Posts Tagged ‘marketing’

After spending the better part of my day under a fog of photoshop,  I surfaced just long enough to browse some tweets and respond to some emails. While looking through the twitter stream, a question from @Gizmodo caught my attention: When is it okay to check email during dinner?

I think the answers depends on the type of person you are talking about…

If someone is an employee of a company and they were to check email during dinner (after work hours) I would be offended. They are off the clock and have zero need to check in. If they are working on a large project, once 5 or 5:30 hits, the day is over and it waits for the next day. They get to keep business and home life separate. In this case, it is never okay to check email during dinner.

But, this is a tough question for a small business owner. I find that I check my email a lot in the evening, sometimes during dinner. Usually, this is because I am just taking a quick break from work to eat and then heading back into my office/closet. Then again, there are also nights that I am still checking emails even after I have shut down my computer and made myself cozy on the couch. Do I respond to a lot of the emails? No. But I do write notes on some of them, or create email drafts. This is helpful when the project is fresh in my mind and I am not overwhelmed with everything else that goes on during normal hours. It is hard for a small business owner to separate work from normal life because the separation doesn’t really exist.

What do you think? Should small business owners have different rules?

Steve Woodruff talked last week about is social media circles: audience, acquaintances, friends and intimates (inner circle) and what they mean for business. He explained that each of the levels serve a certain purpose, and that we need all four to really get the most out of our social channels. Of course, as you go down in levels, the people do become more important. For example, it would be better to have high quality intimates than just a bunch of audience. His final thought in the article (which is a great one) is that we need a way to filter these people more effectively…being able to separate them out and monitor them all differently would make connections and conversations much easier.

I know that I have all of these levels, but I have never really thought a lot about who exactly is in them. If I were forced to answer right now, I could probably name 30-40 people in my inner circle. Would it be all of them? No. Would some that I mentioned not actually be in my inner circle if I really thought about it? Yes.

And I think this needs to be remedied. I need to know my lists, I need to understand who I can trust, and I need to know that they can trust me too. I need them to know that I think they are part of my inner circle. We need to be on the same page because not knowing where you stand with someone can be dangerous. What if I think someone is on my inner circle, and I share with them a business idea that I have. They love it, we chat about it, share lots of details and brainstorming. Then a month later, I see them using my idea without asking me. Why would something like that happen? It happens when you don’t actually know your relationships – when you think someone is inner circle and they don’t.

Today, I want you to take some time and think about your inner circle. Who do you trust with your business ideas? Who would you turn to if you needed help promoting something or a new client recommendation? Once you have determined your list, I want you to send each person that you believe is part of your inner circle an email. Let them know why you have chosen them, and what they mean to you. It doesn’t have to be long, and it doesn’t have to be over the top. Make it simple and straight to the point.

After you have sent the emails…come back here. Don’t share your list (as that is a little personal) but please share your thoughts and experiences in building that list. Was it easy? Did you find people you thought would be inner circle that really weren’t? Did someone you expected to respond not respond? Were you greeted with any especially surprising results?

Discuss.

If you are a brick and mortar facility, there are 4 big pieces to your branding:

1. The store (what it looks like, how it is organized, the people who staff it, the products available, etc)
2. The website (whether or not you sell online, you must have a kick butt site for people to visit)
3. Social media (everyone and every business can benefit from using some pieces of social media)
4. Customer service (in person, over the phone, via email)

If you are solely an online retailer or a business which doesn’t need a physical location, you still need to consider #1 (people, products and how you are organized). The only difference is #1 & #2 are combined into one thing.

With this in mind, I decided to analyze a store that I found through Cracked.com’s list of Images you won’t believe aren’t photohopped (it’s #14).

Located in Southampton, UK, this is the actual store front for The Guitar Store. Surrounded by the traditional lift up store gates with simple signs declaring the store name, this store captures audiences attention – even if they aren’t in the market for music. Because of their unique store, I figured they would be a perfect company to look at their branding strategy, and how you can do it for your own business.

Following the above branding guidelines, we will start with #1: The store. First impression, obviously they are doing something right as they have immediately differentiated themselves from any other store on that road (and probably any other store in the UK). Secondly, they got themselves noticed by Cracked.com, which spread their name worldwide. Finally, (after visiting their site) I was able to see some photos of the interior…they have definitely created a beautiful musical haven. Unfortunately without a trip to the UK (hmm…wonder who I could bribe to get me there? lol) I can’t speak for their staff, but with the pictures and the obvious involvement of the owners, it seems they are probably doing okay.

Onto the second step, the website. When I visited the site, I was definitely surprised, as most companies I have seen fall short of “continuity with branding”. Their site not only matched the store front, but improved upon it (click on the image to visit the site, and mouse over their nav buttons…)!  The copy is to the point, honestly written and shows the dedication to true music. I found it easy to use, fun to navigate and it to be well done overall. What I didn’t see was any social buttons, or a quick way to reach them via email (without a form). Which leads us to the next step was to check out their social media strategy…

As I mentioned above, there are no social buttons or blog links. After some searching, I discovered that they do have both a Facebook page (2 weeks old) and a twitter account (with only 1 tweet). There is no blog. I will give them small credit for setting up facebook and twitter – and for the small amount of activity on FB. But, these strategies could be expanded tremendously and could bring in some serious attention. As far as the missing blog – I am a little surprised. I would assume that this would have been one of the first marketing tasks they tackled. Creating a blog that covered tips and tricks, featured unique guitars and even short video lessons would not only gain a lot of attention but would be helpful for the music community as a whole. I think that if they were to simply add a strong social media presence, they would immediately notice a difference.

Finally we reach the discussion of #4, their customer service. Again, not being able to visit the UK it is tough to decipher if they are doing this properly. They do have their number listed prominently, and their location easy to find (two pieces that lead to a great start). What they do need to add is easier access to their contact form and/or email addresses. Also, twitter is a huge customer service tool, being able to answer questions and connect with musicians both in the UK and throughout the world. I think without improving access to their email and their conversations through social media, they are definitely falling short in customer service.

Now, onto your task: When is the last time you looked at the 4 pieces of branding for your business? Do they all work together or are you missing important pieces? Feel free to respond with your thoughts on your own company in the comments – or ask other questions!

Let’s get talking!

Over the next 25 posts, ending on my birthday, I will be covering an incredibly creative moment or idea from a year of my life AND one creative moment in either the marketing, advertising, technology or media world.

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post – I started this blog in July of 2008 and really, nothing has been the same since. I often love to look back at my first few posts (Creativity is in the eye of the beholder) and compare them to now (Using what you have to motivate you). Both posts are similar in topic and conclusion, but entirely different in word choice and the way they are written. Doing this helps me in two ways. First, it gives me a little glimpse back to why I decided to start this blog in the beginning (which can sometimes get lost in the craziness of life). Second, it reminds me how much I really enjoy what I do and motivates me to keep going and strive to improve.

While I dislike the outcome, the 2008 presidential election was the first to use social media platforms as a large part of their messaging strategies. Without the use of social media, it is suggested that the election could have turned out very differently…

Over the next 25 posts, ending on my birthday, I will be covering an incredibly creative moment or idea from a year of my life AND one creative moment in either the marketing, advertising, technology or media world.

I spent 2005 writing. A lot. Seriously, papers analyzing word choices in public speeches by celebrities, articles by famous journalists and monologues from plays pretty much every week. And then of course, starting my (90 page!) thesis paper on the study of the rhetoric of the NRA and the role they play as both a protagonist and an antagonist to the American government…Almost every day was spent in front of my keyboard, writing as much as I could about everything I read and heard, in hopes that it would come in handy for a paper down the road. While I didn’t see it then, the time that I spent writing down everything was great training for now, where I can turn real life thoughts into future blog posts.

While I was writing like crazy Millionaire Steve Fossett broke the world record by completing the first non-stop, non-refueled, solo flight around the world in the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer. (okay, so I know it isn’t media/tech or advertising…but it’s really cool!!)

Over the next 25 posts, ending on my birthday, I will be covering an incredibly creative moment or idea from a year of my life AND one creative moment in either the marketing, advertising, technology or media world.

While my classes and scholastic experiences in school are really what helped me to decide where I wanted to be in the future, the 2 years I spent in a sorority also heavily affected my life. Actually, choosing to leave the sorority in 2004 was what made the most difference. I had great experiences in the house, and meeting the girls, planning events and building relationships. But I also learned how much I despised being a part of politics, the rules of “seniority” and the difference between real and fake relationships. These lessons have helped me greatly in the business world, and are partially what led to my desire to work for myself. I think the more that I worked for others, the more I felt I was back in that sorority – somewhere I knew I didn’t want to be.

The tech world (especially social media!) changed incredibly in 2004. In 2003, a very frustrated (and probably partially intoxicated) Zuckerberg, according to Wikipedia, was on Facesmash, Harvard’s “Hot or Not” website, and blogging about a girl who had just dumped him. Finally in early 2004, after deciding to hack into Facesmash, learning how to create a closed network for sharing thoughts with other students, and making it available to all Harvard students Facebook was created. When the site was created, it was only open to Harvard students in the area. It quickly expanded out to other colleges in the area, and then to high school, businesses and finally to anyone over the age of 13. While we can’t all be the next Facebook, what we can do is make sure we give all our ideas a chance.

Over the next 25 posts, ending on my birthday, I will be covering an incredibly creative moment or idea from a year of my life AND one creative moment in either the marketing, advertising, technology or media world.

Mine: AP Spanish
Technology: Wikipedia launches

Over the next 25 posts, ending on my birthday, I will be covering an incredibly creative moment or idea from a year of my life AND one creative moment in either the marketing, advertising, technology or media world.

In 1993 my creativity took off, it was the point that I realized I wanted to try everything, test out tons of classes and figure out how things worked. I chose to go after the GATE program in my school district. The program allows a select group of students to take special classes of their choosing. The classes include languages, acting, performance (very different than acting!), creative writing, story telling, science, dissection, and more. I was accepted into the program and was so excited to get to take 3 classes this year. During those classes, I discovered how much I loved creative writing (not just writing in general) with a story telling class, that I would never be a vet (I took a dissection class…it didn’t go well), and that I may be a bit of a ham (I took a few performance classes). While those classes only lasted a couple summers, the lessons I learned about myself stuck with me forever.

Today, rather than sharing a marketing/ad event from 1993, I want to know what you remember most from that year?

And to make it even more fun…one person will win an invite to Google Wave!!

To win, think about 1993: Where were you? What were you doing (school? College? Working full-time?)? Do you have a favorite memory or a great story to share? Anything you want…Comments will be open until 12pm tomorrow, and I will pick the winner via random number generator….so get commenting!!

Over the next 25 posts, ending on my birthday, I will be covering an incredibly creative moment or idea from a year of my life AND one creative moment in either the marketing, advertising, technology or media world.

1990 – the year I fell in love with writing and CBS realized their biggest mistake.

In first grade, I made my first book and found my passion for writing. I remember each week, we were given the task of creating a book. The room parents (my mom was usually one of them) would come in and help the kids to create a story, however we could, and then bind it together so it looked like a real book. The first one was just pictures, with the few words I could write. As the school year went on, the books got longer, the words got better and my writing was more like real writing.  I wrote as often as I could, coming up with stories in my off time to take with me to school. In addition to getting to create our own books, we also got to spend a couple hours per week in the library, picking out a book to take home and read with our parents. I would take the stories, and then write a new ending to them. Or add on to the ending that was there. I wrote stories for the characters that got ignored, and created my own characters to add to the story. I feel head over heels in love with writing, and haven’t stopped.

In the world of TV and media, Law & Order premiered on NBC. This marked the moment that NBC took over the ratings hold and CBS realized the greatest mistake they’d ever made. 2 years prior, CBS met with the creators of the show and turned down their pitch idea. CBS thought that the show was dull and would never attract a large scale audience. Luckily for NBC, the creators of the show weren’t fazed and approached NBC with the show idea. NBC took the risk, and the risk paid off. More than 9 awards, 3 spin off’s, 5 video games and millions of viewers later it is now the longest-running prime-time drama currently on American television. NBC – 1. CBS – 0.

Over the next 25 posts, ending on my birthday, I will be covering an incredibly creative moment or idea from a year of my life AND one creative moment in either the marketing, advertising, technology or media world.

I often get the comment that I don’t act my age – that I carry myself with many more years – and most people are surprised when I tell them how old I am. I have been like this pretty much since the day I was born, but was never more apparent than in May of 1989. When I finished private kindergarten with the aforementioned Mrs. Gitlin, my parents thought I was ready to go to public school and start first grade. Unfortunately, state regulations required that I be 5 years old by mid September if I was to start first grade that year, and I wouldn’t be 5 until December. Rather than accept defeat and stick me in kindergarten for another year, my parents approached the principal of my school. The principal agreed to put my into one of the current kindergarten classes as they still had a couple more weeks of school before summer break. She would let the teacher gauge how I did and would determine it after that. Well, as I mentioned on Tuesday, I have always been precocious, and not afraid to be a little outspoken. The teacher quickly saw that I not only had a handle on my conversational and relationship skills, but I was already reading. It was a quick decision from that point to allow me to start first grade in the fall, despite the age thing. In 1989, this was just a little thing, but it was the first stepping stone in my maturity and ability to handle situations above my age. My one thought to anyone who has kids getting to school age? Don’t let the schools or regulations tell you what they are ready for…let it be determined by your child’s demeanor.

At the same time I was awaiting my fate of whether or not I would start first grade, Nintendo released the first Game Boy, making sure no child, teen or adult who had $179 to spend would ever go outside again (kidding)! But, in all seriousness, the release of the game boy permanently altered technology and media history – and the advances that came because of this product have changed the world as we know it. Think about where we are today with portable gaming, laptops and cell phones. I still remember my first cell phone. All it did was call and text. No pictures, no apps, no open source tools. And definitely no cool graphics. Now, I have my email, my football team and my life in the palm of my hand. Not to mention full color graphics and streaming video. All of this technology was developed out of the need to take a step above the competition and I can only imagine what the competition will come up with in the next 20 years.