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!

From time to time I would like to share a book review as a potential resource for fellow entrepreneurs and business people. A good many of my readers are entrepreneurs and business people and in particular those in small startups.

2007 has been a breakthrough year for SpinningSilk Multimedia. We have gone from being a sole proprietorship run soley by my wife and myself. We started as a part-time venture and when “life happened” when both knew our best choice was to go into business for ourselves full-time. This year we have changed our business type to and LLC, hired our first employee and have an office outside of our home in downtown Greenville,SC.

The both of us are love what we do any have a heart for web development, print design, photography and other forms of multimedia that help fellow business people get the word out about what they do to current and potential clients. That being said we have a lot of competition in our local market. Part of the surge in competition comes from the fact our kind of work has pretty minimal start up costs and Greenville is a hot spot in South Carolina for creative people considering we are close to quite a few universities and tech school that specialize in technology. We also face competition from very large advertising and marketing firms that have a lot more capital than we do to hire many employees and invest in top notch equipment.

Considering the competition in our market and elsewhere it crucial that we explore what makes us unique and how we can niche in certain technologies and creative endeavors. One book that had helped me think harder about my competition is Competition Demystified by Bruce Greenwald and Judd Kahn. The book covers different aspects of competitive advantages, assessing competitive advantages, niche advantages and the Dilemma of Growth, etc. Neither me nor my company are the kind to want to beat another company by doing the same thing they do. I’d rather compete on being unique and serving a special segment of the market. I’d rather work with what is our perceived competition that to drive them out of business. If you are in business and struggle with keeping up with your competition I encourage you to read Competition Demystified. When you consider and work on making your business special and remarkable you will be easier to remember in advertising, marketing, networking and you and your employees will have a special pride knowing you are doing something special.

Technorati Tags: book reviews, branding, clients, culture, focus, innovation, listening, marketing, networking, new media, competition, simplicity, success

I normally don’t like to review or promote a book before I read it but it seems I am being exposed more and more to authors and their ideas before the books are being released and I’m already being sold on the books before they hit the store or library shelfs. I was reading Joe Wikert’s Publishing 2020 Blog and he brought to my attention Scott Berkun’s new book called, The Myths of Innovation. As someone who wants to call himself, “Captain Innovation” I feel I need to check out this book and what the author is saying. Thankfully Amazon.com has a a video of the author giving a lecture on the subject itself and needless to say the innovation of Amazon using the video on their web is going to help sell the book. I encourage other business people like myself to check it out.

Technorati Tags: business, creativity, innovation, thinking

Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend the monthly GSATC luncheon and got to listen to a fascinating speaker, Doug Hubbard who is coming out with a book titled, “How to Measure Anything“. Doug is basing his book on years of working with top companies and government agencies. As a small business I find this discipline crucial in that each decision is vital to the health of the company and our employees and the clients we seek to serve and help grow as well. SpinningSilk Multimedia is committed to helping our customers succeed with proven methods. Our goal in design is not to look cool or pretty for the sake of that alone but to achieve a balance in that area because people will want to interact in a user friendly and pleasing environment.

I’m looking forward to his book when it comes out and exploring how we can better measure the effectiveness of different designs, colors and which forms of media work best in certain situations. The presentation I attended was right up my alley so to speak. I am known as a “big picture” person who is also know for being a stickler for organization. I guess you can say I’m fascinated by the science and order of design and how design concepts affect people’s thinking.

Technorati Tags: book reviews, measurement, success

Heather and I had a wonderful day yesterday at the Creativity Immersion Day at the Clemson University Madren Conference Center. We arrived early to enjoy a generous continental breakfast (it was more than toast and coffee - much more) and after mingling with the organizers and fellow participants we began a day of creative exercises, talks and discussions.

In addition to some helpful handouts and creative toys we were given three great books that help the business person focus on creative thinking in order to generate innovative solutions from increasing employee morale to designing new products and services. The three books, Thinkertoys, Six Thinking Hats and Orbiting the Giant Hairball were given to participants.

I have participated in corporate “team building” exercises but yesterday’s event confirmed what I have been learning from experience in regards to creativity. It’s not as much about generating different or unusual tools, ideas, pieces of art but rather looking at situations and yourself from perspectives you have not looked at before because you have settled into a way of doing things.

During lunch we paired up with two students and ate together. Heather and I intentionally set ourselves apart into different groups to get more out of the day and to be exposed to different ideas.

We did one exercise each from Thinkertoys (Yes, I’m spelling that correctly) and one from Six Thinking Hats. The exercise from Thinkertoys was to redesign the umbrella by first listing our assumptions, challenging those assumptions and reversing those assumptions to create a new product. I was amazed at how many assumptions we hold in regards to not only everyday items but to our daily habits.

The next major project we did was approach a workplace problem. We set about using the Six Thinking Hats method and explored new ways to design an office space.

We didn’t get a chance to work directly with the book, Orbiting the Giant Hairball but our final learning session did center on challenging conventional thinking and ways to approach problems and assumptions with small sessions with presentations on the TRIZ principal, creative visualization and the role of self-concept in creative performance.

At the end of the day we had some refreshments and gathered to discuss what’s next. We looked at setting up a web site or forum to continue our meeting and creative discoveries. On the way home I took a more creative route home. Instead of going down I-85 or Highway 123 I decided to take the back roads going through Six Mile, Central, Norris, Liberty, Pickens and finally arriving back in the Berea area of Greenville county.

A lot of these exercises and books are going to help us serve our clients better by asking better questions and is giving me better ideas for a special innovative project I am working on.

Technorati Tags: art, book reviews, creativity, networking, organization, university, writing