Our apartment is situated above a Bar/Restaurant called “Ha!Ha!“. This is a chain here in the UK. It comes as no surprise then, that during the course of a day we’ll hear at least one passer-by yelling “HaHa! HaHaHa!” and thinking they are the next Chris Rock. The first few times I heard this, I simply shook my head with a wry grin. Yes, yes. HaHa. Haha, indeed.

We have now been living here for over a year. Guess what? The “HaHa” thing has worn thin. Now, when someone yells out “HaHa” I have visions of a swarm of ravenous birds swooping down and devouring them…as painfully as possible. Or perhaps a gang of rabid squirrels. Or, maybe just a random ton of bricks falling from the sky… Regardless of how I envision their deaths, all of this has made me realise two things: 1. teens and drunk people are very easily amused and think they are the next headliners at Jongleurs. 2. things get old quickly. Both, obvious points no doubt, but they have been beaten into me on an almost daily basis recently. It made me think more about the second point though and how this relates to things I do, specifically, my business.

When Dynamic Vantage (DV) was ripped, I was annoyed by both the design and content theft, but I did start to think about how many design agencies use the same terms/copy. Noisy Decent Graphics recently posted about this very thing, in relation to the print world - they are all apparently passionate about print. Everyone seems to say the same thing, and this goes for web agencies too. It all started way back with promises such as: “your complete online marketing solution” or “the leading web design agency offering strategic online marketing”. Huh? Buzzwords were used like sugar in a candy store, but people (most often potential clients) were left with more questions than answers.

Times moved on, and so did the copy/content style. Folks simplified things and perhaps, dare I say it, people started being more honest (or maybe it just appeared more honest because it was simplified?). This may have to do with a simple backlash to all the overdone, convoluted content, or perhaps because blogs opened up the web to more open and honest conversations. Now you have design agencies using phrases like, “We design websites!”. Yes! I immediately know what is being offered and the area of expertise for this firm. And yes, now there is an inkling of a personality too. A clear, bold statement says a lot about a person.

That being said though, you’ll find a lot of folks use this exact phrase as their main tagline, slogan or what have you (not merely descriptive copy on their services page). It can get old pretty quickly if you are perusing a number of design agencies all with the same tagline. So, what about “We design kickass websites!” or “We design websites that you’ll want to marry!” (obviously, these examples may be a tad too obnoxious for some, but I’m trying to make a point, so bear with me). Don’t those taglines say even more about the agency? Sure, some potential clients may not like it, but are those the clients you want to work with anyway? Doubtful. That’s one of the glorious things about revealing your personality in your business, you get folks who you gel with. You get a chance to work with clients you are probably going to get along with because they liked the personality they “saw” on your website. We’ve had clients comment on exactly this and say that one of the reasons they hired us was because they liked the “vibe” from us.

So, what’s my point? Things get stale (like perhaps this post is by now). As designers and design agencies we update our portfolios fairly regularly with new work and perhaps we have a blog where we post our recent news, accomplishments and so forth. Great, but what about re-evaluating the rest of your site’s content? What about updating your about page and services page every so often to better reflect your personality, your team, your new niche focus or whatever else comes to mind. With so many designers and design agencies out there for clients to choose from, it’s important to stay fresh! This goes for any business really. And yes, I realise that a lot of things will be repeated since certain messages are important to get across, but I think delivery of how those messages are worded can make all the difference. Everyone has a different personality to make use of - some of us even have multiple ones (lucky us!).

More on this topic as I work on a rebrand for DV, and yes, part of that is definitely to rewrite some of our copy and showcase our personalities better. Currently we are so busy with client work though, I haven’t even had a chance to think about it. Not that I am complaining.