It’s the age-old toughest decision: what do you get someone when they’re struggling with a hardship or an uncertain time whether it be a death in the family, losing a job, getting deployed or returning home from the military, or even moving to a new place where they don’t know someone? Flowers? They only last so long. A card? Is that even enough…? Well, as some of you may have seen featured on our home page a couple of weeks ago, there’s a new company called YANA (You Are Not Alone) and this is the platform of their organization – being able to send someone a YANA shirt or other cool merchandise that delivers a supportive, positive message- that they are not alone no matter what they are going through and someone out there is thinking about them.
YANA was founded by Wayne Grover in March 2010, and set out on a mission to extend human compassion to everyone and let him or her know they are not alone. Wayne has struggled with his own hardships in life including cancer, divorce, and depression and what got him through it at the end of the day was knowing that he was not alone and knowing that people out there cared about him.
Wayne posted a project on crowdSPRING looking for YANA t-shirt designs and loved them so much he awarded an extra creative, going from five to six winners! These t-shirts will be up for sale soon and you can follow YANA at their website, Facebook, or Twitter.
I had a chance to ask Wayne some questions about starting a new organization and this is what he has to share…
1. How did you get things designed before crowdSPRING?
Since YANA is a start-up, we never needed design work prior to our first project with crowdSPRING. We considered agencies, specialized firms, and even my own doodling for our corporate logo but ultimately we went with crowdSPRING. Since our experience with the corporate logo project was so successful, we have since submitted and completed a clothing (T-shirt design) project and will be using crowdSPRING for many future needs.
I found this talk (and video) fascinating and wanted to share it with you. The speaker, Daniel Pink, authored four books about the changing world of work (two of the books – A Whole New Mind and Drive – are New York Times bestsellers). Dan recently spoke at the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) about motivation and his latest book (Drive). RSA subsequently created a unique, visually rich video of the talk (below).
This video is notable for several reasons. First, it’s remarkable for its creativity. The visuals move fast, but are easy to follow and nicely support the narrative. More importantly, the video reveals surprising truths about what motivates people.
The video is just under 11 minutes long – and well worth your time to watch.
Are you surprised by what you heard in the video? Do you agree?
If you’re interested, here’s Dan’s talk from TED (last year) (thanks to Ferg for the link – in the comments):
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 logo design, web 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!
Ten Questions You should be Asking to Produce the Killer Design Clients Crave – http://bit.ly/bouMR7
In our 12 Questions blog series, we feature interviews with someone from the crowdSPRING community. For these interviews, we pick people who add value to our community – in the blog, in the forums, in the projects. Plainly – activities that make crowdSPRING a better community. Be professional, treat others with respect, help us build something very special, and we’ll take notice.
We’re very proud to feature Constance Semler (crowdSPRING username: Faustie) today. Constance lives and works in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
1. Please tell us about yourself.
I’m American, Canadian, and married to an Englishman. We live in the heart of Toronto, Ontario, on a quiet tree- lined street. We moved here from Montréal last year. Until November 2008, I spent most of my professional life in corporate marketing roles and met wonderful people as I traveled around the world in fairly short order. These days, in addition to writing, I’m helping out with an internet start-up. Sometimes I work with my husband on post production of UK and US film and TV productions.
2. How did you become interested in writing?
In some ways, writing became interested in me. I remember having college essays returned to me with terse remarks like, “See me”, after which the professor would try to persuade me to major in a subject. In graduate school and throughout my career, I recall about a dozen striking moments in which someone pulled me aside to say something like, “Listen, you can really write!” Those lightning bolts had little effect on me. I assumed that writing is part of the package of work and most educated people write well. Why I persisted with this false assumption, I don’t know.
Yesterday, Twitter’s COO Dick Costolo, in an effort to provide more clarity to Twitter’s developer ecosystem, discussed upcoming changes to Twitter’s terms of service and some of the principles that guided Twitter’s recent decisions. Here’s what Costolo wrote in his post:
As our primary concern is the long-term health and value of the network, we have and will continue to forgo near-term revenue opportunities in the service of carefully metering the impact of Promoted Tweets on the user experience. It is critical that the core experience of real-time introductions and information is protected for the user and with an eye toward long-term success for all advertisers, users and the Twitter ecosystem. For this reason, aside from Promoted Tweets, we will not allow any third party to inject paid tweets into a timeline on any service that leverages the Twitter API. We are updating our Terms of Service to articulate clearly what we mean by this statement, and we encourage you to read the updated API Terms of Service to be released shortly.
Shortly after Costolo’s post, Twitter’s API terms of service were indeed updated. Although debates will ensue about the specificity and clarity of those terms of service, I suspect that any ambiguity in the language is intentional – to give Twitter some wiggle room (for those who don’t know – I spent 13 years before crowdSPRING as an attorney representing companies on Intellectual Property issues).
Here’s what the amended terms say about in-stream ads on Twitter (Section IV, 1):
1. Twitter Ads. Twitter reserves the right to serve advertising via its APIs (“Twitter Ads“). If you decide to serve Twitter Ads once we start delivering them, we will share a portion of advertising revenue with you per our then-current terms and conditions.
There’s also this in the next section (Section IV, b and c):
(b) You may generally advertise around and on applications or sites that display Tweets, but you may not place any advertisements within the Twitter timeline on your Service other than Twitter Ads.
(c) Your advertisements cannot resemble or reasonably be confused by users as a Tweet.
That’s it. According to the amended terms, the only permissible in-stream ads are Twitter Ads (which are served by – and sold by – Twitter itself). Period.
In-stream ads are already out there. Some people are already making large sums of purportedly easy money by promoting products and services they know little or nothing about. I’m not so worried about their credibility – their followers will decide whether or not they should continue listening.
I am worried about Twitter’s credibility. It’s on the line.
Twitter’s move yesterday to amend its API terms of service excluding third party in-stream ads not originating directly from Twitter is only partially satisfying, because Twitter intends to do what it seems to be prohibiting other companies from doing (which is its right).
When most people talk about or plan marketing campaigns, they talk about or plan broad, strategic tactics focused on large groups of customers or potential customers. Adwords, banner ads, print ads, radio advertising, email marketing – these are all common tactics used by businesses to market their products and services.
It’s easy to forget that some of the most important marketing opportunities take place when you communicate with your customers or potential customers one-to-one. The one-to-one marketing opportunities (while providing customer service, answering email, talking with people on social networks) are sometimes far more valuable than broad marketing tactics. Here’s why:
Since we launched crowdSPRING, we have created several screencasts about the site, for both presentational and educational purposes. A screencast is a great way to quickly show your customers how something works, or to instruct them in using a feature of your site. Some users simply don’t like to read technical or instructional content, so video can be an engaging alternative for these folks.
Creating a screencast is pretty simple, as long as you have a clear sense of what you want to communicate, and are organized with your approach and materials. Here are some simple pointers for producing your first epic!
Software: There are a handful of good screencast software packages out there for both Windows and Macintish computers. For Windows a couple of the leaders are Camstudio and Pixetell and for Mac there is Snapz Pro X and ScreenFlow. We use Screenflow which is the industry leader; if you have edited video digitally before, you will find it simple and intuitive to use. A fully featured screencast production program has some powerful features, and whicever application you choose, you should make sure it includes:
Recording from webcam, or digital video camera
Audio can be recorded live from an external or on-board microphone. Computer audio can also be recorded to a separate track.
Editing features include multiple video and audio tracks, video transitions and actions such as zoom and magnify,
Text and screen modifications and enhancements, including titling, and graphics capabilities like callouts and cursor magnification.
Script: My advice here? Write one. Then revise it. And, revise it again. Take the time to write down what the viewer will see and hear and it will save you huge amounts of time when you actually start putting your screencast together. I prefer a three-column format: the left hand column describes the visual on the screen, the middle column contains the audio, and the right-hand column contains any notes, such as clip numbers, music or sound effects cues, etc. For instance in the left column it might say something like: “Full screen shot of the home page, slowly zooming in to the post-a-project button.” The middle column would be the actual scripted words for your voiceover, which you will read when doing your narration. For a sample of this script format, you can click here to download the script to the screencast we posted last month, below.
Audio recording: I like to record the audio track first. This allows me to take my time, make and correct mistakes, and gives me the luxury of multiple takes without worrying about the inevitable mis-starts and errors that happen when recording the video portion. One trick I use is to record the audio track in pieces. This will help you when editing time comes and in the next step, when you record your video.
“If a man is called to be a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause and say, ‘Here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well.’”
In our 12 Questions blog series, we feature interviews with someone from the crowdSPRING community. For these interviews, we pick people who add value to our community – in the blog, in the forums, in the projects. Plainly – activities that make crowdSPRING a better community. Be professional, treat others with respect, help us build something very special, and we’ll take notice.
We’re very proud to feature Maximilian (crowdSPRING username: maximiliandesign) today. Max lives and works in Jacksonville, Florida, USA.
1. Please tell us about yourself.
Crikey! Who, …ME?
For real? Why me?
Is this a joke? You’re just gonna make me write all this stuff, and then laugh at me when I send it in, right?
Wow. I am … hmmm, … flattered. Yes, flattered!
Well, OK… here it goes. But be warned.
My guess is, if you are still reading this, you are either:
A.) drawn in by my devilishly handsome looks in the picture, or
B.) bored senseless to the degree that you’ll do almost anything if it just kills a few minutes of your day!
Alright, so B.) it is! I thought so.
What can I say about myself you don’t already NOT know? After all, I am a virtual unknown in the crowdSPRING community, but I guess that’s about to change, eh? Muu ha ha haaaar!
How does a central European expatriate (yes, that would be ME) end up in one of the dullest cities in the USA (yes, that would be Jacksonville, Florida)? Long story, but I began my exodus to the US as an exchange student when I was still a spring chicken (albeit not a crowdSPRING chicken, which is what I am today!). After my year as exchange student, one thing led to another – I came back for college (in West Virginia of all places), got married, got a job, moved around a couple times – you know, the usual things people do. And despite my wacky self, the US Government actually allowed me to stay. Indefinitely. I guess they figured it’s best to keep me close by, so they can keep an eye on me! Just in case.
As a Kellogg alum (worlds greatest marketing school, after all, uh huh) I would be remiss not to write occasionally about marketing in the context of our world: online entrepreneurs. At crowdSPRING, we are constantly evaluating our own mix of marketing strategy, tactics, and resources and the “debates” can get extreme. Like many small companies with limited marketing budgets, we are forced to work with the resources at hand, so creativity, partnering approaches, social media, and viral efforts tend to be our stock in trade. But we have to remind ourselves that, no matter the approach, like all businesses with effective marketing plans, we have to stick to the basics.
Buyers, whether of goods or services, consider their own “service output demands” and weigh what is most important to them, often looking at the quantity of what they are buying, the convenience of where they buy it, the delivery time or waiting time necessary to buy it, and the variety of choice available to them.These factors will drive purchasing decisions and good companies work hard to anticipate their customer’s needs in each of these variables. Which brings me back to my old friend (and yours, too, I hope) the four P’s” Product. Place. Price. Promotion. First conceived of in the early 1960′s by Notre Dame Professor Jerome McCarthy, they are as relevant to small business (and large) today as they were almost 50 years ago. For us, we tend to invoke the P’s whenever our marketing debates start to stray. Of course, every business has it’s own unique context and what is relevant to crowdSPRING may not be relevant to your business, but in your own situation a review of these is ever timely.
Product: What exactly is it that you are selling and to whom? Does your product provide value? Solve a problem? Improve your customer’s own lives or businesses? We constantly look at our own service through the eyes of our customers and work to evaluate whether it is giving them valuable and worthwhile benefits. This drives our own product development strategy, and we constantly ask for feedback and suggestions to help us understand how we can do better. But critical to consider are whether your product offers enough variation (is there something for (almost) everyone?); differentiation (can people tell it apart from other offerings?); innovation (are you constantly improving, iterating, bettering your product?); and elimination (do you regularly consider what doesn’t work or what isn’t profitable, and kill what needs to be killed?).
Place: Where is it that you are selling your products or services? A shopping mall? Downtown business district? Your client’s plant or office? Or right here on the good ol’ Internets? It is critical that you place your product where your customers want it and look for it and you should regularly question whether your distribution channel the right one. Convenience is often the main driver when considering a purchase, and this includes both physical convenience, but also the ease of the purchasing process itself. For instance, at crowdSPRING one of our main goals is to make it as easy as possible to post and manage a project, from the moment a user registers on the site, until they receive their final files. For Creatives we have a similar approach: keep barriers to participation as low as possible and make it simple and seamless to get in there and be active.
crowdSPRING is the world's #1 marketplace for entrepreneurs, small businesses, nonprofits and agencies who need custom logo design, web design, a new company name or other writing and design services. Over 105,000 designers and writers work on crowdSPRING. We are trusted by more than 26,000 satisfied clients around the world.
It’s the age-old toughest decision: what do you get someone when they’re struggling with a hardship or an uncertain time whether it be a death in the family, losing a job, getting deployed or returning home from the military, or even moving to a new place where they don’t know someone? Flowers? They only last so long. A card? Is that even enough…? Well, as some of you may have seen featured on our home page a couple of weeks ago, there’s a new company called YANA (You Are Not Alone) and this is the platform of their organization – being able to send someone a YANA shirt or other cool merchandise that delivers a supportive, positive message- that they are not alone no matter what they are going through and someone out there is thinking about them.
