HOW do we love thee?

Some of us here at GrafiQa are counting down the days and hours until we set off for Boston for the How Conference. It will be 3 1/2 days of pure design immersion in an amazing city. We love Upstate New York, don’t get me wrong, but there’s nthing like an intense few days in a big city to stir the creative insights.

The great thing about GrafiQa is that we all have very different talents and expertise, and yet our goals and guiding principles pull them all together. Getting ready for the conference, we’re all excited about something a little different.

Our fearless leader, Chris, is looking forward to the Boston studio tours, and a chance to peek behind the curtain at the inner workings of some of the best shops in the business. (He also tells me, “And I’m looking forward to spending so much time with you guys.”) Yeah - we don’t see enough of each other during the ordinary 45- to 50-hour work week.

Susan, our resident design maven, is excited about the chance to sit in on a session with Debbie Millman, a designer whose work she loves.

Meanwhile, I am all aflutter about a session led by Kelly Goto, goddess of process and usability.

And at the risk of getting sappy, I really am looking forward to spending time with the rest of the GrafiQa envoy. These are some of the brightest, funniest and most creative people I know, and it will be a rare treat to learn and brainstorm and hang out with them outside of the daily deadlines.

More from Boston…

Communication 2.0

I’ve been thinking today about the curve on which people adopt innovation. Out in front, you have people who are innovation junkies. They are so far ahead of the curve, always knowing what’s in development long before it ever hits the street. By the time the latest software or mobile device or Internet innovation is actually available, it’s already old news to this group. They’re looking ahead to what’s next.

If you can imagine innovation like a wave turning under the surface of the water, the junkies are the ones who are pushed forward far ahead of any visible wave.

Then there are the innovation surfers who zip in and out of the curl, enjoying the thrill of a new toy or a new trick.

Behind them are the folks who miss the first wave, but still manage to catch the next one.

And then there are the people who think they can’t swim, so they stand on the beach and every so often get their toes wet.

When a lot of people hear the words Web 2.0, they start to feel like one of those beach sitters. They’re not quite sure what Web 2.0 is. They think it has something to do with blogs and MySpace. It sounds like a lot of work. So they spread out their beach towels and pull out their romance novels.

Learning new technology can be daunting. But the beauty of Web 2.0 is that it boils down to making things easier and - key for business - more efficient.

Instead of playing phone tag, technology and the web have allowed us to email. Web 2.0 takes it a step farther and allows you to meet in cyberspace - either at the same time or at different times, so everyone is always on the same page.

Sites like Slideshare and Google Docs and others can make the organizational and workflow parts of your life easier, as well as help connect you to like-minded people.

Web 2.0 allows you to not only reach out to your consumers, but allows them to find you. It allows you to have a conversation - a real relationship.

And relationships are increasingly the driver of consumer decisions.

Not every organization or business needs to use every single Web 2.0 application. You have to be smart about it. Look at your overall goals, look at what gets in the way of meeting them, and then look to the Web for the solutions that will make your life easier, make your goals easier to reach and make your time more efficient.

GrafiQa Recognizes New York State History Day Contestant

The annual New York State History Day competition took place today in nearby Cooperstown. Students from all over the state were there with their exhibits, papers, documentaries, performances and websites. Their work was really amazing.

For the first time this year, GrafiQa Creative Services sponsored a special award for excellence in design.

Our CEO, Chris, judged the competition, and was blown away by the quality of the students’ skills. The award went to Lauren Reisig, Berner Middle School, for her Junior Individual Exhibit titled “Equal Vote. Equal Voice.”

Congratulations, Miss Reisig.

So you want to hire a consultant?

We hate to see good businesses taken in by bad consultants. I recently wrote this piece on how to avoid predatory consultants for a Binghamton, NY, business publication:

Hiring Consultants: The Good, the Bad and the Really Ugly

We’ve seen ‘em all.

The explosion of self-styled consultants in the business world has led to a serious side effect: Consultant fatigue.

No doubt you’ve seen it or experienced it yourself. Consultants come in with guns ablaze, dispensing big insights and making big promises. Six months later, either nothing has changed or things are actually worse.

You move on to the next big idea, the next consultant with a new spin on lean management or six sigma or the latest buzz biz model.

It’s enough to make business leaders wary of all consultants and their promises, which is unfortunate because there are talented and insightful consultants whose fees could be the best investment you’ll ever make.

We have worked with many consultants over the years because of our large client list and the type of work we do. Some of the consultants have been a pleasure to work for, grow with and learn from. Others have been mediocre, but they have served a purpose. And then there is the type of consultant who seems to have a stranglehold on an organization and actually does more harm than good.

You can find the good ones and avoid the ugly ones by following a few guidelines when hiring a consultant:

The Big Talker
It should go without saying. Before placing your trust and your company’s future in the hands of a consultant, ask for references and check them. Has the consultant worked for an organization like yours? What were the goals and outcomes? Who is a reference? A good consultant will be more than happy to share success stories, and will have plenty of references to back them up.

Track Record
How successful are the consultant’s own business practices? Are you going to trust the wheel of your million-dollar company to a consultant whose own business model seems to be lacking?

The Never-Ending Consultant
This is the worst of situations. Some consultants see businesses as endless supplies of revenue. They are adept at finding ways to extend projects far beyond their natural life or creating projects that spawn a litter of new projects. It’s important to examine how successful  Phase 1 was. If the project was wildly successful, then maybe Phase 2 is a good idea. If you’re lining the consultant’s coffers at the expense of your company’s, it might be time to move on.

The No-Duh Consultant
It is very easy for any competent businessperson to look at an organization from a third party perspective and see the strongpoints/flaws, Sometimes a lot easier then the person inside the business – this is the core of a consultants silver lining– The true effective consultant will have the ability to administer effective change through their observations. Many consultants seem like visionaries for basically pointing out the obvious – it’s important to take a step back and not be too impressed with observations – again look at the track records.

The No-Goals, No-Problem Consultant
If your consultant is quick to promise actions but slow to outline the goals and measurable results, take it as a big red flag. A good consultant listens to your goals and delivers a service designed specifically to move those goals forward.  A great consultant will outline very clearly from the beginning how you will be able to measure the value of that service after it has been delivered.

As in any industry, there are good and bad apples in the consulting field. We’ve worked with great consultants who are innovative, insightful and incredibly proficient. And if decision makers could more quickly differentiate between the good and the bad, things would never get ugly.

Christopher Quereau is founder and creative director for GrafiQa Creative Services, a marketing and brand development firm with offices in Binghamton and Oneonta. He can be reached at chris@grafiqa.com or 607.433.8837.

Does your brand inspire a crush?

Remember middle school? Sure you do - it was that agonizing few years when everyone was growing too much or too little or just plain wrong. And hairy.

Your body was flooded with hormones and all the itinerant mood swings and cravings and irrational outbursts. It was like being pregnant without all the presents and bed rest.

But there were those kids - the one who glided effortlessly through adolescence. His hair was always perfect. She was funny and self-assured. They set the standard for successful Life in Middle School. And with an intoxicating mixture of admiration and envy, the rest of us all harbored crushes on them.

What does this have to do with marketing?

The other day, I was doing some research online and came across a business site that made me weak in the knees.

They had me from the About Page, which was far different than many business pages you find online. Instead of the usual chest-beating of “Who We Are,” “What We Do,” “Why We’re Better,” this page told me “Your needs are important,” “Here’s how we can help,” “These are the ways your life will improve.”

I love it when a business talks about me.

I also love it when a business shows personality, which this particular site did extremely well by inviting conversation and actually participating in that conversation via the company blog.

I didn’t just want to hire this company - I wanted to hang out with it. I wanted to be invited to its birthday party at the skating rink.

That’s a brand crush, and if your brand isn’t crushworthy to your audience, you’ll just get lost in the crowd.

Better living through brand

The big news this week for people in the marketing and advertising world is that Virginia Commonwealth University has changed the name of its venerable graduate program from Adcenter to Brandcenter.

The program is one of the most respected in the country for producing creative, innovative professionals in ever corner of the field.

But what exactly is the field? Is it advertising? Marketing? PR? Social media networking?

Yes. Plus much, much more, including the design of everything from your business cards and your office place to the way you communicate with clients and other members of your professional community.

In a word: Brand.

The day of launching an ad campaign is over. This is the era of brand.

According to Advertising Age:

“The scope of the school has grown, and the business is changing, so if we’re going to prepare people for that bigger and more complicated world that is branding today, it’s probably limiting to think about it just in advertising terms,” said Mike Hughes, president and creative director at Interpublic’s Martin Agency, Richmond, who is also a member of the Brandcenter’s board of directors.

What implication does this have for the average business?

Businesses of all sizes need to shed the ad mindset and get into the brand mindset.

Ad mindset: Telling your audience who you are.
Brand mindset: Listening to your audience’s definition of you, and responding to their needs.

Ad mindset: Short-term campaigns.
Brand mindset: Long-term strategies.

Ad mindset: Short-term gains.
Brand mindset: Long-term returns.

Ad mindset: Putting a good face on your business for the outside world.
Brand mindset: Understanding that if you build a good internal culture, your employees will become your biggest evangelists.

Blogging for Business

Below is a story from the New York Times about Blogging which I found interesting and demonstrates how blogging can make a significant difference for organizations - especially service organizations. - c

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Blogging’s a low-cost, high return marketing tool

December 27, 2007

Shifting Careers

By MARCI ALBOHER

TO its true believers at small businesses, it is a low-cost, high-return tool that can handle marketing and public relations, raise the company profile and build the brand.That tool is blogging, though small businesses with blogs are still a distinct minority. A recent American Express survey found that only 5 percent of businesses with fewer than 100 employees have blogs. Other experts put the number slightly higher.But while blogs may be useful to many more small businesses, even blogging experts do not recommend it for the majority.Guy Kawasaki, a serial entrepreneur, managing partner of Garage Technology Ventures and a prolific blogger, put it this way: “If you’re a clothing manufacturer or a restaurant, blogging is probably not as high on your list as making good food or good clothes.”Blogging requires a large time commitment and some writing skills, which not every small business has on hand.

But some companies are suited to blogging. The most obvious candidates, said Aliza Sherman Risdahl, author of “The Everything Blogging Book” (Adams Media 2006), are consultants. “They are experts in their fields and are in the business of telling people what to do.”

For other companies, Ms. Risdahl said, it can be challenging to find a legitimate reason for blogging unless the sector served has a steep learning curve (like wine), a lifestyle associated with certain products or service (like camping gear or pet products) or a social mission (like improving the environment or donating a portion of revenues to charity).

Even in those niches, Ms. Risdahl said that companies need to focus on a strategy for their blogging and figure out if they have enough to say.

“As a consultant, blogging clearly helps you get hired,” she said. “If you are selling a product, you have to be much more creative because people don’t want to read a commercial.”

Sarah E. Endline, chief executive of sweetriot, which makes organic chocolate snacks, said she started blogging a few months before starting her company in 2005 to give people a behind-the-scenes look at the business.

The kind of transparency is a popular reason for blogging, particularly for companies that want to be identified as mission-oriented or socially responsible.

A typical post on sweetriot’s blog described the arrival of the company’s first cacao shipment from South America and how Ms. Endline met the truck on Labor Day weekend after it passed through customs at Kennedy International Airport.

She wrote about climbing aboard to inspect the goods and then praised the owner of Gateway trucking company, who helped her sort through the boxes so that she could examine the product.

“At sweetriot we don’t use the word ‘vendors’ as we believe it is about partnership with anyone with whom we work,” she wrote.

For companies in the technology sector, having a blog is pretty much expected. Still, Tony Stubblebine, the founder and chief executive of CrowdVine, a company that builds social networks for conferences, said that one of his main reasons for blogging is to show that his business model is different from the typical technology start-up.

“Everyone in Silicon Valley is focused on venture capital funding and having an exit strategy,” he said. “Because I’m not focused on raising money, I can focus on my customers, since they aren’t a stepping stone to some acquisition or I.P.O.”

He added: “I’m trying to create a community of help for small Internet businesses like mine. My blogging philosophy is like the open source model in software. It’s sort of a hippie concept. If I can help other people, it’s personally rewarding. And those people will likely pay it back in some ways.”

Mr. Stubblebine said he gets new customers largely by word of mouth, and he uses the blog as a way to share news with friends and people who wield influence in his industry as well as a reference check for customers. “That’s why I cover the growth of the company.”

David Harlow, a lawyer and health care consultant in Boston, said he started his blog, HealthBlawg, as a way of marketing himself after he left a large law firm and opened his own practice. Besides, he said, blogging was easy to get started and the technology was straightforward.

Now, after about two years of blogging, Mr. Harlow said he was pleased with the results. He gets about 200 to 300 visits a day, he said. He has also become a source for publications looking for commentary on regulatory issues in the health care field and has even gained a few clients because of the blog. In addition, he has formed relationships with other legal bloggers (who call themselves blawgers) and consultants around the country.

Many small business bloggers achieve their goals even if only a handful or a few hundred people read their blogs. But some companies aim much higher.

Denali Flavors, an ice cream manufacturing company in Michigan that licenses its flavors to other stores, for example, is a small company with a limited ad budget. It decided to use a series of blogs to build brand awareness for Moose Tracks, its most popular flavor of ice cream.

John Nardini, who runs marketing for Denali and is responsible for the company’s blogs, said he has experimented over the last few years with different types of blogs to see which would generate the most traffic. One blog followed a Denali-sponsored bicycle team that was raising money for an orphanage in Latvia. Another tracked the whereabouts of a Moose character that would show up at famous landmarks around the country.

But by far the most successful blog, in terms of traffic, turned out to be Free Money Finance, a blog that has nothing to do with Denali’s business. Mr. Nardini’s plan was to create a blog with so much traffic that it could serve as an independent media outlet owned by Denali Flavors, where the company could be the sole sponsor and advertiser.

He chose personal finance because it is a popular search category on the Web and because he knew he would not tire of posting about it. And post he does, about five times each weekday.

He uses free tools like Google Analytics and Site Meter to understand how people are finding the site and which key words are working. Free Money Finance receives about 4,500 visits a day and each visitor views about two pages, which means they see two ads for Moose Tracks ice cream. The effort costs about $400 a year, excluding Mr. Nardini’s salary.

The site also accepts advertising, which earns the company about $30,000 to $40,000 a year, all of which Denali donates to charity. “We run ads because it legitimizes the site; it’s really not about the money,” Mr. Nardini said. “We’re hoping people will go into Pathmark, see the Moose Tracks logo and say, ‘Hey, I just saw that on the Web site I go to every day.’ ”

By MARCI ALBOHER

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/27/business/smallbusiness/27sbiz.html?_r=1&ref=smallbusiness&oref=slogin

What marketing can do … and what it can’t

I want an iPhone. I want an iPhone in a way that’s probably not healthy. I want it because it’s beautiful, it’s the gateway to the future and it will make me happier, smarter, taller and generally better.

I want an iPhone the way Nicole Ritchie wants skinny.

But I’m not going to get one. First, I live in the country where only one mobile phone provider has reliable service, and it ain’t AT&T.

Secondly … actually, there is no secondly. No matter how miraculous and beautiful and perfect the iPhone is, it wouldn’t do me one bit of good to have one, because all I would be able to do is hold it to my ear and pretend to call my daughter on her blue plastic Little Mermaid phone. (Which, by the way, does not feature an optical-grade glass facade and elegant, gesture-based interface.)

But the holidays are coming up, and since my iPod was stolen earlier this year, I began crafting my letter to Santa asking that he replace the stolen Nano with a shiny new iPod Touch. Have you watched the video demonstration of how it’s used?

Swoon.

Plus, I need an iPod, right? Everyone needs an iPod. And I do not mean an MP3 player.

So I researched the iPod Touch - iPT - and found that, while it has wi-fi capabilities, it doesn’t have POP mail. And while you can look at your calendar, you can’t edit it or add anything to it.

Dear Santa,
When Apple decides to offer me a truly useful product, I want one.
Love, Me

So what are the branding and marketing lessons to be learned?

• It’s possible to make a grown, rational woman froth like a rabid dog over a phone, even though she has never actually held one in her hand. That’s the power of marketing.
• When I replace my old iPod, it will be with a new iPod - not an MP3 player made by another manufacturer. Why? Because the iPod designs are beautiful, and I just feel good about Apple. That’s the power of branding.
• No amount of marketing and branding can sell something that doesn’t meet a need, whether it’s a phone with too-limited service or an iPod with too few features.
• But - and this is a big point - all the positive marketing and branding means that I am not going to buy a competitor’s product, because I trust that Apple will rectify the problems sooner rather than later, and I’ll either be able to get an iPhone compatible with my service or an iPod with the features befitting the technology.

Is Web site optimization a competitive advantage in Upstate New York?

We recently met with a client to discuss ways to make her site more findable in search engines like Google. Like most businesses, our client wants to appear on that first search results page, right up at the top above her competition. Who wouldn’t?

Despite the fact that our client works in a super-competitive industry; and despite the fact that the Internet has become so saturated with sites (and other media) that even well-optimized pages face major challenges ranking well, I was optimistic that we could make it happen for her. Why is that?

When it comes to search engines, Upstate New York’s Web sites appear to be under-optimized. In normal human-speak, this means that many organizations in Central New York and the Southern Tier aren’t doing the things they need to do to ensure that their page listings appear in Google’s search results when prospective customers type in appropriate keywords or phrases.

For example, many sites in this area lack basic on-page optimization features like:

• Unique page titles
• Unique page descriptions
• Keyword rich copy, headers and editorial links
• Streamlined information architecture
• Navigational aids like redundant text navigation, breadcrumbs and site maps

I also see little evidence of local and regional companies, non-profits and public-sector institutions taking advantage of social media marketing opportunities (like blogs, community sites, sharing sites, etc.) in order to increase the number incoming links to their sites. This is an extremely important feature in any search engine marketing strategy.

Why does this matter? I’m sure that many of the organizations that fall into this group spent considerable time and money developing professional-looking sites in an effort to attract business. If those sites aren’t findable and effective, then the return on those investments is likely to be poor.

Nobody likes to waste time and money (unless they’re on vacation).

If you think you fall into this group, then you should consider this present climate a huge opportunity to elevate your organization’s visibility and attract more qualified visitors to your site.

Seize the opportunity to beat out the competition while it still exists!

Go forth and optimize.

Creature from the Blog Lagoon

It’s six days into NaBloPoMo, and already we’re five posts short. It happens.

Honestly, when I realized that we had missed the first few days of posting, I kicked myself, then slapped my forehead, then gnashed my teeth, then pulled my hair and begged forgiveness from the blogging gods.

I’m lying. I didn’t do anything but shrug my shoulders and think, “Eh, I’ll post something today.”

While I really like the idea of NaBloPoMo - and its more literary counterpart, NaNoWriMo - I don’t like the idea that a blog should be a big, scary burden hanging over your head and making your life harder.

Social media - and I count blogs in that group - are supposed to make your life easier and more enjoyable. They’re the digital versions of the campfire, the dinner table, the corner bar and the Main Street beauty salon all rolled into one.

Social media offer a meeting place, a place to connect with people who are important to you, and a place to find out what’s really going on in the world.

Not every organization should be using every social media tool. I mean, maybe my plumber is on Twitter, but it’s probably not generating a bunch of conversions for him. On the other hand, if he had a blog and he posted genuinely useful information such as how to solve easy problems that don’t really require his expertise (and are not a big moneymaker for him) or cool new products or what to do when your 2-year-old flushes a doll’s head down the toilet, I would go to it.

Would I subscribe? Maybe not, unless I were building a house and wanted really good product information. But I sure would go to it if I saw a headless doll floating on the guest bathroom floor.

And the fact that just having a blog increases the chances of your organization coming up in an organic search means everyone should have something.

But over and over we hear clients say they’re afraid to launch a blog - afraid of adding something extra to the workload. Afraid someone is going to make them sign up for NaBloPoMo.

Social media may be new. They may require a small learning curve in order to start using them. But they’re not scary. It’s just another way to offer your clients or customers something of value - and to remind them that you exist.

If you want to know more about starting a blog, using social media or how to remove a doll head from a toilet, contact me at etb@grafiqa.com or 607.433.8837 x206.