The fast-paced nature of the design business means that you probably spend most of your time, energy and resources looking after your clients' needs, not your own. In our current, increasingly competitive marketplace where supply far outstrips demand, no design business will survive for long - let alone grow and develop - without a really effective marketing programme. It is no longer enough for you to provide a good product and simply hope for the best. Potential clients need to know exactly what you can do for them and what makes you different from your competitors. Existing clients need to know exactly why they should develop and continue their business with you. Quite simply, you need to convince design buyers that you are unequivocally the right consultancy for them, time and time again. This second, fully revised and updated, edition of Shan Preddy's popular book will help you to improve your marketing skills, no matter how large or small your design company, or which of the many disciplines you specialise in. Packed full of accessible, practical advice and information, this book is indispensable for all design consultancies.

The fast-paced nature of the design business means that you probably spend most of your time, energy and resources looking after your clients' needs, not your own. In our current, increasingly competitive marketplace where supply far outstrips demand, no design business will survive for long - let alone grow and develop - without a really effective marketing programme. It is no longer enough for you to provide a good product and simply hope for the best. Potential clients need to know exactly what you can do for them and what makes you different from your competitors. Existing clients need to know exactly why they should develop and continue their business with you. Quite simply, you need to convince design buyers that you are unequivocally the right consultancy for them, time and time again. This second, fully revised and updated, edition of Shan Preddy's popular book will help you to improve your marketing skills, no matter how large or small your design company, or which of the many disciplines you specialise in. Packed full of accessible, practical advice and information, this book is indispensable for all design consultancies.

How can you take your skills and expertise and package and present it to become a successful consultant? There are proven time-tested principles, strategies, tactics and best-practices the most successful consultants use to start, run and grow their consulting business. Consulting Success teaches you what they are. In this book you'll learn: - How to position yourself as a leading expert and authority in your marketplace - Effective marketing and branding materials that get the attention of your ideal clients - Strategies to increase your fees and earn more with every project - The proposal template that has generated millions of dollars in consulting engagements - How to develop a pipeline of business and attract ideal clients - Productivity secrets for consultants including how to get more done in one week than most people do in a month - And much, much more

More and more managers are looking for customer focus to help fight the pressures of rising costs, global competition and falling sales. But it’s not simply a case of trying to get closer to your customers. There are more strategic decisions that if made can make your marketing more lean, more focused and more successful. Managing Customers and Markets explores what market orientation means and the key things you need to be able to do as a manager to make a difference. Understand market orientation and what it means for you Recognise ways you can contribute to customer value in your organisation. Explore how to improve customer satisfaction and customer relationships Evaluate your competitive advantage and changes that could be made to structure, products and services to enhance the offer Identify techniques for developing new markets and products.

More and more managers are looking for customer focus to help fight the pressures of rising costs, global competition and falling sales. But it's not simply a case of trying to get closer to your customers. There are more strategic decisions that if made can make your marketing more lean, more focused and more successful. Managing Customers and Markets explores what market orientation means and the key things you need to be able to do as a manager to make a difference. Understand market orientation and what it means for you Recognise ways you can contribute to customer value in your organisation. Explore how to improve customer satisfaction and customer relationships Evaluate your competitive advantage and changes that could be made to structure, products and services to enhance the offer Identify techniques for developing new markets and products. * Authoritative but accessible and lively material * New, exciting and flexible approach to management development

The book explains how Gravitational Distance and the System of Cities influence transnational construction-related firms when they venture overseas. The study presented in the book internalizes the characteristics of home and foreign cities, and of transnational firms, to develop situational business strategies and organization designs in terms of Strategy, Structure, Systems, Leadership Style, Firm’s Skills, Staff’s characteristics, Shared Values and Supply Chain. The book presents the findings of surveys and interviews with managers and professionals in eight different Asian cities stretching from Singapore to China. The findings are then used to develop business solutions in the form of a Decision Support System (DSS) for transnational construction firms, helping them to adopt an appropriate organization design strategy when they venture into overseas markets. Issues relating to globalization, competitiveness, risk management, communications, networks, government interference, business strategies, organization structures and systems in the context of international construction business are discussed together with corresponding recommendations for implementation. Although construction-related firms were used as the basis for the field studies, the lessons learned are equally applicable for organizations in other industries.

What does it take to become a well-known expert in your field - someone other practitioners and the media seek out for leadership and insight? We call these stars Visible Experts . And becoming one is easier than it looks. In this research-based book, you will learn how you or your colleagues can become Visible Experts and leverage this status to drive significant new growth and profits for your firm. You will discover which tools and techniques you need to build your reputation and ascend to prominence. And you will hear from real experts from across the professional services who have climbed from obscurity to the peak of their profession. The Visible Expert is the essential manual for any individual or firm that is ready to take their expertise to the highest level. Based on interviews with over 1,000 experts and buyers of their services, this book will take you higher, faster."

The Principles & Processes of Interactive Design is aimed at new designers from across the design and media disciplines who want to learn the fundamentals of designing for interactive media. This book is intended both as a primer and companion guide on how to research, plan and design for increasingly prevalent interactive projects. With clear and practical guidance on how to successfully present your ideas and concepts, Jamie Steane introduces you to user-based design, research and development, digital image and typography, interactive formats, and screen-based grids and layout. Using a raft of inspirational examples from a diverse range of leading international creatives and award-winning agencies, this is required reading for budding digital designers. In addition, industry perspectives from key design professionals provide fascinating insights into this exciting creative field, and each chapter concludes with workshop tutorials to help you put what you've learnt into practice in your own interactive designs. Featured contributors include: AKQA, BBC, Dare, Edenspiekermann, Electronic Arts, e-Types, Komodo Digital, Moving Brands, Nordkapp, Onedotzero, Onformative, Preloaded and Razorfish.

The founders of a respected Silicon Valley advisory firm study legendary category-creating companies and reveal a groundbreaking discipline called category design. Winning today isn’t about beating the competition at the old game. It’s about inventing a whole new game—defining a new market category, developing it, and dominating it over time. You can’t build a legendary company without building a legendary category. If you think that having the best product is all it takes to win, you’re going to lose. In this farsighted, pioneering guide, the founders of Silicon Valley advisory firm Play Bigger rely on data analysis and interviews to understand the inner workings of “category kings”— companies such as Amazon, Salesforce, Uber, and IKEA—that give us new ways of living, thinking or doing business, often solving problems we didn’t know we had. In Play Bigger, the authors assemble their findings to introduce the new discipline of category design. By applying category design, companies can create new demand where none existed, conditioning customers’ brains so they change their expectations and buying habits. While this discipline defines the tech industry, it applies to every kind of industry and even to personal careers. Crossing the Chasm revolutionized how we think about new products in an existing market. The Innovator’s Dilemma taught us about disrupting an aging market. Now, Play Bigger is transforming business once again, showing us how to create the market itself.