Virtual Impax

a.k.a. How it’s hard to see the forest for all the damned trees!

If you’ve been here before, you’ll notice that this site looks a LOT different than it did before.  Often, when such a dramatic visual change happens on a blog it’s the result of using a new theme.  However, in this case, the theme is the same.   The reason is the image at the top and the background color.   That flexibility is just one of the many reasons Thesis is such a great theme for WordPress blogs.

The new image above is the new crowd source designed logo for Virtual Impax.

Crowd sourcing is a relatively new concept and made possible by the new “social” web.  Graphic design is just ONE area where crowd sourcing is becoming popular – and unfortunately there are many graphic artist who are vehemently opposed to crowd sourcing for design.

Crowd Sourcing Design 101

First, a quick lesson in “crowd sourcing” – in this case crowd sourcing design.

I “crowd sourced” my design by launching a “contest” on the site 99designs.com.  The “winner” of the “contest” would be awarded a pre-determined prize – the amount I was willing to pay for the design.  Graphic artists from around the world then submitted more than 100 fantastic designs for my little contest.

When the contest ended, there were 143 designs submitted and had I been running this contest for a client, I would have been happy to show approximately 135 of the submitted logos.

In other words, the quality of work submitted by these designers was really top rate.

So what’s not to love about crowd sourcing design.

As a design consumer – there’s very little not to love about crowd sourcing for design.   The whole process eliminates many of the “uncertainties” around design for the consumer.

As a design consumer, there are two fear based “questions” which seem to be lurking either consciously or subconsciously:

1. How much will this cost? (ANSWERED by crowd sourcing – the dollar figure is set at the beginning by the client.  There is no fear of going “over budget”.)
2. Will the graphic artist actually deliver?  (ANSWERED by crowd sourcing – the design is completed and submitted to the contest – there is no worrying whether the designer will take your deposit and you’ll never hear from him/her again.)

So if you’re wondering why crowd sourcing design sites like 99designs.com are so popular – it’s because they help to solve a PROBLEM design customers have..  By using crowd sourcing sites, design consumers fears are assuaged.

Which brings me to why many in the graphic design community feel that crowd sourcing devalue the design industry. Those designers feel that the work done by the graphic artists who were not chosen as “winners” in the contest were asked to work for “free”.

Crowd Sourcing Design is Evil stance

I’ll make no bones about it – the talented designers who entered and whose designs weren’t chosen DID work for free when they submitted their work to my contest.

Working for free is part of getting started in any service based profession.

Whether you’re a graphic artist or an attorney -when you’re selling “nothing but air” – which is what you’re selling when you sell your expertise -when you begin your career you’re caught in a horrible catch 22 where you need to DEMONSTRATE your expertise before someone will pay you to utilize your expertise.  So in order to demonstrate your expertise, you have to have examples of applications where your expertise has been put to use.  The quickest way to get those examples is by working either free or on the cheap. 🙂

Which brings up the one incredible advantage I can see for designers who participate in crowd sourcing: the work they did can still be included in their portfolio to demonstrate their expertise.

Instead of showing a “slim” portfolio, the talented graphic artists who submitted their design can point potential clients to their portfolio on the crowd sourcing site to show their work.   They can point to the specs for the project and their interpretation of the specs.  Other business owners can see what they did and possibly hire them for future projects based upon their portfolio.

Crowd source resources, such as 99designs.com serve as an “introduction” to a designer’s services.   Whether the designer chooses to develop those relationships – well, that’s another matter.

Crowd Source Confession

Earlier, I asked “what’s not to love” about crowd sourcing design – and unfortunately I found it.  During my little foray into crowd sourcing design, I stumbled upon the one thing NOT to love as I perused over 100 talented entries to my design contest….

I needed expert insight to determine which design was “right” for my business.

They were all GREAT designs – but I needed some way to determine which great design was right for MY business.

Because I was standing INSIDE of my company looking out – it was hard for me to see which design submitted “spoke” the essence of the business I’ve spent the better part of two decades building.

So I did what people have been doing since the beginning of time – I asked for input from my clients and colleagues.

The “problem” was that when each client or colleague offered his/her suggestion – my response would be, “Yes, that definitely looks like something [insert name here] would like.”

Truth be told, THAT is the hidden “downside” to crowd sourcing design.  I needed outside expert insight and to be honest, I needed that insight BEFORE I began the contest – not once the contest was up and running.

In launching the contest, I asked total strangers to offer their representation of my business based upon the information I gave.  The problem is, the information I gave was full of “mixed messages” because I’m INSIDE my business looking out.  It’s hard for me to see what others see when they “look inside”.

So when I began my crowd source contest, I made a similar mistake to hundreds of other business owners.  I “thought” I needed a design when in fact, I needed a “brand”.

I didn’t recognize this until the entries started flooding in for the contest.   Then it was too late.

For now – this is the “look” of Virtual Impax – until I decide to invest the time, energy and capital into developing and completing a full fledged business branding exercise.

It turns out, that’s why hiring an outside consultant can be so valuable for a business of ANY size- because it’s really, really hard to see the forest for all the damned trees!!!

It’s time for a little “social media marketing reality check” where we break through the fantasies surrounding social media marketing and introduce “reality” into the hype that surrounds social media marketing.

THE REALITY OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

The reality of any kind of marketing success is that it doesn’t happen overnight.  Whether it’s print, radio, television or even the internet, it takes TIME to make an impression on consumers.  Traditional marketing wisdom says you need 8 “touches” with an individual before they will be open to your marketing message.  The same is true of your business blog.  Typically blogs take YEARS to “mature”.  Not days – not weeks – not months – YEARS!!!!

Fortunately, it doesn’t take a lot of visitors for a business blog to be an EFFECTIVE marketing tool.  I recently was helping a client with an email issue and got an inside “peek” at all the inquiries about her services.  The thing is – this client gets about 400 visitors a month to her blog – and she had 3 client requests for more information about her services.  So much for the “lots of traffic = lots of prospective client inquiries” bullshit advice.

You wouldn’t plant an apple seed and expect to harvest apples the next morning – yet many business owners expect to do just that not only through business blogging – but also through various forms of social media marketing.

With that said, social media marketing is ideal for those who:

• understand their customers GDP (Goals, Desires, Problems)
• are articulate in expressing how their business  helps customers to achieve goals, satisfy desires and solve problems
• are naturally social
• are technically savvy.

For those who possess the first three qualities in abundance and have time to spare- social media marketing can be surprisingly easy on the business checkbook.

The hardest obstacles to overcome in a successful social media marketing campaign are the first two elements.  Interestingly enough, those are the same two elements which are essential in the promotion of ANY business – online or offline.

This is the “reality” of social media marketing.  However, the “fantasy” is quite different.

The fantasy is that a business blog will bring you instant recognition and fame – that the more Twitter followers you have the more successful you’ll be – and that a Facebook or LinkedIn account qualifies as a complete social media marketing campaign.

The fantasy also paints all of this as easy, effortless and providing quick results with almost no investment of time, energy or capital (money).

There really isn’t any “mystery” or “magic” behind social media marketing and it’s not hard to understand the REALITY the governs the actual MECHANICS at work behind social media marketing.

Social Media means that conversations between customers and potential customers can now take center stage – especially if you’ve done nothing to put YOUR CAREFULLY PLANNED BUSINESS MARKETING MESSAGE CENTER STAGE!!!

Social media marketing has taken the casual communication between your current customers and your potential customers and moved them online. Those conversations are now being recorded, indexed and may be the first thing someone sees when they search for you or your business.

THAT my friend is what all the fuss is about when it comes to social media marketing.

Suddenly – the conversation about a business isn’t limited to JUST what the owner or employees have to say… thanks to social media – suddenly, the customers can jump in and have a voice in the marketing message as well.

If you’re a business owner and you’re not actively participating in social media – then it won’t be long before your customers and clients will be creating your social media marketing message for you.

This could be good news if it weren’t for human nature.  I suspect that it’s every business owner’s secret fantasy that a social media savvy customer would be so thrilled with a product or service that he would take it upon himself to actively proclaim the superiority of XZY’s company on an ongoing basis.  Day and after, week after week, he would blog about how WONDERFUL XZY is and would use his PR 5 blog to sing XZY’s praises.

It would be like having Oprah gush about your product during her show – instant business boost!

Ah – but that’s  a fantasy and there is nothing quite as painful as when fantasy meets reality.

In the real world, people expect good service.  People EXPECT products to do what they say they will do and they rarely “gush” when a product or service meets expectations.  In the real world, most people get motivated to action by the pain of fantasy crashing into reality.    That’s why a satisfied customer will tell – on average- three other people while a dissatisfied customer will tell 16.

That business maxim is why it’s a REALLY bad idea to allow your customers to define your social media marketing for you.

The reality is that the customers who are MOST motivated to engage in spreading the word about you are more than likely not your brand’s biggest fans.

See the Cash4Gold social media meltdown post for a chilling example of what happens when your social media marketing is left up to your customers.

There’s a lot of fear out there amongst business owners who are not actively involved in managing their online reputations – with good reason!

Sometimes, the marketing message need to be “managed”.   When that’s the case, social media marketing is neither “cheap” nor “easy”.

There’s a harsh reality waiting for someone who is searching for great small business ideas and it is…

Great ideas are a dime a dozen – it’s implementation that is priceless.

For example, the dude in the photo may have had a great idea for an outfit for work – and he may have had the best of intentions – but because he didn’t follow through – his best intentions aren’t covering his proverbial bacon in the photo.

One of my FAVORITE people is Tom Volkar of Delightful Work– who specializes in helping people make the leap into launching their own small business.  One of the reasons I ADORE him is that it appears that one of his favorite phrases is: The Marketplace Rewards Completion.

Think about that for a moment.  Think for a moment about the  truth inherent in that statement. You can have the best business idea on the planet, but if you never complete it then you’ll never cash a check from your great idea.

I remember when I was a teen, my father had a brilliant business idea which he shared with a neighbor.  My father never acted upon the idea because, quite honestly, it wasn’t within his “sweet spot”.   My father was very busy running one of the largest new car dealerships in the area and in order to bring his brilliant idea to fruition, he was going to have to purchase land and hire a construction company just to get the project started.  It was too much and he never followed through.

Meanwhile, the neighbor with whom he shared his idea was the owner of a construction company.  Not only did he have all the resources at his disposal to complete the project, he also owned a piece of commercial property which was perfectly suited to the project.

Long story short- the neighbor took my father’s “brilliant” idea and made it reality.  He made a small fortune as a result and I remember hearing my father lament over the truth which Tom shares so freely…The Marketplace Rewards Completion.

My father really wanted some “reward” for coming up with the great idea – but I learned through observation that there’s not a lot of “cash value” in even the  greatest of ideas.

Great ideas are a dime a dozen- but those who implement those great ideas are priceless.

Meatloaf  wails in the chorus of one of his hits,   “I would do anything for love – but I won’t do that.”

(I refuse to believe what one YouTube user declares – that the song is about a sex act that rhymes with banal.)

Dr. Pepper took that song and used it to promote their soft drink.

In the commercial, the fellow endures all kinds of humiliation in the name of love.  He’ll purchase feminine hygiene products and endure a very public “price check” – he’ll sign up for yoga – he’ll hold an umbrella in the rain – but he draws the line at sharing his soft drink.

What are you willing to do to achieve success?

Peter Doskoch in into to the article “The Winning Edge” writes:

experts often speak of the “10-year rule”—that it takes at least a decade of hard work or practice to become highly successful in most endeavors, from managing a hardware store to writing sitcoms—and the ability to persist in the face of obstacles is almost always an essential ingredient in major achievements.

The good news: Perhaps even more than talent, grit can be cultivated and strengthened.

It appears the answer to the question, “What are you willing to do?” is just a way to measure the grit you bring to the project.

What are you willing to do?

Another way of asking this question may be,  “What are you willing to give up?”

• Watching television?
  It also amazes me the people who claim they don’t have “time” to blog yet somehow they know exactly what’s happening on several different television shows.

• Modern Conveniences?
  One of my son’s friends shared that she had made the final payment and paid off  the family’s summer vacation.  They are going on an Alaskan cruise.  It’s a dream vacation to be sure, but  all I could think of was a conversation I had with her a few months earlier.  The family’s well went bad and they lived without running water in the house for more than 3 weeks.   They lived without running water rather than miss a payment on upcoming the cruise.

All I can say is there isn’t a vacation package in the world worth living without running water for 3 days let alone more than 3 weeks!!!!  However, she and her family were THAT dedicated to going on this cruise.

While the memory of the cruise will no doubt be a lasting one, it could in no way eclipse the incessant whining, bitching and moaning which would be burned forever into my brood’s neural pathways during three weeks of no running water.

I will confess that I come up with at least 35 “great” business ideas each and every week.  There aren’t enough hours in the day or days in the week for me to pursue every great idea to completion – let alone endure even a few hours of no running water!

Fortunately, I recognize the true marketplace  VALUE of these “uncompleted ideas” is zero – zilch- nada. The “magic sauce” is not the idea – it’s the implementation of the idea.

Do you have a great idea?  What are you willing to do to bring your great idea to completion?