I remember when I was growing up seeing a popular commercial for Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. The commercial would usually consist of two people walking along the sides of a tall building and bumping into each other. One people would be eating peanut butter out of a jar and the other one would have a candy bar in his or her hand. Upon collision peanut butter and chocolate would combine and inspire the great taste of chocolate and peanut butter and thus, abet in a mythological way, the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup candy was born.

It’ has often been said the innovation most often occurs in course of collisions. Maybe not the kind where two people or vehicles literally collide but rather when we encounter new people at events, try out new products or discover that a current “solution” we are trying out does not quite meet our needs and we try to figure out a way to better match the job we need to do. Other times some things just happen like the “invention” of the potato chip or vulcanized rubber. The point is to get out there, meet new people, try new things and no matter how old you get always think like a child in aspect of playing with new things and never settling for “good enough.”

In our business we need to keep “playing” with new technologies. We can do web development the way it was done 10, 5 or even a year ago. In the past year or two social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, etc. have taken a huge jump in popularity and even in those realms people are finding ways to innovate those things fit their needs. Podcasting, what we like to call “your own radio station” from both the user and producer end has just become mainstream in the past couple of years as well. We are working to position our company as the premiere podcasting source in Greenville,SC both in terms of helping clients get their message out as well as producing our own content.

How active are you and your business in local networking groups or connecting with others on a regular basis? If you are in your own world you may be perfectly content with how you feel about things and see not need to change but listening to others in person, via blog comments or participating in online forums is one way to keep you and your company sharp and on the innovative edge. What interesting collisions are you encouraging in order to think creatively and give new life to your business and personal ventures?

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.

April 21, 2008 is Creativity and Innovation Day. Well at least according to the web site linked it is in Canada. It’s based on Leonardo da Vinci’s birthday (April 15) and culminates on Creativity & Innovation Day, April 21st. I just found out about it myself.  You’re probably reading this on Monday morning and for most people Monday is maybe a day we don’t look forward to or at least it’s a busy day in which creativity and innovation may take a back seat.

Before you get overwhelmed with the challenges of the day or start to feel down at the thought of a dreaded task, take a few moments and ask yourself, “Can I approach today with some innovative thinking? Can I take advantage of a problem or process and turn it into an innovative idea?”

I couple of books I acquired last year at a creativity seminar have help me approach challenges in my business and home life in creative ways.  Six Thinking Hats and Thinkertoys are great for helping me think different.  Another fun book that can help you think in different ways in order to solve problems is A Whack on the Side of the Head. I encourage you to check them out sometime. If not as a purchase at least check with your local library.

As I look ahead at this day and the challenges I will be facing I am going to ask myself the following questions in hopes of getting the most out of situations even though they may look interruptive at first;

• How can I take the greatest advantage of the time I will be spending in the car today?
• Can I eat differently? Focusing on what will help me think better instead of “coping with stress?”
• Can I get a message out about the products or services I provide in unique or different way?
• Can I better automate a task that is repetitive in my life?
• What one think can I do today that will make today more remarkable than this time last week?
• Can I create a process to stop myself for putting off a back burner task and in turn help me go the extra mile and exceed expectations?

I hope this reminder catches you at a good time?  What are you thinking about doing today in order to be more creative an innovative?

Grassroots Innovation has a great post this morning about companies who don’t clearly communicate what they do. The gave the company SAP as a clear example. He also said,

“If you want to be innovative you have to have a product that solves a problem for a customer. Also, the customer should know this.”

Ok then, here are the ways we want to be innovative and the problems we solve as a company;

• We create web sites that are are user friendly for your customers
• We help you create compelling content so you will be noticed by people and search engines
• We take compelling and professional photos that showcase your products, personnel etc.
• We provide RSS tools so your content can be delivered when published to subscribers
• We produce professional business cards that enhance your brand and get you noticed in networking situation
• We get to know your company and help you have consistent branding across your different marketing pieces
• We research the latest trends, technologies, products and services that will help you succeed.
• We develop or convert an existing logo that can be used across you marketing pieces from business cards to billboards
• We develop media products customers can read and listen to anywhere, not just in front of a computer screen

The list could probably be expanded.  It looks like we do a “lot of stuff” but in reality a lot of them are intertwined and can be accomplished in the same work flow. We also have a mission statement that says we are, “Committed to creating, organizing and delivering compelling content” and a workflow outline that has the for principles of Develop, Organize, Secure and Share.

How can we communicate these better?  How can we help you communicate what your business does better?

This is my third series of the year in which I address a very general and sometimes misunderstood term. The first series was on design, the one before this one was on branding and now I wish to address the subject of marketing and it’s many aspects. Marketing can conjure up some interesting, sometimes negative or at the least misunderstood feeling or impressions.

I started to touch on the subject in the branding series because the two can be intertwined in many ways. Our clients want to use the most innovative and effective ways to showcase their business and products and this is done through integrated marketing communications.

Marketing however is not a one size fits all solution. Different companies have different marketing needs and we will address them in this series. The following is a list of what I plan on covering in the days ahead;

1. Your Marketing Plan
2. Public Relations
3. Advertising
4. Branding
5. Customer Relationship Management
6. Direct Marketing
7. Internet Marketing
8. Search Engine Optimization
9. Buzz Marketing
10. Viral Marketing
11. Evangelism Marketing

This series will give you a firmer understanding of marketing and how it can help your company succeed in both great and difficult economic times. In the series I may give example targeted to our local markets, Greenville, SC or Upstate, SC in general but you should be able to apply these principles anyway with minor adjustments.