The past couple of days have been fantastic days of growth and the feeling of a turning point in the history of our company.  We’ve been getting more and more calls for current clients to take on new web design projects, an upswell in photography assignments from clients has been encouraging and we are making big plans for a greater focus on podcasting aspect of our company. Last night I attended an excellent webinar hosting by Cliff Ravenscraft of gspn.tv where I learned many of the aspects of podcasting that will help us streamline and bring better service to our clients. As a result of attending the webinar I spent a good part of the morning testing out some audio editing programs and as a result I’m looking at getting a piece of software I don’t currently own, Sound Studio 3.  More than likely I will take advantage of the MacUpdate Promotion which not only includes a copy of Sound Studio but also several other pieces of software that will be interesting to try out including a copy of Parallels so we can run Windows on one our our Mac laptops that currently aren’t running a copy of Windows.

Tonight I plan on doing further work on the web site I mentioned in a previous post. The task will probably take several days as I work on it between client projects so please be patient as some things will be renamed and moved around in the following days. I want to close by saying I appreciate all of those who have thought of us for their small business marketing needs such as web site design and development, custom photography, small print jobs and online media distribution like podcasts, etc.

We have been going through some reorganization and refinements in our company. Technically we’re not doing anything different in terms of the services and products we’re offering but we are changing the way we communicate who we are and what we do.

If you look at our menu on this web site you will notice some wording of  categories and terms has changed.  “Internet” has been changed to “web” and while we are still exploring and optimizing web sites for portable devices we are making podcasting our singular focus within the realm of portable media. Our photography services will also be displayed more prominently.

Another area of clarification is we will start using the word, “market” instead of “share” to better focus on the fact we are helping our clients market their business, organization or personal brand. We are still in the process or making these changes but thanks to valuable feedback we have gotten from clients, business partners, friends and family we are making a step in the right direction to bring greater clarity to communicating the products and services we provide. We will be going over this site in the days ahead according to the same work flow procedure we provide our clients.  In addition expect to see news about our parent company, SpinningSilk, LLC in the days ahead. Exciting days are ahead.

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?

We  have been working on coming up with a very short slogan that distills our company’s mission and brand into a memorable statement.  After many meetings and going back and forth with various ideas we are pleased to present, “Innovative Media in Harmony” as our official company mantra.

Nothing beats listening to a group of singers or instruments who join together to form a unified sound. While the bulk of our work involves web design our commitment is to integrated marketing solutions that communicate a consistent brand across multiple form of media from web sites, print products like business cards, signs, newsletter, a logo as well as optimizing and developing compelling content for portable devices.

You may have noticed that we talk about innovation a lot. Innovation is not only about new technologies it involves discovering more efficient ways to do things, the way a message is presented and how it’s distributed to the intended audience.  Look for this mantra in more and more places in the days ahead.

We have already covered the topic of branding in a previous series but without rehashing too much it’s important to consider how branding fits into your overall marketing plan. The more I read about branding the more I realize it’s an everyday strategy, not just part of a campaign.  Yes, It’s important to have a “brand awareness” campaign or to have those times when you need to refocus on your who you are, not only as a company but also a person and representative of that company.

Is your brand consistent across all your marketing efforts?  I’ve mentioned before the importance of business blogging and involvement in social media as Internet tools for spreading your message. Sometime blatant but more often subtle.  Are you aware of your branding efforts in virtual and live networking events? Is your logo just an obligatory mark or does it tell a story?