Interior work on the GrafiQa Binghamton Satellite Office is coming along nicely.

As you can see from these photos, the outside walls have been studded out and, this week, the spray foam insulation was applied.

Future Office Space

Chris thinking about how nice Bijoy's office will be

Next up, drywall to make the actual walls, plumbing and electrical work.

Getting there….

Here’s the latest webisode of building renovations at our new Binghamton Satellite Office located at 199 State Street.

As you can see, Best Built has started the interior buildout by studding up the walls. Sheet rock will go up next to help turn the space into more of a visible office-type environment.

You can check out previous webisodes here and here.

A lot of people think that, because the economy is down, businesses aren’t spending money, and they can’t get new business.

That’s not entirely true. Your clients, customers or donors are still spending money. They’re just making sure that the money they spend is a smart investment that’s going to generate ROI.

That’s where your brand positioning and expertise come in. In order for your website, advertising, brochures or other marketing materials to generate business or donors, you need to be positioned as that smart investment – not just another expense.

Do you know your industry (whether it’s manufacturing, performing arts or high-technology enterprise) better than your competitors?

Do you have more capabilities or better employees?

Do you have a long track record of success? Or are you new innovators that are thinking outside of the box to find creative solutions?

Whichever of these questions fits you, your marketing needs to show your existing customers or new prospects how much of an expert you are. That’s good brand positioning, which makes you into a smart investment.

Here are two quick and dirty tips to do today to test your brand positioning:

1. Look at your website, and your top three competitors’ websites. Does your brand stand out or do you make a compelling argument for why you’re better?

2. Ask three employees at various levels (from executive to entry-level) to describe what your business or non-profit does in two sentences or less. If you get three completely different answers, your brand positioning needs work.

Here are a couple new photos showing new progress on the exterior facade of our new Binghamton Satellite Office. As you can see, the doors and windows are all in and the former garage door is now a big picture window.

The HVAC system has also been installed by our friends at SureTemp so progress inside the building is moving along as well.

Here are a few photos showing the transformation of the exterior facade of our new Binghamton Satellite Office at 199 State Street. George Powers Construction did a great job – though there is still quite a bit of work to do on the side of the building. As you can see, we went with a gray stucco very similar to our main office in Oneonta.

Exterior BEFORE

Exterior NOW

Aside from this visible work, Best Built Construction is currently finishing up work on the roof and we’re continuing the planning stage for the interior renovations, which should be starting soon. Keep checking back here for updates….

We held our “Grand Smashing” event yesterday to kick off renovations to what will become our new Binghamton Satellite Office.

Binghamton Mayor Matt Ryan, a bunch of our supporters and our staff were on hand to help us get started.

Quite a bit of work has actually already taken place. Ethan and his team from Best Built Construction have already gutted most of the interior of the building. Now Pete and the guys from Geo. Powers Construction are working on the facade while a lot of planning and permitting is going on with the HVAC, electrical and plumbing systems.

Here’s Webisode 2 of the renovation process featuring Chris and the Mayor giving a few remarks, as well as Bijoy having some fun smashing up a wall.

(You can check out Webisode 1 here.)

We believe that, while some traditional media has its place, social media and the web is the best way to reach many demographics.

But it’s not as simple as just buying online ads or setting up a Facebook organization page. You have be genuine and authentic – and have something original to say. The good news is that, if you have the goods (i.e you know what you’re talking about or have a really good product or service), you stand a good chance at success because Earned Media is overtaking Paid Media in terms of impact.

Check out this article from Ad Age that helps prove that point.

So the Renovation process begins.

The below video shows the interior/exterior of the building as well as some of the day 1 contractor interviews – We will be doing a series of videos throughout the process.

GrafiQa (West) at 199 state street will be a high-end  state of the art office/retail facility with our typical  modern, professional  & artistic flavor.

You can see our round 1 rendering and round 1 floorplan below for the new Offices.

The office exterior will be similar to our Oneonta office which can be seen at http://www.grafiqa.com/company.htm – click on the building image in the lower right.

Special thanks to our contractors at www.oldhomesfriend.com  and www.bestbuiltconstruction.com as well as local musical assistance from www.myspace.com/swathmusic

Marketing Charts ran this eye-opening story based on Nielsen Online research that shows that Twitter usage is up by more than 1300% over last year.

This passage was particularly striking:

“Contrary to the belief that Tweeters are mostly teens, college students or friends just trying to stay in touch, Twitter is used by a larger percentage of older people…adults ages 35-49 had the largest representation on Twitter…”

So this isn’t something that only 15-year old cheerleaders are using just to talk about Friday night’s dance. This is a marketing tool that savvy businesses and not-for-profits can use to generate buzz and stimulate leads and sales.

Here at GrafiQa, we buy in. Go ahead and let us prove it by following Chris, Bijoy or Elizabeth.

A lot of people talk about Social Media (or Web 2.0) – but not everyone knows exactly what it really means.

That’s okay. Like your mom told you when you were 13, it’s okay to be curious.

Web 1.0 was the first decade of the web, where the internet was a place to look and read. The information flowed one way: from a website to the user. Think of it like reading a brochure that happened to be online.

Social Media is a completely different beast. Over the last half-decade, the internet has changed from a one-way conversation to an active conversation between multiple parties.

Blogs. e-Newsletters. Twitter. Facebook. Myspace. LinkedIn. Wikipedia. They’re all ways for anyone and everyone to take AND contribute information.

Since Social Media is where your customers, clients and donors are spending their time and money, it’s smart business to get in on that conversation with Permission Marketing.

It takes time and effort. Web 2.0 and Social Media tools require fresh, relevant and changing content all the time. But it’s worth it to stay connected with your market.