Harmon Creative x 2

For business purposes, myspace just doesn’t cut it. On a personal level, it’s fine. But for business networking, it was a total bust. Good riddance!

If you’ve set up a profile on a social networking site like facebook or myspace, are you using all the tools that come with it? Chances are slim that all the friends you’ve added are making daily stops by your page. If you have news to share, shout about it!

Time’s short for me right now, so I’ll leave it at that for now–get in touch if you’d like to talk more about how I use social networking sites to promote my business and the businesses of others. My latest project is the Derby City Roller Girls. Become a fan today!

Do the users of your site have a vote in how you run your business? How should your business model change, as your customers take on a more important role? What does it matter if you make decisions regarding your pricing and level of services, without their input? What if you asked for their input, said thank you, and then did what you chose to do, anyway? Would they notice? Would they care? What would the long-term effects of these choices be?

LiveJournal is undergoing a strike from its users–paid and unpaid. LiveJournal has built a strong community in its sector of the blogosphere–and its users are voicing their displeasure with LiveJournal’s management. Personally, I find it fascinating. Read more.

Now, will denying LiveJournal new content for one day affect their revenue? I don’t know. Seems like, if they are counting on keywords and adwords and things like that to slow down, it would be more effective to take their entire blogs dark for one day, marking all posts private and clearing their pages of all those greasy keywords for a full day. But I don’t know if they can do that.

Anyway, we’ll be watching!

And it will be interesting to see how LiveJournal responds.

What is facebook? Have a look. It’s very easy to use. Even my mother was on it for a time.

And growing hoardes of young people are on it regularly. What a great place to put your ad, or even find a testimonial for your product. Hrm. Interested? Get in touch.

Most of the following link is going to be over the heads of all but serious web developers launching social networks, but it comes from the man who’s worked with the most: Slide’s Max Levchin, who HotorNot’s James Hong introduces with:

An interesting thing about Max’s position as the world’s largest widget/app maker is that he has data about all the social networks that nobody else has… what has made some grow, and others not. Max has more data about the social networks than anyone else in the world, and beyond that he has the mind to turn that data into information.

A mind for turning data into information is an extremely wonderful thing. It’s a hybrid of creativity and engineering, really.

So without further delay, Mr. Levchin.


Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

Contact Steve at 502-599-8483

You want customers to find you. You want to stand out from the crowd. You want their trust.

1.) Have you posted customer testimonials?
2.) Have you posted photos of your product?
3.) Have you posted photos of yourself or your employees providing your service?
4.) Do you have a FAQ?
5.) Are your employees “in” on your promotional plans?
6.) Do you have a blog?
7.) When was the last time you updated the look of your site?
8.) Does your site play music, with or without an off button? Even if you are Enya, don’t auto-play music or sound effects on your site.
9.) Who is linking to your site?
10.) Do you provide resources on your site for people who are just getting started researching whatever it is that you are selling?

HC x 2 provides a service to Louisville, Ky and Southern Indiana businesses, and online business concerns around the country. We help you make your business better-known. This often includes work on your website, total site redesigns, or additions to current offerings. We also provide top-notch photo services, commercial photography, and environmental portraiture for corporate photojournalism. As working journalists, we are masters of crafting advertising copy that gets attention and sells your product or service.

Right now it is a very busy time of year, so the updates on this site will be fewer than usual. If you are interested in learning more, we encourage you to read more of the posts on this blog, or cut to chase and call us for coffee. We would be happy to hear about what you’d like to do with your business, and help you make your goals.

We are affordable and are happy to work with your existing ad firm, or help you begin your own advertising campaign. Whatever you’d like.

502-599-8483 is Stephen’s number.
Email Leslea at leslea@hcx2.com

During my early twenties, I was fortunate to go through a great training program at work called The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Most people made fun of it behind the coordinator’s back, but I really loved it, and have credited much of my business success to its principles in action.

This morning while I think about an uninvited critique, I frame it in light of these principles:

SUMMARY OF THE SEVEN HABITS

Habit 1: Be Proactive

Change starts from within, and highly effective people make the decision to improve their lives through the things that they can influence rather than by simply reacting to external forces.

Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind

Develop a principle-centered personal mission statement. Extend the mission statement into long-term goals based on personal principles.

Habit 3: Put First Things First

Spend time doing what fits into your personal mission, observing the proper balance between production and building production capacity. Identify the key roles that you take on in life, and make time for each of them.

Habit 4: Think Win/Win

Seek agreements and relationships that are mutually beneficial. In cases where a “win/win” deal cannot be achieved, accept the fact that agreeing to make “no deal” may be the best alternative. In developing an organizational culture, be sure to reward win/win behavior among employees and avoid inadvertantly rewarding win/lose behavior.

Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood

First seek to understand the other person, and only then try to be understood. Stephen Covey presents this habit as the most important principle of interpersonal relations. Effective listening is not simply echoing what the other person has said through the lens of one’s own experience. Rather, it is putting oneself in the perspective of the other person, listening empathically for both feeling and meaning.

Habit 6: Synergize

Through trustful communication, find ways to leverage individual differences to create a whole that is greater than the sum of the parts. Through mutual trust and understanding, one often can solve conflicts and find a better solution than would have been obtained through either person’s own solution.

Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw

Take time out from production to build production capacity through personal renewal of the physical, mental, social/emotional, and spiritual dimensions. Maintain a balance among these dimensions.

Today I make the choice to deal proactively, with the end in mind.

Were these true of your company?

Were you:

1. Authentic? Real with the consumer?
2. Dumping market research for short&sweet direct feedback?
3. Tracking internet or media buzz on your products and company?
4. Dumping the demographic stereotype for insightful marketing? For instance, from this article:
   ‘Hey Cathy, I know you have a long distance relationship and are working only part-time to care for your newborn baby (which by the way has done it for your disposable income, for good), but I will still treat you the same as two years ago, when you were a job-starting, free-spending party animal. After all, you are still a 25-29 year old highly educated urban single female, aren’t you?’
5. Going green?
6. Tuning into the needs of the Baby Boomer market? (If you’re reading this, you may be a boomer, yourself!)
7. Co-creating? (Letting your customers tell you what to make/sell?)
8. Experimenting with new methods of marketing?
9. Finding ways to sponsor entertainment, or other product placement? Yes, you! There are so many new, neat small shows with big audiences, online and off.
10. Attracting and rewarding customers who spread the word about your business?
11. Turning to someone who understands this complete list, in detail, and who has studied these trends over time? Hey, today might be the day.

Get in touch!
502.445.6029

…or maybe you call it a Holiday card now. Are you sending one? Should you?

I have mixed feelings on the holiday card. From some businesses, I appreciate it. From others–I know it’s just the equivalent of gussied up spam.

So how do you know if your customer is going to appreciate it, or if it actually going to somewhat backfire on your company?

Each year we send hundreds of Christmas cards to a hand-picked list of loyal clients, as well as family and friends. We’d love to talk to you about who we choose what promotions to send to whom, for the most effective marketing. Greeting cards, like promotions, are not one-size-fits-all, and your customer knows it. Do you?

Get in touch.