Promotion is Paramount by Lee Silber for the creative freelancer blog
silber has good advice about keeping an eye out for creative & clever promotions. when you see something you like, think about all the ways it worked and why. this can get your mind working on unique ways to apply some of these ideas to your own efforts and help you promote yourself more effectively.
Making Sense of Content Marketing by Jason Ball
content marketing is a great way to keep the conversations going with your market between the times when you personally check in. ball’s main points give those new to this approach a good roadmap to better connecting with your target market through relative content and empathic problem-solving. market your services by creating community around your expertise using his 5 simple steps to getting started.
6 Ways to Work Through a Business Slowdown by Rich Phillips
there are a lot of these articles circulating in these challenging times, and while many of them say similar things, i like the way phillips puts it here. while much of the back to basics advice is common sense, the “chill out” factor is an important reminder.
Keys to a Great Logo by Rosa Crumpton
in the vein of helping potential clients focus on the issues that will be addressed in future design projects, this article covers a short checklist of things to consider when developing a creative brief for your logo.
A Case For Networking-Ending Interruptions One Relationship at a Time by David Lingholm
this biznik article stood out as a good one to link, because it deals with the changing climate of marketing, which is something i’m reading a lot about lately. though i think there is room for initiating relationships with research calling, i agree that dropping the quick sell and building lasting relationships is a much better approach to business.
a recurrent theme i’m finding when talking about social media networks and their relative worth to different business owners is the concern with conversion. in more traditional marketing strategies, putting effort into avenues that don’t have a high conversion rate is considered a waste of time, and while i see the confusion in their eyes when they ask me why they’d want to use twitter, the simple answer is: business, networking and relationship-building is about people. if you make it only about numbers and sales, you lose the most valuable connection in an ongoing relationship. i like lingholm’s reminder to check the scorecard at the door, concentrate on listening, consider giving without expectation. business relationships could use some zen reminders like these time & again.
my LA area chamber breakfast had a networking exercise that focused on what we do to keep our businesses fun. i usually argue that my job is way too fun to actually need to put fun into it, but thereis a good list of unconventional work strategies my group came up with to keep ideas fresh and prevent our businesses from feeling like “jobs.”
things to do that keep the workday fun:
– find networking opportunities while traveling
– play golf with colleagues
– meet new people and get familiar with their interests & challenges
– co-strategize with clients and offer advice & solutions to each other
– brainstorm on how to make the experience of working with us fun & rewarding
– take mobile days when you can, work in inspiring environments
– partner with creative people who have new approaches to traditional problems
things we do just for fun that keep us inspired & how it impacts our businesses:
– travel, for exposure to new people, lifestyles & culture :: get out of your element
– take a day beach day, hike day, snow day or desert day when you can :: clear your head
– creative hobbies like writing, photography, gardening & drawing :: express yourself
– volunteer :: be giving to the people around you and connect more meaningfully
if you’re not getting enough fun out of your business, or you think you have to keep fun separate from work, take some of these ideas and see if you can implement them periodically. and if you have new ones, email me, i’m always looking for new ways to work that keep things interesting.
The Entrepreneurial Life: A Heart-based Business Strategy for Success by Anthony J.W. Benson
this article came on the heels of finishing michael gerber’s the e-myth revisited and touches on many of the same ideas about connecting to your visions and passions when defining a path in business and in life. while benson’s article suggests these ideas as a general approach to life & business, i think it’s also a good place to start when brainstorming on the messaging that goes into the formative phases of brand and identity development. any of you looking to develop a new brand or refresh an existing one may like to use these thoughts as a framework for developing the philosophy that will guide the project.
sure, i am partial to the content shown here, but the success of this viral video, created by indianapolis editing firm, scofield editorial, is that everyone in the design community has been posting it, forwarding it, and generally buzzing about it for the past 2 weeks. it has reached about half a million viewers since it’s been out because it’s relevant, meaningful, and hilariously spot on. how’s that for guerilla marketing?
a quick note to any potential clients who think they have a negotiating trick up their sleeves, everyone i talk to has heard more than half of these tactics, delivered without an ounce of irony–and yes, they sound this phoned-in on the receiving end. get serious about your budgets, people, i got no time to throw in highlights for free. 😉
i just finished a saturday workshop with marketing mentor’s peleg top and couldn’t recommend it more highly. i’ll let his linked bio speak for itself, but the experience of the workshop was energizing and empowering in a roundtable format of various design colleagues. it was a great day to talk about how we run our firms, how we deal with various client challenges, and what works best for each of our businesses and why.
if you’re a creative professional looking to connect with colleagues and get the best business and marketing advice for our industry, check out the marketing mentor site, read the marketing mix blog [where my mixer co-hostess with the mostest, colleen wainwright the communicatrix can frequently be read, among many others], sign up for his biz bits newsletter, and look for any workshops and mastermind groups he does in the future.
parlato design studio 