Archive for July, 2008

Last week, I had the honor of presenting a talk at a meeting of the Boulder Writers Alliance, a welcoming and wonderful group of local writers.

It was entitled Not Your Average Ghost:  Ghostwriting for Every Writer and went quite well if I do say so myself!

Couldn’t make the trip to NCAR?  Relive the magic (ha) with a slideshow of my presentation.  Thanks, BWA!  I look forward to my upcoming expert sessions on search engine optimization at the BWA Expo this September.

I’m not the design brains of this operation, but I love the stencil-y goodness that seems to be pervading design du jour.

I’m talking the clever vinyl stick-ons available at places like Apple Pie Design and the amazing artwork of Sarah Cihat, whose artwork I featured in the Denver/Boulder Onion (the article got picked up in NYC, too, whee!) and who was featured in the New York Times a few months ago for her superb eye for style.

Viva la stencil!

One of the sad realities of my life is a nasty dairy allergy that has forced me to give up the milky stuff for good.  Though I’ve (mostly) accepted the reality of my allergy, it hasn’t kept me from trying my hand at culinary substitutes for the creamy goodness of cheese and butter.

News flash:  there is no acceptable substitute for cheese.  Soy cheese is RANK (and often packed with casein, the very milk protein that triggers my allergy).  Texture, flavor, look…wrong, wrong, wrong.

Instead of trying to replicate the cheesy goodness of cheese, I’ve taken to acceptable substitutes such as nutritional yeast (not as bad as it sounds!) and crafty recipes I’ve adapted from the sly vegans who have made dairy-free cooking into an art form.  Highly recommended:  Esme’s Sauce, which nobody can believe doesn’t have dairy in it.

Still, it gets me thinking:  is there ever an excuse to directly imitate a competitor?

There are two schools of thought on this:

• Imitation is a form of flattery!  Why not rip off Crocs, or Twitter, or Coca-Cola if you can do it for cheap and while turning an awesome profit?  Besides, there are no new ideas.  Right?
• Imitation is copyright violation and a gross ethical misappropriation of intellectual property.  If you can’t come up with a unique idea, stay home and let the rest of us go about our business.

As a writer (who can vouch for the there-are-no-new-ideas thing), I have to say that I come out somewhere in the middle.  It’s always better to come up with the next great idea than to hitch your star on someone else’s unique concept.  However, imitation can be accomplished with subtlety and class.  Do you covet the slick advertising of a Method or the down-home appeal of Jones Soda?  You, too, can take on that unique style…but with your own flair.  The ideal imitation dips broadly into many wells, paying homage where homage is due and dressing up that flattery with some real substance.

With news of Starbucks closing 600 locations, I can’t help but reflect on the phenomenon of paring down.

So many people have an all-or-nothing marketing mentality: they either go all out (Starbucks’ own insane oversaturation of the market, anybody?) or completely withdraw and cut back until they lose any semblance of marketing.

We all know that marketing is a good investment (wink, wink, nudge, nudge), but when do we know that it’s time to pare down?

There’s no cookie-cutter answer, of course, but a few good indicators include:

• failure to meet revenue projections: this can mean many things, but it definitely warrants revisiting your marketing plan and how it serves (or undermines) your company’s financial goals;
• inability to continue marketing at the current pace due to audience drain, oversaturation, or just plain lack of energy
• a marketing monoculture consisting of one tired slogan or campaign that has never changed and shows no indications of starting anytime soon

Do one or all of these indicators mean that it’s time to throw in the marketing towel? Of course not. But each and every one is a good sign that a re-evaluation is in order. This can mean anything from a quick look at the books to a call to a strategic partner to a full-on rebranding/paring down effort a la Starbucks.

Think of it like pruning: in order to let a plant grow to its utmost glory, sometimes you’ve got to clear away the dead growth. The same is true for marketing. But prune with care…you don’t want to cut away at the heart of your business!

One of my favorite-ever quotes is “progress, not perfection.”  As in, we can only measure ourselves by our steps today, not by some global what-if.  A progress-minded mentality helps a lot when your schedule is overwhelmed by the many conflicting demands of work and play.

To that end, VOCO Creative has been loving wrike, a Web-based productivity tool that helps us get and stay organized.  It does what we do for our clients:  lovingly nag and help us get our priorities in order.  Well worth the (surprisingly small!) investment.

To those of you worried about getting in some progress, not perfection, this oldie but goodie is a great place to start (not just for writers!).

Event alert: Writers and those interested in writing…why not check me out this Tuesday at the Boulder Writers Alliance meeting, where I’ll be speaking about ghostwriting?

Erin and I have the privilege to work with some absolutely amazing companies.  The latest company on our docket to undergo a complete and utter transformation is Restoration Fitness.  Restoration Fitness is an amazing company out of Boulder that integrates a unique approach to physical training that incorporates physical theraphy, nutrition, coaching, personal training, and an individual plan for each person.  The company’s owner Nicole Irlbeck holds an undergrad and masters in Exercise Fitness, thus qualifying her above and beyond the slew of personal trainers in Boulder, CO.

Erin and I took the company up to the mountains to get away for a day and spend the day starting off with a hike, followed by an intensive Branding Retreat to figure out cultural inspirations, financial goals, marketing goals, the essence of the company, target audience, weaknesses of the company, and strengths of the company.

Keep an eye on our website to see the transformation of Restoration Fitness.

That’s my mantra these days as I search for the discipline to address the many-pronged approach I am taking to life and business.

I find that my clients’ success is directly proportionate to the amount of discipline they are willing to put forth on their branding and marketing efforts.  All the willpower in the world is for naught if it isn’t backed up with good old-fashioned action.  Sometimes it means having an electronic calendar tickle them to let them know it’s time to update ye olde blog or make the rounds online.  Sometimes it means designating a point person in-house to tackle tasks that are not realistic for a business owner to take on alone.  Either way, we’re experts at nagging, cajoling, coaxing, coddling, hand-holding, and, yes, harassing our clients into action!  In a gentle and professional way, of course.

For me, discipline has to extend beyond the business realm into things like my triathlon training, fiction writing, and eating habits.  I guess it’s one of the boring things about being an adult.  But I like the results.