I regularly read HOW Design Magazine, and one of the articles recently caught my attention about job seekers. It was geared toward creative types, but the information can certainly be applied to other industries, and even to entrepreneurs and small businesses. The article ended with a worksheet to create a framework of values that are important to you as a job seeker to focus your search toward the kind of position you really want. The idea is that once you've identified what you value you can test the jobs you come across against your criteria to see how it stacks up, and if it's worth pursuing further. Just as in job seeking, entrepreneurs have to do the same kind of thing for their business. It's important that entrepreneurs identify what they value, both personally and professionally. In a professional sense, these values become your brand, and they're what differentiates you from your competitors. From there every business decision, new hire, new client you take on has to resonate with the values you've defined for your company and its brand. That's how you know you're moving your business in a direction that feels right to you, and it's how you know that you're working with the right kind of clients to assist in furthering your business goals. Whether you're a small business just starting out needing to discover your brand and values, a job seeker, or just someone who needs a little self-examination use the HOW magazine values assessment to allow yourself to articulate the values that are important to you. The more you're able to do this the more of a laser beam focus you'll create toward your goals. If nothing else, it can serve as a good exercise. Plus, it can be helpful if you're considering becoming an entrepreneur, which in many ways is like job searching but instead of seeking a specific job you're creating it. In that case a value assessment may be even more important. I recently read a great blog on the HubSpot Inbound Marketing website. Actually, the post was written by a guest blogger, Greg Digneo, founder of Cloud Marketing Labs. Anyway, to summarize Digneo and his company created an experiment based on the premise that even though Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites have access to many millions of potential fans and followers how do you begin building your fans and followers if you're just getting started. The idea was to start from scratch with a website and use inbound internet marketing tactics via social media to garner fans and followers and generate leads for their business. They wanted to see how well they could grow a following in 30 day's time. The blog post nicely lays out a time line with the activities Digneo and his team engaged in each week in their pursuit. Their activities surrounded a free webinar they were planning to put on at the end of the 30 days about their results. This served as a nice opt-in give away for visitors to sign up for when they hit the landing page that was specifically created to capture sign-ups. By the end of the 30 days they had 1200 visitors to their landing page, website and blog. There were 107 registrants for their webinar and they gave out four viable leads for new business. Due to one of their activities of distributing a press release PRWeb's service they landed two guest blogging spots and a contribution to an article on Entrepreneur.com. I highly recommend reading this post and employing some of the tactics toward building an online following to build your brand and your business. Twenty years ago if you needed a particular service you would open your Yellowpages and let your fingers do the walking. You may have even asked a trusted friend or neighbor for a recommendation based on their experience hiring someone for the same service you now need. Fast forward 20 years to the present day and age…Folks still shop that way, except now the “phone book” is electronic, globally connected, lightning fast, and called Google. And your “trusted friends and neighbors,” they’re readily available online to offer reviews and recommendations via social media. Compared to 20 years ago, today’s consumers are so heavily bombarded with all sorts of ads, both on- and off-line, that it’s no wonder the consumer fights tooth and nail to be in control of how they’re marketed to…often ignoring interruptive forms of marketing like telemarketing or TV/Radio commercials and even email to a large extent. So, how can your company market itself in a way that is less interruptive and can gain the attention of those looking for your products/services? By fostering and building relationships both on- and off-line. Relationships are at the heart of selling anything. Relationships will be strengthened if you happen to also deliver a great product/service (I know it’s obvious, but still needs to be mentioned). What I’m saying is that online relationship building (via internet marketing including blogging and social media) can enhance and supplement off-line, more traditional, relationship building activities, of which most are familiar. As the Duct Tape Marketing Founder John Jantsch touts, prospective customers need to know, like and trust you to want to do business with you. You also have to give them an easy way—by which they feel in control—to build those relationships (social media allows for this). So how can you improve your relationship building to generate leads to sell more products/services? Use the new “phone book,” and all its available resources. If you're a professional musician, or an aspiring professional musician, you'll at some point need to be able to display what you do as a musician to prospective venues at which you'd like to perform. Musicians, just like any other business owner, need to keep their overhead low and profit margins high. It makes sense then that a musician needs to have their music recorded to easily allow potential venue owners to hear their sound hopefully leading to gig bookings. But if you're getting started as a professional musician and you have a budget of basically zero dollars to allocate toward the recording of a demo. If that sounds like you then you'll want to keep reading. There are several ways to record a decent demo for the purposes of getting gigs without breaking the bank.
Not long ago my niece asked me why I’ve chosen to pursue art and music throughout my life. Until that moment I don’t know if I had ever consciously reflected on my pursuits, and examined why I’m attracted to those outlets. My first thought, after a quick pause to register what was just asked of me, was: “What a great question?” Then, I thought for another quick moment, and told her that I wasn’t sure if I totally chose my pursuits in art and music…in many ways those outlets chose me. To me, there is a spiritually that exists in the process of artistic creation. The taking of a concept from nothing more than an idea to a tangible completed piece of work is a bit magical in my opinion. I think what I’m attracted to, in regard to my interest in artistic creation and being an artist, is that when I create my expressions through my art and/or music I’m liberated. Liberated in the sense that there are no rules as to how, when, where, or why I create my expressions. Furthermore, because there are no rules associated with my creations (other than those that may be self-imposed) my mind, spirit, and even body—as I’m often engaging in a physical act of performing, drawing or designing—are free. Something else that I realized that I’m attracted to is that my expressions are unique to me. No one else can create what I create in quite the way I create it—they can try but it will never have exactly what I put into it. I suppose art and music are simply the vehicles of my expression. Those are the God-given outlets I have to realize and make sense of the world I perceive on a daily basis. It’s how I relate to the world and understand, and protect, myself within it. Many music marketers and musicians alike talk about using press releases and social media to market upcoming gigs, but what about gaining exposure at the gig or soon after. Getting reviews of your live performances may be easier than you think. Go to your local newspaper’s Web site, find the e-mail address and/or phone number for their Arts & Entertainment department and contact them offer free tickets to your next performance. Couple that effort with a brief bio and a Web site address of where to find out more about you or your band. Remember, if anyone from the media takes you up on your offer for free tickets be sure to be courteous and thank them for coming to the show when you see them there (but be careful not to be a suck-up—many can spot that kind of insincerity a mile away). If you find yourself with a nice review of your performance in tomorrow’s newspaper or on a popular news blog be sure to contact the author and thank them again for attending the show and for the review. Don’t forget to add that review to your press kit for future self-promotion. Nick Venturella's sites: music site and business blog site Check out Nick Venturella's archived Examiner.com articles Do you ever find yourself with a never ending “to do” list that you just don’t seem to be making progress toward completing? You end up feeling like you’re constantly doing “busy work.” Well, maybe you haven’t organized your tasks in a way that lines up with your strengths and how you work the most effectively. I’m talking about understanding how and when you work best on specific tasks, so you can be more productive toward meeting your creative goals. For example, I know I am most creative when it comes to tasks like writing in the morning (with some coffee), in mid-afternoon and late in the evening after everyone’s gone to bed. Thus, I make sure to allow myself time to do those kinds of tasks at those times of the day. I also write “to do” lists daily, and I’ll admit I usually get carried away with the items that end up on one day’s list. So, after I can’t think of anymore things to add to my “to do” list for the day (which I usually create in the morning) I then simplify that list into only two or three priority items that are important I get done that day. If I get to more on the list, great, but if not at least I got a few important things done. It’s important to mention that Rome wasn’t built in a day, and you need to cut yourself some slack if you can’t complete everything on your “to do” list every single day. I’ve mentioned this before in other blog posts, but it’s important to mention again: Just try to get at least one thing done each day that will help further your creative goals. The idea is that you will string along several small actions that will have larger results over time. I also like to get up and move after I’ve spent a good portion of time in focused concentration on any one project. For example, if I’ve just finished a draft of a logo design project for one of my clients or after I’ve finished recording a demo song for a new album I’m working on I like to take a walk or go for a run and let my subconscious continue to reflect and perfect what I’m working on. Then I’ll come back to that project later with fresh eyes and ears and new subtle ideas that will enhance the project toward realizing the vision that’s in my head. In conclusion, I recommend taking some time to reflect on when you work best, in what environment you work best, and how you can organize and prioritize your time to maximize thoseyour ability to check things off of your “to do” list. I recently read an article in HOW Magazine (Feb. 2010 issue) titled The Q Factor. This particular article was talking about how in-house designers (that is, designers within a company’s own creative and/or marketing department) need to focus on the quality of their work. In the article, it was clear that the quality of an in-house designer’s work is important to stand out and make the company’s business execs take notice. The article went on to say how in-house designers are often treated as liabilities, profit drains, and necessary evils in the eyes of corporate execs…at least until execs meet and talk with designers realizing that they are a vital part of business, and understand business and marketing objectives. In many ways I think the same holds true for freelance designers. I notice this especially when a non-creative business (i.e. an accounting firm) or executive hires a freelancer. Not all the time, but many times in those situations designers get treated as if they don’t understand enough about business, in terms of numbers and profitability, to understand the needs of that business’ marketing messages. As stated in the above mentioned article, “Too often, management assumes that designers are needed just to implement the ideas of others.” While designers can certainly implement the ideas of others their real benefit is that they have many of their own creative ideas. Designers have a knack for beyond-the-box thinking to solve various communication challenges. In a sense designers offer a level of quality for a company’s visuals and marketing messaging that business execs. can’t create with their spreadsheets. Hence, it’s necessary to hire a quality designer. Your business will thank you later. Now that 2010 is in full swing you may have already abandoned your new year's resolution to get fit, but one resolution you can keep is to empower your mind with some new knowledge. Each year I like to make a list of books I'd like to read to add to my repertoire of knowledge. Even if you get through only a couple of books on your list each year it's an opportunity to gain different insights, perspectives and tips from various authors. I enjoy reading music business, design and entrepreneurial books to help educate, motivate and inspire me in ways that help me in my artistic and business endeavors. After speaking with other artists, musicians and business owners I realized that others feel the same way about incorporating regular reading into their informational diet. That's why I've enhanced my Recommended Reading page within this website giving you the opportunity to not only review books that may assist you, but also purchase them. Enjoy. A logo is a cue card to your brand. Whether you’re a musician or a large company having a logo is a quick and easy way for others to identify who you are and what you do. A logo is a part of your entity’s identity. Once others become aware of who you are and what you do—and see your logo plastered all over every marketing piece that you create--they’ll start to see your logo and immediately recall what they know and think about you. Once known, your logo becomes the visual reference that, when seen allows the viewer to recall all that they know about you and your endeavors. You may hear companies talk about branding—that’s what they’re talking about; the association someone makes when they see the company’s logo or hear the company’s name. That’s your brand. Hopefully, people associate good things with your brand. However, that association is up to you and your actions to create a positive reputation for yourself. Once you have a positive reputation in place you’ll want to help your fans, clients and customers to quickly and easily recall that brand with little to no explanation, hence creating a logo—a visual reference to your brand. What makes a good logo: Understandable – It’s easy to read and grasp the logo concept. If there is text, it’s easily readable, and if there are iconic images or visual elements they’re also understandable, or make visual sense within the design as a whole. Color or not – Good logos look great stripped down to their essence, meaning they work well in black and white or with color (just like a good song that if you strip it down to only the barest essential instrumentation still captures the essence of the tune…then you know you’ve got a good song). Large or small – Good logos work well in large sizes or small as on a business card. Simple – Great logos are simple. Over complicated logos are busy and do not keep a viewers attention. A simple logo is like good concise writing—the fewest amount of words are used to get the message across to readers. Visual impact – By this I’m referring to how visually interesting the logo is. In other words, does it catch your eye? Is it visually pleasing to your eye? Is it memorable? Need logo design? contact Nick Venturella Media |
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