Posts Tagged ‘marketing ideas’

It started as a seed, and took almost a month to get to full bud. Once it became a bud, and over the 5 days it took for it to go from full bud to bloom, I took a picture. It feels amazing to see that something I nourished, watered and cared for has become something so beautiful – and how quickly a bud became a full flower. For a while, I thought I wasn’t going to get them to survive (we had gophers trying to get to the roots, worms eating the leaves, and I had never tried to garden before). But, with a little work and effort, I can officially say that I raised a sunflower from seed to flower. Now, I can take the seeds that the flower will produce and save them to plant for next year, and each year after, so I will always have a bright yellow, 5 foot tall sunflower in my yard.

Hmm….wonder what else this could apply to?

If you live in Orange County and haven’t attended the OC Fair…what are you waiting for? Definitely a great night whether you have kids or not (my hubby and I love it and never miss a year). This year, we went with my sister-in-law and her boyfriend as well. My sister-in-law who absolutely loves, loves, loves pigs. Which is why this year, we couldn’t miss the pig races. (I really tried to get a picture, but I didn’t want to stand in front of the kids…)

I had never been before, so I don’t know who their sponsors has been in the past, but this year, the Pig races were sponsored by…. Ralph’s. The Grocery store. The place you can buy all sorts of pig products.

The tagline for the event? “Bring Home the Bacon”

And they were giving away coupons to all race attendees:

(yes, that really does say Free Bacon.)

Always being in marketing, I thought it was clever.

My sister-in-law, however, after posing with the winning pig, told me it wasn’t.

What do you think: Excellent marketing strategy or perpetuating the childhood nightmare of cute little pigs becoming bacon?

Have a Kindle? Then you need to*:

Never miss a creative idea, never miss a writing tip…

*c’mon,  a little promotion is allowed, it is my blog after all

“Yes” is the generally accepted word for ‘good business’. But what about “no”? It kind of gets the short end of the stick. And I think it deserves more recognition. Think of all the phrases that start with “No” that business must have:

“No, we are not okay with bad customer service”

“No, I will not give up”

“No, I will not wait until tomorrow to get this done”

“No problem”

“No bad attitudes in this office”

“No ideas are bad ideas”

…the list goes on. The point is, “no” can be just as, if not more, powerful than yes. Try it. Say it. Use it.

How can you use “No” today?

I am a firm believer in having a knowledge channel that you can go to for ideas and inspiration – for me, that channel is my Outlook RSS feed. I have over 40 blogs that I subscribe to and read on a daily basis. They range from business marketing and social media writers to sites good for a morning laugh. A few of my favorites are on my recommended reading list. There are many more that I read, but I only add them to the sidebar once I have been reading them for more than a month and feel that they are worth something to my readers. Obviously that list is always growing…

Anyway, while browsing the current posts from the blogs I subscribe to, I noticed one from Ari Herzog. He shared how he adds one new blog to his collection every day. I do the same thing, just never thought about telling people how I did it. But, I liked reading about how he did, so I figured I would share how I add to my knowledge base.

1. Use StumbleUpon. The tool bar for firefox is fabulous (don’t know about the one for IE), all I have to do is click the ’stumble’ button, and a new website pops up in whichever category I have selected at the moment. More often than not it is a blog, since most of my categories are writing, blogging, photography or creativity related. You can then vote whether you like the page or not and it learns what you like and therefore the results get better the more you use it.

2. Twitter. I have twitter searches running for many different terms, plus all of my great followers…which leads me to finding a lot of great articles. Once I have clicked on an article, if I like it, I will browse the rest of the blog. If I find at least 4 or 5 interesting articles right away, I will subscribe to it. There is no harm in testing a blog for a few weeks, if it stops being interesting, I can just remove it.

3. Searching Technorati. Simply enter a key term or phrase that you want, and presto…a bunch of great new blogs to check out!

4. Blogroll’s of blogs I already read. I have found some of the most interesting blogs through the blogrolls on sites that I already love. Although I do get all my articles via a feedreader, I try to visit each actual site once a week…see if there are updates/changes to the site, etc. Most of the people I read have a list of other writers they like. I usually find at least 1 new blog to read each week this way.

How do you find new blogs to read? Do you constantly add new ones or read the same group?

Oh, and just in case you missed it on Monday, make sure you’re subscribed here too!

I love my readers. You are the reason I write this blog, you are the reason I don’t want to miss a day. You are what I think about when I write – what I can do to help you. The conversations that we share, the comments, the questions, the interactions, all make writing worth it.

But, every once in awhile, I have to think of me and the blog. So I am asking a favor…

Subscribe to Wright Creativity in a feedreader (bloglines and google reader are great) or you can subscribe via email.

Pass me along to someone else! Just give them the url (wrightcreativity.com/blog) and why they should visit…then let me convince them to stay!

Pick up my button by copying the code and placing it on your site:
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In the blogging world, nothing is more important to a writer than their readers! So, if you have anything you’d really like to see on the site, make sure to leave it in the comments and I’ll make sure to try and get a post written about it soon!

Lastly…THANK YOU and see you soon!!!

Last month, I tested your creativity. David MacGregor stepped up to the challenge with fervor, and created a fabulous idea. Because of the response, I wanted to create another challenge for the month of May.

Your image for May:

(image courtesy of D Sharon Pruitt)

And here are the questions you have to answer:

1. What product would you use this image for
2. What would the tagline be for the product
3. Where would you promote it (web, billboard, tv, etc)
4. What would you expect people to visualize when they saw the image
5. What other colors would you use with the image
6. What fonts would be great to use with the image

Last time, I left it entirely up to you. This time, I answered the questions and created an advertisement too.

My advertisement would be either on tv, at the end of a commercial, the final screen shot, or as a billboard image for Kaiser Permanente.

updated version of the ad

By the way, if you or someone you know works for Kaiser…let me know, I would love to see what they think!

Please leave your answers to any or all of the questions in the comments. Remember, you don’t have to answer them all, but the idea is to think and be creative. I will be interested to see what you choose to use the image for, and what you can picture!

2 weeks ago (wow, does time go by fast, I thought it was just last week), I wrote about how we can change #followfriday to make it more beneficial for everyone involved. My idea had been to

only recommend one or two people each followfriday and include a little reason why. Not only does it make it easier for people do decide whether to follow them, but it is more special for those that I recommend.

Steve Woodruff took a common stand, but had gone a bit further and taken his recommendations off of twitter and to his blog. Last week, he suggested that we answer the question: “Which ONE of your Tweeple would you most want to go on a wine-testing with, & why?” I didn’t participate last week, as I was still testing out my ‘recommend less people with a reason for each’ on twitter. This week, he asked us to share with whom we would like to have an in-depth cultural conversation? This week, I decided to try it his way.

So, my #followfriday #ff2 (the new hashtag for longer followfriday recommendations) is @knealemann. He and I have conversed through twitter quite a few times, and his blog is one of my favorites to read. Unfortunately, due to the unreliability of email, the first time we tried to take our conversation off twitter, our lines got crossed and he missed a message from me, and thought that I wasn’t interested in continuing our conversation about business and life. The email thing leads me to a whole other story, but we’ll save that for another time. Anyway, Kneale is from Canada, and while not too far from California, the culture is definitely different, and one I have never experienced. I would be interested to see what the difference in business practices are – from email etiquette and office styles to commercials and marketing tactics. I would love to hear how and why he started his blog – what he has learned about it – and if the blogging groups are as prolific there as they are here. In reality, I would just love to chat with him, since after reading his work and his tweets, I think we would have a great conversation. Still not convinced he needs to be added to your twitter followers? He’s also pretty funny!

Who is your #followfriday #ff2 recommendation?

This morning I was reading a post about spring cleaning your website from my friend Kyle Reddoch. He is currently helping me to code the new design of my website and it got me thinking back to when I first started this site. Initially, I started it for 3 main reasons:

1. I was frustrated with having to stifle my gorgeousness and creative spirit to design simple marketing campaigns
2. I needed an outlet for my writing
3. I was hoping that it might lead to freelance work and extra $$

Now that I have been working on it for 9 months, I thought about why I was still doing this blog, and here are those reasons:

1. I am happy with the fact that I am helping others find their creative environment
   
2. I have an outlet for my writing and others have a resource for creative ideas
3. It has given me a small stream of freelance work (I’m not totally selfless, sorry)

The biggest difference is I am no longer doing this just for me – I am doing it because of my readers and for everyone who needs a little creativity in their day. But it was definitely not an easy task to get to that point. I remember one of my first posts, about creative marketing campaigns, and what it was like to write the post and hear crickets chirping. Honestly, sometimes I still do. What I try to remember is that if I give even one person a better creative idea or a new way to look at something, then I was a success.

Tell me a little about your start and where you are now with what you do (either with your blog, your career or for fun). Are your reasons for starting something the same as they are for continuing it? Is there something you have stopped doing that you would want to do again?

One final note – thank you to all of my current and future readers. You guys are amazing and I really do appreciate all of you, even the ones that just lurk in the background.

I often write about how amazing my twitter followers are, but I can never say it enough. This time @beachpig came to my rescue when determining today’s writing topic. His recommendation: “How to come on strong when you don’t think you have it in you!”. These 7 tips are motivation, ideas and goals that you must have in mind to become a stronger and more dedicated writer.

1. Realize your commitment to write isn’t just for yourself but to inspire others with your words and to think of their needs to fill yours. (@Beachpig’s contribution was the topic, and answer #1)
2. Take a stand about something you believe in. Controversial topics can be discussed openly and honestly, and you have every right to stick your ground (as long as you do it by discussing NOT arguing).
3. Being strong doesn’t mean standing alone. Sometimes the hardest thing, and what can prove your inner strength, is having the knowledge to ask for help.
4. Practice, Practice, Practice. Force yourself to sit down and write every day, whether or not you get a post out of it. Currently I have about 15 drafts of posts, ideas that I like but haven’t quite finished. It is okay to leave ideas open and unfinished, but it’s not okay not to write.
5. Remember blogging isn’t about writing once a month, or even once a week, and hoping your audience will ’stick around’. Blogging is about a consistent flow of ideas that benefits your readers. Consistency is key.
6. Narrow your niche. Many people have problems staying strong in their writing because they have too many things that they can write about. What is an easier task: “write about whatever you want” or “write about creativity in color“. If you can choose any topic, it often ends up that none is chosen. When you have a narrower topic base, it is often easier to write.
7. Let your inspiration come very a variety of places. If you are having trouble finding creativity looking in the same places – try looking somewhere else. Twitter and Stumbleupon are 2 of my favorite places to look for ideas, but sometimes they fall short. When that’s the case, I will pour through my notebooks, check out the library or go do something fun. I usually end up inspired but just getting out and living.

What did I miss? Or are there tips that you don’t agree with? How can you be a stronger writer?