Blue Star Blog

And just how are you running this race?

2011-11-14T10:28:00.000-08:00

This year we signed up our 8-year-old daughter, Lydia, for CYO cross country – mainly because she’s proven to be quite agile and lightening fast while darting around the house and on the playground, trying – at all costs – to avoid any inkling of parental control. We signed up her twin brother, Nate, too, simply so we could all be in one place, at one time for once.

Surprisingly, it turned out our son is pretty good at long distance running. And our lightening-quick daughter was the one to struggle at times during these meets. She looked almost directionless. Thank goodness for the all signs, spectators, spotters and orange cones or we could have lost her to the woods.

It was just perplexing. This is the same girl we frantically chased through the doctors office along side the nurse, needle in hand. She’s way speedier than she had been letting on at cross country.

It appeared, after a few long drawn out races, that our lovely Lydia lacked a goal – she was simply running to run.

That’s nuts. No one runs a race to run a race, no more than one runs a business to run a business. You don’t run for the heck of it. There is a reason you run. And it’s not just to finish, either. Finishing is not a goal, it is an integral part of the race.

The idea is to finish each race AND improve. Carefully defined goals help you measure your progress along the way, and give you the focus vital to reaching your destination. Achieving a better standing, better time, better running form. Earning better profits, reaching more customers, reducing expenses.

Without goals you end up going through the motions, trailing behind everyone else in the field. If you’re persistent, and a bit lucky, you will finish – but without any kind of reward or true satisfaction. More than likely you’ll only be left with exhaustion.

Our son's goal was clear from the start of cross country, to be the first one in on among his teammates. Lydia, on the other hand, loved the social aspect of the meets. She looked forward to hanging out with her girls before and after the race. So we helped her discover the goal she needed. We simply pointed out she could “hang out” with her faster friends DURING the race, too – something she didn’t realize she could do.

Finally, on the last weekend of the season, Lydia ran her best race ever. She shaved 5 minutes off her time, and actually beat a few of her friends along the way – both to her amazement and ours.

Funny, the one thing I didn’t have to point out to either of our kids is that all goals end up being worthless if you aren’t willing to dig in and get a little dirty to get the job done.

For Best Results, Do Not Mix.

2011-08-16T21:35:00.000-07:00

Corporate Structure and Small Business Don't Mix.

By John Briggs as told to Plain Dealer Reporter Marcia Pledger

The Mistake: I was a marketing manager in corporate America for a long time, working for multi-billion dollar companies with resources at my fingertips. When my wife's small design studio got to the point where she gained a client that could help take the business to the next level, she begged me to join her. With reservations I finally did. But I started off wrong, bringing my corporate mindset to a small business.

Read the entire article and the fix at cleveland.com.

Sister, Can You Spare a Hug?

2011-05-31T20:22:00.000-07:00

Three days after 9/11, I ventured out into public and went to the grocery store for some normalcy. In the pasta aisle, from behind me, I heard a voice, “Sister. Sister. Sister.” Now, I am commonly addressed as Mom, Wife, Julia, Jules, Julieeee, Hey You and Pirate (that’s another blog) – but never “Sister.” I paid no attention. But it continued, so I turned around. There before me was a waif of a woman asking, “Sister, can you spare a hug?” So I did. In return, I received a warm, sincere hug – and a restored faith in humankind, in all of its glorious imperfection.

I’ve told this story to a few people who find it odd that I would hug a complete stranger – especially in the middle of a grocery store - especially in the middle of a major city. But I could identify with what she was feeling, and it didn’t take much to give something so small yet so meaningful.

Deep inside I have a secret dream to grow up and be a real giver – a 21st century philanthropist. That little dream, though, seems highly unobtainable without a mondo bank account, early retirement plan with some serious free time, or the clout to conjure up a few dozen rocks stars for an amped up fundraiser.

In some ways, though, I’ve been living out my dream through my children. Unlike other crazy moms who prod their kids to be a pro athlete or beauty pageant princess, I’m the one hoping in some way – big or small – they’ll do their part to make the world a better place.

I am not the kind of mother who simply reminds her kids to share their candy and toys. I’m the kind of mom who is prodding her children to be more proactive and go find something to share – now! You can imagine my overwhelming joy when the schoolteacher of my 7-year-old son told me he had initiated a pop-tab drive for the Ronald McDonald House without me knowing. I nearly burst into tears.

Over lunch with a dear friend – who happens to work for a nonprofit – I mentioned my son’s initiative and how incredibly proud I am of him. And then, out loud, I wondered when his twin sister would find a way to give. My friend quickly reminded me that my daughter has found a way to give – she attended a fundraiser earlier in the year for my friend’s nonprofit, helping me buy raffle tickets and bid on items. And this makes her, and I quote, “a different kind of philanthropist.”

Wow, my friend is right. Both my children are philanthropists, and darned good ones, too. Even better, I realized I am one as well – even without the large bank account, early retirement plan and the slew of celebrity friends. I am a different kind of philanthropist – giving in small ways that can, I hope, have a big impact.

Blue Star over the last 12 years has donated design work to several nonprofits. We’ve created small events like the “Drive Thru” that benefits our local Ronald McDonald House – and the event has spread to other Ronald McDonald Houses across the country. We’ve attended fundraising events for causes we believe in, like the wonderful events at the Art Therapy Studio. Instead of signing up for committees and rallying friends to donate money, we’ve elected to do things that fit our schedule and pocketbook.

This year we’ve extended our philanthropic reach – by donating webfliers created in our Flier Styler™ app to Cleveland nonprofits for their fundraising events. (By the way, if you know a nonprofit we can help, here are the details: http://bluestar.ennounce.info/960.)

It’s one small way we can give, and our nonprofit friends have told us it’s helped them tremendously to market their events via web, email and social media. And by giving, we’re benefiting, too! Our donations allow us to meet new people, understand their causes and share ideas to make their causes, and our tool, better as we go along.

That’s the great thing about giving. When done right – it brings people together for celebration and sharing – like a much-needed hug.

We are all in the same boat.

2011-03-31T15:03:00.000-07:00

We are all out to fish for business – together.

The sales guys pointing to where the fish bite, PR as the coxswain keeping the crew in sync, creatives fashioning the lures and marketing dropping them in all the right places. When business operates well it looks as beautiful as the Henley Royal Regatta – and as productive as a team of Walleye Pros when “the bite is on” in Lake Erie. And when business doesn’t, well, let’s just say it looks more like my father’s fishing trip to Canada with a few of his buddies.

You know the story. A group of wannabe fishing pros crosses the border into Canada, rents some canoes and charters a flight to drop them off at Lake Middle of Nowhere – a place they hope the fish will be biting. The pontoon plane pilot, handing them an orange tarp and with a tinge of “you’re not from around here, are ya,” says, “Lay this out if you need help so I know to stop when I fly over.” Almost immediately, the not-so-ready-for-primetime anglers find themselves up a creek without a paddle – literally – because the pilot has taken off with the paddles still haphazardly strewn about the belly of the plane. The orange tarp is unfurled. The pilot does not return. Everyone is left to fashion his own oars - out of driftwood and fishing line, out of tree branches, electrical tape and tackle box trays. Any combination of available materials hacked together to move canoes forward.

Sadly, my father’s story, far too often, reflects my experience in business. I’ve seen organizations where marketing people are strongly discouraged from crossing the border into the design department – even to ask a creative to lunch. Wouldn’t want marketing to fly over the design process – even if the orange tarp is out. I’ve had PR people tell me to stay out of Twitter because it’s for PR use only. Get your own line into the fishing hole. I’ve seen salespeople go solo and use their own bait, stringing together various lures of content and clip art to try and reel in a new client. And all along the business is sinking as the c-suite tries to wrangle everyone back into the boat.

As much as I’d love the world to read this post and start working nicely together so I could simply concentrate on good design, I’m smart enough to know that isn’t going to happen. So, the last couple years at Blue Star we put down our designer pencils (when we could) and spent some time hanging out in the business wilderness listening to the sounds of survival. What we heard changed our thought process. And our working process.

As we listened to our clients and the issues they were having, we discovered the value of design thinking for business. No, I’m not talking about some clever marketing campaign to lure potential MBA students into business school (enough of that!).

Our solution involves a fundamental shift, often discussed but not often realized by businesses: move design to the front of the problem solving process instead of applying it to the backend to “pretty things up.” For us, it means thinking about the ways design can positively impact business and business processes. It means thinking about how design can guide interactions between people and the tools they use to get their jobs done. We call it Idea Design.

Idea Design has not only led us to creative problem solving for clients, but has spawned ideas for new products. What we discovered is design can be used to guide people through a process. Design can be used to ensure everyone who should be involved in a process is involved. Design can be inclusive; design can bring people together.

No one gets hung up on what the lures should look like, how they should move through the water, or what types of lines should be dropped from the boat. Design guides the expedition so crewmembers – while working on individual tasks – can work in harmony with their mates to land that next big fish. Business, designed. As it should be.

We are what we ... design.

2010-10-29T14:26:00.000-07:00

While driving back to the office from what I’ll politely call a “savorless” meeting, I tuned the radio to our local NPR station, where host Dee Perry was interviewing food guru Deborah Madison, author of What We Eat When We Eat Alone, and most recently, Seasonal Fruit Desserts from Orchard, Farm and Market.

The author was describing how flavorful food tastes when it is prepared from ingredients grown locally and in season, and states what, to me, is obvious – fruits, when shipped across the country or around the world to local supermarkets, have little flavor because they have been picked before ripe. Then she said something that astounded me. We are training ourselves to consume – and even prefer – this almost tasteless, unripened produce. Apparently, in an effort to meet what we understand to be our basic dietary needs, we are making a connection in our brains, associating nearly flavorless produce with what tastes good and is good for us.

With passion and intensity, Deborah asserts “fruit was designed by nature to be beautiful and colorful so we as humans would be attracted to eat it.” Let me say that again. Fruit was DESIGNED. Color and its intensity, shape, aroma, flavor all contribute to the design, enticing humans to act. Enticing us to eat.

I began to wonder, in our socially networked era of unconferences, unmarketing, and even, undesign – as we’re tearing up traditional ideas, breaking things down to essentials – are we losing something savory, something really flavorful along the way? As we’re redefining what’s important, are we apt to consume a steady diet, however tasteless, gnawing to get at the basics or what’s most expedient at the time?

It seems many companies and organizations have shifted priorities in an effort to stay nourished, and in the process are serving up thoughts and ideas before they’ve truly ripened. Not that these ideas haven’t been thoroughly explored, but design is often an afterthought – valued only to clean up the mess or package it, or sometimes not valued at all. And we, as buyers, are left to consume bland design. It’s our belief design is an integral part of the idea process – we call it “idea design” – just as nature has built design into the beautiful fruits we eat.

I can’t help but think, if Mother Nature thought it was a good idea to design things to look “good enough to eat,” the world should really follow in her footsteps … after all, Mother knows best, right?

Eating Soup

2010-07-14T14:23:00.000-07:00

I think it’s exceptionally odd that anything I eat in a restaurant, including the sugar packets, tastes better than what I’m able to conjure up in my own kitchen. I’m not a bad cook, either. Over the past few years, I’m told, I’ve become quite a good cook. But to me, my creations are never as tasty as the delectable morsels – or giant slabs – of culinary delights coming out of our local eateries.

Well now, I’m afraid, the time has come to eat my own soup.

We here at Blue Star have kept our website around a little too long. Kind of like my wedding cake top -- 10 years in the freezer -- looks nice, but I’m not willing to serve it to anyone (true story, I can’t bear to throw it away!). The three main ingredients – time, money and necessity – have finally come together, and there’s but one brief moment to whip up something new.

But as with cooking soup from scratch – cooking up a website makes me anxious about the outcome. I’m checking out different recipes and finding what some cooks and companies are serving up looks so scrumptious.

OK, to be fair, I am not Michael Symon, Iron Chef. I do know, however, that once our new site is in place, you’ll get a very good taste of what we do. And we’ll be able to share different recipes and fresh ideas to keep you coming back for more.

I’ll keep you updated as creativity simmers, and will be sure to ring the dinner bell loud and clear when “Soup’s On.”

Ali, Jason Fried & a Big, Wild Haymaker

2010-03-01T06:39:00.000-08:00

I’m late for everything. Always. Today’s no exception. I’m just getting around to making my New Year’s resolution. This year – Patience.

If you know me, you know I’m not a patient person at all. This is the biggest reason I’m not a fine artist. I can’t stand to wait for paint to dry and that gets me in all kinds of trouble.

Recently, while watching Spike Lee’s Facing Ali, a quote from one of his famous opponents really hit home – “Being a good boxer doesn’t mean throwing the hardest punches, it’s being patient.” You don’t want to waste all your energy at the beginning of the bout, swinging with all your might. You let your opponent waste his energy. You learn what your opponent is all about. In other words, it’s taking the punches, hanging on until the 15th round and then coming out of your corner swinging smart and hard – and to win.

In business, we call it bootstrapping – something 37 Signals co-founder, Jason Fried, preaches. If you’re in business for the long haul, you don’t want to spend all of your time, energy and money in the early rounds. And just like that poor wannabe boxer growing up in the segregated south, lack of money forces you to focus on the goal, to focus on building something that works. It teaches you tenacity and endurance. It gives you something to fight for.

Some days I feel like Ali – doing the rope-a-dope. Trying to endure, but wanting to throw a big, wild haymaker at everyone in the ring with me—and even at the people in my corner. It’s on those occasions, I realize, that I’m not being patient.

Ali knew he had much more to offer the world than boxing. The world didn’t realize just what Ali had to give, in all his grandeur, until well after his boxing career was over. He achieved what I believe to be his main goal – most of which had nothing to do with boxing – offering the world a glimpse at itself – at its poverty, its prejudices, its racism – and redirecting its focus, patiently, toward solutions.

This is what I resolve to remember – bootstrapping, focus, and patience – they’re all necessary for me, and our company, to achieve more than just great design. They offer us principles to work by, and a process to solve problems and achieve goals.

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As a side note: Two years ago, I spent 3 fascinating hours at the Ali Center in Louisville. I’m not a big boxing fan, but then again, Ali is so much more than boxing. His museum is about life, love and art.

It’s where you say Spaghetti that counts.

2009-11-09T08:41:00.001-08:00

Recently I re-tripped over a favorite TED presentation – a talk by Tipping Point author Malcolm Gladwell about the food industry's pursuit of the perfect spaghetti sauce, nature of choice and human happiness.

Gladwell’s presentation is inspired by the work of his hero, Howard Moskowitz, a man famous for reinventing spaghetti sauce.

Turns out that Mr. Moskowitz is the scientist who convinced Prego that success takes much more than having the best spaghetti sauce, success is dependent upon having the best spaghetti sauces. Note the extra s. What Moskowitz helped companies, like Prego and Ragu, realize is that they needed to pursue more than the perfect sauce for the largest number of people, but a variety of perfect sauces to suit different tastes. That’s where varieties like Cheese, Light, Robusto, Rich & Hearty, Old World Traditional, Extra-Chunky Garden Style all come from – in fact, when Prego released its first Chucky variety, they soon found out it was the perfect sauce for over 1/3 of the market.

While watching the video, it dawned on me that Moskowitz’s revelation is more than a great recipe for selling more spaghetti sauce - it applies to what marketers and business communicators are trying to do.

Today’s marketers are dealing with slashed budgets and increased expectations, and all are looking for ways to maximize ROI on their marketing spend. Printers tell them it’s better packaging, variable mailers and PURLs. Advertisers say, place more ads – strategically. Internet radio says, surprisingly, Internet radio. TV, well, TV. Developers say you need a better website – Web 2.0, 3.0, whatever it takes. And Social Media experts say they are way too cool to be used for marketing. OK. Perhaps it’s a bit of a stretch, but I’ve heard it all lately.

So which approach is right? What’s the best marketing vehicle? The answer: all of them. You should be looking for the best marketing vehicles. Note the extra s. Marketing still requires an integrated approach.

It’s more than just saying you sell chunky and smooth – it’s how you say it and where. Get to know your target audience, and you’ll find some people like reading chunky ads, some like those spicy emails you send, and some are into watching you noodle around on twitter.

Marketing is all about trying to reach the most number of people who like what you sell – not simply the average, universal meatball.

Avoiding Horror Stories

2009-07-23T08:09:00.000-07:00

After a very rough day and night of work, I decided to relax with a good haunting from the show, Ghost Hunters. (Don’t ask me why I do this right before I go to bed. It must be because I don’t get enough haunting from the child spirit who occasionally roams our circa 1882 Victorian home.)

Forty-five minutes into the show, the TAPS crew plays a recording of creepy voices saying “leave me alone” and “get out” to a terrified curator in a small museum in Buffalo. Paranormal investigators, Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson, respond calmly to the voices on the recording, trying to reassure their frightened client. They simply remind the curator that ghosts are people… only without the skin and bones. These spirits once had spouses, children, and jobs -- just like us. And they advise the museum’s staff to continue to acknowledge and respect the ghosts as “real individuals.”

Not only is this great advice for dealing with ghosts, it’s great advice for dealing with people in business.

Technology, though making us more efficient, has kept us from conducting business face to face. We here at Blue Star often work with clients less than a 15-minute drive from our office, but collectively we have scant recollection of an individual’s appearance or mannerisms. Often our work goes to vendors where the many people involved, invisible to us, are entrusted with our electronic design files and are responsible for turning them into fabulous products for our customers.

It’s ironic to me that the electronic distance between us makes us seem so close, yet there’s a great divide among business people in truly understanding personalities and motivations of the individuals with whom we interact on a daily basis. That’s why tone is so important in our communications, but that’s another blog.

The point I’m trying to make today is that just because you don’t see the person who cleans your Excel spreadsheet mailing list for next day turnaround or the person who creates the metal die that stamps out your over-the-top business card, it does not mean they aren’t “real individuals.” They, too, have spouses to love, children to feed, jobs to do, and vacations to dream about. And occasionally when a job goes awry, it’s not as if the “ghosts” working to complete your project have been maliciously waiting to “put a curse on.” Unfortunately, our electronic world can be quite impersonal, allowing us to make false assumptions about an individual’s performance or to place blame for something that’s gone wrong. But sometimes…mistakes just happen.

Next time a project gets sucked into the vortex of badness, think twice before you fire off a nasty email to your vendor. Remember to respect those “you cannot see” as real people and, simply, keep your head. One day you’ll obviously be without it.

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By the way, speaking of keeping your head, our ancestors did just that when loved ones died, turning skulls into beautiful pieces of art and displaying them like we do photographs today. Check out this fascinating program on PBS, To Death and Back, the final episode in the How Art Made the World series.

Counting the Days

2009-02-23T19:01:00.000-08:00

There are approximately 5110 days among the fourteen calendars we received in the mail this past holiday. I’m not even sure we have fourteen different places to hang all of these yearly markers. Somehow I feel compelled to try, though.

The calendars vary in shape, size and material. The best is made out of low tack and sticks to the wall. No nails necessary.

Then came one that was mailed to our home – a purse calendar from a law office. It was perplexing – like I had received a slide rule for calculating my taxes.

I wonder why anyone would bother to send out a purse calendar when I have an iPhone complete with a calendar application, and when the rest of the world owns Blackberries or other handhelds--all with calendar applications.

That law firm would have been better off sending me (and the rest of the modern world) a link to a customized calendar widget listing 365 of the best ways to chase an ambulance.

I would have downloaded that ambulance-chasing-calendar-widget and probably forwarded it to ten of my funniest friends. I might even have posted this unique widget to my facebook page. Instead, I dropped that logo-clad paper calendar right in the recycling bin. Now no one is looking at it.

Speaking of widgets, here are a few of our favorites:

Sue’s Pick – “I have always loved playing Linerider”
http://www.widgetbox.com/widget/line-rider-swimrocket

Kellie’s Pick – “I loved Simon when I was a kid...I
was so mesmerized by it last night!”
http://www.widgetbox.com/widget/simon

John’s Pick - If you didn’t know, John speaks fluent French. “It reminds me to practice my French, and it helps me learn new words.”
http://www.widgetbox.com/widget/french-word-a-day

Check out a widget right here in our blog. Marketing Profs’ Daily Fix widget sits in the side bar to the right.

Enough of the Monkey Business

2008-11-21T13:14:00.000-08:00

How does the saying go? If you put a hundred monkeys in a room with typewriters, eventually they would produce the complete works of William Shakespeare…right? Did anyone actually think to call the poet himself to whip out one of his masterpieces? It would have been faster. And cheaper. (Even given the added expense of exhuming the Bard…and assuming both the Bard and the monkeys have an infinite amount of time for their jottings. My bet is with the Bard.)

Lately, I’m beginning to think the “100 monkey approach” is one many companies are taking toward their creative needs. That is not to say their employees aren’t smart…because they are. It’s just that they are not trained, experienced graphic designers. Just because someone reads a book on tightrope walking doesn’t mean they’ll be ready to join the circus the following morning. Companies must figure that if they put 10 of their most talented employees in a room--be they accountants, attorneys, marketers or operations experts--for months on end and let them hash out the look of their next brochure, eventually they’ll produce a piece appealing to the masses. But do decision makers at these companies really believe that by bringing employees together with such diverse backgrounds, interests and skill levels, they’ll somehow reach consensus about design? Is it reasonable to think what appeals to a woman wearing Chanel No. 5 will appeal to a man who buys anything related to his favorite NASCAR driver? And how do their diverse tastes and interests align with the products and services you’re trying to sell to your targeted audience? Oh yeah, did you forget about what appeals to your client?

So what really happens when non-creatives take control of the creative process?

If you read Don Norman’s interview in Coding Horror, GM tells the cautionary tale about the botched development process of the Pontiac Aztek. You remember the Pontiac Aztek, don’t you?

“Design would be by committee, the focus groups extensive. The penny-pinchers demanded that costs be kept low by putting the concept car on an existing minivan platform. That destroyed the original proportions and produced the vehicle's bizarre, pushed-up back end. But [they] kept telling themselves it was good enough. By the time it was done, it came out as this horrible, least-common-denominator vehicle.” We all remember the results…

A fantastic You Tube video, originally aired by blogotipos.com, explains it best: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwqPYeTSYng

When I’ve had my fill of this craziness, I’ve been known to blurt out “don’t tell me how to design it—just tell me what you’re trying to achieve.” I mean, really, if you had a problem with your car, you wouldn’t tell the auto mechanic, “The engine’s misfiring. I think if you’d just replace the windshield wipers, the car might run a little more smoothly.” Bottom line, let the designers do what they do best…help them understand the product and target audience, but give them room to create. The designers have been on the tightrope, and they have the experience to interpret your message and bring it across the rope to your target audience, minimizing the risk that your company’s messaging, and marketing investment, will plunge to the net below.

Oh, by the way, The Mathematics of Monkeys and Shakespeare -- The chances of failure are still essentially 100%. (Check out the math at: http://www.nutters.org/docs/monkeys.)

Your mother was right…

2008-07-02T08:51:00.000-07:00

Your mother was right when she said, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” You should listen to her. What she’s telling you is content is king (to use a trite, tired marketing expression), and if you’re content isn’t good then you shouldn’t put it out there in the world.

Okay. You’re right…just because content isn’t nice doesn’t necessarily mean it’s bad or should not be shared. But you have to admit, at least, that if your content is not well thought out, poorly worded, targeted incorrectly or contains spelling or grammatical errors, you’re really better off not marketing than marketing with “bad” material. Simply put, because of the quirky way our brains store memories, it’s almost impossible to erase the imprint of “bad” content. An article I read recently in the New York Times called, Your Brain Lies to You , explains just how difficult it can be to dispel misinformation – or, as your mother would say, take your foot out of your mouth.

This year I’ve been collecting a few winners for my bad content grab bag, just to demonstrate how important what you tell the world is.

And the winners are:

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Dialing Dead:
A couple of months back, I caught a late night television commercial by a law firm insisting I should call immediately if I “have suffered from injury, dismemberment or death.”

Okay, I think I know what they meant to say, but I’m pretty sure one might have a tough time figuring out how to operate a cell phone in a deceased state of mind.

O, O, Oh:
At the height of the primary season, I came home to a dining room table blanketed in red and blue love notes. Obama’s voice seemed nearly audible from one of those pieces, the letters of his name stretching across the top of the sheet and stamped boldly over and over and over again throughout the text. A happy, smiling picture of the candidate made me feel all warm and fuzzy.

But then I realized this particular piece looked so different from the slick, Obama brand. Curiosity lead me to the itty-bitty fine print on the back of the piece, which to my recollection said something like, “Don’t vote for him, vote for me, Love Hillary.”

Read This:
Although I am a college graduate, own a home and run a business, the fact that I live in an inner-city neighborhood somehow puts my family on a shoddy (at best) target list for those who are illiterate.

Although admirable in its mission, a local organization, looking to help people learn to read, sent me an 8-page document, set in 7-point type, with in-depth instructions on how to register—in writing—for reading lessons.

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Today, technology is making us work faster, and it seems we’re having a hard time keeping up with ourselves. In the rush to get things done quickly, we skip the necessary checks and balances.

Instead, we scrap to find ways to cut corners and end up doing more ourselves. We all have access to tools and information that seemingly make us experts at everything…content included. But all of this rushing around and unwillingness to give up control can lead us to bypass the people who truly are the experts in their field…and for content, the ones who have the ability to craft the right message, for the right audience, at the right time. Moreover, making good use of the writers and editors at your disposal decreases the risk of creating “bad” content and possibly damaging your reputation – and in turn, the reputation of your company or organization.

If you’re busy running the business, you may want to let those who can make you look brilliant do just that. Take advantage of in-house writers and editors, if you’re lucky enough to have them in your company. It’s not a sign of weakness to ask for help or advice. Nor do you have to relinquish all control. You may be the subject matter expert to outline the material or for the writer to interview, but the content specialists can help you hone your messaging to reach your desired audience with relevant information.

If you don’t have access to an in-house writer or editor, as a majority of small businesses and organizations, you can call a small publication or a business partner’s marketing department and ask which freelancers they might recommend. Choosing a freelance content expert is a lot easier when you have a recommendation from a business associate in your industry…and having a recommendation increases the likelihood of creating a final product that’s relevant for your target audience.

Additionally, agencies like ours have access to a group of very talented freelance writers, since we’re often required by our customers to help with content creation. We can offer advice about writers with a certain style or subject expertise perfect for a particular project…and who can work within your budget.

Finally, keep in mind content isn’t always about the words on the page. Sometimes it’s what you say in the design and delivery of your messaging. Using your design resources, the experts in design, will help you to avoid using an inappropriate color or choosing the wrong photo to support the text. But it’s not like the design could help imprint the wrong messages in the minds of your audience…isn’t that right, Hillary?

Design Lesson: Architects Before Plumbers

2008-02-07T19:05:00.000-08:00

My husband and I live in a 126-year-old fixer-upper in the heart of Cleveland. Many projects ago and early into our restoration, my husband mentioned that we might want to consider putting a nice bathroom in a large central room on the second floor of the house. I instantly began dreaming about escaping our money pit of a house by relaxing in lavender scented bubbles and gazing at bright and shiny new fixtures.

I quickly hired a plumber who came highly recommended, paid him $600 to buy supplies, and promptly never saw him again.

Two weeks later, his mug was in the paper for holding up a bank. Apparently my $600 wasn’t enough for the poor fella.

So much for the opulent bathroom on the second floor…

After hiring an architect and carefully planning the best use of our second floor space, we found that the upstairs bathroom was better suited to the back of the house. The dreamy, central bathroom we had originally conceived
is currently our bedroom. And I’d rather be sleeping in my bed than claw foot tub we had planned to put in that space.

Too often I see clients take the same approach with design. Instead of looking at their marketing and branding approach holistically, they focus solely on the project at hand.

They might be headed to an event or customer meeting, or perhaps preparing for a product launch with a looming deadline for placement onto store shelves, when we get the panicked phone call.

“Can I get a bright and shiny new logo, brochure, package design, booth mural—you name the project—in the next couple days?"

Wow, what a time to think about—or rather not think clearly about—the design approach.

As my husband and I learned with our second story restoration, to be successful we had to look at how the entire floor would function, requiring us to consult with an architect before hiring any plumber. (Not to mention the tough lesson that reversing the order would cost us 600 bucks).

The same is true with design. Successful companies and organizations think about their target market and their brand approach to that market before pouring a single cent into a brochure, sales sheet, package or display unit. They understand how each project relates to their overall plan, and how single elements can affect the way the market perceives them.

The intent of this blog is to help you start thinking about your market and brand strategy before getting down and dirty into the tactics.

So let’s talk strategy. Here are just a few items, among many, to consider:

Do you understand your company or organization’s value proposition? If not, you may want to subscribe to Jill Konrath’s blog, Selling to Big Companies, to start defining it: http://sellingtobigcompanies.blogs.com/

Have you forged an emotional connection with your customer? If you’re unsure, read what John Moore has to say: http://brandautopsy.typepad.com/brandautopsy/would_you_care/index.html

Do you know where your customers or prospects are in the customer-purchase funnel? If you have no idea what a customer-purchase funnel is, you may want to check out what Freda Byrne has to say about the topic: http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/12756.asp

Bottom line, if you embark on a project willy-nilly at the very last minute, without thinking about how the materials will affect your brand, your reputation, the way your target market recognizes and perceives your company or organization, more than likely you will end up re-doing the project from scratch. Meanwhile your designer will be laughing all the way to the bank with the rush charges you racked up. And believe me - the fees will be enough that they won't have to rob the place.

So when you get back from an ill-fated event or customer meeting and realize you were off target with your last-minute project materials, you’ll most likely change your mind about the design, the messaging, the brand approach.

And at that point, you will not only be starting over with the design, you will be starting over with your customers and prospects as well and negatively impact where they are in the customer-purchase funnel.

Your customers and prospects will need to recognize your new look, your new messages, and “re-buy” the brand. They will again have to evaluate if your company or organization fits their bill.

Whew – I need a relaxing bubble bath now just thinking about the stress of it all. If only I had a bathtub.

Been Blogged Lately?

2008-01-06T18:51:00.000-08:00

No sooner had Thanksgiving dinner wrapped up and the table been cleared, my son declared what he wanted—no, let me restate that—NEEDED for Christmas. “I need a dinosaur-racecar-robot toy with strobe light that plays really loud music. Grandma, put it on your list.”

Grandma calls the next morning to say that the dinosaur-racecar-robot-strobe-light toy received terrible reviews online. “I don’t care,” I say, nursing my turkey hangover. “It’s everything he wants in one gift. How can you go wrong?”

Grandma zips over a hyperlink of the product site via email. “Nice packaging,” I say. I scroll down to the reviews and my eyes are instantly drawn to big capital letters with the words: “DOES NOT STAY TOGETHER.” (Translation: Moms and Dads, you will put this toy together 40 times a day before you’ve even had your first cup of coffee in the morning). Yikes!

Grandma, it turns out, happens to be one of the 75-80% of shoppers who research products online before they even hit the stores. Moreover, according to a report released last October by the Nielsen Global Survey, 78% of shoppers like grandma trust recommendations from other consumers (online and other) over any other form of advertisements.

And this behavior is true not only in business-to-consumer sales, but has been noted as a trend in the business-to-business world. In a podcast interview with InTouch CEO, Brian Carroll, Ann Holland of Marketing Sherpa reveals trends from their research that shows nearly 80% of B2B clients seek new vendors online rather than relying on being approached by these new vendors.

This point is extremely important for smaller businesses. Thanks to less expensive and more accessible technology, it is possible for smaller companies to compete with larger ones that have a significantly larger online presence. Small Merchants Gain Large Presence on Web, an article by Bob Tedeschi in the New York Times, reveals how smaller companies are experiencing an increase in sales simply by forming relationships with bloggers and by posting products on social shopping sites like ThisNext.com and StyleHive.com.

Emareketer.com published an article last August, Customer Reviews Increase Web Sales, about how simply giving customers a chance to do product reviews on your site can increase site traffic approximately 77% and conversion rates 56%.

Simply put, your customers are designing virtual product labels for you. They are saying what your product or service is, how to use it, how it looks or feels, how reliable it is, and if they would buy it again. They are not only telling their friends, they are telling the world.

By the time a consumer gets to the store (physical location or online) to pluck your product off the shelf, their impression of the product has already been established—the “package” serves to help them quickly recognize the desired product and to make one final impression--they want to see if your company’s offering looks as professional as it sounds online.

This is where it just kills us as designers to have clients continually ask us to apply large neon screaming bursts on their packaging with variations of the following message in all capital letters: “BUY ME, I AM A GREAT PRODUCT!” Yeah, you can clearly see the burst from across the store or among other online “packages,” but the client probably already has an impression of your product in their head. Now think, does that gaudy addition really make your product look good?

It’s not going to mean a darn thing to me—that awful burst—if I already know that if I buy the product, I’ll have to put the widgit together 40 times before I even get my morning coffee.

Design Like You Give a Damn

2007-11-29T10:07:00.000-08:00

Jerry! Jerry is the equivalent of curse word in our house (along with “stinky goldfish” and a few other phrases we’ve invented to keep our four-year-old twins from talking like truck drivers).

Four years ago (yes, I was insanely pregnant at the time…the “nesting” instinct apparently at its peak), we plunged ourselves into a big heap of debt and a bleak period of culinary chaos to renovate our kitchen. Jerry (the human, not the curse word) was the electrician – if you can call him that – who came highly recommended by our general contractor.

Jerry, you see, is the man who talked us out of under-cabinet lighting and the additional overhead canisters we had requested because design wise, he felt we were “overlighting” our kitchen. In hindsight, that now sounds completely ridiculous, as I find myself sprinkling curry on to what was supposed to be cinnamon toast this morning.

I honestly cannot see a thing in our kitchen! The two canister lights in our mile-high ceiling (ten foot high, really) blink on an off on as they wish – if they wish. And four years later, I realize that Jerry simply didn’t give a damn about our kitchen design at all. It’s obvious he wanted to do less work for more cash.

Our kitchen lighting dilemma, I realize, is something I really shouldn’t whine about when there are millions of people on the planet who wish they had a kitchen – or a hut – or just a roof over their heads.

Currently, one in seven people live in a slum or refugee camp. And the greatest humanitarian challenge we face today is simply providing shelter to people who need it.

Meanwhile, the architecture profession seems more engaged in designing skyscrapers, concert halls and museums than providing shelter for the masses. (And who can blame them, really? Everyone wants to get paid for his or her work, architects included).

The September 2006 issue of Dwell magazine features an article about Architecture for Humanity’s new book, Design Like You Give a Damn. It is a compendium of innovative projects from around the world that demonstrate the power of architectural design to improve lives. It seems, as proven by numerous projects cited in Architecture for Humanity’s book, that good design can—and does—make a difference.

When I first saw the title of Architecture for Humanity’s book on the cover of Dwell, it quickly captured my attention because “design like you give a damn” embodies our philosophy here at Blue Star Design. Simply put, we believe in designing like we give a damn…about the client, about the client’s products, about the client’s market, about the client’s business, about the client’s success. (Although we prefer to promote ourselves as marketing-focused designers, so no one thinks we’re a bunch of swearing, uncouth, rum-drinking-pirate artists).

Over the years, as I have attended award shows and flipped through design achievement magazines, I can’t tell you how often I had wondered if any of these pieces actually benefited the customer for whom they were created. Does an award-winning design truly deserve to be award-winning if it does nothing to help sell the product?

Had anyone bothered to ask the client: “Who uses your product?” “Where is your product sold?” “What are the simple messages you need to convey to get somebody to pick up your product off the shelf?” It makes me wonder if the only question that ever gets asked anymore is “what is your budget?”

From the most expensive advertising campaigns to the simplest of datasheets, the design of these items should be delivered as though one actually gives a damn about the reputation of the client’s business and the methods for inspiring prospects and customers to do business with your client. Good design can make a difference.

Believe me, your client is not going to be happy if your design initiative results in them sprinkling curry on their cinnamon toast.

Jerry!