I really enjoyed the last series I brought you on design. Another aspect of what SpinningSilk Multimedia does is helping small businesses and organizations with their branding efforts. What we do specifically will be covered in part 10 of this upcoming series. The term branding can sound very intimidating but in reality it can boil down to some very simple principles that a business of any size or individual of any size can follow. I plan on sharing my thoughts on the following topics over the next several days;

1. The Aspects of Branding - Part 1: It begins with the product or service
2. The Aspects of Branding - Part 2: Brand Management
3. The Aspects of Branding - Part 3: Naming, logos and slogans
4. The Aspects of Branding - Part 4: The Myths of Brand Engagement
5. The Aspects of Branding - Part 5: Brand Community
6. The Aspects of Branding - Part 6: Brand Loyalty
7. The Aspects of Branding - Part 7: Small Business Branding
8. The Aspects of Branding - Part 8: Religious and Non-Profit Branding
9. The Aspects of Branding - Part 9: Are you branding yourself?
10. The Aspects of Branding - Part 10: Integrated Marketing Communications
11. The Aspects of Branding - Part 11: Recommended books, blogs and podcasts

I enjoy following other blogs that focus on this topic and look forward to contributing and extending the conversation to you. I look forward to your participation, questions and contributions in this next series.

Beginning January 1st, 2008 we will present a series of articles called, The Aspect of Design. I will share the many aspects of design beyond the obvious topics of graphic and web design and what all the aspects mean and how they fit into our work flow. The more I work in this field and communicate with friends, family and potential clients the more I am aware of the misconceptions as well as the limited view of the different aspects of design. The following is a list of the articles we will be presenting on this blog in the next few days;

• The Aspects of Design - Part 1: Layout & Navigation - probably the aspect of the design that most people associate with design but even with that their is more than meets the eye.
• The Aspects of Design - Part 2: Graphic Design - probably tied with layout and navigation as what design work is perceived as. Even so it’s more that “pretty pictures.”
• The Aspects of Design - Part 3: Photography - Often perceived as easy and all you have to do is “point and shoot” but so much “design work” is needed in the set up and often in post processing.
• The Aspects of Design - Part 4: The right fonts for the job - You would think their wouldn’t be much of an issue in “just displaying words” You will be surprised.
• The Aspects of Design - Part 5: Clean and Documented Code - computer programmers/web developers and not usually thought of as “designers” but learn and share what it means to write, “beautiful code.”
• The Aspects of Design - Part 6: The Design of Content - The content (articles and other textual information) is not often associated with design but come and learn how designing with words is crucial to blogging, Search Engine Optimization, a positive response to various print publications, etc.
• The Aspects of Design - Part 7: Conversation - How can you craft your content, images and questions in such away to foster conversation about your product?
• The Aspects of Design - Part 8: Sound Design - Learn and share the aspects of sound design from clear recordings, music tracks and times of silence
• The Aspects of Design - Part 9: Interactive Design - How can the right design make the difference between total confusion and falling in love with the product?
• The Aspects of Design - Part 10: Preservation - When all is said and done is the creations of communications preserved for future generations and protected from theft?

I look forward to starting off 2008 with this series. It’s a series I have been wanting to do for a while not only to provide information but also to engage in a conversation where we can learn the many dimensions of design beyond the perceived views. I have now finished the series and added a “Part 11.”

At SpinningSilk Multimedia we don’t want to make Meatball Sundaes but we definitely want you to buy and read the book Meatball Sundae by Seth Godin. Does the idea of a “Meatball Sundae” sound unappealing? It should, it represents the merger of two good things that result in a distasteful result. A commodity food item, like meatballs topped with whipped cream and a cherry on the top. The whip cream and cherry representing what has been referred to as “new media marketing.”

In January SpinningSilk Multimedia has been chosen to be a part of a “virtual book tour” which will feature an interview by the author of the book. I’m excited that we have been chosen to be a part of this program. I just finished my copy of the book yesterday and to say I learned a lot is an understatement. I did a lot of underlining and highlighting and will definitely be evaluating our current marketing efforts as well as the services we provide to our clients. It got me to thinking that even though I may be using the tools of new media as the product and services I offer, I often make the mistake of putting gravy on our ice cream by using too many old marketing concepts to promote our new media products.

A big focus and tool of new media marketing is the Internet, not because it’s totally needed but it makes the execution far easier. The difference between the old way of marketing which includes traditional advertising and public relations and new media marketing is the former is all about interrupting and appealing to the masses whereas new marketing is all about appealing to niches and being part of the conversation.

Of course I can’t go into all the details and concepts of this book in this post but I hope to expand on some of the ideas between now and the virtual book tour. I look forward to putting into practice the concepts mentioned in this book into my business model and workflow. The conclusion of the book mentions social change, education, religious movement and product launches that

are spread with passion through a community is far more powerful than any advertisement could be.

We don’t just want to design and develop your web site or print publications we want to build your brand by appealing to the niches you are trying to sell by engaging them in a conversation and enabling them to extend the conversation themselves.

When you buy and read Meatball Sundae Read the whole book, yes even the parts you don’t think you have to read. Let’s just say when you get to the acknowledgements you will want to dig deeper!

As you can probably tell I am making more blog posts in one day that I have in quite a while. I’ll probably be very busy the next several days with holiday activities but as the year winds down I wanted to give a retrospective of what has been going on with SpinningSilk Multimedia over the last year. The title of this post refers to three things that we focused on in 2007 and feel sets us apart from other companies like ours in the Greenville and Upstate South Carolina market. We are known mainly for our web design, web development and small print jobs like business cards and brochures. Essentially marketing and communication services for small businesses and organizations.

We however had opportunities the the realm of photography, using the technology of RSS within our web work and 2007 was the year we became involved is networking with other businesses and made great connections online.

Photography - is certainly nothing new. Of all the “high tech” forms of communication it is one of the oldest going back over a 100 years. What have we done with photography that was unique or were great opportunities? For starters we help our web and print customers develop compelling content. We develop a lot of e-commerce sites and with that we have provided our photography services for products our customers wish to showcase. We have also developed a relationship with a media company from Atlanta, GA auditing billboards for major advertisers. We also developed a great relationship with a local magazine by photographing the individuals profiled each month.

Feeds - What are feeds? By feeds I mean the technology of RSS feeds, also known as news feeds. These special lines are what have made blogs, podcasts and innovative social networks like Twitter and Facebook popular. Not only have we been in the process of optimizing our clients web site to include the RSS option for their site visitors but we have also given presentations to local business networks explaining what a useful tool RSS is for the business person.

Friends - 2007 is also the year we became really active in networking. Yes we were involved with business and special interest groups in the past but 2007 was the year we made it a top priority. Heather and I have both taken leadership positions in a local networking group, Professional Network Connections as well as becoming very active in the Upstate Entrepreneur’s Forum, The Greenville Mac User’s Group as well as other groups and meetings associated with the Greenville, Spartanburg, Anderson Technology Council.

Our prime commitment is still the use of multi forms of cost effective media so our customers can get their message out and tell their story and in turn sell their product or service. The above are aspects and tools we use in web, print and portable media and we hope to carve our special niche in our market by providing expert services our customers are seeking.

At SpinningSilk Multimedia we believe the concept of portable media is going to become more and more important to our clients and their customers or in the case of organizations, people who use their services. People love portability and the ability to accomplish tasks easily on mobile devices but print media is not left out in the cold. Some of the most used “portable media tools” are in the form of print items. The following is a list of things we will be focusing on in 2008 and beyond to make life easier for people when they are out and about;

• More creative and functional business and calling cards
• Podcasts that teach, inspire and sell
• Web sites optimized for the mobile web
• mobile web applications that will allow you to optimize the information you create and distribute
• instructing our clients and other interested parties on how they can use portable devices to create compelling content including photography courses, portable audio recording and effective note taking on the job and when traveling

Portable media devices we will concentrate on will be digital cameras, portable media players like iPods, iPhones, Zunes and other popular media devices. Most important will be the class of devices know as smart phones and small Internet tablets like the iPhone and devices by Nokia, etc.