Marketing Qualification

kelly_borntoshop

am getting all excited yay!!

dizzyrascal

Not sure if it's totally out of reach to let on to my FM that i've set up at home - he was at my house the other day complaining how busy they are and that they have the software but no one who knows how to use it. Without me they are paying £45 per hour for design work - even just for edits.

Well that's just the sort of work you should be looking at!
Lots of companies need small amounts of work doing but have to pay for it as they don't need to hire someone full time.
You should set up your own Facebook page and advertise what you can do, (you'll need a lot of good images so take your time, and don't forget to watermark them). Pinterest is a very visual medium too. Get people to follow your work.
Good news about FB for your old company. You should certainly quote the increased sales (in percentages)

kelly_borntoshop

Got it on my CV in percentages - but thought with the low numbers I best say so on here. Also lifted previous companies sales by 20% via direct advertising on the handover of a contract (a bit sneeky but it worked!).

Also been known to write press releases and raise profile. 1 gained a double page in sunday local papers (boosted my business, major take off) and the other a quarter feature in national tabloid. Shame I didnt keep the cuttings, got lost along the way.

Theres loads more but see, its all experience - no employer will have to pay me a due salary or title without the qualification's, just like this last job. Need a bit more to get the pieces of paper, just had a look and theres a cs6 photoshop, illustrator and InDesign classroom in a book.

Gonna see if I can get myself a little part time admin job around the kids, keep applying for marketing jobs and study Adobe in my other time till I get some credit papers...

dizzyrascal

Brilliant work Kelly
I think that the Brilliant series of books are pretty good for learning about software. Or there is always Lynda.com. Some of the Dummies books are good but see if you can get some second hand ones as they're not all great.
I would also get up to speed with blogging software like Wordpress.

kelly_borntoshop

Hi Dizzy,

Just wanted to say thanks for this great advice.

After much debate and research I have decided on an IMac, would love a 27in but it will have to be the 21.5in. A Canon Pixma all in one printer (should I look at A3?) and still debating on office for Mac.

I absolutely love this creative cloud, why did I not know about this before? InDesign!! The hours I have spent sizing literature only having Photoshop, sizing each element and bleed - then re-doing product labels almost from scratch to make 3 different sizes so as not to distort - I can't wait to get to grips with InDesign.

Illustrator looks great for backgrounds, fonts and logos. Then Muse, it looks so much easier than the old versions of Dreamweaver. 5 x website entitlement on Business Catalyst - Plus temp sites it's working out so much cheaper than I can remember 10 years ago.

Storage on the cloud and software on 2 machines... it's all good.

I have a friend who has her own cake business, word of mouth based. I got her going on facebook a couple of years back and she's now fully booked all the time. I thought this could be a pet project for my portfolio - brand it, give it a website and design some promo material. I can't wait i'm so excited, still a week to go till I can get my IMac and cloud tho

I have lots to look at, an old photographer friend also mentioned Lynda.com - and I should look at blogging as you suggested. He also mention search engine optimisation as a way of making part-time work cash from home??

dizzyrascal

I have lots to look at, an old photographer friend also mentioned Lynda.com - and I should look at blogging as you suggested. He also mention search engine optimisation as a way of making part-time work cash from home??

Hi Kelly, Well done on where you are at so far.
SEO as it is known
Basically it is a way of writing copy that tells both the search engines and the customers what they want to know. It is not difficult to learn and someone who is good at SEO should be able to get a website traffic and sales increased by a huge margin. There are lots of tools to help you and again there are some good books to use.

I think you have a lot on at the moment but it might be worth looking at it to use on your facebook page and your blog. Getting a sound knowledge in SEO will help you write for other people. I have a friend who is stupidly busy just writing SEO copy for websites.
There is lots that you can do with SEO but it will be another skill to learn alongside your other new things so don't take on too much

kelly_borntoshop

Dizzy...

Am I right in thinking that you can't use a wordpress blog within adobe muse?

That beggars the question - wordpress site or muse site?

Muse appeals to me as I don't really do code and the tools seem similar, it looks simple but would wordpress be more powerful?

dizzyrascal

Hi Kelly. I like wordpress because it is fairly easy to use and you can add any amount of plug ins to enhance the site. You can set one up on WordPress.com and have a play around but in order to properly edit, you need to host it on a web host.
It helps if you can code a bit and can read PHP, JavaScript and HTML5.
You should also build WordPress site on a wamp programme before you upload it although you can build it online if It's not too complicated. You can add stuff as and when you find you need it. For instance you can add a plug in to make your site mobile friendly which works in 5mins.
I have not used MUSE yet but it looks very slick and if you really dont need to code then I would have a play with it. See how easy it is. It looks like it could be fun.

kelly_borntoshop

spoke to an old school coder tonight, old boss. made his mark in graphic design and does bigger sites like fb etc.

always looking to make money this man so advice not always trusted entirely.

i cant code so advice is stick with muse. I hinted as you do there might be work tightening up code, he would do as a favour.

said i might get ecommerce sites (and one potentially in pipe line) - would he look them over, he said yeah no problem. also asked if he would be contactable for advice said yes anytime. still not a trustable man but hey - i can network just keep yer hands off me booty!!

looks like muse then

dizzyrascal

Hi Kelly. networking is always good. I hope you are on LinkedIn. If not, get yourself on there, add anyone you already know and add all your current skills. Then update as you get confident with the skills you're developing.
Make sure you link up with or follow your local Chamber of Commerce and any companies or organisations that help start up companies. They should post details of all free seminars etc. on LinkedIn and twitter. There might even be a local marketing group on LinkedIn, you can start discussions. Be brave and start a thread.

The IT world is full of quite generous people, (unlike say lawyers or accountants who charge by the min). I am qualified in "Information", which allowed me to diversify into more IT and web based applications and, although it is not a large part of my day job, I still find my knowledge very useful for work.
I do meet many truly IT people and they do so much for free and the internet is full of free tutorials. So your friend may indeed be genuine in his offer, although I take your point about always looking to make money. It is a different world though, not like sales.

I like the look of Muse and if I were starting now then I would use it. I only upgraded my Adobe software package a couple of years ago and since it is so expensive I can't really justify the cost at the moment. (especially since it's only really a hobby but I do use Adobe daily)

It all seems to be coming together for you now. Good luck with it all