The Sounds of the Season

I was surfing through the music channels on our cable TV and came across a channel – “Sounds of the Season”. Wondering what one considered to be the season we are in, I selected the channel - 24hour/7 days a week - Christmas and Season Holiday music. No this blog is not about starting the season so early. What came to mind was – it is that time of year again. Part of the season, besides our various religious celebrations, is the welcoming in of a new year.

Except for retailers trying to maximize “Christmas Shopping” sales, this a great “season” to prepare for the next year. For many small companies, January 1st is also the beginning of a new fiscal year.

Take the next weeks and make your own “sounds of the season”.
• Great time for an annual off-site planning meeting
• Take the time to develop a meaningful operating plan for next year. Remember if you cannot measure something, you cannot manage it.
• Budgets are tight but spend this time celebrating your successes over the past year with your staff, employees, and clients. It may be as simple as celebrating that you survived one more year.
• Make sure that you are ready to enter the new year with the proper marketing and advertising plan in place. Even with tight budgets, some “gurus” say that you should be budgeting at a minimum 10% for marketing and advertising.
• This is an excellent time to review and audit all your collateral. Does it tell the correct story about your company.
• Are you ready to properly launch that new product and/or service? Use this time to finalize all your marketing, advertising, and sales material.
• Review your website! Does it need to be updated, refreshed, and does it properly tell your story?
• Finally it is a good time to catch your breath and recreate (re-create), re-energize to face the upcoming year.

You know what is better than customers or clients?

Advocates! Without going into much detail, this past weekend, after 2.5 years of formation, I was ordained a sub-deacon in the Maronite Catholic Church. Looking out into the congregation, there were many faces of friends and family. During the reception afterward, I realized that several of those in attendance were advocates of the Studio. These are past and present people that hire the studio to do creative work for them. No, they are not customers nor clients! They go beyond that. Advocates are clients who not only engage you for your services, but actively encourage and support your organization. If they are an advocate, it means that you also actively encourage and support their organization.

Advocates are your best sales people. They trust you and know you will always do good by them. It is a relationship that where going the extra mile is a given. For the studio we continually “plus” whatever we do.

We at the studio are fortunate to have a large percentage of our long term clients being advocates. We thank them for their support and trust in the studio. We continue our brand promise to always go the extra mile.

So you think you need a new website . . .

Last week we had a visit from a social friend who had called and asked: “Youz guys do web sites – right?” Yes, we do. So they came in and said that their existing web site was over 10 years old, needed to be updated, and was not working (not functionally but marketing wise). After viewing the web site, they were correct in all three areas.
The conversion was longer than planned. Once they accepted that their web site is one, if not the most important, branding channel for their company, they realized that updating their existing website is more than updating photos, staff members bios, or client lists. These are extremely important but updating does not stop there.

The web has been around long enough that we now know where a visitor spends most of their time (eyes-wise), gender differences, and age differences in web layout. You can age a site by simple things as location of navigation buttons and information presentation flow. In short when re-doing your website, implement a new design – a new look that better reflects your brand.

“Our existing website does not work!” What you are really saying is that your website is not telling your story. Initially websites were just an electronic “yellow pages” ad. No longer true – they must tell your story if not your competitors’ sites are telling their stories loud and clear. So do not just update content. Perform a complete content analysis: what should be said, in what format, how much. Today’s websites are simple, clean, crisp, and minimal text. Also remember the web is still a visual media.
Finally realize and accept that your website does not stand-alone. Viewers expect your site to be collaborative and personal. Also such things as social media and new media (blogs, ezines, podcasts) channels are all used hand-in-hand to distribute your site outward and bring people to the site.

In summary – when considering to update an aged website, remember three key words:
• Design
• Story
• Media Channels

Social Media Private Line or Party Line

I am probably showing my age, but I remember when I was a young, the phones had what was known as party lines. Even though you had a unique telephone number, other numbers would utilize the same line. So you could pick up the phone and hear someone else’s telephone conversation. You had to be careful what you said or the gossip mill would use your conversation to your detriment. It was not until we had private lines could one be more open in what was said. Of course wiretapping can get around that.

I mention this because there are similar cautions one must take when posting on social media channels. Realize every electronic posting you make is there literally forever. You may post something today, very innocently, and it can be held against you 5, 10, or whatever years from now. Of course we must warn friends and family of these dangers but it also applies to business postings. Make sure you have everyone who posts to your social media channels know that something innocently posted now can be used against you in the future. Unlike a phone call that is not recorded, social media postings do not go away.

Does this mean you should not use social media for businesses. Of course not, but it does mean like any other business tool, if not used properly, it can hurt your organization more than it can help.

Open to New Life

On October 7th, Studio Guy got a new cousin – Charles Richard. Baby and Mom are doing fine. Some want to call him Chuck and some want to call him Charlie so Studio Dog came up with a compromise - Chucklie.

It is always amazing to see the wonders of new life. Especially when it is your 14th grandchild. With the arrival of a new life, the question can be asked: How open are we to new life? This question is not limited to just new human life. It can also be applied to the life of our organization. Just how open are each of us to new life in our company? Or is it seen as change – a four-letter word.

Chucklie’s arrival has an impact to the life of the studio. He represents new ideas, new futures, new adventures, and new challenges.

Are we ready to face the same in our company? Are we willing to take on the challenges of change and bring new life to our organizations? It will mean new ways of looking at things and trying out new ideas, going beyond our comfort zone (including our approach to external and internal communications).

The only thing I can say is that without being open to new life, you will not enjoy the pleasure of experiencing new growth.

It is important that you believe

There is a real sense of hope in the air. Every client and professional associate we talk to has one common comment – "2010 has to be better than 2009". As I had mentioned in a previous blog, “2009 to 2010 – from hell to well”. But just hoping is not enough. We must have trust in your organization that 2010 will be better. Just hoping will not make it happen.
It reminds me of a story I heard this weekend. It seems that there was this community and they were experiencing a severe drought. They requested that their pastor pray for rain. So he said that the next week there would be a prayer service for rain. Everyone came to pray for rain.
The pastor started his homily with the statement ”there will be no rain”. Someone from the back of the church cried out – “You told us to come a pray and we have”. The pastor responded – “Yes, but you do not believe that it will rain. No one came with an umbrella or raincoats, etc.”
The message behind the story is very simple – for 2010 to be a great year we must all start acting that way. What are you doing differently to make it a good year? Or are you just sitting back – hoping it will be true.

Are you communicating or dialoging?

In today’s world, we hear so much about being a good presenter and speaker. There are workshops and organizations that are dedicated to presentation skills and public speaking. There are books and lists of what words to use for a given situation. We often are told that this includes our body language and how the right body language helps one better deliver their message.

This is all well and good and I truly believe in learning these skills. This is especially true for corporate storytellers – the art and skill of telling your story. What follows is not a BUT - it is an AND

With all this emphasis on our speaking and presenting, we so often ignore the “as equal to” part of communications – listening. Yes listening ( not hearing – there is a difference!). We must stop talking and listen to what are clients are really saying ( a want expressed as a need or a need expressed as a want). We need to listen to what our professional associates and fellow workers are saying. We need to quit our self-talk to listen to the creative message that lies within us. For some of us, this means including listening besides asking in our prayers.

As designers, as a nation, as a society - we need to re-learn the art of listening. Here at the studio, one of our beliefs is: “Communications is telling. Dialogue is sharing.” Let’s start dialoguing with each other.

2009 to 2010 - From Hell to Well

Last blog I mentioned that I was getting ready for the studios’s follow-up planning session as it related to our personal and corporation SWOT analysis. First it was not as painful (personally) as I thought. It was very constructive and helpful. What was made clear is that it is important to have weaknesses and to know them – it is the best way to improve.

This got me thinking about the New Year 2010. 2009 for so many of us was a “mess”. In so many ways, it can only get better. So I guess you can say 2009 had a lot of weaknesses. It is a good way to get prepared for a much better 2010. Look at 2009 and as a year - what were its weaknesses as they related to you and your organizations. Included should be opportunities lost and threats not prepared for. Next create strategies to take your strength and opportunities for 2010 and come up with ways (strategies) to do better.

The first thing is to write down the following on a card and keep it in front of you:

2009 to 2010 – From Hell to Well

What is needed takes courage

Welcome to a new calendar year. It may not be the start of your fiscal year, but it is still a time of new beginning and change. So often we start January with new goals and a commitment to achieve those goals and we do not take time to review ways to improve ourselves (personally and as an organization).

During Christmas week, the studio held our yearly planning and off-site. This year we spent time doing a traditional organizational SWOT and personal strengths and weaknesses. Going back to known processes was very helpful. I strongly suggest if you have not performed a SWOT analysis, do one.

To prepare for the off-site, each studio member had to present what they thought was their own strengths and weaknesses. This was difficult but more difficult part is the next step. This will occur this afternoon. After reviewing each strength and weakness, each member gets to comment on my strengths and weaknesses and how I can improve. Just what I need, people telling me what is wrong with me and how I can be better.

This is not going to be easy. But if I remember that it is important to have weaknesses. That means one can get better. If no weaknesses, then one must ask “Is this all there is?”

So to improve myself and the studio as an organization, I will go into this afternoon’s meeting with an open mind and a resolve to listen. (By the way, did I tell you that being able to do this is one of my weaknesses?)