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?

As time progresses we will look at what we do to make our business and how we market ourselves better based on customer demand and feedback as well as trends in the marketplace. We have changed some broad categories into more focused niches. We are also making the fact that we are about providing marketing services for our clients and are committed to consistent branding more obvious. We used the word, “share” to describe the final part of our 4-step work flow and now we have replaced it with the word, market or marketing. Our new motto of “Harmonious New Media” also reflects this.

We are making our photography service more prominent and instead of covering the broad category of “portable media” with are going to focus on Podcasting as a service. We will continue to explore other areas for future products and services but those will be feature and discussed in a “labs” section to be announced at a later date. You will probably see those innovative explorations at our portal site, SpinningSilk.com . One new service we are offering is an enterprise level/server based e-mail service via MXLogic. You can find what we are offering at our SpinningSilk.com Marketplace.

This is a question we get asked a lot when we encounter people in public and hand out our business cards. When most people think of silk they usually think of clothing items made from the product of a silk worm. Actually when we came up with the name for our business we were combining some new services into with our older business name, Greer Web Design. We didn’t want a name that would restrict us to our family name or web design only so we debated several names and SpinningSilk stuck. Why? Well the majority of the work we did and still continue to do revolves around the World Wide Web, a subset of the Internet. We were not thinking as much about the material silk worms produce for fine textiles but rather the webs spiders construct. Spider silk is extremely thin and lightweight but don’t let that fool you. It is also one of the strongest fibers on the planet. Designing for the web and print works best when you can make files as small as possible while at the same time crafting compelling words and images.

When you hear the term, “Personal Branding” an initial thought may be that it’s all about how you look and come across to people but I was very happy to see a very refreshing post at the Personal Brand Blog on the myth that personal branding is about you. Dan, who write and runs the Personal Branding Blog interviewed Daniel Pink about his new book, “The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You’ll Ever Need.” and one of his favorite quotes from the book is, “You’re here to serve, not to self-actualize.” I love that. What are your thoughts?