and marketing.
Have a look at our branding website, By Jimbo! to see some examples of Jim’s work. We have created some great affordable starter websites and of course we specialise in design and print. We won’t persuade you to go full steam ahead with a load of printing that may not suit you at the present moment – we want your business to flourish so we will give you honest advice. We don’t profess to be experts in all aspects of starting a business but we’ve seen a lot of start-ups come through our doors over the past 16 years and we’re good at what we do.
Talk to us when you feel you’re ready to go – we actually love helping to come up with names too, so if you’re struggling, have a word!
by josiet | Oct 9, 2019 | Article, Marketing
Plenty of research shows people need to see your marketing message several times, in different ways, before they buy.
If a customer says no, is it game over? Be honest, do you give up after your first knock back? Many business people do. But that’s a mistake. Dust yourself off. And get back on the horse. To find out more, read our inside guide on How to Get More Customers:
And during October, you can claim £10 instant credit to spend on anything from our range…
by josiet | Sep 9, 2019 | Article, Marketing, Promotions
”But only one of them asked for the order…”
Here’s the secret. If you follow up, you might be the only one who does. Think about it. Would you choose a business who was disinterested at the quote stage? If they’re sluggish then, how responsive will they be when you’ve paid them to work for you?
A quote in the post is good. But it can work harder. Use a folder. A beautiful folder. It gives you gravitas. You’ll look impressive. Use the inside to sell your benefits. Why should they choose you? Fill with photos of other projects, awards or client reviews.
by josiet | Jul 26, 2019 | Article
See the CASE study for all images.
Our clients come in all shapes and sizes. We love working on a high quality sales brochure for a multi-million pound organisation just as much as a flyer for a small, local, single-owner business. But, whatever the size of the client, nearly all projects we undertake have many things in common. Firstly, a client will have a requirement (a logo, a brochure, a website, exhibition display, a video). We will have a discussion with the client and an approach (or maybe several alternatives) are agreed upon. Creative work is undertaken and a design is either agreed upon or progresses with modification. Once a design is approved it will be implemented in whichever medium is required.
That, in a nutshell, is our design process. I purposely have not gone into detail because, although there is much in common, still every project has its own subtle differences in approach.
We were asked by Darren to look at a logo for his soon to be launched financial consultancy for which he had decided upon the name Redstone Wealth Management. In our meeting a clear brief was difficult to establish, but he wanted to be recognised as professional, serious and was keen to use the colour red.
There are several approaches you might use for this type of brief. 1) You could write a brief and ask the client to check and sign off on that brief, 2) You could create a mood board from scratch identifying the type of approach you would like to take for this client, 3) You could present just one or two ideas and “sell” one or other in to the client or 4) You could take a scattergun approach and shower the client with ideas. Each of these has its merits and drawbacks but for this project we opted for The Scattergun. Reasons? Mainly time vs results vs budget. 1) Writing and agreeing a brief. There was a timescale in play and a back and forth discussion may have jeopardised that 2) The mood board would take time and therefore budget that this client simply did not have, 3) We aren’t ultra smooth sales people and certainly don’t believe in the emperor’s new clothes approach. So we went for a selection of logos, confident we would pretty much nail it the first time round and keep one or two up our sleeves should we need them.
Brainstorming was interesting and went in several directions, from visuals as diverse as anglo-saxon runes, to rock strata. Each thought was sketched and the strongest would be developed and presented to the client as a standalone logo.
On presentation the client said what he liked and disliked about each. Some were discounted instantly, but we kept coming back to the same four. We developed each a little further to give the client some idea of how it might work in practical situations such as a business card or website banner.
Over the years we have found there are times when you shouldn’t express a preference to a client and times when you should and this was one of those. The client was undecided and needed confident direction. The logo we kept coming back to was based upon an anglo-saxon rune for “stone” and we contrived to form an M and a W within the logo (Management and Wealth). So we pointed out there would be a great story behind it for Darren to pass on in turn to his clients.
Despite not being an expert in ancient runes, he liked this thought very much and we developed it further, showing options for layout and typeface.
I think this demonstrates the difference between a brand and a mere logo. A brand might have a story, it should have some weight behind it, some history or, dare I say, a “journey” behind it.
I’m quite good at the visual language of these things but not so great at the written language, but what I would say is that Darren asked for a logo and has ended up with a brand – something he can flaunt with real confidence, will help him stand out against competitors and serve his business very well for years to come and we are very proud to have been a part of that.
“I can say I enjoyed being part of the journey with you and I do use the story behind the logo when I hand over the business card. I have received positive feedback so far and my clients have really liked it. It brings depth to the brand and is a great starting point during my conversations.”
Darren Ransom
Financial Advisor
Redstone Wealth Management
We are delighted with the fabric display range that we can offer to our clients. Here you can see our Mwow! TOTEM pop-up stand, frame and fabric cover. It’s quick and easy to assemble, lightweight and looks and feels great.
