The good hype is the kind we can agree with at an emotional or gut level with no resistance.  An easy example in recent times is anything Apple related.  Of course this continues to be good hype because the entire Apple experience is fulfilling from product to service to the human experience with brand, and the shared conversation with Apple customers geeking over the latest iPhone or musing over favorite apps on the iPad.

The bad side of hype, of course occurs when one or many claims about a product or service are not agreeable at the emotional or gut level.  The easiest way to know bad hype is in a continual re-surfacing of bad experiences.  The easiest way to spot hype gone bad is negative-word-of-mouth.

Now, how the two intertwine.

Fast, faster and even faster hype – the slug fest of right and wrong.

Keep in mind, hype doesn’t help especially when you are trying to leverage hype without much concern for the world your service or product serves.

Consider the recent Ocean Marketing crisis where a “regular” customer got mistreated at the customer service level and sent a few emails to other businesses in the industry looking for help and ended up being supported by industry leaders as they systematically dismantled an unscrupulous marketer. All within a couple of days via email and blog posts.

Although the big drama was watching things spin out of control at Ocean Marketing as Paul got choked out for being a bully, the small and important lesson for all of us is that the customer was worried about the early hype that got him to put money on the table during pre-order sales. He questioned that hype, fearing he would not get the product he paid for and his very basic questions were no different than you or I would ask. The story that unfolded after that is now internet lore with over 600k views on YouTube since being posted 6 days ago.

Make no mistake, even though it was “business as usual” for all the parties involved, it became hype along the way thanks to the power available to regular people and the internet.

With all the parties involved, the technology and viral nature of the web has threaded out several channels of hype just in this one situation – a pre-order of a game controller and a bad customer service experience. Those that did not know about the product the customer bought are now advocating and probably purchasing the product, where as Ocean Marketing, the company responsible for marketing and customer service has been crippled through the event, while Mike and his site Penny Arcade have fostered even more support and genuine appreciation by fans and industry leaders. And to further claim his point-of-view and support for the regular person, Mike reported:

“It might not always make the most business sense and it is a policy that has caused us some legal problems, but I really don’t give a shit about that. When these assholes threaten me or Penny Arcade I just laugh. I will personally burn everything I’ve made to the fucking ground if I think I can catch them in the flames.” — Mike Krahulik

It’s virtually impossible to disagree with his perspective.  Bad people shouldn’t get away with bad things – and this means that bad marketing, bad service, bad relationships are more and more subject to this type of situation. So, if ever you needed to see the way basic customer service, email, and social media can work for or against you and your business, here it is.  And this is not an anomaly – This is the new baseline.

Look at your business

Hype is going further, faster, and with more ease than ever before.  As a business owner, marketer, and human – we are one moment away from a house of cards falling. There has never been a better time then now to guide your business with a simple “Do the right thing” influence from the top down, inside and out.

Take a look at who you are aligned with. Do they pass the gut check? Have you made a decision in favor of a vendor only because of low cost or their ‘results’ even though you question their performance or integrity? Have you worked hard to build your company, but not cared much about the human experience of your customers, suppliers, or peers?

Now is the time to consider these things and make changes if needed. You never know when a “regular” customer will introduce you to a lesson on business ethics.

First, What exactly IS Business Development?

For the big machine of corporate America (and most businesses with several employees and revenue of a million dollars or more), business development is a set of tactics, processes, and planned actions that identify customers, markets, and sales opportunities in an organized and structured manner. The eye-crossing, glaze over definition of biz dev that Wikipedia offers gets deeper if you want more of that. Most companies have a Sales Director, VP of Sales, Biz Dev Team, etc…

But not you.

Business Development for the Small Small Small Business is very different.

Primarily because you have to do it yourself – all of it and you’ll probably have no support from others. As a result, you’ll typically default to your only known business development tools; basic sales or price, word-of-mouth, friends and family referrals, tinkering with social media, maybe some ppc or affiliate stuff and praying!

Please note, “sales” is not business development nor is networking, tweeting, emailing or “dialing for dollars” or running a booth at a conference or running advertising online or in the media.

For our sake as a small small small business,

business development is:

philosophy + boundaries + process to follow + action to get results you intend.
P+B+Pr+A=R

“PB PrAR”. I suppose that’s pretty simple. If you notice the “R” above , it’s for ‘results’, but can also be seen as ROI, the return on investment. So, say it like “PB Praroi” and we can start our own inside lingo. Ok.. Moving on.

A Practical View of Biz Dev

By now, you know what the big machine calls business development and you know that you are not the big machine. You also know that the small small small business has to look at biz dev in a different way. The PB Praroi way.

But right now, you might still be thinking this is all too much for you and you don’t really need biz dev. I beg to differ.

When you know biz dev, you know how your business works to help others in a profitable (or at least in a revenue generating) manner. You want this, now, you need this. If you are in business, you need some sort of biz dev in place and this helps you see a more complete view of the customer getting side of your efforts.

In the next post in this series, we’ll cover the PB Praroi formula and how to put it to work for you. For now, chime in if you have a biz dev process, want one or still unsure.

• It’s easier to produce, fabricate and manufacture hype then every before.
• It’s increasingly manipulative because technology and tactics obfuscate what the hype is actually trying to accomplish.
• It’s easier to spread the hype.
• It’s easier to get burned by hype.

Why does this matter to you? Because you want to spread things that matter, you want to help others, you want to lead and direct a successful business. And now, it’s going to be harder for you to do that.

Don’t Believe the Hype!

In 1988, Famed rap group Public Enemy released the track that put the phrase “Don’t believe the hype” into the masses. And now, it’s even more relevant as we find ourselves saying “Did Bon Jovi die? That’s what I heard? Where? Oh, on Twitter or something.”

But the problem is the hype is harder to spot and as more and more people get victimized by the hype; phishing schemes, email scams, click-through-defrauding, identity theft, and all the things in between, the masses will become more and more hesitant and cynical. The bad apples in the bunch are going to ruin the whole bunch of good apples.

Turd Polishing

Here in the south, you’ll find a lot of really funny and questionable expressions. Many of them seem straight outta the standup routines of Jeff Foxworthy (You might be a redneck) and Larry the Cable Guy. One of my favorites is “you can’t polish a turd” and I’d have to argue that most people can’t polish a turd, but a marketer can. But that doesn’t mean you should.

So, if you are looking at increasing your marketing skills, your advanced benefit statements, USP’s, pitch videos, squeeze pages, clever headlines and affiliate networks – remember, hype won’t help. You’ll need to be increasing your ability to communicate value and real benefit. Not just the words that persuade and influence action, but the actual products and material that have value.

Hype Image by: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kerryank/

Was this a hasty naming decision on Netflix’s behalf? It’s possible; and that haste is something you should avoid at all costs when planning to expand your brand or product line. In order to avoid falling into the same PR rough patch that Netflix has found itself in, I’d like to offer you some insight on how important naming your next product truly is.

Strategize!
• What does the product name mean to your company? Does it add meaning to your brand, and even to the product itself?

• Is it too generic? (Think “BrandCo”)

• What sort of feelings or reactions does the name invoke?

• Does it invoke any negative connotations or sounds? (It would help to actually say the name out loud and slowly when answering this).

• Are you planning on taking this brand international? Are there any negative connotations in your key markets abroad with this name?

• Are you planning on giving this new product or service its own campaign? (This requires an entire other strategy that we won’t go into on this blog entry. )

Scout!
• Is the name already taken? It may seem obvious, but even a quick Google search will reveal the answer.

• Is it too close to a similar product?

• Have you thought about domain names for the product, as well as social media handles for Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Linked in, etc.?

• Are there any problems with handles on social media accounts where you would have to modify the name?

• Is it important for this product or service to have it’s own presence online beyond simply being posted?

Secure!
• Before announcing your product, go ahead and park all of the handles and domain names you think will be necessary (this helps prevent future PR messes and competitor social media interference).

• Does your product/service have its own campaign? Have you finalized the web design and soft launched your site(s)?

• If “yes” for a campaign, have you worked out the kinks on the sites, or have you moved to a point where the kinks will be better managed if publicly launched?

• Prepare yourself for excitement, as well as for backlash, pushback, and doubt to your new product or service.

Even if you find yourself in a situation like Netflix, where social outcry has caused pressure to push the company forward at a faster pace than probably anticipated, it’s best to pause for a moment and focus on the challenges a new product and new product name can bring. Of course, there are always more elements to each strategy, but working from an overview like the one above can help you avoid unexpected messes in the short and long term futures.

Twitter developer Christopher Golder describes Twitter Web Analytics as a tool that will help web owners determine how much traffic they receive from Twitter. The analytics tool will also reveal how content is being shared and just how effective integrating a Tweet Button on pages really is for your business. Take a look at the screenshot preview below:

From the looks of the preview, you’ll be able to break down data in four categories- traffic, tweets, your Tweet Button, and content. You can view data on the current day, in a 7-day period, and in a 30-day period. It doesn’t look like you can toggle to specific days just yet. Twitter developed the tool with its social analytics tool as a response to other analytics programs’ inability to keep up with the site’s rapid evolution.

For business owners on Twitter, this tool will help skeptics see the social platform’s effectiveness. Users will be able to view which tweets hit home with their target audience, whether that be promotions of certain products or specials, blog posts, pictures, etc., leading to better structured content as a part of an ongoing social media strategy. Above all, businesses will be able to monitor growth of their account from the convenience of their dashboard.

Twitter Web Analytics is not yet widely available to the public, but according to the company, that will change soon.

Sources:
Pop Sop, Twitter Has Presented the Web Analytics Tool and Changed Its Advertising Policy

ITPro, Twitter Web Analytics Unveiled

Search Engine Watch, Twitter Debuts Analytics Platform, Expands Promoted Tweets Distribution

Color is one of the most powerful methods of design; it affects our moods, emotions and our buying habits. It can even raise blood pressure or suppress appetites. Just as red means stop, and green means go, the colors used for a product, website, or logo can cause powerful reactions.

There have been many studies on the significance of colors in regards to the human mind and body. In fact, there are many people whose careers are solely based on the study of the effects of colors in marketing. For instance, you may notice that in many fast food restaurants, bright red or orange color schemes are often used—this isn’t a coincidence. Fast food restaurants choose these warm and energetic colors because they encourage diners on a subconscious level to want to eat faster and leave. It’s also been said that if you’re trying to lose weight, you should eat all of your meals on blue dishes, as the color blue is known to suppress appetites. Here are some other color correlations and examples of their best uses in marketing:

(Click to view full size)

However, color perceptions aren’t entirely universal. You have to know and research your target audience thoroughly. Colors that may entice in North America may have a much different impact on the emotions and reactions of those from other cultures. For instance, in the U.S., the color white means purity/peace/simplicity/innocence/cleanliness/birth/good/marriage; while in China, India and parts of Africa, it is the color of death and mourning. So, while it would be completely appropriate here in the U.S., you definitely wouldn’t want to incorporate a lot of white in the design of promotional materials for a line of infant clothing and accessories that is to be marketed in China.

Color plays a larger role than you might think, eh? So, the next time you’re trying to decide on a color scheme for a project, take the time to do a little research on the psychology and physiology of the all-powerful chroma; the life of your brand might depend on it.

Facebook Daily Deals was introduced as a competitor to Groupon, Living Social, and other deal sites but failed to find legs in its five test cities. This announcement comes as a surprise to those of who took advantage of the deals, as well as to Groupon who is planning on announcing their initial public offering later in the year. That means less competition in their dominance of the deals market.

If you’re not familiar, these sites work with local businesses to solicit limited time offers for area residents for special products or services. The discounts are huge– averaging 50-90% off normal prices. The kicker of these sites is the time limit to not just purchase the discounted product, but the timeframe in which to use it. Deal sites will ask a few questions to get a better profile on their user base, and then send out tailored deals and featured daily deals via email.

If your business was planning on taking advantage of the Facebook deal feature, you’ll now have to funnel efforts into an already established deal site. Though this short-lived effort didn’t pan out, fear not for your merchant presence on Facebook. The company isn’t removing their Ads, Pages, and Sponsored Stories feature and plan on continuing to develop and improve their Check-In Deals, which allows users to check in to local businesses. Users that check-in to a business automatically share the activity with their friends and activate special deals offered by business owners. This may be something to look into further if you’re looking to activate social engagement with your storefront.

Daily Deals may not have had a chance to gain a strong enough competitive presence, but it is clear Facebook is working to re-think local business, and that in and of itself is something to be excited about.

(Source: Reuters.com)

Sometimes, we designers forget that not everybody lives and breathes graphic design, and we can be guilty at times of throwing around odd terms like vector, ghosting or sans-serif and expect everyone to know what we’re talking about. It’s almost as if we have our own secret language, and it can be baffling if you’re not familiar with it. The good news is, you don’t need to go to design school to understand the basics. In this post, I’ll go over some principal terms and processes familiar to most designers to make communicating with us right-brainers a little easier.

Have you ever been asked by a designer for an EPS, AI or vector version of your company’s logo? Did you ask yourself, “What the heck is an EPS?” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve asked this of a client and the only thing they have available is a tiny JPEG that was copied from their website.

Most people are familiar with the friendly JPEG file, it’s widely used on the web for images that are really small or that don’t need to be of high quality. But, because JPEG images are raster-based, they lose quality when enlarged (even a little bit), you’d never want to use a JPEG for an image that contains text or large blocks of color. Also, JPEG files do not support transparencies, so if if an image such as your logo needs to be over a colored or textured background, it will display a box around the image.

A vector image may also be referred to as an EPS or AI (Adobe Illustrator) file. Vector images are a must when making truck wraps, banners, billboards or large trade show graphics as they can be enlarged to any size imaginable and never lose any quality. These files can also be easily edited if colors or any other elements need to be changed. Adobe Illustrator (and occasionally Corel Draw) is the industry standard for creating logos in vector format.

Here are a few other important file extensions and the best uses for them:

• GIF – Use a GIF for simple web images that don’t have a lot of different colors. These are great for small animations, logos, web buttons, charts or diagrams, cartoon-like drawings, and web banners.
• PNG – Use PNG extension when you need smaller file sizes with no loss in quality. PNG files support transparent backgrounds and are great for the web to display logos, web banners, web buttons, and photos.
• TIFF – TIFF files are large and there is no loss in quality. It’s a fairly old format, so it is well supported by a large range of applications. It also supports transparency and is good for both raster and vector data. However, because they are fairly large files, TIFFs aren’t a good choice for the web.
• PDF – PDFs are widely used across the internet to share files with others who don’t have the same software. They’re also great for electronic documents and forms, and for ebooks. PDFs are often used to send print materials to a print shop, and can also support vector data that can be edited in Adobe Illustrator.

Another important thing to know when it comes to communicating with your designer is knowing and understanding the Creative Process. There are 4 basic steps to this process:

1. Creative Brief: First off, a designer will collect a Creative Brief from the client. Learn more about Creative Briefs here. 
2. Research: Then, based off of the information collected from the Creative Brief, the designer will then begin researching, collecting  both data and inspiration. One thing that I find extremely helpful is writing down a word-association list. Then I take the word-association list and begin sketching Thumbnails. Thumbnails are just quick sketches to illustrate basic ideas for a design. The more time a designer spends in the thumbnail stage, the faster and more productive the next step will be.
3. Comps: Comps, or comprehensives, are when the designer takes their thumbnails off the sketchpad and onto the computer. These are the first drafts of the design. A designer will show several different styles and directions in these comps and let the client decide on a look and feel that they like. After being reviewed by the client, the comps go back to the designer with feedback and changes. There are usually several rounds of the feedback process.
4. Implementation: This is the final step and when your design has reached perfection. Now, your designer will present to you all the final files you will need to put your new lovely design into action.

There is definitely much, much more to the graphic design glossary, but these few terms are surely some of the most important and will hopefully help you and your designer to communicate more effectively.

When I say it looks identical, I mean it could be a Twitter “fakery” used in movies and television to avoid copyright infringement. Like Twitter, your broadcast messages are limited to 140 characters, you message someone using the “@” symbol before their user handle, and incorporates all of the features that you are familiar with on Twitter. The difference, primarily, is in the names of those features and functions. You would “ping” instead of “tweet”, when you follow someone you are a “listener” (and when you’ve had just about enough you can “unlisten”), retweets are now known as “echoes”.

There are some interesting changes between the two competitors, namely, the continuously updating feed as opposed to scrolling up to the top to click “refresh” every few moments. Depending on your tastes that can be a welcome change or incredibly dizzying. Like another big launch this summer, Google+, Heello plans on having user-moderated channels similar to Google+’s “Circles”. To me, these two features have miles of value. I find it annoying to constantly have to refresh my feeds and broadcast the same message to all of my followers– the “all or nothing” way of sharing information has now become outdated on social networks.

Heello’s launch comes on the heels of Twitter’s recent block of popular third party photo sharing apps like TwitPic and yfrog by incorporating its own photo uploading option when composing a new tweet. Heello was developed by TwitPic founder Noah Everett, and though it has been in development for a year, its launch coincides with a pretty powerful time on behalf of his previous successful startup. “If Twitter can compete with its developers without fair notice, then why can’t we?” Everett noted. Though it still remains to be seen if Heello will pick up in the coming weeks and become a worthy competitor, it’s sure to have a growing base of followers. Planned features for the service include video sharing, location check-ins, and Heello apps for Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android.

So does this mean you’ll need to break out a strategy plan for your company on Heello? That remains to be seen. The site is still in its infancy, but grabs for handles (as with any new start up) are in abundance. Right now it might be beneficial to park your company’s page to have on hand. With Heello, you can link to your Twitter and Facebook accounts, effectively pushing a button just once to broadcast your message. If you prefer Heello’s interface, your company can benefit from this. At the very least, being knowledgeable about the pace of startups and of sites like Heello can help you plan exactly where you need to be looking to target new customer bases.

You can view a live feed of Heello’s public stream here to see the site in action: http://heello.com/live.

The Client-Designer Relationship

As the client, you should know that your designer values your business. A lot of thought and research goes into the creation of your mark; its so much more than just slapping your company’s name on a stock illustration and calling it done in 30 minutes. A professional designer will look deep into your business plan, your company mission, your background; thoroughly researching your industry and your competition. All of this research is pertinent to creating an original and timeless identity that doesn’t need to be updated two years later once trends change. You’ll receive several options of designs and numerous revisions until you’re absolutely 100% satisfied with the one-of-a-kind design/color/typography combination they’ve created especially for you.

Bargain Designers & Logo Design Contests

There are plenty of websites popping up out there promoting logo design contests paying as little as $20 to the winner. Oodles of designers submitting numerous logos for you to choose from for $20 bucks?! Sounds great, doesn’t it? Sure, there will be tons of logos to choose from, tons of lousy logos. Another risk of using a non-professional is possible copyright infringement. It would be so easy for an amateur designer with no accountability to enter a design that isn’t their own. You would be the one that ends up being held liable for this very embarrassing mistake. A professional would never dream of copying a logo—not only is it immoral, but could get you in some costly legal trouble. Let’s consider some other ramifications and perceptions about your brand that a bad logo can create:

• Unprofessional: Maybe your logo looks great on paper, but horrible on a billboard or a car wrap- (were you provided with a vector format version?) or if the graphic quality of your logo isn’t compatible on the web, your business could be perceived as amateurish.
• Unreliable: If your logo doesn’t have a professional quality about it, people may assume the same about the quality of services your business provides.
• Brand Distortion: There is nothing worse than a logo design that communicates the wrong message. If viewers aren’t able to understand its meaning or if they interpret it as having a negative context, your brand image in their minds is distorted, and possibly even at risk of being hated.
• Costly Re-branding: If you went through the whole branding process with a poor or copied logo, (e.g. printing business cards, stationary, brochures, banners, posters, mugs—the whole shebang), when it comes time to redesign your mark, not only will you be paying again for the design cost, but will have to replace all of those promotional materials with your new and improved logo on them—a huge hit for a company that’s just  trying to get started.

How Does Your Current Logo Measure Up?

So, now that we’ve covered the advantages of a professional designer, and the disadvantages of a non-professional, let’s talk about your current logo. Take a look at your current design, and answer these questions (honestly):

1. Is it memorable? The simpler a logo is, the more memorable it is. Is your logo simple and creative enough that it could be remembered and recognized at a glance?
2. Does it work well in black in white? What if you were printing tshirts and the budget only allowed for one color? Would your logo still be legible?
3. Is it a unique design?Have you seen several other logos very similar to yours?
   

   See any similarities with these logos? Do any of them stand out as unique?

4. Is it scaleable? Is your Is your logo still recognizable even when scaled down to a tiny size? A simple logo not only allows for easy recognition, but also has the ability to shrink down to small sizes without losing any details. You don’t want any small parts that will get lost once it’s printed in a tiny format such as on your business cards.

If you answered no to any of these questions, there’s a good chance that your logo needs some work or a total re-haul all-together.

In closing, one of the first, and ultimately smartest investments you can make in your business will be a professionally created logo. You’ll be over the moon with a design that was custom built especially for your business and proud to let it be the face of your company for years to come.

Before You Begin
The Insights App should be one of the first things implemented on your page. Much like Google Analytics, Facebook Insights tracts user growth and demographics and what content on your page your fans are reading most intently. Using this tool can help you develop tailored content to your fans, ultimately cutting through the clutter on their feed and creating meaningful touch points of interaction. Facebook Insights is a free app available to add to your company page.

Plan, Schedule, Execute

1) Plan your tone

Your Facebook is an extension of who you are as a company, and as such, it’s important to take into consideration the tone and style of your posts. What kind of voice will your posts have? Fun? Strictly business? It’s best to decide from the start and adhere to that voice for consistency over time.

2) Plan your content

Will you be informative about your product? A news hub of information related to your business? A collection of your fan’s input? There isn’t one right answer, in fact, your page could benefit from incorporating all of these. Refer to the analytics from your Facebook Insights app to better customize your content as you move forward. Don’t be afraid to continue to return to and restructure your social media plan as time goes on; keeping the same kinds of content pushing gets stale and will result in lost followers.

3) Develop content

Now is the time to develop content. This shouldn’t be done day-of, but rather, plan it in advance and decide who on your team will write what. Not all content has to be new or original. You can always incorporate older blog posts, and relevant industry articles. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get creative with some of your content to avoid becoming white noise on your followers’ news feed.

4) Schedule Posts

How often are you planning to post? What days? This is a decision that is a delicate balance, and will absolutely require ongoing revision. Analytics will reveal what is too much– you’ll notice a drop in followers, as well as what the best time of day your audience is receptive to content. Free social content managing tools like Postling and HootSuite allow you to schedule and post without having to sit directly in front of a computer waiting to push content out.

5) Monitor Interactions

You’ve planned your content, you’ve written or collected it, and decided when you’ll post. But that’s not the end of it. Your fans follow you for your content and now it’s up to you to monitor not only their interactions and questions with you, but interactions with one another. Fans can become annoyed and downright irate if you don’t have a hand in guiding community discussions and answering their questions on your posts in a timely manner.

6) Deliver, deliver, deliver

Now that everything has momentum, keep moving. All too often, businesses peter out on their social media efforts after only a few weeks. Stay the course and continue to revise your content lineup and schedule. You should continue to view your analytics, but avoid serious analyzing and re-strategizing until two months after incorporating your social media plan to base your decisions on solid results.

Building Followers

Finally, a word on followers and fans. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and your fan count follows that cliché. It takes time to cultivate and build your base of fans, but using your Facebook Insights app, you can track who your followers are and where they are coming from. This can help you hone in on where to target when looking to add fans. And remember, having a lot of followers is not necessarily the most important thing. Think first about your brand and if an abundance of followers would support your social media goals before deciding that bigger is better.

There are many other techniques and ways to get your business moving toward strong ROI’s for your social media investments, but if you follow the steps above, you’ll have a much easier time adapting to your fans’ (and ultimately, customers’) changing demands.