| We need our school prospectus re-printed. Can you do that? | | Yes, we are very happy to re-print your school prospectus. Just send an old copy of your school brochure to us in the post (to: The Mustard Agency Ltd, 4a Wilton Business Centre, Kingsway, Wilton, Nr Salisbury, Wiltshire, SP2 0AH), tell us how many you need, and we'll prepare a competitive quotation for your school printing needs. We can also quote for re-design, school year books, rag handbooks, school handbooks, university and college prospectus - you name it! | |
| Do I need to get parental consent to use photographs of school children in our school prospectus or school website? | Yes you do. We can send you a Parental Consent Form template, and advice on the legalities, if you call us on 01722 744033. Here are our ten top tips...
1. You must get consent from the parent, guardian or carer of any child or young person up to the age of 18 (parental consent). We suggest you ask for parental consent early in a project’s lifetime and plan ahead.
In exceptional circumstances you may need to make a decision based on the individual case. For example, if a young person has left home but is under the age of 18, it may be difficult to get parental consent.
If two parents disagree over consent for their child to appear in photographs or in a video recording, then you have to treat it as if consent has not been given. If the parents consent but the child does not, then consent cannot be regarded as given.
You need a person’s consent (or parental consent for those under 18) when they are clearly recognisable in an image. You should be especially sensitive in the case of children with special educational needs. If you need to get consent for children, you should send a consent form to the parents via the head-teacher/centre manager at the child’s school/club/centre. Remember to allow plenty of time for this, so that you get permission before you take the photographs.
2. How long does consent last? It is recommended that you destroy images five years after the date on the consent form unless further consent is agreed. This is particularly important if your publication will have a high profile, for example, if it will have a wide circulation or be publicising a conference.
3. Can we use existing photographs? You may have photographs on file. If consent has run out and you wish to re-use the photograph, you must renew consent. You cannot use the photograph otherwise.
If you never had consent because you took the photos before the Data Protection Act 1998 came into force, you must be extremely careful and apply common sense when using them. For example, never use a picture of an untraceable person on a leaflet about a mental problem or an illness.
Destroy all photographs once the consent has expired.
4. Any agreement with a photographer should follow the guidance above on using images of people. This means that the photographer should:
* Agree to take appropriate measures to prevent unauthorised or unlawful processing of personal data. And against accidental loss, destruction of, or damage to personal data (including photographs).
* Comply with the requirements set out in the Data Protection Act 1998.
* Use a secure storage area if storing photographs electronically.
Commissioned photographers should either use your consent forms or have their own system of recording consent in place.
5. Can I use photographs from an agency? If you get photographs from an agency, you should ask the agency to guarantee that permission has been granted. You should also tell the agency how you will use the photographs because there are different charges for different situations. However, it is your responsibility to ensure that the agency got permission from the people in the photographs, so you might want to get this in writing from the agency.
6. Where a third party hosts an event, it is up to the third party to get consent from people to be included in any images. For example, if an organisation wants to take photographs in a town centre, it will be the organisation’s responsibility to get consent.
7. Remember to include images of people from different ethnic communities in your communications whenever possible and to use positive images of disabled people. This will make sure that your photographs are inclusive of the whole community and comply with the Disability Discrimination Act 2005.
8. The DCSF have advised that it is okay to use close up shots of children. However, no child must be named and photographed without good reason. You must also seek additional consent. It is important to realise that you must avoid captions that reveal personal details, such as e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, and/or home addresses.
9. Are children wearing appropriate dress?
Exercise caution at all times to make sure that only images of children in suitable dress are used. This will reduce the risk of images being used inappropriately. For example, avoid using full-length photographs of children in swimming costumes. Use shots taken from the shoulders up instead, or crop the original picture. Remember, clothing may also make a child easily identifiable, a logo may say something like, My name is KATIE. This is also considered inappropriate dress.
10. Copyright does not apply to images for private family use. However, copyright does exist in commercial photographs and it rests with the photographer. Copyright is a right that the photographer automatically has as the creator of the work to prevent other people exploiting his or her work and to control how other people use it.
Before using a photograph supplied by a third party you should check that the third party owns the copyright to the photograph and you should get their written or verbally recorded permission to use it. If you use a photograph without the copyright owner’s permission you could find that an action is taken against you for copyright infringement.
Images downloaded from the internet are also subject to copyright.
11. If you cannot get consent because the photographs are being taken in a public place, can you answer yes to the following questions. If you can then it would be okay to take the photographs and use them without being in breach of the Data Protection Act 1998.
* Would people attending the event expect photographs to be taken?
* Would people in the photograph consider themselves to be in a public place and not expect privacy?
* Do you think it unlikely that anyone would object to the photograph being taken? (An individual could be in a public place, but may not want any images in which they are present being used).
Some venues,for example, children’s centres, might want to consider displaying signs. These could say that people attending the centre may appear in photographs taken for publicity purposes.
If you would like a template of a parental consent form, call us on 01722 744033. | |
| Have you seen any good school mission statements? | I've recently been looking at school mission statements and straplines for special schools in Southern England. My favourites so far...
Living and Learning Together
Bradstow School
Changing for Success
Breckenbrough School
Building Confidence – Achieving Success
Stanbridge Earls School
Pursuing Potential
Chailey Heritage School
Everyone has a personal best
Cambian Group
Listening to Learn
Knightsfield School
Pathway to a fulfilling life
The Loddon School
Building on a tradition of excellence
Marchant Holliday School
Working in partnership to promote a positive future
Meadows School
Unique Services for Unique Children
North Hill House School
A Voice to be Heard
St Catherine’s School
No Limits… just possibilities
St Josephs School
A very special place
St Mary’s School, Bexhill
Enabling children to reach their full potential
St Rose’s School
A special place for everyone to learn, achieve and be valued
Yewstock School | |
| We already have a graphic designer, but we're not happy with what they've done. Can you help? | Yes, we can help in two ways. Either by taking over the job completely or by acting as external design consultants.
As an example, we recently helped a school who was exactly in this position. Sadly, the school decided to choose another designer because they used competitive tendering to work on their sixth form prospectus and he was cheaper than Mustard.
They wanted it to look a bit different from the whole school prospectus - as it was aimed at potential sixth formers rather than their parents.
Unfortunately the designer just didn't "get it" and the school shelved the first draft as the design wasn’t what they wanted. They then called us in for a professional second opinion. We held a creative conference with our own designers and then dictated our comments into a digital audio file and sent it to the school.
Having heard our view, their chosen designer was then able to redesign the document over the summer holidays - and he produced a much better job.
You can ask us to act as an external consultant on artwork produced by your own designers - whether they be in-house or external. | |
| What kind of graphic design services do you provide? | | Our graphic design services are varied and comprehensive. We provide logo design, brochure design, illustrations, website design, direct mail, marketing, stationery – including business card, letterhead, envelope, mailing labels, – exhibitions, and presentation folder design, and any other printing your business may require. | |
| I don't know where to start. Can you help me? | | Call us on 01722 744033. We'll listen to your needs, ask lots of questions to get you thinking, and tell you what your options are. A job may seem overwhelming until you have the right experts helping you out. We can put things in perspective and offer solutions that you may not have even considered. | |
| Where do we start and how do you involve your clients in the design process? | | We always start by thoroughly discussing the details of the project with you. A clear and full brief is normally taken during a meeting. We encourage you to contribute ideas and samples of items and colours you like. When we are satisfied we have enough information to work with, we will begin the project by researching ideas, considering concepts and then providing design visuals, these will be forwarded to you for feedback. This can be in the form of a print-out in the post, a PDF by email, or via our website Client Area. Your feedback is crucial, and we’ll make any necessary changes to the layouts and offer advice. | |
| What is the client's involvement in the design process? | | We thoroughly discuss the creative project with you from the beginning. We encourage you to bring in any samples, colour combinations/swatches, and ideas you may have. During the design process, you will be asked to check and approve versions as we go along. It's up to you how much you feel you want to be involved. We're very accommodating. | |
| When we have our new logo, can you produce a style/brand guidelines document for us to follow in future? | | Yes, we recommend producing a brand guidelines document. This illustrates to other designers and graphic professionals the importance of maintaining a consistent brand image for your company through careful use of the logo, typefaces, colours and placement of elements on a page. It demonstrates a level of professionalism within your company; that marketing and brand image are an important asset. | |
| Will I own exclusive rights to the graphic design work I order from The Mustard Agency? | | Exclusive rights will be yours after final payment is made to The Mustard Agency. If you ask for the artwork digitally at that time, we will be happy to provide it to you. If some time has passed then there is a nominal charge for un-archiving work and supplying it. We retain the right to use the artwork in our portfolio. | |
| Where is The Mustard Agency? | | We have offices based in Wilton, Salisbury, UK. See our contact page for mapping. Here follows a description of how to get here: | |
| DIRECTIONS | | At the main roundabout on the A36 (near the Church, Tennis Courts and Bowls Club), take the A36 westwards towards Warminster. After 100 metres, you will pass the entrance to the Wilton Shopping Village, on the left, continue on the main road as it curves to the right past the water meadows. After 400 metres you will come to the first of two railway bridges passing over the main A36. Immediately after the first railway bridge, turn right into Kingsway (sign posted "Park & Ride") and drive 100 metres up the hill. Just before you get to Highfield Garage, you will have the choice of turning right onto opposite Wilton Business Centre or left onto Kingsway Industrial Estate. You should turn right onto Wilton Business Centre (it is marked with a sign at the entrance), it is a relatively new (2005) business park in the grounds of the old railway station yard. Our office is number 4A. We are next to Cara Glass. | |
| ------------------------------------------------------- |
|
| What gets a website to the top of the search engines? | This is a handy checklist of some of the things we know of that will help to improve your search engine rankings.
Please note that the list is not necessarily in order of priority, and it certainly isn't exhaustive.
CONTENT
The most important thing is words on the page that people are searching for. If you search for "red apples in Salisbury" then your site will only have a chance of coming up if it contains those words. If content is hidden in Flash or images then it can't be read, so always make sure that words are legible by search engines and people who can't se so they can hear them using audio-speak software.
UP-TO-DATE
Think of the site as a notice board/newspaper. If your site is updated regularly - via news and advice it will rank higher than a direct competitor whose content is less recent.
LINKS FROM OTHER SITES
If your site appears to be popular (people value your content and link to it) then search engines will place it higher up the chain.
LINKS TO OTHER SITES
Links out are also worth something - although not as much as in. It shows to search engines that your site is a resource for information and sharing.
INTERNAL LINKS
If there are multiple ways of navigating around your site, there are also multiple ways for Spiders to interlink between your pages. This is userfriendly and makes for a better online experience.
GOOGLE MAPS
If the service or products you are offering are specific to a location make sure Google Local Business Centre has details of it. In a search containing a geographic location (the most common type of search) your site will come up in the Maps section. This is usually at the top.
PAGE TITLES
The first view of a web page is within a list on a search engine. The title of the page needs to tell you what is in the page. If it doesn't there is no way of telling if the information will be relevant. Even if it is!
(META) DESCRIPTIONS
The listings in search engines appear because the information is deemed relevant. To help people select you from the list make sure that your page description (2 lines max) summarise the content and attract visitors.
(META) KEYWORDS
This is less important but best not ignored. Keywords need to be listed that show what is in the content of each page. They need to be in the page as well otherwise search engies will blacklist you.
GOOD NAME AND TLD
A unique web address name, a business name, a name which contains a keyword are better than something too generic. COnsider whether you need COM, CO.UK, NET, FR, DE etc etc. Where are you doing business?
GOOD LOGICAL NAVIGATION
Visitors don't like getting lost in a website. Make it easy to navigate by having a logical main link structure with secondary links that make sense and are easy to move around/between.
WHAT IS YOUR AUDIENCE SEARCHING FOR?
This is so important. people are searching for your products or services, it'd be a waste not to provide them with the answer: YOU. Consider what they will be search for, and if relevant and true, provide the content in your site.
LINK AND IMAGE ATTRIBUTES
Avoid "Click Here" as it tells us little. Use link text that describes what is to come "More information about Salisbury's leading Accountants". Images can also have an 'alt' tag explaining what the image is. Search engines gain a little more information about what the photo is, it adds to your keywords, and people who have images turned off or have 'audio description' turned on can hear/see what it is.
REGISTER WITH EXTERNAL BLOGS/FORUMS/DIRECTORIES/SEARCH ENGINES
This relates to links in: Get people talking about your site, and content within it. Link in and out. Be informative - not salesy. Build confidence. Allow people to share information and ask questions.
AGE OF THE SITE
Never change the name of your domain unless you have to. If it's been around for a while it has equity. Build on this. Add other domains to it, but don't throw away what you had: a domain apparently ages like a good wine...
PAGERANK
Google assigns a numeric weighting from 0-10 for each webpage on the Internet; this PageRank denotes a site’s importance in the eyes of Google. Anything from 2-4 is normal, anything above 5 is outstanding, Twitter is 9. The PageRank of a particular page is roughly based upon the quantity of inbound links as well as the PageRank of the pages providing the links. It is known that other factors, e.g. relevance of search words on the page and actual visits to the page reported by the Google toolbar also influence the PageRank.In order to prevent manipulation, spoofing and Spamdexing, Google provides no specific details about how other factors influence PageRank. | |
| The most common question: How much does a website cost? | There really is no stock answer for that. At least not from us. We need to know what you want it to do, how many pages, whether you need to update it regularly, amongst many other things.
The Mustard Agency can deliver a high level of professional website design on a tight budget. And if your needs are more complex and technical we can deliver a website that communicates your products and services more effectively to your audience.
So the answer is come and talk to us. No obligation. No hard sell. Request a call-back here | |
| Where do I start? | | Either a chat over the phone or a cup of coffee at your office or ours. We at The Mustard Agency will listen to your needs, whether it's a re-jig of your existing website, or you need something completely new and exciting. Our website briefing document can be a useful starting point as it asks a number of important questions. It's much more productive and cost-effective to consider as many of the options as possible - from the start - than to try to add and modify the basic structure later. Do you need each page to be editable by your staff? Or will it rarely need updating? Is Search Engine Optimisation important to you? Would a database be the best way to present your products or services? And many more such questions... The best thing to do is to call us on 01722 744033 and we'll help you work out your website needs. Request a call-back here. Then we'll put together a proposal that you can consider. | |
| What happens next? | | If you like the look of our proposal, let us know! We will then use this as the basis of our specification document. This document is where we go into a bit more detail. We both need to be absolutely clear what it is that you have asked us to do, how you expect it to work, and when you expect it to be completed. It outlines what we will deliver and explains what you need to supply to us so we can do the job. | |
| Do you do content management systems? | | Yes The Mustard Agency creates bespoke content management systems (CMS) for its clients. None of them is an off-the-shelf solution. At the Agency we emphasise the importance of design and we try to ensure that once we hand the site over to you it continues to look professional. So we'll find out which sections you need to update regularly, and which you need to update yearly. NEWS pages are common pages that need regular input, for example. We write the code into your site so that you can access a secure page on your site and simply fill in a form to add and edit news yourself. We restrict the style and formatting so that it fits in with the whole look. Call us to discuss your needs on 01722 744033. | |
|
|
| How do I find the information on all the courses available? | | You will find all details of courses and the course schedule here on the training section of our website. | |
| What do I get out of the course? | Our course notes are FULL and second to none, with over 10 years of additions and development.
All our course lectures are conducted through Power Point Presentations thereby providing an effective and interactive audio-visual medium of learning.
You will be supplied with a course handout. We offer tea and coffee, lunch, and afternoon tea and coffee. | |
| Who do I contact for more information on the courses? | | Our course advisors are more than happy to discuss the courses with you. Please do not hesitate to contact our office on 01722 744033. Or Request a call-back here. | |
| Do you offer any discounts? | | Yes, for many courses if more than one person from your school wishes to attend we offer a £50 discount for the second delegate. | |
| How do I pay for the course? | You can pay for the course via Paypal, as instructed when booking via this website, or you can opt to receive an invoice and pay via BACs, or cheque.
For cheques please send to:
The Mustard Agency
4a Wilton Business Centre
Kingsway
Wilton
Wiltshire SP2 0AH
Our BACs details are:
Sort Code: 09-06-66
Account Number: 40473911
There will be no refund of course fees after the commencement of the course. | |
| What does your company offer schools? | | Our graphic design services for education are varied and comprehensive. We provide logo design, prospectus design, illustrations, design of web sites, stationery – including letterhead, newsletters, presentation folder design, and any other printing your school may require. Just pick up the phone, or email us and we will be happy to discuss your requirements. Request a call-back here | |
| What happens if I need a refund? | | Please refer to our terms and conditions. | |
| ------------------------------------------------------- |
|
| I've heard about companies using Twitter to promote themselves, should I? | Have you heard of Twitter? I’m guessing you have. Twitter receives 55,000,000 visitors a month, with 6 million of those being unique visitors (i.e. non-repeat visits)
Have you set up a Twitter account? Possibly? There are a massive amount of people who have opened Twitter accounts in the last few months alone.
Have you posted more than 10 updates and regularly returned to the site? Ah, now that’s where the number drops off slightly. Twitter has just a 40% retention rate, i.e. 60% of the people who visit Twitter think, “This isn’t for me,” and never return.
I hope is that those people, and those who have never been to the site, return for a second look. Twitter really does have its uses like no other provider can offer. And best of all, it’s free, quick and simple! | |
| Why was there a need for a site like Twitter? | In 2005, a guy by the name of Jack Dorsey joined a blogging site called LiveJournal.
Despite being “Live”, Jack felt that the posts weren’t updated frequently enough for him to get a good idea of people’s daily lives and the entries were often so long that he really couldn’t be bothered reading through them.
Jack saw the need for a quick, short, more frequent update and so Twitter was born. | |
| How can Twitter be used? | Generally, the people that use Twitter are part of a new wave of information sharers. They value information from others and so freely give it when asked.
As any other social media tool, the Twitter community loves network building and also loves to show their support for a particular cause. There are millions of users out there and many of those users will happily connect with an organisation that shares a common interest in supporting a particular cause. For this reason, non-profits should find it fairly easy to build their network.
An example of a possible use: Once a network of supporters has been established, a non-profit could ask its followers if they would prefer to see their money spent on one thing or another simply by asking the community. Responses would be echoed throughout the community and so, by default, would encourage more attention, more awareness and more of a following. | |
| Who uses Twitter? | Twitter is becoming the next big thing. It’s trendy AND geeky, which is the new cool! It’s used by lots of celebrities and politicians, but most commonly it’s used by mature business professionals.
Twitter experiences the highest social network growth of over 1,300% in the last 6 months leading up to February this year, and it’s most popular with the over 30’s age groups. | |
| 10 Best Practices: with Twitter | 1. Create your Twitter account with either your own name or the name of your organisation (if you need authority to do this, be sure to obtain it from the relevant parties).
2. Post 3 or 4 messages. Something along the lines of “ is now on Twitter!” and a couple more posts about your cause, and perhaps something you have been involved with recently. This means you have something “pre-entered” on your account so anyone checking you out will see a little of what you are about before they decide to follow you. If they see a blank screen, they may move on without following you.
3. Find some people to follow. If you are logged into Twitter, you will see a “follow” button next to their name. Click this to add them to your network and begin recieving their updates.
4. Take a look at the people following the accounts in step 3 (by clicking on followers). Find people who may be interested in your cause, i.e. people who are in UK and perhaps in your home city, or people who are already following other similar causes and click “follow” next to their name. Their updates will now show each time you log on to Twitter.
5. Observe! Before posting too much, be sure to observe what others are doing and get a feel for the updates that get the best response.
6. Use material that may already be available to you. If your site has a blog, or an online newsletter, write the heading in your Twitter update and add a link to the article on your site (use www.tinyurl.com if you want to make your links shorter to fit in the box).
7. Participate. Once you have an understanding of the basics, get communicating! Add relevant updates about your cause and you’ll find your network growing. You can also communicate directly with your followers by adding an “@” sign in front of their name before your message, or by clicking on the small arrow next to their post. Note that these “replies” are public. To communicate privately, click click the envelope icon.
8. Use the search tool. Find out if conversations are already taking place about your cause or your organisation. See who are posting the comments and join them to add value to the conversation.
9. Give it time. Many people are put off by Twitter in the first few attempts at using it. Put some time into seeing how people interact with other and the extra tools that are available to ensure you get the most from Twitter. If you use Twitter in the right way, your network will grow itself.
10. Enjoy it! But realise it’s not for everyone. If you find you are really not getting into it, find someone in your organisation who is a champion for your cause and will enjoy interacting with your supporters through Twitter and then set them up with an account!
Further information, please come and talk to us on 01722 744033 | |
| Services Marketing: How do we promote a product if can’t see it or feel it? | If your product is a service - whether it’s drain cleaning, interior design or strategic business advice - the marketing considerations are more varied than for those selling products like PCs, vegetables or jewellery.
You want your clients to see the value and quality of your service. How do you do this? The key to this is an integrated approach, it’s not just about advertising.
1. Your staff are your most important assets. Their knowledge, skills, qualifications and experience deliver the service. Invest time and money in training. Make sure they represent you in the best way.
2. Communicate your successes. Does your website answer your potential customers’ questions? Write a regular newsletter reminding clients of the benefits of your service. Always quote solutions that you have delivered for your clients.
3. Stay in contact with your clients. Find out what they thought of the service they received. Then USE this information to review your processes. Could you improve?
The very first and the very last impression of your business stays with your clients. Do they like dealing with you? Do they come back again and again?
Talk to us about how we can help you review the way you market your service. Request a call-back here. | |
| Do I need a marketing plan? | | Producing a marketing plan is a process that many organisations find useful. It's a way of examining how you do what you do and where you want to go. The Mustard Agency can work with you whether you have a plan or not. If you have a clear idea about your audience, your products or services and what you want want to say, we can help you communicate that message. See our marketing section for more information. | |
| Can you help us write a marketing plan? | Yes. The Mustard Agency has solid experience in writing marketing plans for many types of organisations. We'll ask for your input of course, and this is crucial as it's your organisation and you know the most about it. We'll ask you lots of questions that will help clarify where you are in relation to:
- product or service
- your target audience
- your competitors
- your pricing
- your systems
- your location
- your promotional activities
This forms the basis of the analysis. Then it's a case of finding out where you want to go and putting in place some aims and setting some targets. | |
| ------------------------------------------------------- |
|
| What is PR? | | The industry’s professional body, The Institute of Public Relations’ definition is "Public Relations is about reputation: the result of what you do, what you say and what others say about you. It’s the planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain goodwill and mutual understanding between an organisation and its publics". | |
| What are the benefits? | Successful public relations campaign professionally implemented over a period of time will:
- Improve a company’s reputation
- Stamp your company’s authority on the market place
- Profile the company's brand, services and/or products amongst target audiences
- Create new business opportunities
- Improve staff morale
- Lead to increased sales | |
|
using a Credit Card.