Sustainable Design Town Hall: Sustainable Cotton Project

As mentioned in a previous post, a group of about 20 or so designers and educators recently met at a Designers Accord town hall meeting in San Francisco to explore the subject of sustainable design and exchange ideas. This is the first in a short series of posts in which I'll continue the conversation with the other presenters there about how people can design messaging that drives measurable, ground-level change.

Lynda Grose and the Sustainable Cotton Project

California cotton used 5,849,172 pounds of chemicals in 2005, many of which are known to be significantly toxic to air, water, soil and people. Lynda Grose, fashion designer and associate professor at CCA, is working with the Sustainable Cotton Project to reduce the amount of chemicals used on California cotton crops. Her presentation offered an overview of the subject, but also explored some of the inherent challenges in communicating complex or unintuitive sustainability initiatives.

What exactly is cleaner cotton?

Cleaner cotton is the term used for the crop produced by farmers enrolled in SCP's BASIC program. BASIC (Biological Agricultural Systems in Cotton) is a farmer-to-farmer information-sharing program throughout California's Central Valley that "enables conventional farmers to adopt organic and other environmentally preferable (biologically-based Integrated Pest Management) farming techniques." It's been remarkably successful in its eight years of existence: according to an independent analysis, BASIC growers "spray up to 73% less of the most toxic insecticides and miticides used in cotton" compared to conventional growers in their area.

Grose points out, however, that cleaner cotton is not the same as organic cotton, which uses no synthetic pesticides. So it must not be as good, right? Wrong - and this is a perfect example of how many sustainability initiatives seem counterintuitive at first glance. There are a few reasons why Cleaner Cotton is such an important piece of the sustainable agricultural puzzle:

1. Organic cotton requires a great deal of hand labor. With California's higher minimum wage, this means that converting to an organic system can be cost prohibitive for conventional farmers. In fact, much of the organic cotton used in U.S. clothing, for example, is shipped from overseas, where the cost of labor is dramatically lower (resulting in more competitive pricing). So while overseas organic cotton may reduce pesticide and GMO use, it does nothing to support local (and badly needed) American farming economies.
2. The problem of toxic pesticides:
   To get about 3 bales of cotton per acre in California, conventional growers use an average of 2.1 pounds of chemicals.
   Cleaner cotton offers better yields than organic. "This is one of the significant factors in bringing growers into the 'cleaner cotton' program," Grose explains. While conventional California growers yield about 3 bales of cotton per acre, "organic cotton so far yields 50% of that. Since growers are paid per pound for their fiber, this represents significant economic risk...especially without a committed market." And how does cleaner cotton compare to conventional? "The yields are the same."
3. Proportionally, cleaner cotton cuts chemical use more than organic. In 2007, there were 240 acres of organic cotton grown in the state, reducing chemical use by about 500 pounds, according to the SCP. Compare that to the 2,000 acres of cleaner cotton that resulted in a reduction of about 2,000 pounds of chemicals, and you start to see why cleaner cotton makes so much sense.

Given the clear advantages of cleaner cotton, then, it should be a simple matter of switching growers from their conventional systems, right? Well, not exactly.

A system greater than the sum of its parts

We all know that changing just one component in a system is unlikely to change that system in the long term. We might see a temporary shift or hiccup, but eventually that system will self-correct and return to the status quo. So, to effect long-term sustainable change, each piece of the system needs to change together. As Grose mentioned, without a market of fiber manufacturers committed to purchasing cleaner cotton, there's no guarantee growers will be able to sell their cleaner yield. So the SCP is taking a three-pronged approach:

1. It helps conventional farmers convert their acreage to cleaner cotton crops (creating a supply).
2. It encourages businesses to purchase California-grown cleaner cotton in addition to overseas-grown organic cotton and instead of conventional cotton (building a distribution system).
3. It educates consumers about the advantages of cleaner cotton (creating a market demand).

Of course, changing the attitudes and behaviors of three different constituent groups is much harder than changing just one.

Reaching one goal through multiple stakeholders

If the Sustainable Cotton Project approached their campaign using a blanket message for all three groups, they might find themselves facing serious resistance. Each of these groups has a different set of obstacles to changing already comfortable (and often, profitable) behaviors. Looking at our farmers, for example, the challenges in getting them to switch from a conventional farming system are clear. Grose puts it in context:

"Cotton is grown in different regions. each with their different ecological stresses. Organic is a good tool in developing nations, where labor costs are cheaper. It's not an effective tool in developed nations where labor costs are high.

Asking a farmer to transition to organic cotton is like asking a western medicine doctor to transition to Chinese medicine and acupuncture: it's a fundamentally different system.

Cleaner cotton brings conventional farmers into biological systems, and over time they begin to trust them and apply them to other crops. Because it is scalable, it converts more farmers and more acres to biological systems than organic does. Cleaner cotton doesn't negate organic; each has their relevance in a given region."

But manufacturers and consumers are driven by different obstacles (often price, perceptions of quality, and others). So, the SCP communicates its umbrella message—"cleaner cotton is better than conventional"—to each group using different subtexts and communication channels:

• Growers
  "Farmers listen to farmers," says Grose. Farmer-to-farmer information sharing programs appeal to the close-knit community and trust issues found among growers, and on-site farm tours allow growers to see cleaner cotton in action.
• Manufacturers
  Farm tours also engage manufacturers, switching the mindset from numbers on paper to real-world results. SCP also reaches out to companies at trade shows and company headquarters, providing "very visual presentations" in language that appeals to their particular motivations.
• Consumers
  Finally, SCP has created an online presence to educate the general public about the advantages of purchasing items made with cleaner cotton. The group also uses traditional publicity campaigns to drive awareness.
  

By respecting the concerns of each of their target groups and selecting appropriate communications channels, the Sustainable Cotton Project reaches more people, and has a greater lasting impact than if they either used a single communications campaign, only reached out to one group at a time, or positioned cleaner cotton to compete with other accepted farming systems. In fact, Grose is quick to point out that cooperation has been key to the group's success: "we position cleaner cotton to complement, not compete, with organic cotton, since the goals are the same: non-GM (genetic modification), family farmers, reduction in chemicals, etc." Treating each group as a valuable component in the whole system has resulted in a highly effective campaign.

Simplifying otherwise complex messages has its pitfalls

It's not all fluffy sweaters and fuzzy mittens, of course. The SCP still faces some challenges given the complexities of the industry. During her town hall presentation, Grose described one of the fallouts of such an effective communications campaign: simple messages are easier for people to grasp, but then you risk oversimplifying the issues to the detriment of your ultimate goal. In the mid-late '90s, for example, the group ran a campaign using the all-American t-shirt as its symbol:

"We took data on chemicals sprayed from all cotton states at that time, and the average yield of fiber per acre, and average amount of cotton in a typical t-shirt, then we did the math...and 1/3 pound [of argicultural chemicals] used for every t-shirt is what it came to at that time in the U.S. It was so effective a message that a host of companies picked it up without doing the math on the cotton they were using...so the data is no longer accurate, yet it is still used by some because it is a simple message."

Unfortunately, there may not be an easy solution to this problem of complex messaging. "Brands love to communicate in sound bites," reminds Grose, which means it's up to those crafting the sound bites to think harder about where they might end up, and how they might be used. Which leads us, often, to looking at the issue from different angles - both from the points of view of each stakeholder group, and from those we haven't traditionally considered.

When asked about the challenges and opportunities involved in reaching different groups with seemingly different interests, Grose responded: "They see cleaner cotton as part of an overall cotton strategy which includes organic and cleaner cotton. It's a significant shift from thinking about the product, to thinking about the cotton business." And that shift in our overall perception of any given "problem" is what will ultimately lead to better, more sustainable solutions in every sector.


Related Posts:
Sustainable Design Town Hall: Sharing Good Ideas

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

Information Overload

Published in: HOW Design Magazine

Information Overload

Once relegated to academic textbooks and snooze-inducing PowerPoint slides, information graphics are suddenly everywhere. Here's what you need to know to create effective infographics in an information-saturated world.

Interactive polling graphs are de facto on the nightly news. Starbucks customers are greeted with poster-sized charts explaining the health care system over their morning lattes. Everyone, it seems, is producing infographics to explain the world around us.

But there's a lurking danger behind the growing dependence on information design to interpret this overflow of data. In fact, the very thing that makes the infographic such an attractive medium for deriving meaning—its exactitude, its ability to represent large data sets, its inherent purposes of elucidation and clarification—can quickly turn into manipulation, depending on who's producing it. This is particularly true now that the lines between education, editorial and entertainment have become blurred. Luckily, designers have a suite of powerful tools at their disposal to combat this.

Understanding Our World

Not surprisingly, the infographic's rise in popularity follows fast on the heels of an information glut. Advanced technology, including computers, has allowed humans to immediately capture, store and analyze huge amounts of information. According to a recent Pew/Internet poll, approximately 73% of American adults now rely on the internet to access this information, which is an all-time high. We're so inundated by data, in fact, that we desperately need a filter for the noise. Infographics allow us to quickly make sense of the political, societal and global complexities that bombard us on a daily basis.

John Emerson, a New York City-based designer and author of the booklet “Visualizing Information for Advocacy," points out that "designers are sometimes curators of—or crafting algorithms to curate—the stories in the data." These stories form our worldview, one based on our right to access information. But this access depends on accurate data; our understanding of the world is only as reliable as the information we get.

So the graphic designer becomes a filter of this data, arranging it in a visual form to be used by real people to understand their world in meaningful ways. Traditionally, we've turned to information from editorial publications, advocacy groups, and institutions like schools and government for such data. But when the corporate coffee shop provides education about immigration and the economy, it's time to recognize that the graphic designer plays a critical role in information analysis. "The point of analytic design," said information design guru Edward Tufte in a 2004 interview, "is to assist thinking." Given what's at stake, it's up to graphic designers to assure their visual analysis is both honest and accurate.

Saving Lives

In 2007 there were an estimated 281 billion gigabytes of data on the internet alone. By itself, each individual bit of data amounts to nothing more than a single grain of sand. It's what we do with this data that matters. Infographics gave meaning to our world long before computers, of course. Students of Tufte may recall his description of a particular evening in 1854, when a deadly cholera epidemic swept through London's SoHo neighborhood, killing several residents.

Within three days, almost 200 people were dead. Within 10 days, more than 500. Little was known about the cause of the outbreak; medical theory at the time assumed that cholera was an airborne illness. But Dr. John Snow had a hunch that cholera was transmitted by contaminated water rather than air. As the epidemic spread unchecked, Snow paid a visit to the city's General Register Office, where he gathered the locations of the cholera deaths, then sketched out each and every death over a map of London. When he was done, a dramatic pattern had emerged.

On Snow's map, at the corner of Broad Street and Cambridge Street—surrounded by dozens of darkened rectangles, each depicting an individual death—was a water pump. The concentration of deaths around this particular pump revealed it as the source of the outbreak. His map was clear enough to convince the town to remove the pump's handle, and within days the number of cholera deaths dropped dramatically. Snow's graphic representation of the outbreak gave public leaders a new way to understand the information. Without the map, there would have been little evidence of the true cause of the disease, and thousands more would likely have died. Data, Snow demonstrated, is meaningless without form.

So how does a designer know what form to give his graphic? Snow began with good data, a practice recommended to this day by seasoned information designers like Steve Duenes, graphics director for The New York Times. "The graphic's mission is determined by the data in the same way that a story is written based on information the reporter has gathered," Duenes says. "If you don't find interesting or complete information, no amount of design virtuosity will make up for that." Good data comes from reliable sources, is up to date, uses consistent units of measurement and is, above all, complete.

The Shape of a Data-Driven Story

Duenes' advice to let the nature of the information lead the design is echoed among his colleagues. Charles Blow, who once held Duenes' position at The Times and is now the paper's visual op-ed columnist, says he won't start designing an infographic until he sees the data. "When I see the data, I can see immediately how it should work," he says.

The information designer must therefore have a large repertoire of graphic formats from which to draw. Blow encourages information designers to constantly add to that repertoire. "You have to build a library of forms in your head, hundreds and hundreds of graphical forms, and when you study those forms, think about what data went into them and how wide the range of the data is," he says. This way the designer can easily recognize the story the data is telling him, rather than forcing his own interpretation onto it and potentially obscuring its true meaning.

Hidden Dangers

Like all graphic design, information graphics derive their meaning from an arrangement of visual cues. In "Visual Explanations," Tufte suggests that "clarity and excellence in thinking is very much like clarity and excellence in the display of data. When the principles of design replicate the principles of thought, the act of arranging information becomes an act of insight."

In information design, less is almost always more—more communicative, more meaningful, more powerful. Tufte points out that less (and, therefore, more) can be achieved using multi-functional elements. Force a single dot, line or word to communicate more than one meaning, and the viewer spends less time interpreting and more time understanding. Or, as Blow puts it, "Start with the least amount of strokes."

Even Blow, whose op-ed role at The Times behooves him "to not be objective," is careful to avoid factual distortion or misrepresentation. "It's very easy to twist statistics and make the charts say whatever you want them to say," he says. "That impacts the credibility of the text, and the column as a whole. It impacts my credibility, it impacts the credibility of the newspaper." This twisting of statistics occurs most often in relation to a graphic's scale, or when making adjustments for considerations like inflation. "You can adjust data to death," he warns, so do so with care.

When faced with such decisions, it can be helpful to return to the graphic's guiding story to determine the design approach. In addition to the sheer quantity of information, you must thoughtfully consider issues of scale, contrast and typography to produce an effective and responsible data graphic (see "7 Practical Tips" for details [download the PDF to view]). When the designer forgets to apply this kind of methodical thinking to a graphic, it leads to what Blow calls acts of beautiful confusion—heavily designed graphics that focus more on aesthetics than meaning. "They look amazing to me, but I have no idea how to read them," he says.

Designing for Impact

Beautiful confusion may be an inevitable side effect now that information design's popularity has caught up to the technology available to create it. But there's another trend that relies on simplicity and elegance, rather than bells and whistles, to further meaning and engage the audience. The most obvious example of this might be GOOD Magazine, with its regular Transparency section devoted to “a graphical exploration of the data that surrounds us." Casey Caplowe, GOOD's creative director, says that when you take the time and energy to synthesize complex information, you can learn amazing things.

Caplowe readily admits that the magazine takes an “artistic, sometimes risky or experimental approach to it. And sometimes we succeed and sometimes we fail." But, he adds, “This is not just about how you simplify things, it's about how you communicate effectively." This is born out by the fact that the Transparency section is the most well-known, and commented on, section of the magazine.

This kind of engagement, of course, is often what leads to action. This was the goal of Tactical Tech, a non-governmental organization working to empower human rights activists through technology, when they called on John Emerson to produce "Visualizing Information for Advocacy," a 43-page primer written for nonprofits and social advocates.

Executive director Stephanie Hankey says, "So much hard-earned, evidence-based campaigning work goes to waste when it's dulled by poorly designed charts and graphs, and buried at the back of obscure reports." "Visualizing Information for Advocacy" teaches social advocates how to design infographics that effectively communicate the human impact of the data being illustrated. The booklet aptly demonstrates how sound design principals help an infographic resonate with the viewer.

In today's world of unending information and crossover media, these principles of responsible representation hold true for any infographic. But as with Snow's cholera map, the results can sometimes mean life over death. When citizens literally put their lives at risk to collect data about human trafficking, for example, the chart that ultimately displays that data takes on new significance to readers, who might then be more inclined to donate money, volunteer, change their worldview or simply bear witness themselves.

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Feel free to download the full PDF with graphics and formatting, and additional sidebar (423kb PDF).

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.

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

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

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.)

If, as a creative, you're not hearing these questions, it might be wise to address them anyway. Because creatives who propose a fair copyright arrangement and explain it clearly from the get-go are likely to run into fewer problems later.

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 outlive its efficacy. 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

The Case-by-Case for Sustainability

This post is inspired by the question "What benchmarks do you use to determine if a company is green?" recently asked by a user on LinkedIn.

If a product has recycled content, it's green, right? Anyone who's even a little skeptical (and these days, I wish more people were) understands that you need to ask more than just this one question to determine if a product is green. And how do you know if an entire company is green? If they recycle their paper, or turn the lights and computers off when everyone goes home, does that make them green? The answer is, quite simply, it depends.

The Challenges of "Certified Green"

Increasingly, consumers are using certification to determine whether or not a company is green. There are a number of general certification bodies that have cropped up to help consumers and other businesses identify those who have met particular standards (see the end of this section for examples). Some of these are nonprofits, some are trade associations, and some are glorified PR outlets. Some local governments, especially in California, are also implementing certification systems.

The problem with these types of groups is that they themselves have subjective criteria that they apply to member businesses. So in order to determine if a certified company is legitimately green, one first needs to vet the certification program. This is the challenge I've run into with the San Francisco Green Business Program. The SFGBP is actually one of the most stringent government-sponsored certifications available in California. I've been doing a bit of consulting work with SF's Department of the Environment (just one of the city agencies involved in the program), trying to help them identify the best ways to build the program's credibility. Since there are now at least 285 certification programs to choose from, distinguishing the SFGBP as a leading program becomes even more important.



At the heart of the SFGBP, as with all certification programs, is the need to identify measurable criteria. The challenge, however, is that what is an appropriate and sustainable solution for one organization, business, industry, and/or process may not be so for another. The very nature of holistic sustainability is case-by-case, which makes it exceedingly difficult to create blanket criteria that actually work across all organizations. This leaves us with the simplistic solution of creating specific operational guidelines (as opposed to measurements) that are tailored to particular industries or business models.

The following certifications are just a few that I consider to be decently stringent, though none are "perfect." They're presented with the caveat that this is a partial list, and that my own assessment should be subject to your scrutiny:

• San Francisco Green Business Program (local only; all industries)
  
• Co-op America Seal of Approval (national; all industries)
  
• Green Seal
• FSC (international; wood-based supply chain)
  
• C2C (international; product design)
• LEED (national; building/construction
  
  *Full disclosure: I'm certified by the first two groups.

A Simpler Method of Measuring Green

Obviously, looking for viable certification is the easiest, quickest method to determine if a company is really green. But what if no certification exists, or if you want to vet the certification? In these cases, you can evaluate the following operational areas of the company:

• Energy consumption (amount of, type of)
• Materials consumption (amount of, type of, toxicity of)
• CO2 and other greenhouse gas output (amount of)
• Physical waste output (amount of, toxicity of, treatment of)
• Product output (nature of, life cycle of)
• Employee programs (existence of, nature of)
• Ethics (nature of, statement of, track record of)
• Community relations (use of local resources/vendors, distribution to local areas, enrichment of local communities)

Numbers alone, of course, don't tell the whole story. You'll still need to compare the identified efforts to conventional standards. Are they better, worse, or the same? By how much? Are there specific accepted standards that the company meets or exceeds in any of the given areas?

The Benchmark of Transparency

Another good measure of a company's greenness is their transparency. If an organization voluntarily discloses their operational methodology, and explains in detail the environmental measures they take, that's a pretty good indicator that they're at least addressing those areas. If you're wary of greenwashing (the act of paying lip service to environmental commitment), then look for generic statements, like "All of our products are green," or "We use an eco-friendly production process." Companies should be prepared to go into detail about their processes and back up their claims.

So there you have it: determining if a company is truly green or not is no simple task. Every day more benchmarking groups crop up to try and serve as a standard, but we're still a long way from consensus. In the meantime, any thinking about sustainability must by definition include flexibility, critical thought, and an understanding of the many complexities that go into judging results.

Finally, what methods do you use to judge how green a business is?

Deflate the Tire Kickers

Publication: HOW Design Magazine

Too many designers are tempted by the dangling carrot of a new project, investing valuable time in preliminary meetings, research and proposal-writing—only to receive from the prospect a brief "Thanks, but we'll pass" (and sometimes not even that). Learning to vet these tire kickers in advance will save you time, money and lots of disappointment.

Tire kickers bleed your precious creative energy; they ask you to invest yourself in the discovery stage of their project, only to demand more of your attention. Worse than wasting time and energy, these accidental parasites waste your money—because the time you spend listening to their wants and writing proposals should be spent on revenue-generating projects...

There's an alternative, however, and not only will it increase your odds of landing paying, profitable clients, chances are it will improve the quality of the projects you secure, too. With a little strategic planning and a few thoughtful questions, you can weed out those tire kickers before they take you for a ride...

[Read the full article on HOWdesign.com]

Recently Published in HOW Design Magazine...

The current issue of HOW, one of the leading professional graphic design magazines, features Jess' article Deflate the Tire Kickers. Every profession has their version of the tire kicker: those not-so-serious prospects that eat into your profitability. This five-page article walks designers through the client intake process, offering practical advice on how to identify and effectively handle this segment without losing your cool.



The magazine is currently on the newsstands at most major bookstores, and can also be purchased online. [Update: HOW Magazine has now posted the full text on their site, so you can read the article online.]

(And am I the only one who thinks the illustration looks like David Bowie? Which is, of course, totally rad.)

How a Marketing Plan Builds Your Business

It’s time to dust off that old marketing plan that’s been crammed in the back of your bottom drawer next to your business plan,and crack it open. Oh, right - you don’t have a dedicated, stand-alone marketing plan. But that’s okay, because you’ve got it all in your head, right? Wrong. Without a written, comprehensive marketing plan, you’re throwing money away without even realizing it.

What’s So Important About a Written Plan?

There are plenty of reasons why you, savvy businessperson that you are, need a written marketing plan, and the most obvious is that you don’t yet have one. Ask yourself: does the competitor down the street (or online) have a written plan? If they do, then you’re a step behind already and you better catch up. But if they don’t, which is far more likely, then creating one for yourself will give you an instant competitive edge.

A well-written strategic plan will provide you with several necessary insights:

• It makes clear where your money is being spent and where your money should be spent. A good plan includes an audit of your current marketing activity, which accounts for both direct and indirect marketing expenses. It also defines workable budgets for the future.
• It reveals strengths and weaknesses in your tactics, and provides specific ways to fix the weaknesses and maximize the strengths.
• It tells you if your marketing tactics are effectively aligned with your goals.

But even more importantly than holding a mirror to your current marketing activity, a thoughtful marketing plan provides you with a tactical step-by-step plan to reach those business goals. This necessarily sets you in a clear direction, making decisions about which marketing tactics to use, how to implement them, and how much money to spend on them, much easier to make in the heat of day-to-day business.

It’s important to realize just how inefficient on-the-fly marketing decisions can be. Making such last-minute, high-pressure choices will almost always dilute your efforts, which means you’ll yield a lower return for the time and money you’ve invested in those off-the-cuff, time-pressured decisions. Creating a strategic marketing plan that you can turn to in these moments will significantly reduce wasted time, money and resources.

So What Does a Good Marketing Plan Look Like?

Realistically, your plan can be as simple or as complex as you choose to make it. You’ll have to balance your available resources with your ideal plan, of course, and find the level of detail that works best for your business. A full-blown strategic marketing plan, however, should include at least the following elements:

• An analysis of your brand position, market segments, and product delivery strategy
• A set of specific marketing goals and objectives
  
• An audit of your current marketing tactics
• A step-by-step action plan to reach each goal (each action should build on the others to create a cohesive strategy)

There’s more to it than that, but those are the essentials. Without them, your marketing plan is more of a marketing notion. Remember: a plan should be executable, appropriate to your needs, and effective.

Can You Do It Yourself?

If your business is already struggling to come up with the cash flow to execute each individual marketing tactic already, it can be tough to convince yourself that it’s worth dropping the cash on a professional strategist. After all, who knows your business better than you? And you’re no stranger to bootstrapping. A DIY marketing plan is certainly better than none, and it will obviously save you money in the short term (though probably not over the long-term).

Start with a simple, one-page plan that you can put together yourself. It should include:

• Your overall business goals
• A short list of marketing tactics that can best achieve those goals (be picky)
• What steps you need to take to implement those tactics.

You must be aware, though, that this is not an ideal approach and it will not be a reliable plan over the long haul. Creating the above plan successfully is often harder than it sounds. Identifying appropriate, reachable goals, understanding which marketing techniques work best for those particular goals, and then identifying the specific steps you’ll need to take to maximize the effectiveness of your chosen marketing techniques, all require a level of marketing expertise you may or may not have.

If it’s not reliable, then why bother with a one-page plan? In actuality, it’s more of an exercise to prepare you for working with a professional strategist. Preparing such a limited marketing plan for yourself will reveal what you know and don’t know, and where you might need outside expertise. This is important information: the best business owners recognize their own weaknesses, and find ways to correct for them (usually by hiring someone for whom their weaknesses are actually strengths).

A professional marketing strategist will inevitably bring a different set of skills to the table: they’ll provide you with a broader market context, a better understanding of your competitors, insight into the most effective marketing methods available to you, and an understanding of how to combine everything into a holistic, effective strategy. And perhaps most importantly, a professional will bring a level of objectivity you simply can’t achieve on your own. When you spend all day, every day making your business work, it’s easy to lose perspective and begin to see everything through the lens of that business. Hiring someone who has both your best interest in mind, and the ability to see beyond your business, will result in a marketing plan that you can easily implement, and implement successfully.

And Finally...What To Do With That Plan

Whether you choose to handle your marketing plan yourself, or hire someone to help you with the process, it'll be useless if you cram it back in that drawer and let it gather dust. The best way to make sure you actually use your plan is to start with a solid foundation. Take the time to do it right from the start, and implementing it will come naturally.

Once it's written, review it regularly. At the very least, you should be reviewing your marketing plan every quarter, but every month is even better. This will allow you to align your cash flow with your upcoming marketing expenses, make adjustments, and generally avoid being caught with your pants down (as in, I meant to start putting money aside for my new catalog last quarter and now I have no budget!).

Reviewing your plan regularly will also give you the satisfaction of checking off action steps as you take them and making adjustments as necessary. It's awfully rewarding to cross things of your to-do list, especially when you can watch those to-do items turn into sales. And that might be the best part about creating a written marketing plan: seeing that plan turn into reality before your very eyes. Because the very nature of such a plan is to build momentum and, ultimately, build your business.

How to Find Green Vendors

My latest installment of The Sustainable Studio is now online, and this month I focus on how to implement a sustainable purchasing policy. Whatever industry you're in, the advice contained in this article will help you understand what sustainable purchasing is all about, ideas for implementing your own policy, and where to begin your sustainable vendor search.

"So just what makes a vendor sustainable? Is it as simple as finding a printer who stocks recycled paper? There are currently no strict definitions for what makes a business sustainable, unfortunately, so it is up to each of us to find a system that is both meaningful and practical. As a San Francisco-certified Green Business, I have a simple yet stringent purchasing policy in place for Roughstock Studios. I assign a single point for each of the following attributes that a potential vendor meets..." [Read the full article on Business of Design Online]

I'd love to hear your reaction to the idea of implementing such a policy, as well as any questions you might have about how to practically do so. Feel free to leave a comment either here, or on BoDo!

What's included in that design fee?

A recent thread in one of the professional design forums I frequent raised an interesting discussion about how designers justify their rates. I find it endlessly fascinating that design buyers—everyone from corporate ventures to mom and pop shops—have such a hard time understanding what it is they're actually paying for.

It's not uncommon to get questions like why so expensive; it's just a five-page website? and It can't possibly take that long to design a logo, can it? and even the old But there's no way to know if it's even going to work or not, so why should I have to pay premium prices?



The problem with this line of questioning is not that the client wants to know why they're paying what they're paying. We all have a right to know what we're spending our money on. The real problem lies in what it reveals: the client who asks these questions has no idea what they are actually purchasing.

When you buy a car, you expect to know the gas mileage, the type of engine, the horsepower, etc. Most of these details are disclosed outright by the manufacturer. In the design world, these details are the equivalent to deliverables, which include stuff like:

• Number of files
• Type of files
  
• Final printed pieces or live website
  

But when you buy a car, you're also paying for the manufacturer's name and reputation. With name and reputation come implied skills of craftsmanship and knowledge (advanced manufacturing processes, quality parts and materials, assembly line production, engineering, etc). Design buying is no different:

• Ability to concept and problem solve
• Research skills (general market research, competitive research, image research)
• Understanding of the structure, rules and implications of typography
  
• Color theory
• Grasp of composition, balance, contrast and layout and their impact on viewer behavior
  
• Production technique (software, assembly, handwork)
• Graphics editing (color and light/shadow manipulation, effects, cleanup, resampling, etc)
• File prep and prepress (bleeds, printer marks, color separations, file types, etc)
  

These skills vary from designer to designer, which is why there is so much range in pricing out there. Designers love this car metaphor; you can pay premium prices for a Porsche, or value prices for a Hyundai. Both are cars, but there can be no argument that one is sexier and handles better on the road. Maybe as a design buyer you don't want a Porsche, or simply don't have the budget for one. But you'd still shop around for a safe one, wouldn't you? One that won't break down every year? You'll always have to ask yourself what you're willing to sacrifice in order to save a few bucks.



When you buy a car, you get a warranty (since we really haven't pushed this metaphor far enough yet). Of course, you'd be an awfully lucky client if your designer gave you one of those. But there are some things you should get with your designer's fee in order to protect yourself:

• A written contract that spells out the project parameters, final deliverables, project timelines, client expectations (what you need to provide your designer so they can get the job done), and so forth. These details will protect you should the project seem to get off track. They'll ensure clear communication between client and designer from the get-go.
• Usage rights, or licensing rights, that guarantee you have permission to use the designer's work for its intended purpose. Your usage rights may vary from designer to designer and project to project. They might be exclusive, ensuring the designer can't resell the design to someone else, which is a good thing to have for logos. Always know what rights you're paying for.
  

There's something else that is expressly included in a designer's fees, something that's far too often overlooked by designer and client alike: return on investment. This is the Great Intangible that seems to make everybody cringe. How do we know this will work? There a couple of ways to measure ROI on design, and they depend largely on the type of project. Identity and branding projects can be tough to measure, for example, without conducting focus groups and surveys both before and after the project (and this is why the big boy agencies earn so much for their work—they actually do these things...I hope). But small scale metrics are available to even the independent shop:

• Direct mail can include ID references that can be tracked when taking inquiries. "Mention code ABC to get your discount," is a common one. Or send the recipient to a specific web address and track incoming visitor statistics.
• Sales numbers can be analyzed before and after the design piece is issued.
• Market comparisons and case studies can be used to decide if a particular project type has a successful track record. One of my clients, for example, was going to send out fund-raising invitations formatted in Microsoft Word and printed at Kinko's. They came to me for suggestions, and I convinced them to let me design a two-color piece with custom illustration that was professionally printed. The event ended up filled to capacity and they easily surpassed their $100,000 goal.

Finally, there are a few more things that may or may not be included in your designer's fee. These really depend on your designer's experience, history and focus, but they are extremely valuable skill sets:

• Marketing expertise including branding, positioning, outlets (media and distribution) etc.
  
• Business expertise like project feasibility, budgeting, time and project management, legal issues, and so on.
  
• Vendor management (incredibly important to the final product), which includes print specifying, materials specifying, professional relationships, billing, etc.
  
• Writing skills, such as voice and tone consistency, concepting, narrative structure, grammar and usage, styling techniques, behavior change and persuasion techniques, and so on.
  

As you can see, your designer (ideally) brings a lot to the table. You're not just buying a pretty picture—you're buying a set of skills and experience that directly impacts the success of the project itself (whether or not it's a smooth, trouble-free, enjoyable process), as well as the success of your business (whether or not the designed piece actually accomplishes anything).

So the next time you're surprised at a quote from your designer, consider the above list and decide if all of this makes the price tag worth it. Remember: it's your business and your money. You should know what you're paying for.

© 2007-2009 Jess Sand | For reprint permission, just ask. | And if you want to share this with your clients, by all means do, but only if you include the following text: "© 2009 Jess Sand, www.roughstockstudios.com"

Roughstock Gets Switched

A recent surge in stats tipped me off to Freelance Switch's recent link to my Killing Off Five Design Myths (in which I...kill off five design myths). This gives me the opportunity to pass on two lessons:

1. Check out Freelance Switch if you happen to work for yourself. It's a consistently solid resource in a world of blah advice sites.
2. This is a great example of how tracking your stats can provide useful information. Simple, yes. But now I know I'm on Freelance Switch's radar, as well as the radar of their thousands (yes, I said thousands) of readers who are specifically interested in graphic design. If you blog, and you don't track your stats, you really ought to start (check out Six Essential Questions for the Business Blogger for more info).

Thanks, FS!

Six Essential Questions for the Business Blogger

It doesn't matter whether you've been toying with the idea of starting a business blog, or if you've been feverishly blogging about your company's widgets for years: you have plenty more to learn. A quick look through Google's list of "business blogs" reveals some common problems: lack of activity, poor readership and appalling representations of the businesses they're meant to promote. These issues do more than render a company blog ineffective; they can do real harm by giving potential customers the impression that the business simply can't be bothered to get it right.

What follows are six simple questions you need to ask yourself if you're starting a business blog or have one already. They won't take long to answer, but they will help you strengthen your writing, connect with your readers, and build your business' online presence in a truly positive way.

1. Why am I blogging?
Think long and hard about what you expect to gain from your business blog, because you're going to be investing hours of your valuable time into it each week (and if you're not, you should be). Mapping out a specific goal for your blog will serve you in two important ways: it will make the writing process easier as time goes on, and it will vastly increase your chances of success.



To map the most appropriate goals for your blog, consider the nature of your business. If you're a retailer, for example, you might want your blog to increase direct sales, or serve as a customer support center. If you're a consultant, on the other hand, you might want your blog to help establish you as an expert in your particular field. Identifying your goal will help keep your blog focused, as well as make it easier to develop new content.

2. Am I offering relevant content?
If you took the time to honestly answer the first question, then it shouldn't take you long to answer this one, too. That's because the content of your blog should be directly related to your blogging goals. If you want your blog to increase widget sales, start writing about the special features of your brand of widgets. Or maybe your blogging goal is to establish yourself as an expert in your given field, in which case you might want to share industry insights and useful advice. Because I aim to provide practical, real-world marketing for my clients, I always include at least one easy-to-implement marketing tip in my monthly e-newsletter, the Roughstock Roundup; there's no reason why you can't do the same thing in blog format.

In addition to ensuring your content is directly related to your blogging goals, your content must also be relevant to your readers. Avoid what I like to call Cute Kitty Syndrome by asking yourself if each blog entry will really be of interest to your readers. Posting the intimate details of your summer vacation, for example, can easily bore readers who are looking for content about your products or services, and make your business appear less useful to potential customers (unless, of course, you happen to be a travel agent).

3. What is my position?
Avoid trying to be all things to all readers. You're competing with thousands of business blogs, and this is a great way to differentiate yourself from your online competitors. Show your readers why your company is different, both in the way you address them and the content you provide. One of the biggest mistakes I see business bloggers make is being afraid to have an opinion or a unique voice. Just as your personality inevitably informs how you do business, so should it inform how you communicate with your blog's readers.

You should always remain professional, of course, but don't be afraid to let your sense of humor show, or reveal your own unique approach to your industry. When I started my Bar Stories drinks blog (now on permanent hiatus), I was concerned that my slightly irreverent writing style might turn off my corporate clients. But when one of them contacted me directly to let me know how much fun they had reading it, I realized I wasn't taking as big a risk as I'd feared.

4. Am I paying attention to my readers?
Just like a brick-and-mortar storefront, your blog provides a great opportunity to connect with new prospects. Unlike real life, however, where you can see with your own eyes how many customers are walking through your door, blogs require extra work to know if they're getting the job done.

If you're not paying attention to your readers—how often they're visiting, what they're reading, if they're commenting—there's a good chance that you're shouting into an empty room. The best way to know what your readers think of your company blog (and by extension, your company) is to ask them—make sure comments are enabled and encourage readers to leave responses (that means replying to their comments, too). Take a poll every now and then, or hold a contest to increase interactivity.

But don't stop there. Make sure you track your visitors (StatCounter and Google Analytics offer great services free of charge). Knowing where your visitors are coming from (other blogs, directory listings, internet searches, and so on) can provide excellent insight into what kind of content readers are looking for. Use this information to help make your writing more relevant to them.

5. Am I being consistent?
I can't stress enough the importance of consistency when you're blogging for business. You would never accept anything less than consistent excellence when providing face-to-face customer service, so why would you present an inconsistent image to your online readers? This doesn't mean that you have to write only about widgets and nothing else (assuming that your company makes widgets, of course). It simply means that your overall tone and approach should remain recognizable, so returning readers know what to expect.

Your blog is, after all, an extension of your brand. As such, it should reinforce your real-world identity and offer visitors a familiar space to return to again and again.

6. Am I getting the results I want?
This is where we come full circle: don't forget to ask yourself periodically whether you're reaching your original goals or not. Knowing how to measure your success based on your initial blogging goals can be a challenge., and many businesses hire companies who understand the fickle nature of blog readership to help them create blogging plans from the get-go. With a little logical thinking and a decent dose of creativity, however, it's not impossible to assess your blogging results on your own.

If you started blogging to build credibility, your search engine ranking is a great way to measure your success. Are other businesses, blogs, or organizations in your industry linking to you on a regular basis? If you're low in the search engine results for keywords in your industry, or if others aren't recognizing your blog as a valuable resource, you might need to rethink the content you're providing to better achieve those results.

Click-through rates, conversion rates, entry and exit pages, and visitor length are additional statistics that can help you measure your success. Just make sure that you're reviewing the statistics most appropriate to your goals, or you won't get an accurate view.

When all is said and done, a business blog is a long-term commitment. You owe it to yourself and to your readers to continually assess the fruits of your labor and make adjustments when necessary. Going through the above questions on a periodic basis will ensure that your blog content stands out from the crowd, differentiating your business from your competitors.

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How Will People Find My Business Blog? 20 Useful Directories
How a Marketing Plan Builds Your Business
Bad Habits Can Kill Your Marketing Efforts