Non-Traditional is Scary

Would you freak out if your letterhead was different from everyone else’s? What about if your business card was made of plastic instead of paper? Did you ever think of having a stamp made with your logo so that you could just stamp it on anything, from brown shipping boxes to proposals? Or how about stickers? use them to close an envelope, or stick it on the coin drop when you go through a tollbooth. That’s what everyone else does with those things.

Chances are, you’re going to go with the traditional, letterhead (name at top or lefthand corner) , and non-shocking business card. Is it because you want to look respectable? Or because nobody else uses non-traditional media for these things and… you might look weird? or are you just a scaredy cat?

I’m just asking you to challenge your own perceptions. Ask yourself, WHY am I hung up on this idea of respectable and classic? What does that even mean, if you don’t stand out from the competition? Come, think outside of the box with me. It’s ok, we’re just thinking.

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Branding Oneself

The redesign and relaunch of this site has taken longer than expected, required more thought, energy, soul-searcing and caffeine than any other project I’ve approached. It made me appreciate what start-up clients must go through when embarking on a design project with Majabra, if they’re new to us, and if they don’t know what they want.

Apparently, I had no idea what I wanted. And no clue how to really present my own company. And, still, the site is evolving like any work of art. But as it turns out, I think that’s what I wanted. And I didn’t know then, but now I do.

I wonder what I’ve learned here that can help smooth out the design and decision-making processes with clients?

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Everything I needed to know about business…

…I learned while waiting tables.

I was a terrible waitress. The kind that gets complaint letters sent to the restaurant.

It wasn’t because I was mean to the customers, I just didn’t have the sort of brain that could handle the job. Or so I thought. And when it got busy, really busy, I was dropping orders and forgetting stuff all over the place. But, I learned a few things.

lesson 1: it’s all about customer service. Every single action is about customer service. Every drink or salad that you forget says “you’re not important” to a customer. Every smile, or unrequested drink refill says “you matter to us”. This is a fundamental of customer service.

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Added Value, Added Customers

I’ve been in many conversations these days about social media, and using online communities to create buzz for a product or a company or a brand. These talks all seem to go the same way: We sit around and brainstorm about it, although we’re not really brainstorming. We’re talking about all the ways in which we don’t know how to make it work. Then, we start sharing anecdotes and surfing Youtube and Facebook, showing each other success stories, viral content, and other social network ad campaigns that “just worked”. But we never define what makes them work.

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growing pains

Some things I have learned this week:

Don’t send expensive bourbon as a “thank you ” via the US post office.

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