posted by Anna Fleet on July 30th, 2010
Have you ever wondered how the world’s costs would stand on a graphic scale?
Well do I have a Friday treat in store for you!
I came across this short YouTube video this morning and, I don’t have to tell you, it really puts global cost in perspective. This one-minute video showcase, and in some cases contrasts, impacting global costs—including the Iraq War, Google’s market value, how much is spent on video games and illegal drugs annually, how much it would cost to save the Amazon Rainforest, eradicate AIDS and national debt in the UK, and even lists revenues of corporate giants like Bill Gates, Tesco and OPEC even comparing OPEC’s revenue in 2009 compared their miniscule climate change fund. And all of this is done on a stunning graphic level set to music.
So check out ‘Information is Beautiful’ and yes I know it’s promoting a book (by the same name) from David McCandless, but I think its bigger impact is the beautiful visualization of such a profound message. It really does put things into perspective before a long weekend. Enjoy!
Tags: david mccandless, design thinking, graphic design thinking, information is beautiful, information is beautiful video, youtube for viral marketing
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posted by Anna Fleet on July 28th, 2010
Last week I shared an article about how design thinking was used by a group of USU design students to solve a structural issue at the famed Great St. Bernard Hospice in Switzerland. Well, I can’t stop thinking about it…
So today, I’m giving you a little insight from Captain James T. Kirk. Why? Well, because, one, I’m a Trekie. And two, I’m drawn to this concept of design thinking because it challenges us to find alternative ways to solve problems—giving us more options to solve those problems with…
And this girl, she loves her options!
I was reminded of a phrase that James T. Kirk coined: the “third option”. If I recall correctly, this means innovating and creating new ideas and new technology, not just out of self interest, but also for the common good. Now, to me, that sounds a lot more appealing compared to being stuck with two undesireable choices. Maybe, just maybe, I’m on to something here…
The obvious three steps involved in problem solving are:
1. Firstly, step back from the immediate problem and take a look at the bigger picture. After all, the problem itself is usually ingrained in the larger system, so finding a solution is best approached by first understanding the larger whole.
2. Next, to understand the whole situation you’ll need to call on folks with different expertise—designers, artists, MBAs, technologists, sociologists, communications, etc. Regardless, they all add value because they approach the problem from different angles, with different backgrounds, and with different skill sets.
3. Lastly, get a fresh perspective on the situation. Breakthroughs in any field—medicine, technology, art—hardly ever occur if never approached with fresh perspective. And lack of fresh insight is responsible for many companies getting stuck in a rut (e.g., old patterns and politics). After working at the same company and in the same position for many years, we all come to accept certain patterns as part of our environment. However, newbies on the scene, tend to question everything—especially the obvious—because an outsider has permission to ask “stupid questions” that veterans don’t feel comfortable asking.
That’s when the magic starts to happen. Am I right?
Tags: design thinking, design thinking for small business, glimmer book, james t. kirk, new ways of problem solving, new ways of thinking, star trek, warren berger
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posted by Anna Fleet on July 26th, 2010
I have something embarrassing to admit to you. I never, EVER leave the house without my Burt’s Bees lip balm. In fact, I’m so addicted to (what I like to call) my bee-auty product that I take it jogging with me over my iPod. <Hides face in shame…>
But what made me chose to divulge this weakness to all of you was the greater question: How exactly did Burt’s Bees, the natural beauty company from Durham, N.C, become such a mass-commercial sensation where other green beauty manufacturers of its enjoy only mild/more homegrown success?
Can you think of any natural products that, like Burt’s, are sold in large retail chains? I can think of multitudes of natural products that base their sales campaigns on the use of green ingredients and earth-friendly advertising, but, typically, these products are sold largely at flea markets and small local shops. An article in the New York posts claims that Burt’s Bees enjoys this special success thanks to some very distinctive marketing.
And even though Burt’s qualifies as a “natural” beauty product—products are made using natural ingredients like milk, honey, beeswax and almond oil—their seemingly low-key marketing shtick is free of any green gospel. Instead Burt’s uses a laid-back marketing style that stirs up word-of-mouth promotion—on one hand selling in national retailers like Shoppers Drug Mart in Canada and Wal-Mart, Walgreen’s, CVS and Whole Foods Market in the US; but also in small local bookstores and hospital gift shops.
According to Leigh Anne Rowinkski, the Director of Client Solutions at Information Resources, Burt’s Bees is “…lightning in a bottle”, which puts the product in a fortunate position. It’s true! As Burt’s sales straddle mass-market retail chains and homegrown shops—they still keep their mom and pop reputation in tact.
Can you think of any other brands that enjoy the best of both worlds like Burt’s Bees? If you know of any, please share.
Tags: burts bees viral marketing campaign, green-friendly marketing, marketing natural products, viral marketing for small business, viral marketing tips, word of mouth marketing
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posted by Anna Fleet on July 23rd, 2010
Its Friday, 1:15 pm. I haven’t had lunch yet—and I’m starving!
So it figures that I would be surfing the Net for recipes—oh and of course, informative news to share with my favorite audience in readiness for the weekend.
So when I came across this witty little number from MichelleB at TopRankBlog.com, my mouth watered and I jumped all over it. But, my hungry readers, I saved enough to share with you. So set your stove to bake and dig your grandma’s casserole dish out of that top cupboard you need a stepladder to reach. Here are the five ingredients for a perfect Twitter marketing recipe!
According to Michelle, the perfect Twitter marketing recipe combines:
1. A hearty serving of relevant, informative content
2. Another generous scoop of useful, enlightening content from another industry expert
3. A few dashes of exciting product offers and promotions
4. Some natural (no-sodium, no preservative) customer service
5. Top it all off with a useful portion of entertaining retweets…
Does your Twitter Marketing recipe resemble Michelle’s? Or have you added some of your creative ingredients of your own? Please share, I want to put it in my recipe book.
Tags: seo strategy, social networking strategy, twitter advantages, twitter for B2C, twitter for non-profit organizations, twitter tips for small businesses
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posted by Anna Fleet on July 21st, 2010
I recently read Warren Berger’s, Glimmer, a book that details how design thinking can transform lives. So you can understand my interest in an article about a group of Utah State University students who went to Switzerland to study creative thinking. I must add that the article was tweeted by my colleague, James, a very talented graphic designer.
Many (like Berger) refer to this cultivation of right brain (or creative thinking) to solve problems and advance innovation as “design thinking”. And students are calling on the right sides of their brains, not only to solve problems, but out of necessity as well—to get a job when they graduate.
“There’s a new field emerging,” says Bob Winward, the graphic design professor who led the trip, “…today’s successful businesses are driven by innovation and creativity. The world is undergoing a huge shift—from a largely informational economy to a conceptual one where intuition thought will replace logic.”
I think Berger would agree wholeheartedly!
At this point you might be thinking that design thinking is a bunch of conceptual mumbo-jumbo, all well and good in theory, but not applicable to real life. Well the students found out otherwise as they traversed the Swiss Alps on snowshoes to the Great St. Bernard Hospice. Here monks tasked them with reconstructing gigantic kennels for the St. Bernard dogs—bred to rescue avalanche victims. The harsh conditions, risk of snow slides and 60-pound steel beams used to construct the kennels all had to be figured into the course of action.
But according to graphic design student Rich Wills, the students might have learned the most important lesson from the monks, “You have to learn how to understand other people if you’re going to design things for people.”
Tags: creative thinking tips, design thinking strategy, design thinking tips, glimmer book, graphic design thinking, warren berger
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posted by Anna Fleet on July 20th, 2010
Small and medium businesses feel the pressure of the recession more than larger retailers. But if you run a smaller retail shop, you might have taken cue from many of the larger retailers who put their funky print catalogue campaigns on hold this year due to spending cuts and to achieve that green-friendly image that so many customers appeal to.
“But [catalogues] aren’t disappearing, they’re adjusting,” says Catalogs.com founder Leslie Linevsky in an article from USA Today on large retailers such as Abercrombie & Fitch, Barney’s, Sears, J.C. Penney, and watch company Fossil and their creative catalogue campaigns. These retailers aren’t abandoning catalogue campaigns; they’re just scaling back on the number of print they mail out—and using more memorable campaigns to drive traffic to their websites.
Take Abercrombie & Fitch’s controversial A&F Quarterly Saturday for example. The retailer decided to launch a funky issue this year after a seven-year hiatus—despite the cuts to spending. The reasoning: to drive traffic to their website and Facebook page.
Creative director, Barneys New York, Simon Doonan says that print catalogues from large retailers are specifically “being aimed at young audiences in order to get them interacting with stores.” Stores like Barneys are making their catalogues more creative—even 3D—with the hopes of making direct-mail pieces more impactful and relevant to younger audiences. And it’s working, or so Doonan says, “The generation that shops at [Barney’s] is having fun with 3D…it resonates with the store’s audience.”
Tags: 3d catalogues, ambercrombie and fitch catalogues, barneys catalogues, catalogue campaigns, direct mail tips for small business, sears catalogues, web marketing tips
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posted by Anna Fleet on July 19th, 2010
Everyone’s talking about SEO (Search Engine Optimization). And many small businesses and non-profit organizations are reaching out to SEO consultants to wave their magic keyword wands without really understanding what these services entail and/or without realistic expectations concerning what SEO is actually supposed to do.
I’m an SEO myself, but even I can admit that SEO and keywords alone won’t get you sustained traffic and visitors to your website. Rather, creating and maintaining a winning website is more about understanding human search behavior. And I think a recent article from searchengineland.com outlines the top 10 traits that most top performing websites have in common very nicely. Check these out and apply them to your web strategy:
1. They understand human search behavior and the reasons why people find, remain and return to a website.
2. They’ve invested in and understand the importance of strategic information architecture
3. They create and post high-quality content on a regular scheduled basis.
4. They understand that a quality user interface is vital to the user experience.
5. They take time to test usibiltiy because they understand that human search behaviour changes.
6. They don’t let web 2.0 gimmicks get in the way of the user experience.
7. They know that SEO page markup is based on quality content, not keyword stuffing.
8. They know how crawlers and search technologies impact content’s find-ability.
9. They understand that page rank has to do with high-quality content.
10. They understand that in order to gain strong search rankings you need to first build a strong user experience.
As you build your website strategy, keep all of these factors in mind and you will be successful.
Tags: quality content for seo, search behavior tips, search engine optimization, searchengineland.com, seo for non-profits, seo for small business, seo strategy, tips for user interface, understanding human search behavior, web design for small business
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posted by Anna Fleet on July 15th, 2010
You’ve likely heard about the recent iPhone 4 issues? Well Yahoo!News reports that Apple has scheduled a press conference at its Cupertino California headquarters tomorrow to address the millions of iPhone 4 users with antenna and reception issues.
Worse yet, Consumer Reports won’t recommend an iPhone that (literally) needs a band-aid solution like duct tape or a phone case to alleviate the problem. Worse yet, Apple CEO, Steve Jobs’ was quick to add insult to injury—saying, “Just avoid holding it in that way” in an email to iPhone owners.
As many Mac-addicts hope for a quick fix, I’d like to share an experience I had just over lunch that I think Apple (and many small businesses) could learn from. Here’s what happened:
I dropped into a local sandwich shop for a quick take out panini, as I usually do when I’m in a rush, only to find out that the store was out of my favorite multigrain bread. OK, no biggie. But as I tried again, I was told that they were out of my favorite Cajun chicken breast as well. Ok, I can get over that too. But, when I finally placed my order, the sandwich maker disappeared for like 10 minutes. I honestly thought she went home…and, actually, I was right.
Suddenly the manager appeared with this honest explanation, he said, “…I sincerely apologize. I underestimated the number of staff we needed on lunch today and the woman that was just serving you is ill, so I’ve sent her home. I appreciate the time you’ve spent waiting and I’d like to take care of your order today for free and give you another complimentary visit on us.”
I can tell you that this explanation and gesture single-handedly saved me from leaving and telling everyone I know never to set foot in this place again. Thanks to the manager’s authentic explanation, he kept me as a customer. Needless to say, I’ll be going back to my favorite little sandwich shop in the near future. It just goes to show how an honest gesture can help you keep your loyal customers happy.
So do you think its time for Apple to fess up, take responsibility and fix the problem free of charge? I certainly do.
Tags: apple iphone 4, authentic customer service tips, customer service for small business, iphone 4 issues, marketing for small business, marketing tips, steve jobs iphone 4
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posted by Anna Fleet on July 14th, 2010
He’s already proven to the world that he’s sexy, skilled on motorcycle and horseback, and romantic with the ladies…now he’s a viral marketing genius as well!
The Old Spice Man is at it again, sending out personalized YouTube messages to Tweeters with a ton of followers—and I’m not talking one-line retweets; I’m talking full-length, YouTube video that address their thoughts and feelings, by name!
Old Spice is doing some fabulous viral marketing, using well-known folks with a lot of followers—like Digg founder Kevin Rose, Olympic skater Apolo Ohno, actresses Alyssa Milano and Justine Bateman, and techy site Gizmodo. Check out Old Spice Man’s YouTube message to Kevin Rose, after Rose posted that he wasn’t feeling well on his Twitter status. It’s hilarious and its social media at it’s best.
And the spokesperson with 98% muscle is even reaching out to us regular folks (with thousands of Twitter followers). Take the personalized message to Gabe as an example. All together Old Spice Man is featured in more than 100 personalized YouTube videos.
Where does he get the energy?
Well in my opinion it’s well-directed energy and money from the folks at Old Spice. They are targeting people with a ton of followers, and that equates to a ton of social networking prowess when those same people retweet the videos and spread them virally throughout their huge social networks.
So just when you thought he was perfect, Old Spice Man shows us viral marketing at its best—he’s outdone you once again…on a horse!
Tags: alyssa milano, Justine bateman, Kevin rose, old spice man, old spice viral marketing campaigns, social media strategy, social networking for non-profits, social networking for small business, viral marketing tips, youtube for viral marketing
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posted by Anna Fleet on July 13th, 2010
I’m in the market for some decent landscaping advice. Why you ask? Because my yard is a jungle…of weeds that I can’t seem to get rid of. And, I know that whatever method I use, I must exile them in the environmentally friendly Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario way.
So I turned to the Internet (of course) and found myself on the websites of a collection of local landscaping companies. But something was missing! There wasn’t anything wrong with their website designs, copy or intentions on the whole, but there was still something lacking. Not one of these sites succeeded connected with me (the customer) in any significant way. So, I took my weed (killing) fighting search elsewhere.
So what can your small business or non-profit website take from this one woman’s tale of weed woe?
MarketingProfs.com’s article, Three Things You Need to Know About Web Design, recommends following these 3 simple tips when designing or redesigning your company website:
Start by asking yourself, “How will my customers will use this site?” Is your site easy to navigate so customers can find the products and information they need? Well it should be or potential clients will go looking somewhere else.
Envision your site as a crossroads that visitors pass by as they make their way to other social-networking destinations. Your content should relates to Facebook and Twitter, in the way that it features small, bite sized informative bits that can be spread and shared by social networks across the Internet. When customers find valuable information for free, they’re more likely to feel loyal to and to come back and purchase products and services later from sites that offered free advice. The practice of freely giving valuable content (not pure selling) will encourage readers to post links back to your site and share them across social networks.
Your web design should suit your content. Think about it, would an author design their book cover before they wrote the book? No, it’s backwards foolishness! So why do so many companies do this with their website?
Tags: 3 web design tips, marketingprofs.com, user friendly web design, web 2.0 for small business, web design for charities, web design tips for non-profits, web marketing, web marketing for B2C
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One Calendar with Social Networking Powers
