SMALL BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT OF THE WEEK Bethany | November 20th
Harmonic Jazz Festival
You’re going to want to break out your Jazz Hands when you hear about this exciting new festival coming to the UK! Harmonic is a new jazz festival will be taking place March 11th - 13th 2010 in Birmingham, UK. So if you’re in the area or want to make the trip out for it email info@harmonicfestival.co.uk to receive updates. Our intern, Laura, was so excited about this project on our site that she started reading all the info in a British accent.
Chris Mapp, the founder of this festival, asked our fearless crowdSPRING designers to design the logo for this exciting event.
It’s quite an undertaking to start a new music festival, so we here at crowdSPRING were interested to find out some advice from Chris for other small businesses and entrepreneurs looking to ramp up their expertise:
1. Before crowdSPRING, what method did you use for creative service work?
We’re a new organisation and this logo is the first piece of design work we’ve commissioned. It seemed like the best way to reach a lot of designers for our limited budget. Previously I’ve only used word of mouth for any design work I’ve had done which often leaves you with far less choice.
2. What made you decide to use crowdSPRING?
We liked the concept of reaching a lot of different designers and felt this was the best way to get the most out of our budget. I love the fact that you can reach people all round the world and get totally different concepts from your brief. We had a look a few projects before we took the plunge and decided that we wanted to try it for ourselves.
3. What is your small business bible? As in, what is a must-read every day for all small business owners and employees?
The Consolations of Philosophy - Alain de Botton. Not necessarily a business book but it’ll make you feel a whole lot better about yourself!
4. If your best friend told you they wanted to start a business and asked for your best piece of advice, what would it be?
Use crowdSPRING for your design work!
We swear Chris really did make that last comment himself…and we love him for it!
The Ten Step Social Media Marketing Checklist Ross | November 20th
A few days ago, I was interviewed by Phil Dobbie from bnet Australia about social media marketing. The 17 minute interview is below. Among other things, we talked about how to get the best from Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, LinkedIn, commenting, mobile social networks, monitoring, multimedia, brand management, and leveraging combinations of social media tools.
BE A WINNER Bethany | November 19th
Don’t you want to be a winner?
I knew our creatives and buyers were a group of phenomenally humble people, who are on our site because they truly love us, but now it’s time for us to show YOU the love! Let us know what you and/or your friends, buyers, clients, designers have done for you this year through our site. How are you going to do that? By nominating your favorite buyer and/or creative for a SPRINGY AWARD! (PS you can totally nominate yourself too and we promise we won’t tell.)
crowdSPRING will be selecting the Most Winningest Designer or the Year and the Community Awards, but the other two are up to you. They are:
The Frenchie Award, named after our French customer service guru, Jerome. This is awarded to the designer that demonstrated their own customer service to their potential client - the designer that gave the most and best feedback.
Buyer of the Year Award, which is given to the buyer who you love working with the most.
Please submit your nominations no later than November 30, 2009 to springy@crowdspring.com
Simply email us the crowdSPRING username of your nominee and a quick reason why you believe they should win the award. Put the award you’re nominating for in the subject line of the email.
The Winners will get a special crowdSPRING winners package complete with award!
So come join the fun! It’s quick, it’s easy and it’s super cool!
crowdSPRING Celebrates Shakespearean Sonnet Day (Again) Ross | November 19th
Sadly, our last Shakespearean sonnet day was this past May. If you’re wondering what Shakespearean sonnet day is - we made it up. We read Shakespearean sonnets to celebrate … ummm … Shakespearean sonnets.
In May, Kevin handily defeated all challengers and he’s been boasting about his prowess nonstop for months. Jeff Clark, our newest employee (designer/front end developer), not impressed at all by Kevin’s tattoos and fancy Elton John glasses, very simply said: I challenge thee to a duel!
Their video duel is below. YOU are the judge. Who wins this one? Leave a note in the comments…
Twitter Link Roundup #21 - Design, Small Business, Social Media And More Ross | November 19th
Every day on the crowdSPRING Twitter account and on my own Twitter account, I post links to posts or videos I enjoyed reading or viewing. These posts and videos are about design, startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! Here are some of the links that I’ve liked and shared this past week!
10 Ways for Designers to Boost Productivity - http://bit.ly/3LkRR2
The Best Photoshop Tutorials of 2009 - http://bit.ly/1PfyI6
Three Big Mistakes that Can Make or Break Your Design Career -http://bit.ly/2ltVNR
8 Layout Solutions To Improve Your Designs - http://bit.ly/3f1nKa
13 Web-Safe Fonts at the Core of Web Typography - http://bit.ly/1tMX1I
How to avoid these common mistakes in blog design - http://bit.ly/34GGtr
50 Impressive Magazine and Newspaper Styled Web Designs - http://bit.ly/4iDYCL
35 Randomly Selected Beautiful Vector Illustrations – http://bit.ly/33EA6l
Online Image Editors – Why To Use Them And 5 Amazing Ones For Designers - http://bit.ly/3yClfU
20 New High Quality Free Fonts - http://bit.ly/RMM7t
20 Do’s and Don’ts of Effective Web Typography - http://bit.ly/1AWBfa
Print Design to Web Design: Comparative Analogies - http://bit.ly/PXVkm
Color: The Next Limited Resource? - http://bit.ly/4j6CJL
Mermaids in Fantasies of Various Artists - http://bit.ly/3gwRJO
Fix Padded Image Links with Negative Margins - http://bit.ly/2tPe7f
21 Awesome Pieces of Digital CMYK Art - http://bit.ly/43sU0N
5 Essential Document Templates for Freelance Designers - http://bit.ly/2UuLms
60+ Photoshop Tutorials For Icon Design - http://su.pr/3zzYT6
50+ Free High Resolution Textures - http://bit.ly/1pGoHb
24 Fresh & Useful Adobe #Illustrator Tutorials - http://bit.ly/2SAAd5
Web Design Trends: Testimonials Design - http://bit.ly/gI4aw
How to design log in or/and sign up form? - http://bit.ly/44UXv3
Good Old Fashioned Personal Branding Laura | November 18th
It seems these days that it’s almost impossible to stay alive as a new shark diving into an ocean of bigger sharks unless you’re Kanye West or Lady Gaga. As I thought about that I realized they had one thing in common, they had branded themselves, which seems to be the only way to get people to remember you these days in a world of DVR where commercials and other advertising are almost obsolete. Kanye West prides himself on his catchy music, his style, and those crazy glasses with the slits in the lenses (I mean seriously how can people even see out of them?) but it works! When people see those glasses they think Kanye West and then they get “Love Lockdown” stuck in their head so they buy his ringtone and when someone calls them the other people around hear it and get that song stuck in their head and it’s just a never-ending chain.
So when an NBA superstar posts a project on our site for personal branding wanting to be as known as Kobe Bryant or Michael Jordan, it grabs my attention. Not only is that good for the player but it draws more focus to the team he plays for and for the whole NBA for that matter.
This is exactly what every small business should be doing and if you need help come knock on crowdSPRING’s door we’d be glad to help. No industry or person is too big or small for branding because, after all, if it weren’t for “773-202-beep beep beep beep LUNA” Chicago and surrounding areas may never have known where to get their carpets from.
I’ll be very interested to see what other celebrities will post on cS for some good old fashioned personal branding.
p.s. Sorry if Kanye or Lady Gaga are now stuck in your head… all the more reason to take branding into consideration!
Is Your Marketing Tail Wagging The Dog? Ross | November 17th
A few days ago, I listened to a radio interview of Andre Agassi - widely considered one of the greatest tennis players ever. When Agassi started playing professionally, he ran 5 miles every day to stay in peak condition. When Agassi hired a trainer, the trainer asked Agassi why Agassi ran 5 miles.
Agassi’s response: because it helps me get into condition and because others do the same thing.
Agassi’s trainer pointed out that Agassi didn’t run nonstop for 5 miles during a tennis match. A tennis match consistent of many quick starts and stops. Running 5 miles daily didn’t hurt Agassi, but it also didn’t help to focus the training on the specific things that Agassi needed to become better. From that moment, Agassi’s training routine completely changed and he went on to win many tournaments, including eight grand slams.
What does this have to do with marketing, tails and dogs?
After the interview, I kept thinking that most businesses make the same mistake Agassi made. Billions of dollars are spent to market products and services by companies around the world. Are the marketing efforts sufficiently focused on the core services and products? Is the money wisely spent? Are the marketing messages delivered using the best medium (television, radio, interactive) and using the best means? Or are most companies and agencies spending billions of dollars marketing simply because it can’t hurt and because others are doing the same thing?
Is your marketing tail wagging the dog?
Dear Buyer (redux), or 4 tips for posting and managing your crowdSPRING project Mike | November 16th
Seven months ago I wrote a post and shared some data which I hoped would help crowdSPRING Buyers to find success and happiness with their projects on the site (well maybe not happiness, but you get my drift). Well, since then we have had more than 5,800 new Buyers registered, had over 336,000 more entries to projects, seen another 2,900+ projects completed, and paid out more than $1,653,000 in awards to Creatives!
We’ve learned a lot more about how things work around here and had some interesting insights about what works and what doesn’t. So, dear Buyer, please take a look at the information below and see if this will help you when posting your next project.
Remember how a few sentences ago I mentioned insights ? Well chief among them is what I am calling the “Rule of Four.” The Rule of Four is, simply enough, four basic things every Buyer should consider when posting and managing a project on crowdSPRING. Here they are… ready? OK:
- Choose a great title for your project, the “sexier” the better. Remember that the title is the first thing Creatives will see when we send out notifications and when they browse the current projects on the site. Given a choice between a project named “Redesign of a Logo” and another one named “Hi! My name is FastLaunch Logo. Please design me. I don’t exist yet in visual form, but I’d like to” which would you go take a look at first? ‘Nuf said about that…
- Be generous with your award offer. Remember you’re competing with all of the other open projects on the site, and all else being equal, the award may end up being the thing that brings ‘em in. Here’s some raw data on the topic: logo projects with awards under $300 average around 70 entries while those with offers over $300 averaged 193 entries! wow. Same with web designs: projects with awards under $700 average around 39 entries while those with offers above averaged 63. Can you see a pattern emerging? How about something else: want more Creatives to participate? Those same logo projects that offered under $300? On average 26 Creatives participated. The projects with awards over $300? 57 participants per project. Yep, more dollars = more participation = more entries = greater choice for you.
- Write a strong creative brief. Ah yes, the brief. First thing to remember here: it shouldn’t be brief. There is no place for brevity in a crowdSPRING creative brief. The more information you can share the better. The more detail you supply the better. Examples of work you like? Check. Uploaded files to provide even more options for participants? Check. Links to your current site or other information about your business? Check. The point here is that no one can design in a vacuum. So fill the vacuum up with information that they can use.
- Be engaged. I’m not talking about giving your Creative a diamond ring. I’m talking about your level of engagement with your project. Do you visit every day? Do you score and comment on every entry (or at least most of them)? This is probably the most critical element in managing your project and you’d be surprised how many Buyers fall down on this job and how, as a result, their projects suffer. As a matter of fact, we see a VERY strong correlation between feedback and entries. It’s simple: more comments = more entries. Here’s some numbers for you to digest: Buyers who left fewer than 10 comments in their project averaged 52 entries to choose from. Buyers who left more than 10 comments? Ready for this? 212 entries per project. 212 entries from which you can pick the one, as long as you leave feedback! So do it. Stop reading this and go leave some comments, for crying out loud.
Small Business Spotlight of the Week Bethany | November 13th
DeParis Redinger
At just two people, DeParis Redinger is a boutique investment banking firm doing a lot more than just investment banking. Naturally, when I came across their posted project for a website design on crowdSPRING I was intrigued and had to do some research and find out what they were all about and it’s extremely innovative.
Having background working with a huge company such as Microsoft, DPR offers two main services: mergers and acquisitions on the buying and selling side and strategic consulting. Recognizing the huge shift on the importance of online media DeParis Redinger sits down and discusses with you how important different aspects of new technology such as social networking and blogging can really benefit you and your company.
They understand the importance of small businesses and strive to help them in any way possible but they also focus on acquisition strategies and find effective ways for your company to expand in the right directions.
This was so innovative I had to contact Kyle Redinger at DeParis Redinger and ask him some important questions about his business so far and this is what he had to share:
1. Before crowdSPRING, what method did you use for creative service work?
We used a freelance designer who did some great work for us. She recently took a full-time job at a design firm and didn’t have the time to design for us outside of her work schedule.
2. What made you decide to use crowdSPRING?
Given our focus on digital media, we’ve admired crowdSPRING for a while. Adam Healey, CEO of Hotelicopter and a friend, recently used crowdSPRING it to redesign their logo. They had a positive experience sourcing logo designs and he recommended it to us. Compared with design firms, crowdSPRING delivers a lot more bang for the buck and gives you a whole lot more choice.
3. What is your small business bible? As in, what is a must-read every day for all small business owners and employees?
For us, we gain the most knowledge and experience from our advisors. Our mentors guide us, offer us ideas, challenge our thoughts and help us think more clearly about how to make things happen.
4. If your best friend told you they wanted to start a business and asked for your best piece of advice, what would it be?
In our line of work that’s a frequent request. We tell them that Microsoft didn’t win the desktop wars because they made a really good OS; it was because they were the best salespeople.
The coming flood Pete | November 12th
Bethany’s post about the difference between ‘traditional PR chicks’ and ’startup PR chicks’ reminded me of two great quotes that (as a ’startup marketing dude’), I try to remind myself of daily.
The first is a tenent from Guy Kawasaki’s great The Art of the Start. He puts it pretty simply: don’t let the bozos grind you down. There will always be someone there to remind you of how your idea won’t work, how your company is bound to fail (or your story won’t sell) and that you never should have tried in the first place. Don’t listen. Period.
The second is a quote from Seth Godin’s brilliant post about The Last Drip:
Marketing is never about a hammer hitting plate glass.
It is almost always about the accrued power of a thousand drips, drips that accrue, drop by drop until they overwhelm the status quo and break through, starting a flood.
The first drip is very exciting, of course. Everyone lines up to cheer.
It’s the last drip that’s lonely. Most of the time, everyone has long left the building, lost interest and moved on to celebrate some other first drip. The penultimate drip gets criticized… are you still working on that?… that’s not so great… is that it?… but then, the drip that comes next, the last drip, proves once and for all that you were doing the right thing all along.
So, hang in there Bethany (and all you startup chicks and dudes out there). Between the first drip and the last, someone has to man the hose. For who will be there to greet the throngs when they come cheering the flood because they “knew it was great all along”…
