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Inspiration: Steampunk

By:Mike BellJuly 29th, 2010, 0 Comment(s)

I grew up on a small farm in Ohio. Among the barns and buildings was a workshop which contained a table saw, a band saw, various tools and a large pile of odds and ends — wood and machine parts. I used to love that place. I would spend hours tinkering, making things out of the pieces and parts.

Later, in Design History classes, I was intrigued by the cyclical nature of design. In many cases, new styles developed as a reaction to the current ones. For example, the hand-crafted nature of the Arts and Crafts movement was a reaction to the sleek, minimalist nature of mass-produced items of Industrialization. I was also fascinated by the idea that these design movements were a visual expression of what was usually a greater philosophy.

I think it’s this background that has me so enamored with the subculture of “Steampunk.” There has been an undercurrent of it over the past 20 years. More recently it has shown up in illustration, books, movies, fashion and fantastic recreations of modern conveniences. It is a counter to the streamlined, unadorned product design you see in cars or Apple computers.

Managing the most important brand…yours

By:Brian KirbyJuly 26th, 2010, 0 Comment(s)

If you have had any kind of pulse on the sports world in the last 30 days, I’m sure you heard about or know of ‘The Decision,’ with LeBron James announcing his departure from Cleveland. I could debate the entire debacle until I am blue in the face, but it got me thinking about personal brands and just how fragile they are.

Tom Clark from Fast Company wrote about personal branding almost 13 years ago, and much of what he talked about still holds true today. I may be getting ahead of myself, so let me take a quick step back and provide a brief introduction to personal branding. Well, I’ll let Mashable do that: “Personal branding, by definition, is the process by which we market ourselves to others. As a brand, we can leverage the same strategies that make celebrities or corporate brands appeal to others. We can build brand equity just like them.” The average person comes in contact with roughly 70+ brands throughout the course of any given day, most of which are overlooked. The one brand that people tend to overlook as much as others is easily the most important, their own. Personal branding has been around for quite some time, but with the onslaught of technology and social connectivity, it is important to be aware of your brand now more than ever.

Winning Customers with Emotional Trust

By:Sharon StemenJuly 23rd, 2010, 0 Comment(s)

Remember the last time someone made you laugh? It probably took less time for you to react with laughter than it did for you to answer a question that involved logical reasoning. Frank Defino Jr. stated in a 2009 BtoB Magazine article that “Humans are largely motivated by their emotions, with emotion stimulating the mind 3,000 times faster than rational thought.”

And Steve Clark tells us on New School Selling that “All studies of human motivation conclude that people buy from people they trust and respect. As much as 50 to 80 percent of the reason people buy anything has to do with trust and respect. When people buy your product, chances are that they don’t fully comprehend the technical aspects of what you sell.”

Earning trust and respect doesn’t have to be difficult, but it certainly doesn’t happen overnight. It’s like dating. The first impression is everlasting, but you need to back it up after the first date and throughout the courtship. The same is true with client relationships.

Questions a Project Manager Should Ask

By:Margie ShoopJuly 20th, 2010, 0 Comment(s)

A better title might actually be, “Do you know when you are dealing with a project manager?”

Project managers are going to ask a lot of questions. If you’ve worked with a seasoned project manager, I’m sure you’ve heard some, or maybe even all, of these questions:

Who are the stakeholders?
What is the expected due date?
Is there a budget?
Who controls the budget?
Who controls the acceptance of the final product?
Who is your single point of contact?
Have you read my project plan?
What’s the scope?
Where is the creative brief?
Where is the site map?
Is this approved to move forward?
Why weren’t you in my weekly status meeting?
If it didn’t pass QA then how can you expect it to go live?
If you make additions and changes now, why do you feel the release date shouldn’t change?

Transit Marketing

By:Matt SchroderJuly 12th, 2010, 0 Comment(s)

Convincing people in smaller to mid-sized markets to utilize public transportation takes a back seat to showing people that public transportation is a vital part of their community as a whole.

Third-party research combined with our nearly 25 years of communicating on behalf of a transit authority consistently proves that.

In the report titled “Understanding How to Motivate Communities to Support and Ride Public Transportation,” the Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) did a study that revealed most respondents could define a role for transit in their communities.

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