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.)
A great new project from Portland State University's Ooligan Press brings us Rethinking Paper and Ink, a free e-book exploring sustainable publishing. Ooligan is the university's teaching press, and as such it's using book publishing as a hands-on method for teaching students about sustainability issues, too.
The book is an enlightening read for anyone interested in the industry as a whole and/or sustainability. By taking both a broad view of sustainable book publishing (including the life cycle of a book and the various environmental impacts along the way), and more detailed look at potential best practices (including case studies), Rethinking Paper and Ink provides a thoroughly accessible framework for approaching the issues.
Given the massive impact the book publishing industry has on water and air pollution, deforestation and resource depletion, and waste processing, it's great to see students are being asked to address this stuff. It's also a really good example of how doing is often a fundamentally important part of learning (a lesson my father just recently reminded me of).
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.
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.
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:
Avoid passive language, unnecessary modifying clauses, and jargon that may dilute the meaning of your text.
Acknowledge perceived barriers to behavior change, but emphasize the benefits.
Use personalized examples that reinforce the sought-after behavior change (personalized to your reader, not the writer).
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.
Some very nicely designed posters from Mark Luethi, for the Stop Prop 8 campaign, that cut right to the heart of this issue:
Each poster can be downloaded and distributed by clicking on the images above (or check out the whole flickr stream). I strongly encourage you to do so, and to attend any of the many rallies coming up.
I am a huge proponent of equality under the law (except for corporations), and California's upcoming election is an important one. In a couple of weeks, Californians will be able to vote down proposition 8, which changes the state constitution to define marriage as between a man and woman only.
While I understand that a certain portion of the population are morally opposed to gay marriage (me, not so much), I simply don't agree that it's okay to write inequality into the law. I see this as a civil rights issue, plain and simple. The problem is that Prop 8 has some pretty big-money backers, and they've taken some pretty underhanded approaches to pushing Prop 8 on the people, including claiming that by not redefining marriage, it will somehow mean California schools will start teaching kids to be gay. It's a pretty big reach, but anything goes in politics these days. So sad.
Anyway, I went ahead and created a flyer you can download and distribute—hang it in your store front, give it out at rallies, wheat paste it across your town (whatever you do, make sure it's legal).
(New) Instructions for Download: 1. Click once on the image below to open it in a new window. 2. Right-click (or option-click) on the new image. 3. Select "Save Image As" and choose your folder. 4. Select "Save."
The image above is a small, low-res version. For the full 8.5 x 11 image, click on the thumbnail above.
Rights and Permissions! You may reproduce, distribute and display this poster anywhere and everywhere. You may not sell it, or alter it in anyway. If you distribute it, I'd love to see photos of your event or action.
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:
The sin of hidden trade-offs Focusing on one environmental benefit while ignoring other essential issues.
The sin of no proof Lack of third-party auditing to back up any claims.
The sin of vagueness Using words and claims with broad or multiple meanings, resulting in an essentially meaningless claim.
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.
The sin of fibbing Outright lying.
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.
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.)
I'm going to ask that you indulge my "politics" as I get loud for a bit - I'm just really not okay with getting sprayed with chemicals!
So, for those of you who live in California and want to spread the word, please help yourself to this poster. Download a PDF of either version by clicking on the image. Then take it your local copy shop and start passing them out to friends, neighbors and especially local businesses.
Beginning this summer, airplanes will fly 500-800 feet over California, spraying hundreds of thousands of California residents with an untested pesticide called CheckMate. This will start one night in June, and will happen again three nights a month for nine whole months. None of us will know which nights our towns are being sprayed, and none of us will be able to stop it. Your children will wake up the following morning, head to the park, breathe in the air, play on the jungle gym, and you will have no idea if their little hands are coated in the CheckMate pesticide. You might even be walking home from the BART station one evening, and hear that low-flying plane hum over you as it drops its load.
This ain't no horror story - it's actually going to happen. The State's Department of Food and Agriculture is initiating the largest aerial pesticide spray in the history of the United States because it's afraid the light brown apple moth will take over our plants.
And why should anyone who lives outside of California care? One simple reason: we are the nation's guinea pigs. The USDA recently announced plans to survey all 50 U.S. states to see if the light brown apple moth can be found anywhere else. If they do, you can bet that state officials where you live will look to California as an example for how to deal with it. Even though California's approach won't work.
So what can we do? Do we sit back and inhale the fumes? Do we let agribusiness dump pesticides literally on our heads? Close our eyes and hope we don't get sick? This is not a joke, and this is not the State's choice to make for us.
Join the tens of thousands of other residents who refuse to be sprayed! You don't have to become an activist, and you don't have to give up your valuable time. Just pick and choose from the following easy steps, and make your voice heard.
One of the most frequent questions I hear from business bloggers is How on earth do I get visitors to my site now that I've set up my blog?! This ain't The Natural - if you build it, they won't come unless they actually know it's there. So how do you get more eyeballs on your blog? The easiest ways to promote your blog also happen to be the cheapest (how often do you get to say that?!). Try this:
Blog regularly. Frequent bloggers typically get ranked higher in search engines.
Tell everyone you know about your blog. If you use MySpace, FaceBook, LinkedIn or any other social networking site, let those networks know about your blog.
Add your blog to any forum signatures you have.
Link to your blog from your website home page.
Comment on other people's blogs (make sure your comments are useful and relevant).
Register your blog in as many free blog directories as possible (see the list below).
When using the above directories, look for a "Submit Blog" or "Add a Blog" link and follow the instructions carefully (most directories will disqualify your blog if you don't read their directions and terms line for line). There are plenty of additional directories you can turn up with a quick Google search, but I've avoided listing those that charge a fee or require a reciprocal link. I guess I'm just a no-strings-attached kind of girl. You will, however, often have to create an account with most of these directories (just be sure to opt out of any mailing lists, unless you want to be bombarded with silly tip sheets). You should neverpay to list your blog - it's just not necessary.
Finally, some folks suggest adding your blog URL to your email signature and/or your business card. I've found that these approaches tend to be pretty ineffective, and the latter may well distract viewers from your business URL (which is where you really want them to go).
When I decided to get certified by the city of San Francisco as a Green Business, I wasn't sure what to expect. Would I have to invest in expensive changes, or sacrifice business productivity for the sake of environmental savings? It turns out that the process was fairly straightforward and the required changes and commitments were easy to implement. Not only that, but the program's coordinators were always ready with resources and ideas.
If you're a San Francisco business owner who's interested in making operational improvements to reduce your environmental impact, you're in luck. The city has some fantastic programs and resources to guide you through the process. The list that follows is segregated into appropriate categories to help you find what you need, fast.
Certification Programs
San Francisco Green Business Program Aimed at helping companies further their commitment to the environment, this multi-agency program certifies businesses and provides help along the way.
Grants, Loans and Tax Credits
San Francisco Mini-Grants SF Department of the Environment gives away free money for environmental business projects (quick turnaround grants from $1,000 to $10,000) on a first-come-first-served basis.
San Francisco City Grant Programs While not environment-specific, San Francisco offers plenty of free money for businesses looking to expand operations, implement new programs, or simply grow.
San Francisco Enterprise Zone Tax Credit This program offers tax breaks to employers operating within designated Enterprise Zones, and/or hiring from Enterprise Zones.
San Francisco Commuter Checks Looking for a way to provide additional benefits to keep your employees happy while serving the environment? These tax-free public transportation vouchers help encourage employees to reduce car use.
Sunset Scavenger Business Recycling and Composting It's free to recycle and compost your waste in SF! This site provides all the info you need to start reducing your landfill waste. Your compost even helps grow local wine! This program is especially great for restaurants that produce high levels of food waste.
Neighborhood Revitalization Programs San Francisco operates revitalization programs in many neighborhoods, working with local businesses to provide opportunities, business support and funding.
Small Business, Green Business The SF Small Business Commission's list of green business resources and a few additional programs.
The above links should give you plenty of food for thought. As you can see there are tons of resources at your disposal, and most are easy to act on. I hope you'll join me and the hundreds of other local businesses who've decided to incorporate sustainability into our bottom line! And in the interest of pooling our collective intelligence, I'd love to hear your own success stories, challenges, or other resources you've found helpful.
Yes, I am a dork. But I have a deep love of limericks for no good reason, other than that I am a dork. Thanks to Coudal, I now have a huge (though sometimes hit-or-miss) repository to distract myself with.
Famous books rewritten as limericks: Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy In PJs, no planet, oh poo! What is the last earthman to do? In despair with no tea, he's now forced to flee as his brain now explains 42 ---
(Comma tick ampersand hash, Dollar at pipe plus dot dash. Eight sev'n six five four, Quote star underscore, Question mark semi-colon bang MASH.) ---
A woman in liquor production Owns a still of exquisite construction. The alcohol boils Through magnetic coils. She says that it's "proof by induction."
Yeah, yeah, yeah. No comments from the peanut gallery!
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!
If you think charts and graphs are sexy like I do, download this booklet immediately. And if you think charts and graphs are evil necessities that you must use in the execution of your social justice campaign, public messaging plan, marketing strategy or whatever you need to call it, download this booklet immediately.
Click above image to download the PDF booklet.
"Visualizing Information: An Introduction to Information Design is a booklet...designed to introduce advocacy organizations to basic principles and techniques of information design. It’s full of examples of interesting design from groups around the world in a variety of media and forms. It has tips, excercises, and even recommended Free Software packages to help polish up your graphics."
For only 25 free pages of text and graphics, this little publication packs a wallop. It's good to see something along the lines of Edward Tufte become a bit more approachable and digestible. Big ups to John Emerson and his contributors for sharing their skills.
As it turns out, there are some essential commonalities to the selections:
White space rules: With text-heavy presentations, it becomes necessary to give the eye room to move and absorb all it's taking in. White space not only helps relieve the eye, but leads it across the page and can even build hierarchy.
Strong graphic placement: The most successful examples in this collection treat each graphic as part of a larger whole, rather than slapping images into the layout willy-nilly.
Heavy reliance on grids: It shouldn't surprise anyone that a well-designed grid will keep elements properly proportioned, related, and ordered.
These elements help guide the reader through the meaning of each individual article, while creating an organic movement through the entire newspaper. It's a nice collection.
If you participated in the Freelance Switch 2007 Freelance Survey, then you've already got your copy. If you didn't, then you might want to go purchase one. Why? Because it's got some eye-popping stats from 3,700 creative freelancers throughout the world that could teach you a thing or two about how you run your business.
A few interesting results and their implications:
Result: "The amount of billable hours a freelancer is accumulating accounts for a large percentage of their overall happiness. This is in stark comparison to hourly rates and net income which have no significant impact on a freelancer’s overall happiness."
My take: When you only charge $30-$40/hour on average (the most common rate range across multiple industries), you have to work more billable hours. It's no wonder, then, that the apparent business is what makes these freelancers happier, as opposed to their low hourly rate or their overall income, which will inevitably be lower thanks to their rate. If they were to raise their rates, thereby increasing their income, perhaps they would then respond that their rates or income influence their happiness. I can't help thinking that this boils down to a crisis of confidence.
Result: "This survey suggests that the following activities have no noticeable impact on your income:
Your age or your gender Your experience Where you live The marketing techniques you use (emphasis added) The additional goods and services your offer.
This leads me to the only remaining possible conclusion – it’s all about the skills...I don’t think it would be bad advice to suggest that if your income isn’t what you think it should be or need it to be, it might be time to upgrade your skills and worry less about marketing and diversifying."
My take: I'm not sure I'd agree with the above conclusion based on the actual question asked: "Where do you find work?" Such a question does not measure the efficacy of one's work-finding techniques (which include referrals, portfolio website, internet job sites, social networking sites, blogs, cold calling, and advertising). It simply measures which techniques freelancers are using. If you don't do any cold calling, for example, you won't get any work from it. This is a major flaw in the analysis, as it sends the message that referrals are the only method freelancers should rely on to find new clients. While I know several freelancers who have been successful over the years relying primarily on referrals, I'm not sure how much job security it actually offers.
Overall, the survey is a fascinating collection of data about a business lifestyle that we generally don't get much data on. It's great to see these numbers, particularly with such a large sample size. And while I'd certainly encourage all freelancers to pick up a copy, I'd also strongly suggest thinking critically about what the numbers really mean to you.
I think it looks gorgeous! And of course, the green ink is the perfect touch. If you'd like to have your own rubber stamp like the one above made, you can download the artwork for free and follow the instructions.
Thanks to everyone who's left comments, and don't forget to spread the word!
I knew the hospitality industry was a taking a turn for the better when I was asked to write a training program for Omni Hotels'Art of Breakfast initiative last year (the training taught Omni's employees about their new organic food selection and sustainable suppliers). Given how far the industry has to go when it comes to sustainability, it's reassuring to see the increased attention hotels and restaurants are giving to green issues. With so much room for improvement, I have no doubt the trend will continue.
Food & Beverage Hospitality isn't the only area focusing on these issues, though. F&B manufacturers continue to move toward organic ingredients (for all the labeling controversy that stirs up), and event planners work towards offering more sustainable options and reducing their own environmental impact. The San Francisco Chronicle discusses the rising organic food trend, which seems to be driven largely by consumer demand. Manufacturers keep turning out more organic options, like Square One Organic Vodka, as well as making sustainability a corporate priority.
Overall, the outlook is good and benefits continue to flow in. Over the weeks ahead, I'll be providing some practical solutions for hotels and restaurants who are interested in greening up their operations.
If it weren't for teachers, this country would be seriously screwed.
"Radical Math Teachers are educators who work to integrate issues of economic and social justice into our math classes, and we seek to inspire and support other educators to do the same.
We believe that math literacy is a civil right, and that our nation's failure to provide students, especially low-income youth of color, with a high-quality math education, is a terrible injustice...
We encourage our students to ask the question: 'What are the problems that my community is facing, and how can I use math to understand and help solve them?'"
"Under a pilot program included in the energy bill signed into law last month, the Small Business Administration (SBA) will offer low-cost loans for small to medium enterprises (SMEs) that want to improve their energy and fuel use."
"It takes time away from activities that you're already good at, and takes you away from growing your business. When you went into business for yourself, was it because you wanted to learn HTML, SEO or logo design? Unless your business is graphic or web design, the answer is most likely no. Forcing yourself into a situation where you are doing all of the marketing, logo design, etc. for your business not only takes your valuable time away from your business, it forces you to do a lot more work with a lot less results than if you had found the right designer to partner with on your materials."
DIY seems to have a stranglehold on popular culture right now. But when you get down to the real nitty-gritty, business success relies on knowing when to get your hands dirty and when to invest in professional expertise. We're all on a budget, but if you're not willing to invest in your own business, how can you possibly expect your customers to?
Trying to find the perfect marketing resolution for 2008? Try any of the ideas below to strengthen and grow your business through the coming year. Some of these ideas are simple to implement, while others may require investing a bit of effort and even money. But investment is all about ROI; everything on this list offers at least one significant benefit for organizations of any size.
Words of warning! Not all of these techniques may be right for your business, and almost all of them will be far more effective if you hire the right professional to help. And while that may sound like just a little bit of a pitch, it's also very true.
Brand Builders:
Create or update your logo Benefit: Creates an immediate visual connection with prospects and customers. Sums you up at a glance.
Create or update your identity collateral Benefit: Sends the message that you're a legitimate, professional business. Unifies your brand image.
Define your core values Benefit: Focuses your business, aids in decision making and strategic planning, and provides customers a point of connection.
Write a blog Benefit: Develops a consistent voice for your company.
Issue a press release Benefit: Enhances reputation, increases company exposure to the public.
Update your packaging Benefit: Creates a cohesive look and association with your company. Can also increase sales.
Create a marketing budget and feed that kitty Benefit: Enables you to actually afford to market your business, saves headaches when it comes time to implement your marketing plans.
Relationship Builders
Start an email newsletter Benefit: Keeps your business front-of-mind, educates prospects and customers about your company and offerings, opens the lines of communication between your business and your audience.
Network off-line Benefit: Creates real-world connections with prospects.
Network online (in forums, user groups, and on blogs) Benefit: Increases public awareness. Builds online connections and resources.
Conduct a survey with a prize drawing Benefit: Opens the lines of communication with your audience, solicits useful information for strategic planning, builds goodwill.
Offer something useful (product sample, e-book, white paper, etc.) for free Benefit: Builds goodwill, creates demand, engages prospects.
Write your policies down—all of them (if you don't have specific policies, create them) Benefit: Minimizes mistakes, creates a clear framework for customers to work within.
Sales Builders
Build/update your website Benefit: Too many to list! Strengthens reputation, builds legitimacy, informs prospects, offers customer support, increases sales (particularly with shopping cart functionality).
Conduct a highly targeted direct mail campaign Benefit: Reaches only those who are prequalified to buy from you.
Exhibit at a trade show Benefit: Puts you in direct contact with those who want your product or service; personalizes the business.
Solicit referrals from current customers Benefit: Leverages your current customers, automatically establishes trust with prospects.
Explore a new demographic Benefit: Expands your market reach.
Run a print ad in a consumer or trade publication Benefit: Reach a large audience in one shot.
Design an easy-to-use product catalog or service brochure Benefit: Informs prospects and encourages direct sales.
Do you have ideas of your own that can be added to this list? Post them in the comments below and I'll add them as they come.
If you're considering donating to charity—whether anonymously, in your own name, or as a gift in another's name—you may want to make sure they're legitimate first.
The American Institute of Philanthropy's Charity Watch rates hundreds of charities, so give them a visit before donating to make sure your money is going where it's supposed to.
Taste is an interesting thing: most of what we taste is actually smell. Every food produces different molecules, known as esters, that interact with the nerves in our nose (Those hairs up there? They have nerves!), causing us to perceive different smells and tastes.
On top of that, the taste receptors on our tongue also help out; there's lots of crazy little scientific experiments going on inside your mouth at any given time. So without further ado, I give you a few examples of how these smells and tastes have been classified depending on what it is you put in your mouth.
At the risk of sounding like a screaming conspiracy theorist...
Held at the New York Public Library, Here We Go Again: Orwell Comes to America was a recent conference focusing on propaganda in today's America—right here, right now—and how it hogties our public freedoms.
Another riveting lecture (no, seriously), is Naomi Wolf's discussion of American fascism and our current administration's echoes of previous dictatorships. It's quite well-reasoned and frighteningly enlightening. Instead of watching the latest episode of Lost or 24, watch this:
Check out Freelance Switch if you happen to work for yourself. It's a consistently solid resource in a world of blah advice sites.
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).
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.
Just found a great blog called Fulminate, which focuses on design intended to change user behavior. This is such a cool world to explore, and is relevant on so many levels, across so many industries.
As a company, how we deliver our message to customers, or the world at large, matters. If we want to increase sales, for example, the message delivery mechanism (a print ad, a website, an e-newsletter) must be designed to influence behavior.
If we want to educate people, we need to design a message delivery system that engages the recipient, and encourages information retention. I'm struggling with this particular challenge right now, as I try to balance how much information to include in a training program for a client. I need to provide enough information to make it useful (providing context, applying the information to the reader's own personal life, etc.), but I don't want to provide so much information that it overwhelms their ability to hold it all in their head at once.
Fulminate explores the various methods designers might use to influence us and make us do (or not do) particular things. Wicked cool.
If you're a retailer who ships your products in reused or recycled packaging, then this one's for you. A fellow member of the Co-op America Business Network recently asked about rubber stamp art that they could use to inform their customers about their packaging materials.
I whipped up this template you can use to get your own custom rubber stamp made for this purpose.
The following artwork should be acceptable for most stamp makers (the line widths in this image should meet minimum requirements of 2 mm), but if your stamp maker feels the line thickness is not big enough, contact me and I'll see what I can do. Also, note which file format your printer requires and select the appropriate one (if neither will work for you, again let me know and I'll see what I can do).
Instructions for 300 dpi jpeg: 1. Click on the image below (it'll open in a new window). 2. Right-click (PC) or control-click (Mac) on the larger image and choose "Save Image As." 3. Send image to your local rubber stamp maker via ftp or email. 4. Stamp away!
Instructions for 600 dpi tiff: 1. Click on the image below (it should start downloading to your default downloads folder immediately). 2. Send image to your local rubber stamp maker via ftp or email. 3. Stamp away!
Yeah, I missed International Talk Like a Pirate Day; guess I better walk the plank. I remember the good old days, I do, when I could tell my joke about the latest pirate flick (it's rated arrrrr) without everyone acting like I was sooo last season (year?). But in posthumous (belated?) honor of the holiday, I give you:
That's a postcard from 826 Valencia, the San Francisco writing center that helps teach kids how to play with the written word. The center is fronted by a pirate supply shop that offers such fundamental pirate accoutrements as glass eyeballs. If you don't believe me that this is one of the coolest projects ever, maybe you'll listen to David Byrne, who says it's "one of the top five pirate stores I've been to recently."
As promised, I've created an Articles section in the Roughstock Library. Check out the latest addition: Killing Off Five Design Myths, which should help anyone looking to hire a graphic designer or already working with one.
Eventually, this section will include reference articles focusing on general business practices, marketing and branding, graphic design, copywriting and other useful topics. Feel free to suggest additional ideas.
The June issue of the Roundup is now available! To get your free subscription to the Roundup, which features monthly marketing tips, studio news and a smattering of links to new and unusual ideas, just fill out this brief form (or use the form to your left under "The Newsletter").
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