• LogoLounge.Com
  (tags: design logos)
• BusinessWeek: Designing a strong, lasting logo
  (tags: logos design)
• Triangulation
  (tags: marketing pricing)
• Does a Name Really Matter?
  Ever heard of a Black Hole?
  (tags: marketing)
• PunchyTime - Time Tracking for People Who Hate Tracking Time
  (tags: management Web2.0)

At Flat Creek, most of our clients are professional firms — lawyers, architects, fellow marketers, etc. But for every great client we have, there’s a prospective client who tells me “I don’t need a website. Most of my business comes through word of mouth.”

Actually, if most of your business comes through word of mouth, then you definitely need a website. According to a recent study on eMarketer.com, online word-of-mouth recommendations are huge, even among baby boomers:

1. When baby boomers go online, 66 percent of the time it is to research purchasing decisions.

1. Baby boomers get 45 percent of their word-of-mouth recommendations online.

Let me emphasize: these numbers aren’t for teenagers. These are specifically baby boomers (42-60).

It’s easy to see where our friends who still cling to “traditional” word-of-mouth marketing are coming from though. They work in traditional professions with traditional means of reaching clients.

Think about the last time someone referred you to an accountant or attorney. If you didn’t have their phone number already, chances are you went to their website. Actually that’s why most people go to a website - to find a phone number (consider that my free tip for the day).

So take that step, put some muscle behind your website, and wow prospective clients who were just told to check out your firm. Your bottom line will thank you.

• Free Management Library
  (tags: strategy management)
• PR Priorities 2.0
  (tags: media strategy PR marketing)

Communications professionals tend to spend more time with print reporters than journalists from any other medium. It’s time we challenged that notion.

Granted, PR flacks have chuckled to themselves over the last several years as traditional newspaper empires have wasted away under the pressure from online media. But what they haven’t done is change their daily routine and priorities.

In order for a communications strategy to be effective in the Web 2.0 era, the media mix needs to be re-prioritized:

1. Online media: The Internet has changed everything, so the cliche goes, so it should change how we look at media relations as well. Too often we look at blogs, YouTube, and other sites but we don’t engage in the conversation. Our day should start and end by researching relevant websites, commenting on blogs, and injecting new information into the conversation. Create YouTube video, podcasts, and fresh content for your website. If you don’t tell your story online, others will tell it for you.
2. Events: if you don’t hold/attend creative, meaningful events with a message, there’s really not much to cover now is there? You have a message/policy/product that you want to share with the world. For heavens sake, give them a good reason to find out about it. Seminars, briefings, speakers, rallies, press conferences - the options really are only limited by your creativity.
3. Radio: This may seem counter intuitive, but it could be that your target audience spends more time in the car than anywhere else (other than in front of a computer). Leverage that valuable time when your target audiences are tuned in. Take the time to work with producers and hosts to get your product/service/issue on the air. You may not reach the numbers of people as other media, but you will reach the right people.
4. Print media: Ah, the bread and butter of public relations. Until now. See #1, then spend your time developing relationships with your key reporters. We’re talking daily papers here, not magazines or weeklies. Don’t send them a press release. Call them. Tell them your story. Tell them why it’s important to their readers. Invite them to your event (see #2). Take their call after you’ve been mentioned on the radio. Be persistent but courteous. Your value to your organization will increase exponentially.
5. TV: Let’s face it, out of a 30-minute evening newscast, there’s about five minutes for everything that isn’t sports, weather or house fires. The competition to get on the air is intense and the payoff can be elusive. But if you have prioritized and are ready to take on TV, then be sure you’re pitching them some good visuals. They don’t want stale walls, they want noise and people and colors. How do you do that? Go back to #2.

I know there are others, such as specialty media and long-lead magazines, and going after those may make sense in some cases, but not until you’ve got a handle on the big five. The media environment has shifted. Our media relations strategies should as well.

Not really. Just some April Fools Day fun, Google style.

• XIGLA News Manager
  Live Support Software and content management systems intranet software customer support software live help article manager
  (tags: webdesign CMS programming)
• Web Developer’s Handbook
  Links to tutorials on CSS, Web Development, Color Tools, SEO, Usability etc.
  (tags: css webdesign development Web2.0 code)

We’ve talked before about Web 2.0 and its impact on everything from web design to March Madness brackets. Today, I present your life’s goals - 2.0 style.

One of the fundamental tenants of Web 2.0 is allowing website visitors to create their own content on the site and share it with other users, who can then comment, review, ignore, or whatever. The concept is called social networking.

The website 43Things.com does just that, allowing users to upload not their photos or video but their goals. As the site creator says:

We all have stories about what we care about. Writing down your progress on a goal can help someone else learn about something you both want to do. When you see a goal you’ve achieved, click on the “I’ve done this” button and share a story about how you did it.

Putting your goals online is intensely personal, and that’s just what this site is hoping for. Because if someone trusts a site enough to put their own personal goals online and share how they reached their goals with others, they will probably be extremely loyal site users. And a loyal audience drives ad revenue, which makes a site like this profitable.

Not only will they be loyal, but they will encourage other users to participate. They will create communities within the site, driven by shared goals. They will encourage each other and have very personal conversations, developing relationships they may not have anywhere else.

This is quintessential Web 2.0 — relying on the users to create content instead of just reading it.

So what are your goals? Get started on 43Things.com now.

• ExpressionEngine
  Content management/ publishing/ blogging platform
  (tags: CMS programming webdesign)