In late March, we’re scheduled to launch our new website. (Can’t wait!) We chose WordPress as the content management system in which to develop the site, and we think our reasons for doing so can be relevant to you, our clients, as well.
Advice on transitioning to a new website
We know what it’s like to be you. We’ve been our own client lately and we’ve been working on a new website. Questions have come up on just how and when we should announce and launch it. So we thought we’d share some best practice tips with you — and, at the same time, use it as a nice way to let you know about the change that’s coming. So, that’s tip number one.
Holiday cheer is good for morale.
Good office morale is important for success. In fact, little in the office is more influential to success than the happiness of our employees. Happy workers are more productive and interface with clients more cheerfully and effectively. And the efforts required to cheer up the office are both affordable and invaluable. Here are some things to consider:
Ten innovative ways to thank your clients
Thanking clients for their business is not only a nice thing to do, but it’s good for business. It leaves clients with a good feeling about you and prompts them to reflect on your value as a resource to them. A definite win-win. You appreciate them and they appreciate you back. And while some businesses go all out with client appreciation dinners and events, particularly around the holidays, sometimes those expensive endeavors just become one more holiday obligation that can really push the budget, rather than have the personal impact you’d hoped. Here are ten innovative, cost-effective and memorable ways to deliver your appreciation:
What's a company to do?
Ok, so there’s no way around it. Losing a million customers in a few months is not a good thing. That’s what has reportedly happened to Netflix after they announced that they planned to separate their DVD rental business from their online streaming business.
The Facebook rescue
It was a perfectly normal day. Rainy but warm, and hump-day — the day that divides the beginning of the work week with the end of the work week. So who could have known that a crisis was just about to come in our door — literally.
Advice for 2011
New buying behaviors, the social media explosion, fear of spending, a scramble to be all things to all customers — these are the stepchildren of the 2010 economic situation. But 2010 is gone. 2011 is here. And change is a-comin’. As we move deeper into 2011, we need to behave differently. It’s time to veer away from the deer in your headlights, get on with things, and do more than survive. Signs of economic turnaround are everywhere.
Branding is about strategic ideas, not pretty pictures, not relationships.
I recently had a client meeting where the basic idea of branding came up as a discussion point. The meeting was with a company owner who was having trouble with business growth and looking for a way to help his sales staff deliver better on every-day meetings and client visits. His concern was a common one: his sales had always come in as a result of a relationship built by a sales people one-on-one with the customer. And the salesperson only had so many hours in the day to feed those relationships.
Google's Branding Issue
In the philosophy section of Google’s corporate website at www.google.com/corporate/tenthings.html, Google publicizes 10 statements that articulate their general principals of behavior with which they try to operate. It’s a great thing to have in a website. We’ve recommended it to many clients. It tells your customers and potential customers just who are you are what you stand for. It gives them concrete information that goes deeper than a specific product or service offering, that helps them understand who you are as a company behind the scenes. It gives customers a reason to become fans, to believe in you, to develop loyalty to you.
Google Earth: Secret Weapon
According to Wired Magazine, Haiti Relief has a secret weapon: Google Earth. Days after the earthquake in Port-Au-Prince, a small group of Haitian set up a tent camp in an open field not far from the U.S. Embassy and a helicopter landing zone.
UNBRANDING?! WHAT?!
A little more than 6 months ago, Starbucks experimented with what was being coined as an “unbranding” experiment. Faced with a high level of saturation in its Seattle, Washington market area, Starbucks dropped its brand name at an existing location, and replaced it with a descriptive “15th Ave E Coffee & Tea.” Starbucks was concerned that its growing monopolization of the market was creating resentment among its loyal flock. Was it in Starbucks best interest to be perceived as the giant now, beating the smaller, local, unique coffee houses out of business? Is this the double edged sword of huge success?
Solar's Rise
Has solar energy’s time finally come? The field has grown exponentially in recent years. As brand consultants in the green world, we’ve certainly seen amazing growth take place. Even President Obama is a believer, having just approved $200 M of funds to solar research to help expand the industry.
