Showing posts with label Canva. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Canva. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 20, 2023

Use CANVA to Personalise Balloons with Silhouette Cameo

Like many of you, I use a Silhouette Cameo to personalise my balloons. However, I often find it challenging to come up with creative designs using the Cameo software, so, I decided to use CANVA instead. I find it more user-friendly, and I already use it for other design projects, so why not for my balloons too!


I have made a quick Step-by-Step video to show you how simple this is to do. It was a bit of a life changer for me, as it makes creative personalisation so much quicker and easier! 

Here are a few extra bits of information that may not be clear from the video.

1. I use the Instagram Square tile for my designs. By using a square, you can contain your design within a printable space.

2. I usually resize my design once I have added it to my Cameo software to approximately an 8" square, as I've found that this is perfect size for an 18" foil balloon.

3. I used two different fonts for my design: "Porcelain" for the script and "Anton" for the number.

4. The font size is approximately 180.

5. I cut out additional daisies in various sizes in white to add to my design.

6. Keep your design templates in a quick access folder in CANVA so that you can easily create new versions by simply changing the name and age!

7. I always add my vinyl when the balloon is flat and not inflated! I find it so much easier with great results every time! 



Here is a copy of the design that I created on CANVA.

I hope that this helps some of you when it comes to designing your personalised balloons! 

Happy Ballooning! 


Sue
Follow me @suebowler



Wednesday, December 8, 2021

How to Take and Tweak Good Photographs of your Balloon Designs

How many times do we create a fabulous balloon design or décor only to find that the photographs that we take do not translate into that perfect shot... I am sure that we can all relate to that! 

Photography is definitely an art, and professional photographers work hard for years to ensure that they get great results. For us, this is one of many of our roles as a balloon professional. Great photos are vital for our marketing and social media campaigns, so getting the perfect shot is very important.

Balloon Decor by Sue Bowler


Here are some simple tips:

Keep your photos simple

If you are taking iPhone photos for social media like Instagram, do not forget that most people will see your work on small mobile screens.

Paring your compositions down to a few key elements makes them easier to understand on a small screen.

Below are two photographs from the same event. The first one shows the whole room, capturing the decor and room en masse. 

Balloon Decor by Sue Bowler & Team
Photograph by Nicci Gibson

The second photograph, shows the same decor but is highlighting the 3' confetti balloons and not the rest of the room, allowing the balloons to be the star of the show. I would choose the second photo to promote my event decor on social media and my website.


Balloon Decor by Sue Bowler & Team
Photograph by Nicci Gibson


Shoot from a different angle

Shift your perspective. When we start taking photos, often our first instinct is to take them from about the same position we see them from. Unfortunately, this does not make for the most exciting photos.

To step up your game, try taking photos from outside your regular sitting or standing position. This is achieved by shooting the subject from higher or lower angles.

The image below was from a corporate Valentine's event that I decorated a few years ago. It was shot from a low angle and only captures a small section of the decor. 

Balloon Decor by Sue Bowler & Nicci Gibson
Photograph by Nicci Gibson

Capture close-up detail

Good photography is all about showing people the world and all it contains in an original and beautiful way. Shooting close up can make everyday objects look interesting, exciting and unexpected.

Look for interesting colours, textures, or patterns in your subject that might go unnoticed if viewed from afar. This close up method can also highlight exciting elements within your designs.

Balloon Design by Sue Bowler

The design above is a Christmas Gift box design idea. The customer can put a little message inside the 5" balloon that can only be popped on Christmas Day! 

To emphasis this feature, I took a close-up shot of the 5" balloons to make it clearer to my customers.


Balloon Design by Sue Bowler


Slide the exposure meter to brighten (or darken) images

When using an iPhone, if you have seen the yellow focus square, you have probably paid attention the icon right on its right-hand-side. This little icon along with the slider will help you adjust the exposure of your image.

If you need it to be darker and underexposed, simply drag your finger down on the screen. If you want it to be brighter and overexposed, then you just drag it up.

There are a number of reasons why you would want to sacrifice a perfectly exposed image for a darker or for a brighter one – it all depends on what mood you want to convey.



Keep your camera lens clean

Most smartphones spend a very significant time of their lives in the hands of their owners and that means they’re covered in fingerprints.

Very often those fingerprints are found on the place where you want them the least: your lens!

A useful habit to develop is to get used to quickly cleaning your lens before taking a photo – that can ensure there will be no smudges, dust spots or blurry areas on your image.

It may sound like a really simple tip, but this one thing alone can have the biggest impact on getting a clear photos… and most people never bother wiping their phone’s lens (they usually wipe the screen!)

Use Smartphone photography apps for professional-quality touch-ups

  • TouchRetouch (cost £1.79) - this app allows you to declutter your photos and it is so very simple to use. How many times have you taken a photograph only to notice that there is a plug socket or fire extinguisher in the shot! 


Here is a great example of how this app works! 

This was a photo that I took of a design from a class that I was teaching. Unfortunately, I was unable to get a clean backdrop and therefore you can see a plug socket on the wall, plus a door, window and a radiator! 

Balloon Design by Sue Bowler


Here is the after-shot once I had used the app working with the OBJECT REMOVAL tool! It took a matter of seconds and the result is fantastic! The plug socket has gone, as has the door, window and heater that was on the wall! 

Balloon Design by Sue Bowler



An alternative to touching up and removing elements from your photographs is to use a background removing tool, as previously mentioned. I use this feature on CANVA.com which is part of the PRO version. Alternatively you can use www.remove.bg that allows you to remove the background from a photo free. Be warned, however, you can only save it at a low resolution, which is fine for social media posts but not for printing. To get a higher resolution, you need to pay for this service.

Here is a design that I removed the background using www.remove.bg 

Balloon Design by Sue Bowler

This is the before shot of the design sitting on my dining table. This is not really the end result image that I would want to share with my customers.






Balloon Design by Sue Bowler
By removing the background it gives me so many options. When an image has it's background removed it saves the file as a PNG, this means that the background is transparent, which allows you to drop that imagine onto a new background or keep it white.

 



Balloon Design by Sue Bowler

To bring my design to 'life', I have dropped my Reindeer image into a stock photo that was available on CANVA. This helps to give my design perspective and scale, enabling my customers to imagine what this design would look like in their home. The Christmas Tree photo was only available with the Pro version, so you would need this version to use this particular photograph. However, there are still many free photographs available. 




There are many more apps and editing tools available, however, these are the tools that I personally use and recommend.

If you are unsure how to use CANVA, I have a number of blog posts that will help you! 

This is the tutorial that helped me greatly when learning how to use CANVA - 

"Good Design Matters for your Business" - Zoe Adams-Jones Shows You How to Create Fabulous Social Media Posts Using CANVA.

How to Create Inspiring Instagram and Facebook Posts for the Non-Designer - Part 2


Happy Ballooning!

Sue
Follow me @suebowler


Tuesday, July 28, 2020

How to Create Inspiring Instagram and Facebook Posts for the Non-Designer - Part 2

Are you ready to step it up a notch and learn a few more tips and tricks that help make great posts for Instagram and Facebook! 

By now, you might realise (if you have watched How to Create Inspiring Instagram and Facebook Posts for the Non-Designer - Part 1) that I am a little bit of a Canva enthusiast, and enjoy spending time experimenting with the fantastic features that Canva offers. So far, in my video demonstrations, I have only demonstrated the use of the free version of Canva. In this tutorial, I will show how to create designs using features from both the free and from Canva Pro which is a paid for subscription. 

It is defiantly worth trying Canva Pro - they even offer a free 28 day trial of the pro version. You will need to use a credit card to set up your account, but you can easily cancel the subscription if you decide that Canva Pro is not for you! Just make sure that you make a note to do this before the subscription kicks in. 

Let's look at a few more great features on the free version before we head off to Canva Pro.

Check out the video below to see how to add a background and text to an image and also how to add a little animation too! 


This is the adorable 'Shine Bright' image by Cam Woody, which I downloaded from the Qualatex - Inspiration - Balloon Decor section. Please note that only QBN members and CBA's have the ability to download high-resolution copies of these images. If you are not a QBN member or CBA, remember that Qualatex has some amazing and FREE marketing materials available to everyone, and all are welcome to use these resources for social media posts. Even better, you can use Canva to add your own text and create your own unique posts! 

Beautiful Reindeer design created by Cam Woody
With a little (free) Canva magic, I added a background and a little seasonal text - view the video to see how! 



Canva marketing post created by Sue Bowler

Canva also has the ability to 'animate' your post (also a free function) although there are some professional options too which you can use when you upgrade to the pro version. Posting little videos on Instagram is a great way to attract new followers! Statistically, videos are viewed even more than photographs! 


Here is another free marketing image from the Qualatex Lifestyle Photo section that I downloaded, then added my own slogan to! 

Tropical Balloon Design

How to smarten up your own photos

Check out the video to see how to remove the background from one of your photos and replace it with a new background! 



I know that many of you are very keen to know how you can turn some of your own ballooning photographs into more appealing Instagram posts. Getting the perfect photo is almost impossible without being in a professional studio. Let me show you a few tricks that will hopefully change all that! 

I will start with one of my more recent images of a Number Five frame that I made. Before taking the frame outside, which was where it was intended to go, I took a photograph with the frame on a table. The lighting was appalling, and the setting not much better!

Number Five Balloon Frame designed by Sue Bowler

Using one of the Canva Pro features, I was able to remove the background and replace it with something that helped my design to stand out better!

Number Five Balloon Frame design by Sue Bowler


Here are a few more before and after shots! 

Before

Before editing shot of Flamingo in a box design

After a little Canva Pro Makeover

Tropical Flamingo Design by Sue Bowler



Flamingo Balloon Design by Sue Bowler

Keep in mind, not all photos edit successfully using the Canva Pro Background Remover Tool, and the results can be disappointing. Something to keep in mind in this case is you don't always need to show the whole image; sometimes just showing a small section of a photo can be just as appealing! 

Elegant Balloon Frame by Sue Bowler


Beautiful Balloon Fairy Tree by Sue Bowler

I hope that you have enjoyed this tutorial and that it has been helpful! Hopefully this quick tutorial will get you started, and maybe like me, you will even get a little bit addicted and start producing some truly beneficial posts! 

Happy Designing! 

Sue
Follow me on Instagram @suebowler

Saturday, May 23, 2020

An Inside into the Instagram Algorithm and The Importance of Understanding It

After watching a free tutorial about Instagram and how to get your 'Dream Followers' earlier this week, I realised as the instructor spoke about how to use the Instagram algorithm to get better engagement that I need to be honest, and confess that I really did not know what the algorithm actually was! Yes, of course, I had heard the term many times, but I had no real idea of how it works, and how it can influence my Instagrams account's effectiveness. 


1. The Instagram Algorithm Predicts How Much You Care About a Post

Your Instagram feed isn’t just based on who you follow, it’s also based on who and what you like. Instagram algorithm keeps tabs on posts that you like. The more photos that you double-click, the more signals you give to the Instagram algorithm that you want to see more content like this in the future.

The more the Instagram algorithm thinks you will “like” that post, the higher it will appear in your feed. Therefore it is important to get your followers to double-click on your posts so that you will always appear in their feed.


2. Instagram Algorithm watches engagement with your followers

According to Instagram, the most important engagements for feed ranking are comments, likes, shares and reposts, and for video posts, views, which is especially helpful to know when you are planning your posts, content, and captions.

It is important that you create content that your followers will enjoy engaging with. If you have the ability you should plan what you are going to post each day. Try to plan a week, or even a month in advance. 
Variety is key, you don't want to be posting the same kind of content every day, or your followers will become bored or worse, unfollow you! 

Here are a few suggestions for some more unusual types of posts from your norm.

  • Post an inspiring quote A surprisingly large proportion of successful posts are quotes/memes, so every business should share this kind of content on occasions as a part of their posting strategy.

When I posted this quote on my Instagram feed it received 100 likes and 4 comments.

  • Ask a question - These can vary greatly, here are a few ideas:
Is there a household chore you secretly enjoy? If so, which one?
What famous landmark would you love to visit?

Or the one that I have used below:



This should initiate quite a few responses. Something you really need to be hot on is responding to comments, even emoji comments. You could respond with another emoji- If someone shows a sad emoji then you can respond with a hug emoji for example. 

Questions are a fun way to interact with your audience, and a good indicator that people enjoy what you are posting.

Make your posts exciting! 
I have used CANVA to create both of the posts above. This makes them much more visual. You can either post them using a background that you feel is appropriate to the post, or you could start branding your posts so that they all have the same look and feel about them, and ultimately become instantly recognisable as one of your posts! If you are unsure how to go about branding your business, check out Creating Your Brand Image by Zoe Adam- Jones. Through a video tutorial, she shows you how to create your brand image. 

Creating Your Brand & Image - Digital Marketing with Zoe Adam- Jones CBA


Comments are the most valuable form of engagement, as a comment is a tangible indication of a follower or customer's loyalty and commitment to you and your brand. The fact that they spent the time to write a comment means your audience is highly engaged with your content. 

Each share of your posts is like a mini organic advertisement for your content, and it rates very high on the engagement scale and is therefore something you want to encourage. A simple way to get people to share or repost your post is to create a competition. This is something that I am seeing more often on Facebook, and I am sure that Facebook algorithm works in a very similar way?


This is a competition that is being run by one of our local butchers on Facebook. They are asking people to LIKE the post, Leave a COMMENT and to SHARE to their own page, all the things that will generate great algorithm. At the time of me copying this post they had already generated 996 comments and 1.2 shares! I wonder how many new followers they have attracted too!




Some while ago I shared this Instagram Social Plan - One Month of Post Ideas by Fiona Flintham - fionaflintham.com.

If you are struggling to find things to post about, this plan will give you some great pointers - and have you noticed that it's not all about the products that you are selling! 




3. It's all about the timing!

Posts that are more recent are more likely to be pushed to the top of people’s feeds. This means that posting when your audience is online is crucial. How do you know when they are online? Check your insights! For example, looking at my insights, the best time for me to post is between 3pm and midnight as that is when my followers are most active on Instagram - hmm, I seem to do most of mine in the mornings, so I will look to change my timing and see if it's make a difference!

The one thing that I truly love about creating posts like this is getting to learn so much while doing the research! I have started to put some of these ideas into practise over the different social media platforms that I work on and the initial results have been amazing! If you are on the QBN Members Facebook group, you may have seen a post that I shared asking members - 

If you could have a day working with anyone in the balloon industry who would you choose and why?

This post received 27 likes but more importantly 202 comments! The responses have been amazing and I feel that this post has re-connected many of the group's members who may  have been inactive for a while! 


Understanding algorithms is not easy, but getting an idea on how to engage with and grow your followers through exciting and consistent content is definitely a solid step towards making those algorithms work for you! 

Happy Ballooning!

Sue
Follow me on Instagram @suebowler





Monday, May 18, 2020

Top Tips to Create a Successful Wedding Marketing Campaign

With so many 2019/2020/2021 weddings being re-arranged, I can only imagine 2022 will be extremely busy for weddings!

With so many displaced and new couples working on their revised wedding plans, it got me to thinking that this really is the best time to develop a strong wedding marketing campaign. 



So what does a marketing campaign involve?

It is definitely involves more than just scheduling a few posts on Facebook and Instagram! There are a number of different things that you can do to inspire potential brides! 

Create website and social media content that is appealing to Brides & Grooms.

Understanding what brides & grooms (mostly brides) want is an important piece of the puzzle. 
Create the “wow” factor on your website. If you have not updated your wedding decor galleries in a while, now would be the ideal time.
And while we're talking about websites, put some work into your website’s searchability (SEO). It is important to optimise the images on your website, and Google is like your image-blind friend. It doesn’t see all of those beautiful images on your site, and it doesn’t know what is in them. The file name, alt text and description for each image on your site tells Google what it is. If you aren’t optimising your images with keywords, it’s going to hurt your SEO.


Make an engaging video.
We recently had the opportunity to create great free marketing videos through Waymark.com. However, this was a limited-time offer, and I am unfortunately not sure if this offer is still available. I know that many balloon companies including myself used it with great success! As I want to continue to make videos for my business, I invested in a one year subscription to Magisto - Online Video Editor. The annual subscription is very reasonable considering that it could help you generate lots of new interest in your products and services. I also really like that you get free access to IStock - by Getty Images and Videos that you can freely use in your adverts.

Check out this short video that I made using Magisto that could be used as part of an advertising campaign. I watched a few wedding marketing videos and noticed that the text was simple and small, just enough to capture the attention of the brides! 





Create a selection of good-looking social media posts

Once again, I am going to steer you towards CANVA to do this. CANVA for me has proved to be one of the best graphic design platforms there is. The basic tools are free, or you have the option to pay a small subscription to get access to more design tools and extremely easy to use. If you are unsure how to use CANVA check out this great post:

"Good Design Matters for your Business" - Zoe Adams-Jones Shows You How to Create Fabulous Social Media Posts Using CANVA.


Because the Best Weddings Are the Beautiful One's


So what else can you do as part of your marketing campaign?

Tag the location when you post a wedding on Instagram. 

When you post a photo of a wedding you've worked on, be sure to use the location tagging feature to tag the venue. That way, when couples are looking up that venue on Instagram, your photo will show up! As part of your wedding campaign, take this opportunity to repost some of your past weddings, and remember to use hashtags effectively.

#weddingvenue #weddingceremony #weddingreception #weddingplanning #weddingflowers #weddingballoons #weddingtime #weddingdecor #destinationwedding #weddingstyle #weddinginspo #easyweddings #weddingdetails #weddingparty #reception #venue 


Don't forget to hashtag your location too, as well as the areas that you will travel to.

Join and engage in relevant Facebook groups in a non-spammy way.


There are many different Facebook groups, so do your research and find all those that would potentially cater to your ideal client. 
Join them and look for ways to add value. This mindset will help steer you away from spammy activities that turn potential clients off. 
All wedding business-marketing ideas require authentic, valuable communication.

Designer name:
Sharron Parry of Blast! Balloons and Parties, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia

Create interesting and informative posts.

How about writing a post on dates to avoid in 2022/2023/2024

You could start by saying - 

Ready to set a date? Check this list of dates you might want to steer clear of when booking your wedding.
You can list all the top key holidays and public holidays in your country and the relevant dates for each of the years (all easily found on a Google search). 
Some of these might also be good dates especially when there is a holiday weekend with the Monday off.

Make sure you get your brides to consider their own personal significant dates, such as other family members and best friend's weddings, anniversaries, events happening in their area.

The top predicted wedding trends for 2021 would make a great post! 

There are some really good articles that you could research to help you to write your own great posts, or you could share interesting and informative posts that you have found on your own business page.

Here are a few very good articles that I have found:

21 of the Biggest Wedding Trends for 2021 - by Helen Pye featured in Hitched May 1st 2020 

Pinterest is also a great resource for information.



Review venues and vendors you have personally worked with.

You know that reviews matter a lot to your business, so why not review venues and vendors you’ve done business with? They’ll appreciate the gesture, and they’ll be more likely to refer you in turn for future events.

Designer:
Shannon Kilford of Born to Party in Sydney, Australia


Designer:
Shannon Kilford of Born to Party in Sydney, Australia


Designer:
Shannon Kilford of Born to Party in Sydney, Australia


Post about a specific date you have available on social media due to a cancellation, or not having it booked despite other dates booking up.

Do you have one Saturday left in July available? Did one of your weddings cancel and you want to put the date back out there? Post about that on social media, and let people know that this date is available, and how they can book it before someone else gets it.

Add calls-to-action on your website

When someone has finished reading a blog post or your about page, what should they do next? Give them a direct call to action and a button or link they can click on to take the action you want them to take. This greatly increases the likelihood that they’ll actually take that action. 

And finally:

Network with other wedding industry professionals.

Always strive to give the best customer experience possible.
Stay positive. Remember that everything you put out there reflects you and your business.

Happy Ballooning!

Sue
Follow me on Instagram #suebowler