Archive for March, 2010

March 23rd, 2010

Marketing Emergency: Website Design

Our design firm sees its fair share of branding and marketing emergencies. The running joke is that our conference room becomes a make-shift triage for marketing patients. And for a variety of reasons, websites seem to be the most common marketing emergency that our design firm encounters.

In fact, if I asked 100 professional services firms if their websites were “under the weather” or worse, I’d be willing to bet over two-thirds of them would say, “Yes!”

An ill-performing website (more often than not) is the symptom of a larger marketing and positioning problem, rather than the problem itself. But that doesn’t change the fact that these websites are presenting with some serious symptoms.

Does your firm’s website qualify as a
marketing emergency?

If you’re unsure, you can try your hand at a little self-diagnosis. Here’s a simple three-step check up:

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March 2nd, 2010

Networking: Developing a Balanced Strategy

Something happened a few weeks ago that really got me thinking about the importance of networking, and more importantly, developing a solid strategy for it. I was at an event, and I was introduced to a group of college students from a local design school. I talked with them for a while, and before I left, I gave them each my business card. In design, like many fields, connections are crucial. The people you meet today can open a door for a job or project tomorrow. By giving them my card, I was offering myself as a connection and resource–knowing they will eventually graduate with the goal of finding a job.

After I left, I thought to myself whether I’d hear from any of those students. Unfortunately, I doubted it, and so far I’ve been correct in my assumption. This really made me think. What happened to the traditional rules of networking–to following up after a meeting, sticking your foot in the door, and creating a memorable connection? Are these rules obsolete in a society whose natural, everyday forms of communication, connecting, and maintaining relationships are online?

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