In our new office, I’m very heavily weighing toward placing a quote, rather largely, on the wall you first see upon entering our suite. I love quotes that do something for you, whether that’s inspire you, make you think or get you to act in a different way than usual. I think having a quote on the wall would serve lots of goals I have for this project: 1) It’s art without a triple digit price tag, 2) It’s easy to change if we get sick of it down the road, 3) It speaks to the people you’ll find and work with inside these walls and 4) It may just inspire others as they enter our office.
So, as with most projects of this magnitude, I stew for awhile and think. I’ve come up with some top winning quotes that may make it on the wall. My all-time favorite quote is probably going to win over all of these below, but I thought I would share them all with you and see what you think. Do chime in on these options or submit your own and open my eyes to your quote bank!
Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way.–Edward de Bono
Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.–C. S. Lewis
I never met a color I didn’t like. – Dale Chihuly
I think there are two keys to being creatively productive. One is not being daunted by one’s fear of failure. The second is sheer perseverance.–Mary-Claire King
There is no doubt that creativity is the most important human resource of all. Without creativity, there would be no progress, and we would be forever repeating the same patterns.–Edward de Bono
Yes, of course [this age] is materialistic, but the only way to counteract it is to create spiritual things. Don’t worry yourself about the materialism too much. Create and stir other people to create!–Robert Frost
Little surprises around every corner, but nothing dangerous. – Willy Wonka
If you want to view paradise, simply look around and view it. – Willy Wonka
Where is fancy bred? In the heart or in the head. – Willy Wonka
“If you could only sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to the people you may never even dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person.” — Fred Rogers
“You can’t wait for inspiration, you have to go after it with a club.” — Jack London
“Around here, however, we don’t look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we’re curious… and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” — Walt Disney
“Creativity is contagious. Pass it on.” — Albert Einstein
“An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come.” — Victor Hugo
“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” — Maya Angelou
Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.–Lou Holtz
And my all-time personal favorite:
Energy, confidence and focus…. these are the elements to making creative things – Dale Chihuly
About a month ago I applied to review the new book out from Zappos CEO, Tony Hsieh, and was selected as one of many to help promote this book, which officially launches June 7th. I’m a fan of Zappos, so this was a great, easy task for me. Delivering Happiness is a book about Tony’s life – how he got started, his early mission to figure out how to make money, his desire to be part of something bigger than himself. It’s a great read for business and life.
One of the first things that really got me jazzed about this book was the idea of a Culture Book. A Culture Book is a mini book about the culture of your company… after that, you can make whatever else is inside it all unique to your company. I asked each person at Silver Square to submit, individually, what they thought the culture was here. I asked them not to talk about this assignment as I wanted it to come from them specifically. I’m also going to add photos of our get togethers, of our upcoming office move, maybe of some pitches we do, who knows what all we’ll add to this by the time the year is done. I like that it will document, year after year, what we do and how or if our culture shifts. I’m shooting for constant improvement.
So check out the Zappos Culture Book and keep your eyes peeled for a contest we’re launching next week to win your very own copy of Delivering Happiness.
I’m looking forward to speaking at the Indiana CPA Society next month. I’ll be talking about your online brand and helping conference participants build their online strategy. Below is a preview of the route we’ll go. Hope to see you there.
I originally heard of this Twitter tracker on NBC, but today saw the actual video on motion while reading the latest news on Mashable (if you want to keep up with all things cool, techy and typically marketing related, start following Mashable). I enjoy seeing things like this and would love to develop something cool for our clients, but until that happens, enjoy watching how this one works… and go U.S.A.!
Raquel recently wrote a post about using humor in your marketing – especially your online marketing. That principle doesn’t just apply to your big campaigns. You can also inject humor into your bite-size marketing endeavors. Case in point: Twitter.
Earlier today, Indianapolis-based Twitter aficionado Kyle Lacy ( @kyleplacy ) wrote the following tweet:
Follow @claymabbitt : It is very rare to find an individual that can make you laugh through Twitter. This guy does it.
Do I make people laugh on Twitter? Well, I certainly think I’m pretty funny. Apparently Kyle does, and I imagine there are at least a few others out there. Is it the tweets about the songs playing in the bathroom where I work? The inappropriate things I say to my wife? Road rage? Maybe it’s just because I make a point of following very funny people and retweeting their best stuff.
Would Kyle have told people to follow me if I had never made him laugh? Well… hmm… maybe? I do also tweet about serious stuff in the online and social media spheres, which are areas most of Kyle’s audience probably cares about. But it certainly isn’t “very rare to find an individual” who does that. (Actually Twitter is crawling with us.) Kyle decided to endorse me because he thinks some of the stuff I’ve put out there on Twitter is funny.
That endorsement had a positive effect. My new followers have spiked in the last few hours. That’s more people who get to see me be funny on Twitter. While they’re chuckling, they also get to see my occasional tweets about upcoming Silver Square seminars and new resources we have available. Because I’ve made them laugh, they like me a little bit. Because they like me, they’ll be more inclined to look for the value in the seminars and resources I’m talking about.
Does that mean everyone I’ve made laugh will become a paying customer? Not even close. My product or service still has to address some pain they have, be appealing, be in their price range, and fit dozens of other variables that go into a buying decision. But I have a bit of their attention, a bit of their interest, and a bit of their goodwill.
Today’s post is from guest author Curt Franke. Curt is Vice President of Business Development with BitWiseSoultions.
My friends at Silver Square have asked me, Curt Franke of BitWise Solutions, to write a blog entry this week. (Yeah, it’s possible that their judgment was slightly impaired.)
If you know anything about BitWise Solutions, then you know that we develop complex web solutions – that means web sites and software applications meant to run on the web. So, I would just like to take this opportunity to share with you a few of my thoughts about getting a good web site design.
(In this case, when I’m referring to design, I’m not talking about the look and feel, because frankly it’s more art and preference and subtle psychology than what I am probably qualified to weigh in on. Although if you know me, you know that I have opinions.)
Number one key to getting a good web site design – find a good designer. (By the way, Silver Square does goodgreat work.)
Besides that, here are nine more thoughts to help you get a good web site design:
If you already have brand standards, (i.e. logo, colors, etc., and printed materials), be consistent with them on your web design. Why confuse a prospective client about whether they have come to your site?
There are de facto standards for good web design. Don’t get cute, follow them. For example, clicking on the logo should return the visitor to the home page. Search boxes go near the top.
Make it easy for your site visitors to contact you. Don’t make them dig for a phone number or some other way of reaching you. Put your contact information on the footer of each page and/or present a “Contact Us” page.
Then there are the basics. Who are your target visitors and what specific action do you want them to take when they visit your site? What is the call to action for individual pages? Good web site developers will ask you these questions.
Great web site developers* will ask you the questions that help to define the web site strategies that support your business goals and objectives. A web site that supports your business goals and objectives will ensure a good investment of your time and money. A good investment should anticipate a return on that investment. If not, it’s not an investment. It’s a donation.
Be logical in the presentation of the content. Think through the groupings of the content so the site is intuitive. This is part of what great web site developers* do for you.
What web site functionality will support your goals and objectives? For example, does there need to be a secure login for customers to be able to access your inventory and place orders online so that you can increase sales and customer satisfaction?
Practically everyone wants some visibility with search engines. So, make sure to invest the time and effort to get the tags and content in place that will support the search terms for which you want to be found.
Practically everyone wants to make changes to the content on the site themselves. So, get a good Content Management System (CMS). Get a demo of it first. You will be glad you did. Not all CMS’es are created equal.
I realize these are pretty basic elements. But heck, John Wooden taught his basket players at UCLA how to put their socks on. So, getting the basics right is a good first step.
May God bless you.
Curt
*BitWise Solutions = great web site developers, providers of complex web solutions, and good people
Who is your customer? You’ve given some thought to this question. How old are they? Male or female? Are they tech-savvy? Where do they spend their free time?
Your customer and how they think should be the driving factor in all of your marketing decisions. You may love reading The New Yorker, but if your customers prefer People, there isn’t any reason to spend your marketing budget on ads in The New Yorker. Nothing shocking here, right? We all understand this.
Here’s where it gets tricky: do you think you are your customer? You’re wrong. Disagree with me? Perhaps you’re thinking, “I’m just like my customer. I am my target market. We’re the same in every way.”
same taste in music
same age
same income level
same hobbies
same politics
we read the same magazines
we watch the same TV shows
we like the same celebrities
we care about the same news
we live in the same kinds of neighborhoods and shop in the same stores
All of these things will help you understand your customer. You are a part of your target demographic. This will give you extremely valuable insights for growing your business, but you still aren’t your customer.
What’s the difference? Your expertise. Your solution. Your business.
Your product or service addresses some pain. Maybe you used to have that pain, but you don’t today. Your customers still have that pain. Every time they decide to hand you their hard-earned money, they are thinking about that pain and deciding you are worth the price you set.
Why am I making such a big deal about such a subtle difference? (And it is subtle.) It doesn’t matter if you like your website. It doesn’t matter if you like your logo. Or your copy. Or your business cards. It doesn’t matter unless they motivate your customers to buy. Sometimes the small difference between you and your customer is why you like one logo when a slightly different one would resonate better with your customers.
Obviously you don’t want to be embarrassed by any of your marketing pieces. (If you grimace when you hand someone your business card, that will ultimately hurt your bottom line.) The opinion that really counts, though, is the one of someone who needs your solution and has money to pay for it.
Sometimes that’s easier to see as a business owner when you don’t have anything in common with your customer. But it doesn’t matter if it’s easy or not. Either way it’s critical to your success.
I was excited to read on the Twitter blog yesterday that Twitter is bringing a new feature for businesses – a way to “deepen engagement” with your audience. This new feature also tackles a major question we’re often asked, so you should be excited too…
The new feature will allow businesses to tag their employees, or those using Twitter on their behalf, to send Tweets for the business, but, with their name as the byline so you can see just who, exactly, sent that Tweet from that company. I like this feature because this means multiple people in the company can still use Twitter for that company but each person still has their own byline. This helps you build realtionsihps with those indivdiuals in that business, not just brand in general.
In our Twitter workshops and speaking engagements, we’re often asked “Who should Tweet; the company or the people?” We think everyone should be using Twitter if it makes sense for your business and goals, but now you can have your cake and eat it too once this hits the masses.
While this feature isn’t ready just yet, it’s coming. Stay tuned and keep an eye out for Tweets from Silver Square with bylines from Angela and Clay. Sweet!
Will we print a second run? We’re not planning on it at the moment, but we wouldn’t rule it out. We had a few people order a batch of the guides to send out to their best clients as a way of saying thank you and staying in front of them. In those cases we prepared a wrap for the guide with custom branding and messaging. If more people want to do something like that, I imagine we’ll definitely look into a second run. Interested?
In the meantime, you can still order the downloadable PDF version.
One of our favorite things to do at Silver Square is to help a business create a brand and identity for their business or organization. It starts with conversations and research centered around who they are and how they want to present themselves to their clients, vendors, competition, the media, and public in general. Next comes the logo, which is always a lot of fun for us and our clients. Once the logo is finalized we create business cards, envelopes, letterhead – anything that is going to have the client’s name printed on it.
Almost everyone gets this far. The idea that these printed items should all look like they came from the same company is a concept that most people are able to wrap their brains around.
Some people stop here, but many go on and create a website that carries through the same look and tone. So when someone sees your website address on your card and types it into their web browser, they are greeted with a home page that has the same design elements and feel that they saw on your card. Even this rudimentary online branding bears fruit. They had an expectation about what they were going to see on your home page, and that expectation was met. That’s a great impression to give visitors: you are going to meet their expectations.
Many people get this far.
But this is where the herd starts to thin out. Very few businesses have email templates or even email signatures that look like they belong to the brand. Twitter backgrounds and Facebook photos may or may not have any connection to the image the company intends to present. If a representative of the company leaves a comment on a blog, what avatar is showing up next to their comment? That’s not to say that every background and image needs to be the company logo (although that can be a successful approach.) But is it right for you to have images of your employees making wacky faces or should they be in business formal attire with calm, confident expressions?
What’s true for print in this case is also true online. Branding needs to be pervasive and consistent.
I may not ever get a letter or business card from you. I may discover you on my computer monitor, and I’m going to have questions. Who are you? And how do I know unless you tell me?
