Ok, technically our company has not been around since 1801 but something that happened in 1801 that influenced many aspects of our business and maybe even the economic development of the area we live and work in. One of my favorite series of documentaries growing up was Connections hosted by James Burke and this tale of how an innovation in the early days of the 19th Century basically made us who we are today.

Jacquard’s Web by James Essinger tells the story how a hand loom led to the birth of the information age. The book covers a lot more than just one man’s attempt to automate the fine art of spinning silk but also chronicles the birth of the information age in a time you may not have thought any serious computing was going on. No, it wasn’t electronic computing as we know it with circuit boards and wires but this was a time when computer programming was born. On the left you will see a photo of the Jacquard loom with the early 19th century punch cards that made the automation of spinning intricate designs possible.

This is fascinating to me as a Greenvillian because at one time Greenville,SC was known as the textile capital of the world. A place where a lot of “computer programming” was going on and most people did not even realize it. I’m proud that our company name is somewhat inspired by this innovation that occurred over two centuries ago. This area of the United States is not only home to many web developers but we are a budding center of innovation and technology. I’m thankful we have a great networking and educational group like the GSATC to provides many opportunities to network and learn from other technology professionals and innovators. While textiles is not the prominent business in the Upstate that it once was you will discover that Greenville is even more of a technology center with such companies as BMW and Michelin as well as centers like ICAR.

If you are the least bit interested in either the history of computing, textile or innovation I encourage you to read Jacquard’ Web. What are some surprising things you have learned about your industry? What lessons of innovation and inspiration can you glen from the historical ties to what you are doing today?

If you are reading this blog you may have noticed two new ads in the sidebar on the right side of the page you are reading. In the past 30 minutes I received notification via my RSS reader that both 37 Signals and Buzzoodle Marketing were starting affiliate programs. Affiliate programs are a means of being financially rewards for recommending products and services of third parties. First and foremost we are in the business of creating our own products and services for our clients however they are other products out their that we highly recommend as we have also used them to grow our own business.

You can find a variety of products that will help you effectively market your business through what is known as “Buzz Marketing” and Employee Evangelism through the Buzzoodle Buzz Marketing Catalog. We highly recommend the Buzzoodle Buzz Marketing book for starters as we own it ourselves and is a great resource. I want to thank Buzzoodle’s founder, Ron McDaniel for calling me as I the first person to sign up for his affiliate program. That was some excellent “Buzz” Ron!

Another set of online tools we use extensively is the products by 37 Signals. We use Basecamp to manage our projects from web sites to print product projects as well as our audio and video projects. We use Highrise as our online contact management program to keep track of clients, leads and other people connected to our company. The third 37 signals product we recommend you check out and consider using for your business is Backpack which is for sharing calendars, to-do lists, etc. It’s important to have these tools available online as we have access while traveling and are not tied down to any one computer. We recommended that 37 Signals provide the opportunity for an affiliate program a while back and are really excited to see it become a reality.

Of course we still recommend you bookmark and checkout our Amazon Store which has a listing of books, software and other products we feel would make a positive impact on your business and life.

In my last post I mentioned we provide and produce and multitude of products to help you market your business however their is one that we can’t help you with, at least not on the deepest level. What product is that? Your internal marketing. Some call it buzz marketing, it can be very crucial to generating good word of mouth. What is your vision for your company? Are you excited to the point you are continually learning and telling others how great your product or service is? Did you know your employees can be your best sales people even if they are not official sales people? Do they have a reason to talk about how good your company is when you are not there? In past jobs where I worked for others the following got me excited about my work and who I worked for;

• Recognition and use of my creative thinking
• Remembering my birthday
• Respect for my family life
• A space I could call my own be it a literal work space or area of responsibility
• Promoting good health through prevention programs

Some things that encouraged me to complain or give bad buzz about other companies I worked for included;

• No respect for the chain of command (In one job I had 4 bosses and each wanted it done their way - I quit after a month)
• Being “micro-managed” - This caused me to make more mistakes than the desired opposite
• Not having my loyalty to the company appreciated
• “Good ol’ boy” or Nepotism practices - This leads to a “why bother” attitude among everybody else

How are you recognizing your entire work force? Are you providing an environment where they will want to talk positively about your company when they are in public? Imagine they are out with friends or family at a local restaurant what would people nearby hear about your company or organization? We can’t change the atompshere or polices within your company but what tools could we provide that would honor your employee’s skills and encourage postive communication? I encourage you to look into and buy some books related to what is known as buzz marketing. One resource is Buzzoddle Buzz Marketing when it comes to putting into practice low or no-cost marketing techniques everyone in the organization can employ . Also the book, Brand from the Inside is worth taking a look at. Can you name some marketing tools that have encouraged you to promote your own company or want to give good buzz to other ones you were pleased with?

We have received the comment more than once that we do a lot of different things and people have commented that we appear to be a “jack of all trades”. That not quite true. Our name is SpinningSilk Multimedia and we do employ different form of media to help our clients get the word out about their products and services but we have definitely boundaries.

I remember as a child I would visit the home of an aunt and uncle and across the street a man had a sign in his yard the advertising Tax Preparation and Lawn Mower repair. To this day that sticks in my mind as one of the oddest combination of business services I have seen. Maybe the guy was very skilled at both lawn mower repair and tax preparation but advertised together it looked very odd and naturally I would have a hard time trusting the same person who repairs my lawn mower with also preparing my taxes for the simple fact they are two very diverse disciplines. This doesn’t mean a person can’t be good at two completely different things but they should certainly advertise them separately if nothing more than on two separate signs.

I have to admit however when we first started out business we verged on doing exactly what the guy who did taxes and fixed lawn mowers although not at those extremes. Originally we did everything through the SpinningSilk.com domain and promotes two different things; web site design and piano and voice lessons. We were just starting out and both services were very part time but since we have gone full-time in the past few years we split up our business into three active divisions; SpinningSilk Multimedia which is our core business featuring web, print, photography and other business marketing tools, SpinningSilk I.T. - covers the more technical end of our business however most of the business through that is outsourced or residual income through selling service. It’s technically not a lot of stuff we “do” in the sense we don’t provide services where we will fix your computer or come to your place or business but we are working with other contractors in the area who we feel provide the best service in the arena. Finally my wife who was a music education major/graduate from Furman University teaches piano and voice lesson as well is available for performing at events. You can find out about those services through SpinningSilk Music.com .

For the sake of argument, why would someone come to this web site and think we were a “jack of all trades?” The services we offer on this web site include, web design, print design, photography and podcasting. It does sound diverse but in reality it isn’t. Web design alone is all about being multi-disciplined, that is if it’s done right. A web design should know about back end programming of web development, graphic design, SEO, usability, e-commerce as well as various forms of visual and audio media. It’s just a fact of life. Maybe designing print documents vs. web documents looks very diverse and at one time it would have been but with software like Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign those skill barriers have narrowed. The important thing is knowing what is media needs in terms of graphic quality, fonts, document dimensions, etc.

Are we a jack of all trades? In the area of media production we provide a lot in terms of our services but we definitely are disciplined in “all trades.” Here is a very short list of things we don’t do in terms starting with things people think we do but don’t;

• Repair computers
• Fix printers
• Setup Quicken finance software
• repair lawn mowers
• prepare taxes
• Windows (neither the kind on your building or the operating system)
• groom pets
• paint your house
• clean viruses of your computer
• mow your lawn
• cut down trees

Their is a reason we offer the services we do and believe it or not that are very connected to each other and conform to our motto, “Harmonious New Media.”

Yesterday I attended the business before hours at the Greenville Commerce Club as a Chamber of Commerce networking event. Their was a significant number of companies represented that you would say are our competitors. Some of the companies in their introductions stated they were specifically “web design” companies, another company said they offered “total marketing solutions” but their solutions included web design, audio visual production which we also provide. In addition they also were quite a few photographers in the room sharing the specialities.

To a point there is almost a fear of our message getting lost in the sea of competitors but I was thankful we had a unique message that stood out. I was thankful that we were given as an example in another companies presentation when our RSS services like blogging and podcasting were mentioned. Yes, being in the same room with competitors can often be nerve racking but if you play it right you can gain from such an event. It was interesting the hear that each company representative gave a unique slant on their business and even playfully played off their competitors.

Among the companies who focused on web or new media in their introduction one focused on custom design, another mentioned search engine optimization and content management and we used our motto, Harmonious New Media to explain how our web services are the center of a hub of services that include podcasting, photography, blogs, business cards, logos, etc. and how we integrate those into a consistent branding strategy.

The photographers present also gave unique slants on their services. One mentioned how did not do wedding but specialized in arial photography while another made the point that he did provide wedding photography services and yet another made a big point to say his company had a full service studio.

What did I learn this event and hearing from competitors in the upstate South Carolina market? I learned that our motto and visual imagery of what we do stuck in the minds of others present based on networking conversations after the breakfast. I learned that we need to mention the marketing services we provide so companies can effective market themselves and achieve greater success. I learned that I need explain the distinctives of our web services like our user friendly content management system and commitment to compelling content which improves search engine results.

I had the chance share my own photography niches but since Heather spoke for our company I remained seated. Next time we will agree that both of us will speak but will give unique presentations on what we do either to break up our one company presentation so it is not as long or the showcase the different marketing services we provide for our clients.

The important thing above all is to listen so you can understand your competition but most importantly yourself. How are you using your listening skills in networking events where you are faced both by competitors as well as potential customers?