Communication Breakdown

When your communication strategies aren't working, you probably identify with one (or more) of the following:

Larry David vs. The Package

If you're still not considering the user's experience when designing your materials, you're making a big mistake.

Marketing Fail #76

Please stop "combining" your years of experience with your business partners' to make your company sound more experienced than it is. If you're claiming to have "over 85 years of combined experience" in any specialty whatsoever, you're not fooling anyone.

It's just bad math, and it makes you look like you're trying too hard.

Fun with Film Strips: A Guide to TV Advertising

I recently discovered a treasure trove of old filmstrips archived over at AV Geeks (no doubt!). I remember being fascinated by this one when seeing it in elementary school:



I wonder how many grade schools still teach kids about media literacy and critical analysis. I also distinctly remember a mathematics filmstrip featuring Donald Duck that taught principles of geometry using a pool table.

And then there's this 1971 gem about the emotional buying habits of consumers (who is that encyclopedia salesman, anyway?):



Be sure to peruse the AV Geeks online archives; it's a celluloid goldmine!

Marketing Blog Formula No. 47

Describing how sports/current events/your latest bathroom visit is like your product/service/the marketplace.



Please, for the love of all that is good and holy, stop relying on tired old constructs to develop your blog content. I understand we're not all professional writers, and some folks need structured prompts to get inspired every once in a while (I know I do). But so many of these posts are grasping at straws, creating parallels where there are none. Worse still, such constructs don't generally lead to good writing. Because even when you've drawn a nice straight comparison between Michael Jackson's struggle for sanity and the solo entrepreneur's struggle for work-life balance, you're still left with the giant unanswered question of so what?

How do such metaphors (similes?) help your readers understand the significance of your point? Too often, they don't. What they do offer is an easy way for bloggers to keep talking about themselves, rather than anything that really matters.

So here's a quick challenge: the next time you're inclined to write your post around a comparison between some current pop culture phenomenon and your own business, take an extra minute to keep writing. Write about why anyone should care in the first place, and write about what it really means for your readers. Then go back, re-read it, edit the hell out of it, and then post it.

Is It Worth Paying Extra for Professional Expertise?

Listen, I'm a big fan of DIY. I'm also a fan of bootstrapping, and self-education. But it's so important to know your limitations - to know when you just don't know enough - and to pay someone who does. When you hire a pro, you get someone with both expertise and experience, which translates into better work overall. More importantly, perhaps, it results in fewer screw-ups on your project and actually less money invested over the long term, even if the pro costs more (good clean-ups get mighty pricey, especially because folks are often in a hurry to get the clean-up done quick).

Case in point

This is just a simple paint job on a simple delivery van:



One just needs the basic info, a decent painter, and that's that: what could possibly go wrong? Of course, someone with little design experience might not realize that painting an object with moveable parts might result in unaccounted-for scenarios. They may fail to ask the burning question: That looks great on the side of your van, but what happens when you open the door?



So yeah, just think about that the next time you're trying to do something you've never done before. Moral of the post (a.k.a. DIY design tip): account for multiple user scenarios or cough up for an expert who knows what to look for!


[Images from Jalopnik, originally posted to FailBlog]

Four Quick Email Marketing Tips

I don't usually do the standard top five tip list rigmarole, but I get a lot of email newsletters, and I'm noticing a few not-so-positive trends lately. So in the interest of easing the in-box crunch, you might want to think about the following issues before sending out that next email blast.

1. Don't send your email newsletter on Tuesday

There's always a lot of talk about the best day to send your e-newsletter, and apparently every single email marketer recommends Tuesday. I get maybe two dozen e-newsletters on Tuesday, and I can't handle it anymore. I know why this is, though: everyone's cranky on Monday because it's Monday, on Wednesday everyone's in a bad mood because it's hump day, on Thursday everyone's scrambling to get work done before the week ends, and on Friday everyone's checked out (either mentally or physically). So, Tuesday it is.

But maybe, just maybe, you should consider the possibility that picking a less-than-ideal day of the week is still better than getting lost among two dozen other e-newsletters.

2. Don't subscribe me without explicit permission. Ever.

I don't care if you think I'd be interested in your products. I don't care if we hang out on the same forum. I don't care if you paid good money for my name on a list. Subscribe me to your email newsletter without asking first, and you're getting instantly marked as junk.

I play by the three strikes rule (and I consider that generous): the first newsletter I simply unsubscribe from, then send to my junk mail folder. The second time, I reply directly with a complaint, and go through the whole thing again. If I get a third e-newsletter with no acknowledgment of my complaint, the sender gets reported to SpamCop. And I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one doing this.

3. Make sure I can unsubscribe easily

I know, I know. This tip ends up on every "Top 5 Ways to Improve Your Email Marketing" list on the internet, but hear me out. Probably 5% of the e-newsletters I get either have no unsubscribe link at all, another 5% have an unsubscribe link that doesn't work, and maybe 20% require a whole song and dance to get off the damn list. Keep it simple: put the link at the top and bottom of your email (text smaller than 8 points is unacceptable), make sure it works (you know, actually test it), and don't require the recipient to enter their name, address, password, and favorite breakfast cereal to unsubscribe. I promise you, the animosity you save will far outweigh the number of actual unsubscribes you get.

4. Double-check your subject line

In the last two weeks, I've had three separate email newsletters or announcements land in my in-box with either "DRAFT - please review: [subject here]," or "TEST." Accidents happen, sure, but this kind of accident seems to be happening more and more. I'm really not finicky, but it just looks lazy when an oversight like this happens. The subject line is a crucial component of your newsletter, and if you're not looking at it, you're making a big mistake. Not only is your e-newsletter more likely to end up in the spam folder, you end up looking, well, less than attentive.


Now, these tips aren't going to change your life, double your click-through rate, or land you a date to the prom. But they will help keep from mildly annoying your recipients. And in the world of marketing, that's really half the battle.

Keeping It Real Green: How to Market Your Efforts In an Age of Greenwashing

Now that green has become a marketable attribute for better or worse, everybody and their brother is pushing how green they are. And, given the general standards of our fine American culture, that means greenwashing is now just as ubiquitous. I've been watching a rather sad back-and-forth, in which more and more businesses claim they or their products are "green" and consumers roll their eyes and wag their fingers, for a while now. So when I was asked to speak on a panel about greening your business for San Francisco's Small Business Week, I figured it might be helpful to provide some guidance for attendees.

The result is "Keeping It Real Green: How to Market Your Efforts In an Age of Greenwashing," a short little piece of work written to help organizations connect with their customers without lying, misleading, or otherwise confusing the hell out of people. This is a pretty big kettle of fish to fry, of course, and it was difficult to get everything into such a compact format. But believe me, I tried! There's not a lot of fluff in here; this sucker is a legitimately informative resource for any business, however deeply involved in environmental issues it may be.

Get a free guide
Request a free copy using the contact page, or just download the PDF

The pamphlet is printed to order (no wasted overruns here) on French Paper's Speckletone, a 30% PCW recycled sheet made in the U.S. with 100% renewable hydroelectricity.

If you'd like a free copy of the pamphlet, you can request one using the contact page, or give me a call at (415) 643-0121.

I will be expanding this into a PDF, but it may take some time as I'm up to my eyeballs in content for the upcoming relaunch of re-nourish.com (another exciting project I'll talk about soon). The nice thing about the hardcopy version, though, is that you can keep it in your desk drawer for reference. Let me know what you think!

---

Edited 7/22/09: For those of you who might be concerned about my decision to create a printed piece, rather than only produce a PDF version of the guide, please see the comments. A lot of thought went into this, and I've explained that thought process to a commenter who took issue with my terrible choice.

Edited 8/3/09: The PDF has arrived! Download Keeping It Real Green while supplies last!

The Concept: Advice to Be Taken As Directed

A concept is generally considered to be the most important element of any commercial design project; designers love to throw the word around, but many are hard-pressed to actually define it. Copywriters rely on concepts as much as designers (and are often the ones responsible for developing them at the outset of a project), but are often just as much at a loss for words when asked for a definition (sad state of affairs, no?). And clients generally just look at us all blankly when we bring it up. With all this vaguery and confusion it's no wonder that solid concepts are about as rare as an honest politician these days.

A definition that actually means something

Essentially, a concept is the intellectual construct that binds the visual and verbal elements within any given design piece. Another attempt at definition, no less esoteric: a concept is the organized structuring of relevant themes that guides the visual and verbal components in a physical piece. Does that help?

"If you can't explain
it simply, you don't understand it well enough."

—Albert Einstein

If the intellectual construct is shaky - that is, if the pieces of the puzzle don't fit logically together in some way, the concept is weak and the viewer is left either confused, or simply uninterested. It's easy to create those kinds of concepts, and writers and designers churn them out every day (often encouraged by marketers, receptionists, and the boss' spouse).

But when a concept logically links the various intellectual and physical components of a design together, and manages to add a cognitive twist that stimulates the brain in some way (forcing the old a-ha, or double-take), we can reach conceptual nirvana. Or at least, we're likely to give the design more of our attention.

An example, please

Of course, this is all a lot of theoretical hooey, and like a lot of other theoretical intangibles, concepts are often subject to the "I'll know it when I see it" rule of understanding. So let's try it: I stumbled across a brilliantly concise design concept while perusing the AIGA Design Archives this weekend. This is a promotional mailer (a postcard, ostensibly, or brochure), designed in 1962, for a photography company. Ready? It's really quite subtle (or, as I like to call it, elegant):



The concept: the photography company as remedy for what ails you. This is largely a copy concept, in that the kicker - the element that provides the a-ha moment - is the tagline "To be taken as directed." The visual cues - the medicine bottle and prescription label - support this copy, but it's the copy that tells us everything we need to know about the company via the metaphor of prescriptive medicine.

This particular concept relies on a double meaning: the tagline uses a familiar phrase in medicine, to be taken as directed, and places it within a photography context, thereby adding another layer of meaning: the company's work is custom-made to order, giving the client exactly what it wants. If you've ever tried to purchase custom photography, the ability to handle art direction is fundamental; this ad speaks perfectly to its audience, using a concept that delivers the point clearly, and amusingly.

How clients can help feed concepts

Designers and copywriters don't just magically pull a solid concept out of thin air (well, the good ones can in a real pinch and for a grossly inflated sum of money). In order to produce solid concepts, creatives need information on which to build their conceptual sandcastles. This means spending time with clients before any creative work actually starts. Any number of things can trigger a good concept:

• Client personality or brand persona
• Client goals, vision, and values
  
• Audience demographics, needs, aspirations, or values
• The nature, production, and delivery of product or service offerings
• Cultural contexts and current events
• Psychedelic drugs (okay, probably not)

Designers and writers new to the trade often make the mistake of accepting what the client tells them in the first conversation, and then hitting the sketchbook. But a good creative has to ask a lot of questions first - they need to populate their mental page with lots of dots. Only when they have enough information can they create a conceptual form that makes sense; connecting the dots, as it were.

So, if you're a designer or writer: don't be afraid to ask questions. Ask strange questions. Take a ton of notes. If you're a client, of course, be willing to answer questions. Be willing to share details, tell stories, and generally spew as much information into your creative's lap as you can muster. In the end, clients and creatives share the same goal: to produce stronger work. And without a good concept, the work just won't work as hard.

Earthquake Preparedness Has Never Looked So Good

...Or been so easy to understand. The San Francisco Department of Emergency Management has done an incredible job with this infographic-based website explaining how to handle yourself in the (fairly likely) event of an earthquake. [Edited to add the real credit: I shot him because I loved him, damn him! in collaboration with asketicsf.]



The site is ultra simple, focusing on the six most common places you'll be when the Big One hits. The hilarious graphics (check out the mid-quake hair) immediately get the point across. And the copy follows suit, providing only the pertinent details, making it easier to remember, while throwing in a good dose of San Francisco attitude (when experiencing an earthquake at your local taqueria—how very relevant—you're given the choice between duck-and-cover and "grab your drink—it wasn't cheap"):



After watching the History's Channel's over-the-top-yet-nightmare-inducing look at San Francisco's earthquake history the other night, it was abundantly clear that although San Francisco's government actually has a really good earthquake preparedness plan in place, the city's residents are typically apathetic. The site does a nice job of combining design and copywriting into a short-and-sweet educational piece to break through that apathy.

(And yes, we have a run bag to keep us alive should we need it.)


[via Quipsologies]

Come See Me Talk About Greening Your Organization 5/19

I'll be joining a free panel discussion this coming Tuesday about greening your organization for San Francisco's Small Business Week, and we'll be focusing on local resources like the San Francisco Green Business Program. While this is geared toward the practicalities of small businesses, the panel (and accompanying day-long workshop, should you choose to stay) will be seriously helpful to any organization, commercial or nonprofit, looking for practical resources for reducing its environmental impact.

• Date: Tuesday, May 19
  Time: 11:00 am (full day runs 8:45-2:30)
  Location: SBA Entrepreneur Center, 455 Market St. 6th Fl., SF
  Cost: Free
  Register: http://leanandgreen.eventbrite.com/
• 8:45: How I Greened My Business
  10:00: What's In It For My Business
  11:00: Local Government Support and the SF Green Business Program
  11:45: State Support
  12:30: Networking lunch

So if you've been curious about the SF Green Business Program, and you'd like to hear about how it works, how it helps, and how to make the most of it to build your business, please swing by and say hello.

Note: Although registration is recommended, I'm pretty sure you can just show up without registering.

Guest List at Blogs.com

I was recently asked to provide a guest "Top 10" list for Blogs.com. I went ahead and provided a somewhat theoretical list of "Ten Blogs That Explore the Reality of Your Surroundings."

Rather than focus on strictly design or business blogs, I wanted to highlight some of the blogs I read that regularly make me do a double-take. Hopefully, this list will give you some good ideas, make you question some stuff you thought you had figured out, and generally provide a second look at the mundane world we walk through every day.

More Adventures in Direct Mail: SF Bike Coalition

Earlier in the week, I dissected the failings of a snail mail campaign that was sent to me by a local arts nonprofit. On that same day, I received another mailing, this time from the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, who couldn't have taken a more different approach. There was nothing particularly fancy about the envelope's presentation or contents, but it was clear that the group had invested a good deal of energy making this single mailing as effective as possible. Here's how I knew that:

• Bigger envelope means more bang for the buck.
  Although it was a standard 9" x 12" manila envelope, I knew there had to be something juicy inside to warrant such a large mailer. That thing was getting opened out of pure curiosity.
• One message, many materials.
  Turns out the mailing was intended to get my business on board with San Francisco's "Bike to Work Day." Small plugs for the SF Bike Coalition were cleverly scattered throughout the materials (including a copy of the group's newsletter), but they were all directly tied to the issue at hand: Bike to Work Day (the newsletter, for example, contained a Q&A about the event, among other BTWD features). Picking one message and reinforcing it throughout the mailing kept me from getting distracted, detached or confused.
• Appealing to your audience:
  "It is a known fact that employees who arrive at their workplace by bike are alert and productive and are generally healthier employees. Their employers reduce health insurance premiums and avoid costly employee benefit expenses like parking..."
  Overcome objections in advance.
  One of the best aspects of this mailing was the use of social marketing techniques (more on that later). From the opening of the introductory letter to the content of the newsletter, it was clear the Coalition had thought long and hard about what might prevent recipients from acting on their call for participation, and heading these objections off at the pass. The messaging was framed to address common employer concerns, including costs and employee productivity, which made it really easy to be won over.
• Provide the right incentives.
  Finally, the Coalition included a ton of materials to help its audience act on its request for participation in BTWD. Don't know the best way to implement the program among your employees? Follow the enclosed checklist. Unsure of which routes to take, or how hilly the streets are? Check out the enclosed San Francisco Bike Map. Need a way to get the word out to your employees? Post the enclosed BTWD poster. Looking for a fun team project? Take the enclosed Team Bike Challenge. Concerned about safety or getting stranded without a car? No worries, just check out the enclosed pamphlet explaining the San Francisco Emergency Ride Home program. And of course, if you want more info about the event or the Coalition itself, read the enclosed newsletter. Thinking ahead has allowed the Coalition to provide the answer to every potential question in advance, making it incredibly easy to participate.
  

These last two techniques are, as I mentioned, a significant component of social marketing (not to be confused with social media marketing, which relies on web 2.0 tools like Twitter or YouTube to spread a message). Social marketing is an incredibly effective way to encourage positive behavior change in individuals within a group context. It's a little broad to get too detailed here but the SF Bike Coalition, knowingly or not, has adopted several of its most successful principles:

1. They knew their behavior goal (employer participation in Bike to Work Day).
2. They knew their audience (employers with specific concerns about how BTWD would effect their employees health and productivity).
3. They addressed potential barriers for action (not enough information, too dangerous, too costly).
   
4. They included incentives to reinforce the behavior they were looking for (maps, team challenges, emergency rides home, posters).

Now, if they follow up with a phone call asking me if I participated, then they'll really be on point (after all, you need to measure if your campaign worked to know whether it's worth the investment). I only had two real issues with this mailing, and I have to admit they're not minor:

1. They failed to vet their mailing list (although I'm a San Francisco business, I'm not an employer), leading to a lot of wasted paper.
2. They included a lot of paperwork, much of which may get tossed.

That said, it's a relief to get a direct mail piece so thoughtfully directed to its audience. By taking all of the above into account during the design and writing stages, the group has vastly increased the likelihood of a positive response rate. The next time you send something to your constituents, I hope you'll consider these points, too.

How Not to Do Direct Mail

I just received a direct mail solicitation from a wonderful nonprofit that supports local photographers through exhibitions, education and youth mentoring. I wish so much they had taken a different approach with this mailing, because I can't imagine this one will yield the kind of response they're hoping for.

The package arrived in a standard white no. 10 business envelope. It contained a one-page letter, a semi-gloss, full-color, tri-fold brochure that unfolds into a 12" x 18" poster, and a self-addressed, unstamped reply envelope. What's so wrong with this?

• Concealing the goods.
  Why drop coin on a beautifully printed poster-sized piece, and then hide it in a nondescript envelope that makes it look like junk mail? Either gussy up the mailing container, or make the poster a self-mailer that begs to be unfolded immediately.
• Address anonymous.
  "Dear Friend" is no way to address someone when you're asking for their money. In this day and age of variable printing, there's simply no excuse. And if your marketing director doesn't know what variable printing is, you've got an even bigger problem.
  
• Not quite compelling:
  "Your membership is your ticket to a remarkable range of programs and benefits."
  So much copy, so little targeting.
  The front of this single 8.5" x 11" letter included a litany of member "benefits" directed at all kinds of different people—including artists, art lovers, collectors, and who knows who else. Simply laundry listing your organization's features and hoping readers are willing to pick and choose what matters to them is a great way to make sure nobody pays attention to anything. Pick an audience, and write exclusively to them.
  
• Features do not equal benefits.
  And here's another thing: listing what you offer doesn't explain how your audience will benefit. Don't tell me about your exclusive, members-only parties, tell me how I'll make important career connections and discover new trends before they hit the mainstream.
  
• Letterhead overload.
  I understand the desire to acknowledge a nonprofit's staff, board of directors, advisory committee, and curatorial council members, really I do. But if you're printing this on your letterhead, it means you're repeating this information with every single communication you send out. Why? It might hurt to hear, but you need to ask yourself if the reason has more to do with the staff's needs than your audience's.
  

But all this wasn't enough to turn me off and convince me not to give. No, the straw that broke the camel's back was the flip side of the letter. An entire page dedicated to a collaborative art project that I (little old me) was invited to participate in! How exciting, I thought. And all I have to do to be eligible is purchase a membership and send in my own mail art submission? I looked for the cost of membership on the accompanying brochure/poster. $50 ain't bad, considering I'd also get access to the rest of those features listed so exhaustively on the front. And that's when I noticed the deadline for submissions: May 1, 2009. Receipt date of this package? May 1, 2009.

That's right, folks. I was invited to participate in a project—a project that was supposed to sell me on donating to this organization—on the day of the submission deadline, effectively making me ineligible. That's not an oversight. It's not a mistake. It's a slap in the face to your audience.

This is not a time for this kind of ineptitude, folks. Tighten up! Don't waste your marketing dollars on what has the potential to be a highly effective campaign by not thinking it through. If you need expertise, then ask. But nonprofits can't afford to be making these kinds of mistakes right now.

Finding the Right Green Certification Program

There are over 300 environmental certification programs available to organizations who, for whatever reason, feel the need to get certified. These programs vary wildly: some are nonprofit, some demand high fees, some have extremely high barriers of entry, and almost all of them have different requirements and certification processes. Finding a credible, appropriate, attainable third-party certification system can feel seriously overwhelming. But if you answer a few initial questions before looking for a particular program, the process becomes much less daunting.

What kind of organization are you?

Before you start looking for certification, it helps to do some self-reflection. On one of my email lists recently, someone asked if there were any certification programs specifically geared towards nonprofits. My response (on which this post is largely based) was that many of the actual steps you can take to green your organization are applicable to any sector, so a certification that doesn't specifically target nonprofits might still be appropriate.

Here are a few questions to consider when looking at your own organization:

Why do you want to get your organization certified?

When it comes to environmental certification, there tend to be two camps of certification seekers: those who want a formal, guided system for judging their practices, and those who feel it will help their business model in some way. Both are completely legitimate reasons.

Beyond that, though, there are additional things you should consider. Are you looking to increase credibility among your various constituents? Are you looking to save money over the long term? Does it reinforce your mission (unlike many pursuits, I believe one of this nature doesn't require absolute mission alignment)?

Answering this question will help give your search more focus (e.g. if your goal is to increase credibility, you need to look for a rigorous, respected certification body). And remember: if your main goal is to reduce your organization's environmental impact, you don't actually need a third-party certification to do so.

Do you have specialized certification needs?

Whether you're a nonprofit or for-profit organization, there may well be environmental or sustainability issues that are specific to your industry. Product manufacturers and retailers may have different considerations than service-based organizations, for example, and it may make sense for you to look for a program that addresses these issues. That said, if you can't find a niche certification, there are likely plenty of other options that are just as well-suited to your organization.

What kind of resources do you have to devote to this endeavor?

Many nonprofits (and smaller businesses) are either on a shoestring budget, or are assigning the process to an already overworked staffer. If this is the case, you'll need to find a program that won't require large financial outlays, or that will provide hands-on support. Being realistic about what your organization can and can't commit to—or, what you're willing to commit to—will help narrow your options.

Where should you look for a green certification program?

Once you've identified your own goals and limitations, it's time to start searching for an appropriate third-party program. There are two primary types:

Government-run certification programs

When it comes to government-sponsored environmental programs, most of the certification action tends to be at the local level. Many city and county governments, and sometimes state governments, are developing programs to encourage area businesses to improve their environmental practices. Be aware that these programs vary dramatically in their standards and participation requirements—you'll need to do your due diligence. Also consider whether or not a local certification will help you reach your previously identified goals. If you're looking to build credibility among your customer base, for example, they need to have heard of the program enough to value it.

Sadly, many municipalities don't offer government-run programs at all. If this is the case where you live and work, I highly recommend petitioning your local government to implement one. They need to know that business owners and nonprofit directors alike want such programs.

Finding a program: Check with your local business development agency, environmental department, or chamber of commerce. Don't forget to check at the state level, too.

Nonprofit (and for-profit) certification programs

Almost every non-governmental, third-party certification program nowadays tends to be nonprofit, as the 501(c)3 designation seems to lend an air of credibility to the certifying body. But in reality, it's the stringency of the program's requirements, and their working processes, that you should pay attention to.

And it certainly wouldn't hurt to check out who's on their board of directors, if they have any "partner" businesses/sponsors, and so forth. One particular certifying organization that was pointed out to me recently is set up as a nonprofit, and looks perfectly legitimate on first blush—yet they are affiliated with a for-profit consulting firm. This kind of affiliation isn't necessarily problematic in and of itself, but it can certainly impact the certification's credibility if:

• The for-profit affiliation isn't an entity you'd feel comfortable doing business with under ordinary circumstances;
• The for-profit affiliation exerts any influence on the certification process;
• The for-profit affiliation directly benefits from the certification process.
  

What criteria should you use to judge an environmental certification program?

You don't have to be a sustainability expert who knows how many microns of CO2 your pencil sharpener puts out, but there are some essential standards you should look for in your certification system:

1. No, or minimal, pay-to-play

Keep an eye out for costly "membership requirements" and other fees. While minor administrative costs aren't unreasonable, huge fees definitely eat into a program's credibility.

2. Full transparency and disclosure

Program processes, certification guidelines, contacts, member lists, etc. should be made available on request (good), and/or clearly posted online (better). A credible program will tell the public exactly what it asks of its member businesses.

Also, keep an eye out for programs that allow you to be a member without certification, as non-certified members often dilute the credibility of certified members thanks to public confusion/conflation.

3. Rigor

This, in my own opinion, should be the most important piece of the puzzle. First, what is their certification process? Programs that require some proof of compliance, whether on-site inspection or some kind of documentation, are far more credible than those that rely on the honor system.

Next, how expansive is their requirements list? Look for programs that address the triple bottom line (people - planet - profit). This should include at least issues like employee benefit programs and community enrichment (people) to environmental conservation and improvement (planet).

How does the program measure impact? Do they ask for hard numbers (and proof of them)? Are they asking about low-hanging fruit like day-to-day operational tasks as well as larger decision-making (like equipment, appliances, construction, business models, etc)?

How often do they require re-certification, and how do they manage that process? If you can't easily uncover any of this information, think twice about participating.

4. Support and guidance

Finally, does the program provide suggestions, help and resources or tools during the certification process? A really good program will help walk your organization through the certification process, pointing you to legitimate resources to help you implement whatever changes need to be made. This is especially important for nonprofits and other organizations who might not have huge resources to commit to the process.

Does the certification system have brand recognition within your organization's circles of influence? If you expect your customers to care about the certification, it helps if they already know what it means.

Finally, what kind of marketing support will they provide—a simple listing in their online directory usually isn't enough (since it relies entirely on search engine ranking). Do they place media ads or do PR campaigns within your circles of influence or mainstream circles? Will being a member bring your organization much cachet?

Making your decision

I've watched as the market for third-party certification has exploded, and it's amazing how many of these organizations treat it as more of a marketing tactic than a bottom-line environmental decision. It's far too easy to shell out a few bucks, and get a pretty green stamp of approval. The trouble is, if that stamp doesn't communicate anything of real value (to your business and to your customers), you've wasted both money and time. Worse still, you risk undermining the whole point of environmental certification: to provide a legitimate and rigorous public review of your organization's environmental efforts. And that's the very definition of greenwashing.

But getting certified doesn't have to be a traumatic, costly, or otherwise difficult experience. As with most business decisions, it simply requires a little due diligence before you jump into the process. Following the above recommendations will help you narrow your choices and select the most appropriate program for your organization's specific needs.


Have you gone through the certification process yourself? Have you found it useful in reaching out to your customers? I'd love to hear your thoughts and questions—please leave your comments below.

Related Posts:
The Case-by-Case for Sustainability

Write with Intent: Written Messaging in a "Design with Intent" Framework

First, have a look at Dan Lockton's 10-minute slide show on persuasive technology and design with intent, in which he describes various methodologies used to influence user behavior:



As I continue to explore the world of social marketing et al., I've been wondering about the specific role of language in these issues. Designers focus on visual and spacial cues, obviously, and with good reason. There's a strong argument to be made for the idea that modern human language is quickly moving from a verbal core to a visual one. That's a huge debate in and of itself, best left to another post. But there can be no argument that people are becoming increasingly sophisticated information processors when it comes to visual frameworks (that is, we're getting better at deriving meaning from visual cues).

So, where does that leave verbal language? And more specifically, where does that leave the role of persuasive verbal communication? To make this more concrete: copywriters have long insisted that web copy is best served by bullet points, subheads, and other visual means of breaking up text. Shorter sentences and fewer syllables are another way we're encouraged to accommodate this shift in human information processing (since readers are now more used to simply glancing at a screen and immediately deriving meaning from what they see). But is altering the visual appearance of the words the most effective use of verbal language to communicate and persuade (and, ultimately, effect behavior change)?

Using content in addition to form

Often lost in all of this is the actual content. In the case of commercial and social marketing, content is as important an influence as form on a reader's behavior. So if we worry only about the visual appearance of text, we risk failing to provide the meaning it's intended to communicate. It's the effective communication of that meaning that causes a reader to change their attitude or, better still, their behavior. There are several ways writers can increase meaning, and therefore persuasiveness, in their messaging:

1. Avoid passive language, unnecessary modifying clauses, and jargon that may dilute the meaning of your text.
   
2. Acknowledge perceived barriers to behavior change, but emphasize the benefits.
3. Use personalized examples that reinforce the sought-after behavior change (personalized to your reader, not the writer).
4. Integrate a narrative structure that leaves the reader visualizing the process of behavior change.
   

This isn't an exhaustive list. But many of these examples find counterparts in Lockton's presentation above. Number 1, for example, could be compared to the use of unadorned, light-up reminder icons on a car dashboard (a visually active and engaging cue).

Commercial marketers have long understood this, of course (the good ones, anyway). Good social marketers understand it, too (hence the focus on addressing perceived barriers to action). But I'd love to see more academic/theoretical discussion of this within the field. Or maybe it's there and I just haven't found it yet (please point me to it, if you know that's the case). In the meantime, it would serve us marketers well to remember that form and content must work in tandem to effect real behavior change.

The first sure step toward profitable sustainability

It doesn't matter if you're a struggling nonprofit, a corporate behemoth, or an independent business: if you're considering incorporating sustainable practices into your systems, you may feel like there's an insurmountable mountain ahead of you. "Sustainability is unsustainable for our business" is a common mantra for those who can't stand the idea of climbing that mountain; it gives us an easy way to explain our inaction. And for many, it might be right on the money.

I realize this sounds counterintuitive coming from the likes of me, but let's be realistic. A lot of folks start taking steps they feel will lead to greener...something...and quickly find themselves spending more money than they can justify just to do right by Mother Nature. The cause for this ineffectiveness is usually pretty simple, though: in the excitement of change-making, organizations often forget to factor profitability issues into the new system.

The first step for any business is not to implement actual changes, whether to the physical plant, to the product lines, or to processes. Rather, the first step needs to be measurement. A business needs to first measure its processes, as well as the impact of those processes across all areas:

• Product or service footprint: raw materials, manufacturing, distribution at every stage, usage and disposal
• Operational footprint: facilities, employees, supply chain, etc.
• Human footprint: internal policies, and how those policies impact human behavior
• Strategy footprint: how do you incorporate/apply sustainability thinking to every decision made?

A business has to know how their current processes work and what the impacts of those processes are, or any moves toward what they think is sustainability may fall short. This is why there are no universal, easy answers, or a simple checklist.

Unfortunately, measurement can seem challenging, as there also aren't many affordable resources for small-medium sized businesses other than good old-fashioned man hours. Life cycle assessment software (for example) can be expensive. But there are perfectly functional options for the willing: at the very least you can use a simple spreadsheet like Excel or OpenOffice. However your organization chooses to track this information, it starts with details such as:

• Utility use: water, gas, electric, garbage
• Purchasing: products, transport, frequency, quantity, vendor selection
• Materials use (which overlaps with purchasing): quantities, disposal, health impacts, conversion to profitable products, etc.
• Human resources: employee benefits, commute impacts, behaviors, attitudes, wants, productivity, job descriptions
• Structural organization: hierarchy, decision-making, policy implementation, etc.
• Strategy (which overlaps with structural organization): decision-making, short- and long-term goals, employee/er involvement, communication, etc.

Each of these can further be broken down by department or function (so maybe marketing has its own sets of measures, while HR has another, and so forth). This is important, because it allows you to scale your measurement according to the size of your operation. You can stay at the larger level until your group is comfortable that the system works and reaps valuable information, at which point you can drill down to the detail level.

Don't misunderstand: this process is completely unsexy and often tedious. But this is where you discover where the company can both save money and make money by applying sustainable thinking and innovative processes. Not only that, but the measuring has to be conducted before the change process starts, throughout the process, and after the process. And then, assuming there is enough commitment, it should influence how the company adjusts and adapts over time.

This is how you get to a workable, profitable, sustainable system—by simply tracking what you're doing before any changes are made at all. Without this baseline, you're essentially shooting fishes in a barrel. And I'm pretty sure that's completely unsustainable.

Making Sustainability Reports Work for You

As American businesses begin to feel the heat of their impact on climate change, corporate sustainability reporting has become one of the tools they use to fan the flames. Between 1997 and 2007, the number of companies producing CSR (corporate social responsibility) reports grew by more than 750%, according to Corporate Register. In real terms, just over 2,000 American companies issued reports this year alone—but who reads these things? Turns out, a new study indicates there may be some real value to issuing a sustainability report for your own organization.

Reporting Can Impact the Bottom Line—For the Better

One of the most basic findings of the study, conducted by the Global Reporting Initiative among 2,300 respondents, found that 85% of CSR report readers have a more positive opinion of the company after reading. About a third of respondents also use these reports for decision-making purposes. It would seem, then, that organizations who rely on thought leadership and increased credibility to shore up their customer base would really benefit from such reporting. I'm thinking of nonprofits, consultants and other service-based businesses in particular. But companies seeking capital funding would also stand to gain by producing reports that demonstrate their commitment to long-term sustainable strategies.

Those readers who are spurred to action after reading a company's sustainability report tend to respond with their dollars. Almost 75% of respondents say that reading a company's CSR report makes them want to either purchase the company's products or become a B2B client. That can be a potentially significant ROI, but it's dependent on a few key things:

• The report is accurate and thoughtfully produced.
• Your organization invests in distributing the report as widely as possible.
• You maximize the opportunity by directly engaging readers.

Producing a sustainability report that works for your organization

Like most projects, a sustainability report can be as straightforward or complex as you're willing to make it. But whether your report is a simple two page report or an elaborate multi-page treatise, the process needs to address the specific concerns of your readers.

Define your target audience. Reports geared toward investors will require far more statistics and detail-level information than those aimed at consumers, for example.

Gather accurate information. Knowing what standards to use, and how to accurately measure company initiatives and impact, is essential. Consider asking your audience what issues matter to them before even writing anything down, and think about how those issues dovetail with your organization's environmental and social impact on its larger communities. This will help you create a framework for content. If you skimp on this process, you risk alienating readers and undermining the whole report.

Organize information into meaningful messages. Try to balance your organization's philosophy and policy approach with real-world stories that illustrate those more abstract concepts. While the length of your report will determine just how much information you can include, you should take your cue from the framework you created in the previous step. If you have a particularly green supply chain, for example, you might outline your general purchasing policies, and also profile a specific vendor.

Engage your readers. This is where you capitalize on your report. Respondents to the GRI survey indicated that they frequently want to continue the conversation with the organization in question after reading their report. This could mean including response cards with the report itself, creating an online microsite where readers can join the conversation, or following up with a targeted campaign aimed at expanding the reporting initiative. All of these approaches give readers a specific reason to take the hand you've extended.

Towards a Truly Sustainable Strategy

If the GRI survey gives sustainability reporters cause for celebration, it also reveals a key concern: whatever reporting choices an organization makes, it must converge with an overall business strategy. Successful corporate sustainability rests on an organization's willingness to embrace entirely holistic processes; slapping together a glossy CSR brochure that trumpets your company's recycling efforts ain't gonna cut it. My recommendation is always to start with the why and the what (your organization's long-term values, approach and audience), and use reporting to communicate the how.

By treating the sustainability report as a conversation opener rather than a monologue, you have a better shot of influencing your reader and reinforcing the report's underlying message of commitment. And when your communications become a real-world tool used to engage your audience, it strengthens those relationships at a time when strong relationships can make or break a business.


Shameless Plug™: If you think your organization would benefit from some form of sustainability reporting, give me a call. We can talk about your ideas, and come up with a cost-effective solution that works for you and your audience.

Bad Habits Can Kill Your Marketing Efforts

When it comes to marketing, your problem isn't a lack of effort—even if you haven't pulled the trigger on that new website (cough), or gotten around to this year's holiday mailing. The truth is, you're marketing every day, every time you engage your customer base:

Every customer phone call and email you respond to
Every customer phone call and email you initiate
Every marketing campaign you execute
Every blog post you publish
Every forum or social networking message you post
Every time you describe what you do for a living to someone you meet
Every time you deliver a product or service to a customer
Every time you leave your business card somewhere
Every question you answer
Every payment you collect

Clearly, the problem isn't that you aren't doing enough. The real issue is that you're not putting enough thought into how you're doing these everyday things.

The Danger of Relying on Habits

When you execute the tasks above out of habit, it's easy to forget that they're actually two-sided transactions. You're delivering a message during each task, and the person on the other end is receiving that message. This is true even if you're not saying anything. Filling an order? The package the order is shipped in sends a message. The very process you've set up that your customer has to pass through sends a message—how many times they have to click through your site, how long it takes them to find your phone number, and so on. Even if you're not thinking about the message you're sending, the customer is still receiving it.

Replacing Bad Habits with Better Messages

So why do we keep perpetuating current habits? You already know: it's simply easier than identifying and transitioning into better habits. And by better habit, I mean something very specific: I mean a message that bridges the gap between speaker and listener, delivered in a way that makes it easier for the listener to understand. This is a process I'm going through myself as I redesign my now mythical website, and I really feel for organizations who are struggling with it.

Developing a thoughtful message, and then delivering it, takes deliberation. But it doesn't necessarily take pain. In fact, when you rely on a specific step-by-step process, it can be almost enjoyable (or, "a wonderful learning experience," as one of my clients once put it). The process looks something like this:

• Identify the message(s) you're currently sending
• Identify the message(s) your market wants to hear
• Take a good hard look in the mirror
• Connect the dots between what your organization provides and what your market wants
• Control each transaction so the agreed-on message gets through
• Measure the reaction to your efforts
• Adjust the messaging as much as necessary until you get it right
  

The Most Dangerous Habit of All

Obviously, developing better messaging habits takes a lot of work and a lot of insight. It can be so challenging, in fact, that most organizations end up perpetuating the worst habit of all—they skip over the discovery stages of the process and jump straight into creating new messages. If you yourself take one message away from this article, I hope it's this: don't skip the discovery.

The discovery, in which you take that good hard look at what you're doing (and what your market really wants you to do), is almost the whole point. It's the process that you've been skipping this whole time. It's what makes the habits hard to break. And if you continue to skip it, opting instead to just churn out some new marketing message based on current assumptions, you're just replacing one bad habit with another. That's a waste of time and money, and a way to miss real opportunities. So take a moment to think it all through. Research. Observe. Explore. Do it on your own, get help if you must, but do it. Because old habits die hard—but not if you kill them carefully.

Marketing Q&A: How Do I Move My Brand Beyond ME?

I get marketing questions through my e-newsletter, the Roundup, and occasionally my response gets to involved to fit in the short space of that email. This one's a good one, so I'm posting it here instead.


I have great products, but my brand is very caught up in me - my background, my sense of aesthetics, and my story. At some point someone else will have to do some selling. So, how do I build my brand as a separate entity from me?

Every (smart) business owner struggles with this as we begin to grow. Service businesses in particular may struggle with this because the service provider is often seen as the product being sold. And many owners play into this by defining themselves by their business. Even if they do recognize it, they often remain paralyzed with the fear of shifting the company towards a depersonalized, profit-driven approach, rather than the values-driven approach they started with.

The key to branding, though, is not to jettison the owner’s value system, but to align it with the needs and wants of the marketplace. As you're realizing, it's not enough to know who you are and what you want for your company—you also need to meet the marketplace on its own terms. This is especially true in economic times like these, when the marketplace can be exceptionally finicky.

Companies who define themselves by their owners, then, have a hard time; it's very difficult to align you as a person with the marketplace, which is about me as a consumer. Most small businesses that brand themselves as their owner find success only inasmuch as they happen to meet people who share the owner's values, personality, and aesthetics. This is an exceedingly inefficient approach that doesn’t scale up very well as the business grows. Typically, owners using this approach max out such a limited market and the business plateaus.

So, in practical terms, what does an owner do to create a brand that can stand on its own, apart from the owner? Having gone through this process with a nonprofit client earlier this year, I can tell you the most effective way to do this is to allow your personal values to inform the brand, rather than define it.

The process starts with a whole mess of research:

• Current brand audit: Take stock of your company, your products or services, the benefits and value you bring to your consumers, etc.
• Current customer audit: Identify and organize your current customer base by as many variables as possible. This includes identifying how your current customers perceive your company.
• Market research and competitive research: You can’t operate in a bubble, so you need to know what everyone around you is doing.

Now, this initial research is the part that most business owners skip. Don’t. The information you gather holds the key to your self-sufficient brand. Gathering it is, of course, a lot of work. Parsing it into a cohesive brand that accurately and effectively reflects all of the truths you’ve discovered is not just a challenge, it’s an art form (there’s a reason smart businesses outsource this to people like yours truly). But as I said earlier: it’s not enough to know what you want out of your business. You have to align those values, along with everything else about your company, with the realities of the marketplace. When done well, the results are an incredibly strong brand that resonates with consumers regardless of whether or not you’re delivering the message personally.

Copyrights and Wrongs Part 2: Starting the Copyright Conversation

This is part two of an ongoing series on copyright issues for creatives and their clients. For part one, see Copyrights and Wrongs: Getting Clients and Creatives on the Same Page.

For any communications project to get off the ground, there needs to be a contract spelling out the terms of the arrangement. Simple enough, right? But whichever side of the hiring process you’re on, you’re probably familiar with the various issues that can come up when that first draft gets passed around. This installment of Copyrights and Wrongs will focus on the early stages of this process, and how both creatives and clients can get the most out of it without feeling they have to give anything up.

In the first installment of this series, I mentioned the three underlying factors that need to be present for the process to really work:

• Both parties need to commit to keeping the process reasonable, level-headed and fair.
• Both parties need to understand the legal issues involved.
• Both parties need to retain the specific rights that will enable the success of the project itself.

Creatives who just work for a paycheck, and clients who hire based on price alone, are unlikely to fully commit to the above attitudes. But those who value creative communications for the purposes they serve and the impact they can have will quickly recognize that a mutually beneficial arrangement will elevate the quality of the work and, therefore, the power that work has in the real world. While copyright may be just one piece of the contractual puzzle, it is a fundamentally important one (as spelled out in Part One), and deserves your full attention.

Don’t Make Negotiation a Dirty Word

While you can certainly frame the copyright conversation as a contest or power trip, I've found that copyright negotiations go down much easier if you approach the whole subject as a matter of fact. Water tends to rise to its own level; a nonchalant attitude tends to keep emotions at bay, which inevitably brings objectivity to the process.

Nonchalance, however, is not the same as evasiveness; creatives should be clear about the copyright arrangement they recommend, and make sure their client understands exactly what that arrangement means. It's entirely appropriate for clients to ask plenty of clarifying questions at this stage, such as:

• Am I limited in my use of the design across other platforms (transferring a brochure onto the web, for example)?
  
• What happens if I need to reprint/reproduce the project down the road?
• What kind of files will I own (rare is the designer who includes the layered computer files, and the client needs to know this)?

Of course, creatives who have proposed a fair copyright arrangement and explained it clearly will have fewer questions to answer.

What’s Fair is Fair, For Everyone

Given the state of business today, in which there inevitably seems to be a winner and a loser in every exchange, negotiating parties almost always enter the process desperate to avoid being pushed onto that losing side. But it doesn't have to be this way; if both the creative and the client enter the process with the understanding that the relationship, to be successful, must allow for both parties to succeed in the long term, the most appropriate copyright arrangement becomes the one in which the client may use the material in the specific ways they need to, and the creative is compensated enough to remain profitable.

Both aspects of this type of arrangement may at first appear to be entirely subjective. The client may feel they should be entitled to use the work in perpetuity (forever), in whatever format they like. While this may very well be an appropriate arrangement for projects like logos, in which the purpose of the creative work is to represent the client across multiple platforms over a long time, there are several reasons why all rights language is almost always not in the best interest of either party:

1. First, the more a client uses a work—via reprints, or across multiple platforms—the greater impact the work has and, therefore, the more valuable it becomes. The designer, then, should be fairly compensated for this added value. For many projects, though, it just doesn't make sense for a client to purchase these blanket usage rights up front if there is no foreseeable need for them. Limiting the initial usage rights, then, provides the opportunity for the client to pay for additional rights when they're good and ready to (or, more importantly, when they can afford to), while the creative is paid for the fair value of the work.
   
   
2. Second, agreeing on only the usage rights the client will need in the foreseeable future gives the client a way to ensure the work will be successful for them on a limited basis, rather than investing in full rights before the work has been given a chance to...work. The creative, then, has greater incentive to produce effective work, since measurable impact is more likely to result in future work.
   
   
3. Finally, holding off on all rights language reduces the likelihood that the project—which is customized for the specific needs of the client at the time of creation—will get stale. A brochure created for a sustainability consultant, for example, will likely be ineffective and inappropriate a couple of years down the road, when the consultant’s business has grown, their services have changed, and their messaging has evolved. Why should a client pay long-range fees for a piece with a limited shelf life?

There are, of course, some situations in which all rights language is appropriate; logos, for example, require indefinite use by a business across multiple platforms. In these cases, a good client will recognize that this flexibility is worth more.

Whichever rights are ultimately agreed to, both parties should feel they have gotten what they need for their business’ long-term success. Honest and open conversation about the advantages and disadvantages to both parties is, therefore, essential.

Copyrights and Wrongs Series
Part 1: Getting Clients and Creatives on the Same Page

Copywriting Case Study: How to Insult Your Audience

In a clever move to win back the support of consumers, the Corn Refiners Association decided the best way to do so would be to condescend to and insult the very people it's trying to win back.



It seems the industry trade group takes issue with those of us who give a crap about the crap they try to force down our throats. Let's just break down the horrible line of thinking that led to these ads, shall we?

Step One: Identify the Problem

Like any good advocacy group would, the Corn Refiners Association recognized that their single most profitable product—high fructose corn syrup (HFCS)—is earning itself a bad name among doctors, parents, and a whole lot of other folks. First came the whispers of "why is it in everything?" including what should be unsweet food items like turkey stuffing, salad dressing and hot dogs. Then came the study that linked high fructose corn syrup to diabetes in children, which is quickly becoming an epidemic (probably because it's in, well, everything).

This is the first thing they did right, from a marketing perspective (I won't get into the first rule of ethical marketing: don't push dangerous products).

Step Two: Join the Conversation

In many cases, companies decide to just stand pat when the rumors start whirling (this approach was particularly favored in the days before the internet gave consumers so much control over brand reputation). But as the rumors about HFCS became the subject of scientific study, the CRA apparently felt it had to step in. They must have figured, "Hey, let's set the record straight!"

What they failed to admit to themselves was that the record was not exactly in their favor.

Step Three: Frame Your Message

Both of the ads the group launched hinge on the concept that facts trump "what they say" any day of the week. Not a bad approach, if you actually have facts to back up your argument. But the ads fail to deliver on this promise, opting instead to bolster several fallacies with facts that are rather inconsequential.

Claim: HFCS is made from corn.
Truth: Yup. (Of course, I don't really want corn in my toothpaste.)

Claim: HFCS has the same calories as sugar.
Truth: Basically, yup.

Claim: HFCS is fine in moderation.
Truth: Possibly true but misleading. Americans' consumption of HFCS has increased 250% over the last 15 years (source), because it's in damn near everything; CRA member companies shipped 23,503,847,000 pounds of HFCS in 2005 alone (source). So when they tell us to consume it in moderation, it's a little bit like waiving a vial of crack in front of a junkie and then telling him to go home. HFCS has also been linked, as mentioned, to diabetes because it messes with the way the body produces natural regulators.

Claim: HFCS doesn't have any artificial ingredients.
Truth: Not exactly true, and definitely misleading. There are synthetic ingredients used in the processing of HFCS (corn starch hydrolysate and glucose isomerase enzyme preparation, to be exact), but the molecular structure of these substances are altered during manufacturing. Furthermore, the FDA itself (notoriously loose when it comes to limiting Big Business claims) does not allow companies to call products containing HFCS "natural" (source).

So if you're going to frame your message around facts, you better have good ones to support it.

Step Four: Imply Your Audience is Stupid to be so Easily Swayed By Empty Words, then ask them to believe yours

This is where the copywriting really falls apart. Setting aside the giant conceptual mistake of fact vs. fiction, it is generally a bad idea to portray your audience as being either a dumb sheep or a passive-aggressive, judgmental bitchface. Do the writers even realize that the white mother in the ad above represents the very people they are trying to persuade? She's expressing what the public is thinking—why on earth make her look like such a snot while doing it? Making your audience feel bad about themselves—or worse, self-defensive—is a terrible way to get them to do what you want.

The Lesson: Consider the person receiving your message and be nice to them

Mending a broken relationship with your customer base is no easy task. I can't say I envy the marketing minds behind these ads, given the uphill battle they've been tasked to fight. I'm not even sure I know what approach would work for them at this point. I do know, though, that winning over a naysayer requires a delicate touch. Making your audience look like a douchebag, then asking them to support you? Not so delicate.

Copyrights and Wrongs Part 1: Getting Clients and Creatives on the Same Page

Copyright law might be one of the most misunderstood areas of creative services, representing a giant hole of knowledge for both the creative and the client. Yet it's a fundamentally important element of the hiring process and as such, needs to be addressed. When it's not, both parties are far more likely to make assumptions that may come back to haunt them legally (and financially). If you're going to hire a creative studio (or if you work for, or run, one), you need to know how copyright works.

Please note that I am not a lawyer. If you are a lawyer, please feel free to add clarifications in the comments. There are also additional references at the end of this post for further reading.

What is copyright?

Copyright, at its simplest, is just a form of legal protection for a person's intellectual property. The definition of intellectual property, of course, can get very broad and fuzzy—how, for example, can black-and-white laws be applied to intangible concepts and ideas? Copyright attempts to address this dilemma by covering only "original works of authorship fixed in a tangible medium of expression." In plain English: copyright law covers an idea in its tangible form.

Copyright is a set of laws, and the set consists of two primary elements:

• Ownership Rights
  Ownership automatically belongs to the author of the work as soon as the work is produced. The copyright owner is the only party who can claim authorship of the work, and is the only party who can dictate usage rights.
  
  
• Usage Rights
  Usage rights encompass a whole set of individual rights dictating how the work may be used: the right to reproduce the work, the right to display the work, the right to modify the work or make derivative versions, and several others.
  

So what, exactly, is being copyrighted?

I've heard countless complaints from designers who discover that the brochure they created for their client has been appropriated for use on the client's website—without permission. And from writers who find the article they wrote for a print magazine has been posted online—without additional pay. These issues often stem from a client who doesn't understand the difference between the file they're receiving and the work contained in that file.

When a client pays for a creative work, they often assume that they're purchasing the whole creative work, and not the individual licensing of it. So they get the file, and figure they can use it whenever and however they want. They can cut and paste, rearrange it, use pieces of it elsewhere. But unless there's a signed contract explicitly granting the client either ownership rights, unlimited usage rights, or rights to modify the work, the client may not do these things.

Remember: unless the contract explicitly states otherwise, the creative work is not being sold in the transaction—the rights to use it are. So, when you get a file, you can use that file exactly how the contract stipulates and no more.

Addressing copyright in the contract

When an original work is created, the entire copyright (including both ownership and all forms of usage rights) automatically belongs to the creator of the work, whether or not the creator actually registers the work with the U.S. Copyright Office. The creator can only lose these rights if s/he signs them away to another party. This is typically done by written contract, and it's the only way to ensure both parties are protected.

Signing away ownership rights to a work is a controversial decision among creatives, since this means the author no longer has any legal right to claim authorship ("I made that"), or to display the work at all, including to promote oneself. This is a significant enough issue that I'll be addressing it in more detail in an upcoming post about work for hire agreements. Suffice it to say, it is in the creative's best interest to hang onto copyright ownership of any work created. That it's in the creative's best interest, however, does not mean that the client gets slighted in this situation. Clients commonly misunderstand copyright law, assuming that they must have ownership rights in order to successfully use the work they've commissioned. But this isn't necessarily the case.

Because usage rights can be bundled in any number of ways, and can be as limited or broad in scope as the parties agree to, they are extremely flexible—which is why clients and creatives should focus the bulk of their negotiations here. Usage rights can limit reproduction to a geographical area, for example, or can allow for the display of the work both online and in print. This flexibility is extremely favorable to both client and creative—reaching a mutually beneficial arrangement becomes a matter of both parties being willing to recognize the needs of the other, and expand or limit the bundle of usage rights accordingly.

Reaching a mutually beneficial arrangement

I use this phrase—mutually beneficial arrangement—a lot. It's the cornerstone of what I do and what I believe. My business operates under the assumption that all parties involved (that's me, my client, and everyone else impacted directly or indirectly by the work we produce together) need not get the short end of the stick when it comes to fair treatment. Many businesses operate using a very different principle; I've turned away several potentially profitable clients who believe that for one party to succeed, the other has to sacrifice.

To ensure successful copyright negotiations, several things need to happen in the following order:

1. Both parties need to commit to keeping the process reasonable, level-headed and fair.
2. Both parties need to understand the legal issues involved.
3. Both parties need to retain the specific rights that will enable the success of the project itself.
   

Each of these steps brings with it its own hurdles, of course. But by committing to them, creatives and their clients will together get through what can otherwise be a cantankerous, tedious, or simply ignored process. It also happens to lay an important foundation for the success of any creative project.



Further Reading:
US Copyright Office
AIGA's Guide to Copyright (PDF download)
AIGA's Standard Form of Agreement for Design Services (PDF download)
Poynter Online's massive list of copyright resources

Copyrights and Wrongs Series
Part 2: Starting the Copyright Conversation

Please Stop Resizing My Browser

Just a quick note in case you're involved in any way, shape or form with website design (yours or anyone else's):

When you code a website to automatically resize my web browser window to accommodate your site, it sends the message that your site is far more important than my own personal preferences.

And are you really, absolutely sure that this is a message you want to send to your site users? If you're an ultra luxury goods brand, of course, then perhaps that message isn't so far-fetched. But if you're trying to establish a little rapport with your visitor, trying to strengthen a relationship and build loyalty, taking control of my computer just to showcase your site isn't the best way to do it.

You Gotta be Careful When Making Green Marketing Claims

When TerraChoice's Six Sins of Greenwashing report was released last fall, it brought with it whispers of green fatigue, and raised the specter of Big Business Bullsh--. Could it be that corporate co-opting of sustainability had led to a market full of misleading claims and outright lies? Go figure. But as the public's sustainability discussion moves along, governments are getting involved in an attempt to curb the marketplace. So if you're one of the many companies offering up green claims, it's in your best interest to start paying attention to what you can and can't (or should and shouldn't) say.



The Six Sins of Greenwashing report analyzed over a thousand green claims made by businesses, and found that only one was legitimately honest. The rest committed one or more of the following sins:

1. The sin of hidden trade-offs
   Focusing on one environmental benefit while ignoring other essential issues.
   
2. The sin of no proof
   Lack of third-party auditing to back up any claims.
   
3. The sin of vagueness
   Using words and claims with broad or multiple meanings, resulting in an essentially meaningless claim.
   
4. The sin of irrelevance
   Making a green claim that is already inherent to the product or service being marketed, as though there's something special about this one.
   
5. The sin of fibbing
   Outright lying.
   
6. The sin of the lesser of two evils
   Making claims within a product category that is inherently environmentally damaging (i.e. no matter what green claims are made, the product is by definition bad for the environment).
   

The PDF report (also available here) offers recommendations for both marketers and consumers. The ultimate goal is to prevent consumers from becoming so jaded by misleading claims that they give up on green or sustainable businesses altogether.

In addition to TerraChoice's recommendations, both the U.S. and Canada have issued their own guidelines. Our neighbors to the north go beyond the legal requirements for Canadian labeling compliance, offering fairly in-depth recommendations for businesses who make particular environmental claims. The PDF report is a useful tool no matter what country your business operates in.

Our own government also offers guidelines for environmental claims in advertising. Regulated by the FTC, the bulk of these guidelines are legally binding, although I haven't done the legwork to determine just how frequently and under what circumstances these laws are enforced (keeping up with the marketplace's now ubiquitous green claims would certainly pose a challenge for any organization). An even more detailed guide is available on their site, but be aware that the FTC is in the process of updating these in response to the rise of the green marketplace.

Addressing Your Own Green Claims

Though boning up on the federal regulations is a must for any business flirting with green claims, it's not just the government's ire you need to worry about. Speaking the truth is essential to ensure credibility among your own customers. So, once you understand what you can and can't say, you ought to take a look at what you already are saying. At the very least, you need to ask yourself:

• Are my claims specific?
• Are my claims clear and understandable?
• Are my claims verifiable by a reputable third party?
• Do my claims accurately represent the purchasing issues a customer might face when buying my product?
• Do my claims provide enough context for the customer to make an informed decision?

And remember, if you're not sure you can back up what you claim, don't bother saying it. For more information about gauging just how green a business is, see The Case-by-Case for Sustainability.