I find it very interesting that some companies will brand themselves by the product they produce or service they provide and another company that does the exact same thing will brand themselves by the problems they solve or even long standing  industry terms.

Take our company for example.  We provide design and development services in the realm or web, print, photography and podcasts. You will have advertising agencies that provide the exact same services, you have other companies who say they are “marketing” companies also provide the exact same services. What gives?

It’s true that a bulk of the work we do is web design and web development, especially e-commerce and content management. It’s where we started and and it’s not big secret that it’s one of the easiest businesses to get into because of the low cost of entry. It’s probably one reason we have so much local competition within that realm. In the mid to late 90’s web design was the cutting edge technology and to a large degree it was an experiment in the early days when most people were on dial up and the design specs were restricted to the limitations of the technology at the time. We do consider our web work as a “hub service.” Whenever possible we want our print products to lead people to our clients web site, Podcasts which take on a “life” beyond the a web site definitely call the clients web site home and a majority of the photography work we provide is optimized for the web as a way to effectively tell a story.

If you are looking for a company to design a web site ask if they provide other media marketing services as well/ You may be surprised that they do! If they only specialize in web design what is their mindset in regards to integrated media and consistent branding? Of course we are not talking against other companies who call themselves web design firms, marketing firms or advertising agencies but we do want to make it clear the we provide many of the same services they do but our niches and clientele may be different.

What are your perceptions who you hear the terms, graphic designer, marketing firm, ad agency, web designer, creative professional, etc?  Is it confusing to you?  Do many tend to do the same things from your perspective? Have the industry names not caught up with technology and skill sets of the work force?

What can we do to better communicate SpinningSilk Multimedia doesn’t “fix computers” and how can we make it clearer that we provide more services than web design as some people we have talked with are so easy to latch on to in conversation?

Does your business have a marketing plan? Planning is programming or rather mapping out the steps needed in the program.  In addition to computer programs you often hear special events or a method of doing something called “a program.” The marketing aspect of a business is where a lot of businesses fail and the reason is they don’t have a plan that is suited to their business.  of course the same can be said about any aspect of business but a business succeeds by making sales and thus generating income and that can’t be done without getting the word out to those who will buy a product or service.

A large business may have the resources to dedicate to a marketing department or even a bigger budget to try out different marketing methods but they also have a marketing plan because more than likely that wouldn’t have gotten to be a “larger business”  It’s crucial that a small business develop one early on to save a lot of heartache and/or lost money because of trying things out in hopes of getting a return.

In a previous article I mentioned how apparently simple projects like a basic web site or logo can take a long time and become complicated if proper planning is not taken into consideration. I would rather work with a client who has a maketing plan instead of reacting to the latest fads or what their competition is doing.  While a new technology or method the competition is using may work their is not guarantee it will be the best course of action for your business. An article at
entrepreneur.com  about marketing plans compared a business venture without a plan to a sailing vessel without a course charted.

In the series ahead I will talk about various forms of marketing. Some of them may be appropriate to your business situation but all are worth learning. SpinningSilk Multimedia is here to help you turn a marketing plan into a reality through various forms of media with compelling content that engages customers and generates sales.  Want to learn more about marketing plans?  A couple of good online resources are the Marketing Plan entry at Wikipedia.com and the How Marketing Plans Work article at Howstuffworks.com.  You also may want to invest your time and resources with a marketing mentor.  A fellow business person and marketing expert in Greenville, SC is Gil Gerretsen who runs Biztrek. A company that trains small business super stars.  I attended one of his 12 Triggers seminars yesterday and the advice and education was wonderful. I advise any small business owner to look into opportunities to connect, network and buy into the services of an expert in the field of marketing.

If we are meeting you as a potential client for the first time we can’t stress enough the value of spending time at the beginning of the process to discuss your goals, why you want to use our services and products and  how that fits in with your overall marketing plan.

Often the most simple looking product or image can be a very complicated undertaking. The fact that something looks like an easy task or has minimal elements can be very deceptive and cause a lot of misunderstandings.

People are often shocked when they discover the price some companies charge for a logo or web site when they are other tools or services that “create” a logo or basic web site for “next to nothing”. What causes this confusion? Usually people will see a web site or logo and they know that they are tools to quickly put something together but what is often not understood is the time it takes to get it right. It’s not about the web or graphic designers skills or the tools they have but rather their time and approach to getting to know the client and their company brand and translating that into a logo, web site, print project or portable media that clearly communicates the companies mission and makes interaction with the public easy.

The only exception to this is if a company is recreating or optimizing something already in existence like when we covert a low resolution graphic into a high resolution vector graphic or edit some text. Creating something new that is a quality work takes time.  The time can be a concentrated at the beginning of the process or constantly over time until it is right.

Our goal is to communicate with our customers as much as possible at the beginning. It may take several meetings or a longer meeting at the beginning but in the long run time will be saved when it comes to getting it right. A designer can be the most creative person on the planet but unless they know you and your company, what you think would be an easy project could be more complicated that it needs to be.

Any project, be it cooking dinner, writing an article, or creating a creative marketing piece can take longer than expected if preparation is not taken into account.  If you tell your designer to “just be creative, I know you’ll come up with something good.” You’ll be in for a long drawn out process.  Communicate who you are clearly, have any content like articles, company info, photos and other previous images available. If you’re a designer be prepared with a list of comprehensive questions and requirements that will draw out the information you need. Have you experienced a project that has taken longer than expected or been surprised at how some simple preparation has saved a lot of time?

Ever now and then something finally clicks. For quite some time I have been thinking about the term, innovation as it seems to be one of the big buzzwords going around in the business world. At the same time I have also been extremely bothered by the the lack of commitment to optimization in the areas of design, programming and media in general. The term optimization doesn’t sound very exciting but when you are talking about true innovation it’s my opinion that it’s all about optimization instead of change for the sake of change.  In the world of sports and in particular, racing it’s about optimization, how the engine can be fine tuned, how much weight can be removed, etc.

Why do we seek innovation? We seek innovation to make our lives and business more productive. A bigger bang for the buck if you will. One of my companies products is web site design and often I hear the phrase from potential customers, “We need to redesign our web site.” That may be true but if your desire for a new or redesigned web site is to just look cool then I recommend you take a little more time to think about the reason for the change. Obviously a site should be considered for redesign if;

• It need a way for content creators to add new information to the site
• Update security
• Usability issues (are people have a hard time navigating your site, etc?)
• Optimizing images - (I see way too many sites created with “cookie-cutter” programs that don’t optimize the images for faster downloads, etc.
• Search engine optimization
• Consistent branding - does your web site match your companies or organizations other marketing materials?

If you are going to get your site redesigned I would definitely talk to you about the above topics as well.
This post was targeted to web site design but I could probably name just about any other product line or service. Can you share some examples of products or services that have changed but didn’t really optimize and thus were truly innovative even though it was marketed as “New and Improved”? I’m a little tired of hear innovation as a buzzword for “new stuff” but rarely is the conversation mentioning how products and services can be optimized. What’s your take?

I recently saw that someone did a web search for “Greenville, SC Bumper Stickers” that lead them to our web site. Bumper stickers are one of the products we will produce for our clients to help get the word out about their business in a very passive way.  I’m not sure if the searcher was looking for Bumper stickers to promote the town or bumper stickers that are produced in here but we can do both regardless.

Advertising on vehicles by bumper stickers, magnetic or vinyl sign is a very effective and passive way to let others know about your service as you drive around town, visit job sites and even go outside your local market on trips.

I tell people we provide web, print and portable media solutions for small businesses and organizations and this recent web search reminded me that I need do a better job of communicating that we can produce products like bumper stickers, magnetic, vinyl and other signs.  Also while podcasting is considered  “portable media” I will have to point out that vehicle advertising is very effective means of “portable marketing.”

I can’t even begin to count the number of business cars and trucks I see with logos, business addresses and hard to remember phone numbers yet an easy to remember web address is often left off!  Are you a current customer of SpinningSilk Multimedia?  We can work with you to get a clear marketing message on your vehicle.  Do you have a product or service that other people would want to advertise your product or company?  I know a lot of churches and church members would love the opportunity to promote a church and church web site via vehicle marketing.