‘I don’t know’ can be the right answer

by Kris Matz

It is not a manager’s job to know everything—and this is one of the hardest things for many managers to admit.  With technological advancements moving faster than ever before, there are many new opportunities and uncertainties. This article from the BizTimes points out how saying ‘I don’t know’ can stimulate creativity and innovation, engage staff….and possibly lead to some great opportunities!

Content matters—even with currency

by Pete Kennedy

Graphic design is crucial to content. Messages often will go unviewed if not properly presented. Having said that, the content itself has to be good—it can’t be all style and no substance.

This truth recently was proved once again, and this time the content is a little out of the norm: It’s money.

Yes, money. The government of the Philippines found itself defending a new currency against critics who say maps on the bills are inaccurate, as is a rendering of a rare native bird.

The bills sure look nice, but eventually someone got around to looking beyond how the message was being presented. Instead, they looked at what was being presented. Would have been nice to do that earlier in the process.

Paths of communication continue to evolve

by Jack Burke

Came across this interesting tidbit about how smartphones are changing the way people shop. Seems that, not surprisingly, people are using their smartphones to comparison shop in store. And the trend likely will only grow: According to Nielsen, 28 percent of U.S. consumers have smartphones, but the researcher projects that by the end of 2011, that number will hit 49 percent.

Has your website kept up with your business?

by Jack Burke

The recent economic downturn has forced many businesses to change practices. Some started offering more services while some cut back to reflect their core competencies. Businesses expanded their geographic service area to find more clients, while others shrank their coverage to reduce costs.

But I bet few business websites reflect those changes.

The sad truth is, many business owners think of their websites as static entities, things that they can set and forget. I’ll bet few owners—or workers—even look at the company website regularly.

Here’s a challenge: Go to your company’s website and pretend you’re a potential customer, one who knows nothing about your current business, your history, your customers or your best work. What do you see?

Well, if your business has changed and your website hasn’t, you’re giving a false impression of your business. That’s a sure way to lose potential business.

Think of it this way: Say you went to a restaurant, got a menu and ordered the prime rib. The waiter tells you, “We don’t offer that any more.” How about the steak, you ask. “Nope.” Chicken? “Not anymore.”

Get the picture?

Look at your company’s website frequently to spot inconsistencies in what you offer and what you are promising.

Please contact us if you’d like to talk about ways to improve or upgrade your online content.

A few tips on Social Media

by Jack Burke
I recently attended a Social Media seminar sponsored by Constant Contact. The speaker, Steve Robinson, made several good points. Here are a few that I took away from the event.

Setting goals:

It’s good to have a goal in mind as you delve into Social Media marketing. It doesn’t have to be anything audacious like increase sales 30 percent year over year. Something more along the lines of improving company/brand awareness; adding a new channel to interact with customers, members, and prospects; or improving search engine optimization will work just fine.

It’s important to keep in mind that the return on investment with social media marketing cannot always

be measured in hard dollars.

What Social Media sites to use:

How do you know which sites are right for your business? The simple answer is to ask your customers or members. When they come into your place of business or when you see them at an event, ask what networks they use. If they make a purchase, add a social media question to your feedback survey to collect information about what networks they use.

How to get followers:

Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn all have features that allow you to search for friends on the respective networks by email address. An organization can use this feature by uploading their email contact list to the service to see how many matches come up. You may not want to use this method to instantly follow and/or connect with people, though. Instead, use it as a survey tool to see what network(s) most of your customers are using.

• Put links to your social media pages on your website, in your email newsletters, and in your personal email signature.
• Add share bar on e-newsletter.
• Add Social Media links to business cards, order forms, publications.

Start with your loyal customer base: the people who are already signed up for your email newsletter. Announce new presence/updated presence in newsletter, ask people to follow you and include link.

If you really want to derive value from social media, you need to engage with people. Like any conversational interaction, listening is the key to being effective.

Social Media not like the old days for logos

by Jack Burke

As we here at High Velocity Communications are developing a more in-depth Social Media strategy, we’ve run across something that we hadn’t considered: logo size matters.

Our logo contains the company’s full name—a mouthful, to put it mildly. That’s not a problem when you can size your logo to be legible, but some Social Media sites have relatively small spots set aside for such identifiers. We’ve been put in the position of downsizing our logo to such a degree that it’s not legible or going without. We’ve gone without.

So, before you spend hour and hours (and dollars and dollars) on a company logo, figure out if Facebook, Flicker, et al. will look kindly on it. If you have any questions, one of our artistic directors can help.

Tips to protect your photo files

by Jason France

Shooting photographs on your digital camera is just part of the process. After capturing your memories, I suggest you come up with a system that works for you to archive your photos. If would be terrible if you lost your digital images due to a computer or camera failure. Here are some tips to prevent that.

Hard drives are cheap. Download your images as soon as you can from your camera or memory card. Professional photographers will take a laptop into the field with them to do just this. Card readers are real convenient and make transferring images you have shot quick and easy. Add and name a folder on your computer relevant to your event, client, etc. Include the date. Keep your original images here.

Next, copy the folder you made on your primary hard drive to your secondary hard drive. This will give you an exact duplicate of your images.

Lastly, I still tell people to back up all their photos to DVD. This way you have an emergency archive of all your photos in removable media. Blank discs are inexpensive also so this is a no-brainer.

The key to a good workflow is convenience. If you can get in the habit of doing this every time you download your images from your camera, it won’t seem tedious.

KISS—at cyberspeed

by Tim O’Brien

Want to be a better communicator? Be concise. Keep it simple.

If you can’t text your idea in one line, you don’t have a clear idea.

You won the bid.

I’ll be home for Christmas.

Grandfather is dead.

Get your head in the game.

And if u can’t text n one line, abrv8t.

lol

btw

idk

gtg

brb

sup

Don’t know these common text abbreviations? Ask your kids, they do and you should.

There’s zero-tolerance for windy e-mails and readers click them away in a heartbeat. Long messages are instant exit signs on today’s digital highways.

Be succinct. B simple. Bshrt. Communicate clearly. 

The wilderness downtown

by Jason France

Discovered this website the other day and wanted to pass it along here. The site features amazing integration of HTML 5 and interactivity for the viewer. Feel free to check it out. This just shows what HTML is capable of!

‘On the Job’ Magazine Published

by Pete Kennedy

The latest HVC magazine has officially launched.  On the Job, a 20-page quarterly, is a business-related publication for those in the building construction specialty trades. See the entire magazine here. Stories feature contractors, who share their key success factors. Delivering that valuable “Voice of the Customer” information helps Cat Dealers connect with their customers and prospects.

You have the option of running your own custom 4-page cover, and even can select your own publication name. Center spread inserts also are available.

The magazine also is available in e-newsletter and e-magazine formats.

Contact Kris Matz at 262.544.6600 or by e-mail.

The importance of the obvious

by Pete Kennedy

Yesterday I ordered two magazines, online, because their content in many ways ties into what we’re doing here.

One of the publications was Money magazine. I subscribed to keep an eye on their content—specifically, how they engage readers through both words and presentation. I’m interested in how they use electronic media to supplement their print publication.

I found a website that offered a subscription to Money for $19. It sounded like a pretty good deal. Then I went directly to the Money site and got an even better deal: $14.95, plus an extra issue (bringing the total number to 13).

That’s pretty cheap.

I sent my order through and was given yet another attractive offer. I could add six issues of Fortune for an extra $4.95. I figured what the heck, it’s only five bucks, and clicked for that purchase, too.

Looking back, there were a few important factors at play when I decided to subscribe. Specifically, the purchase shows the importance of:

• Quality content. That’s what led me to seek out Money in the first place.

• Price. The deals seemed too good to pass up.

• Partnerships. Fortune was able to benefit from its connection with Money.

• Understanding the competitive nature of your marketplace. Money was offered at a lower price on its own website. That’s not always the case.

• A digital presence. I purchased the magazine after reviewing some content online. I wouldn’t have subscribed without that review.

• Doing the obvious. The Money website had intuitive navigation, and the “subscribe” button was easy to find. The transaction was effortless as well.

If the people at Money had done all the above right, but not made subscribing easy, I might well have moved on.

Remember to say "thank you"

by Jason France

The holidays are here. Even though your company may have been trying to cut back on spending in 2010, don’t forget to say ‘thank you’ to your customers. After all, it is because of them you are still surviving the downturn. A simple holiday card, popcorn bucket or calendar with a nice ‘thank you’ letter are great ideas to tell your customers you appreciate their business. This is also an inexpensive way to contact them and let them know you are looking forward to working with them in 2011. Even though it might seem like a great idea to eliminate the cost when funds are tight, it is more important to stay in contact with you customers.

Video adds dimension to website

by Jack Burke
High Velocity Communications staff hits the road throughout the year to cover stories for our publications. In the past, we'd do our interviews, take notes and shoot photos. Now we're toting a video camera with us to get short, web-quality vignettes like the one above that our clients can use for their company websites, on YouTube or wherever their message needs to be seen.