A colleague, Michelle Jones of NeWebMarketing just shared a great human interest article about Twitter, which highlights its dangers, but also demonstrates a marvelous handling of a mishap. In addition, it provides insight into how two very different organizations (Red Cross and Dogfish Head Brewery) use social media for marketing. It’s a quick read; take a look!
What does the recession have in common with the average B2B website? In both cases, customers are conspicuously absent.
I attended one day of “Build Business,” the Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS) 2010 national conference. SMPS is the national marketing organization for the A/E/C industry (Architecture, Engineering and Construction) an area in which RainCastle has strong experience through our work for Shawmut Design and Construction among others. Much of the conference was about how successful companies are surviving the recession. Each speaker had their own methodology, tools, techniques and philosophies for achieving this, which was interesting yet several days later did not stick with me.
I’m struck by a wistfulness in some of my clients when we work together. They tell me that the work on which we collaborate — creating their brand and web experiences is the most fun they have in their job. I’m happy to represent that for them and feel that as hard as we all work, it’s important to find some joy and perhaps tap into that passion that originally led us down the path to where we are today.
My job seems to many to be fun. My company makes things. There is creativity in what we produce and subjectivity in how it is received by clients. But, while this is true, even in our field, there is repetitiveness and some of the mundane. Back in June, I began thinking about a fresh way to convey how RainCastle thinks, on our new website, which has now launched. Watching HBO’s “In Treatment” one night, I had an inspiration. For those of you unfamiliar with “In Treatment,” Gabriel Byrne, a terrific actor, plays the part of a psychiatrist and each night of the week he sees a different patient. These dramatic and expertly crafted sessions make up the show. You get to follow psychiatrist, Dr. Paul Weston (Byrne’s character), as he guides each patient through issues and crises, in most cases toward greater self-awareness. I’ve often felt there are parallels with how we consult with our clients, and the approach of a shrink. We’re both diagnosing a problem by analyzing a symptom and sometimes delving into its root cause. In our case the patient may have an underperforming website, marketing campaign or brand.
It’s an ongoing source of amusement and occasional irritation between my wife and me that I’m a classic introvert and she, a hard-core extrovert. On Saturday, after a particularly tough week marked by the death of a relative, we both needed to decompress. I took my camera and went to a wildlife sanctuary to watch the sun set over the wetlands. She drove into the city to be around a lot of humans, drink her double tall, half caf, nonfat Latte and watch the sun set over Newbury Street. We work because of a mutual respect for different styles and because we know we’re often better together than we are apart.
This is my first post and I’m pretty excited. The blog will be a place to discuss how differentiation — in creative, client service, marketing relationships, brand messaging, user experience — can be applied to what you do for your customers. I’m also looking for serendipitous dialogues, the unexpected and often meaningful interactions that can happen when one puts themselves “out there.” In the long run, we know that this blog will be much better if you share your thoughts with us. So please feel free to let us know what you think, either by commenting, or if you would rather email us, we’d love that as well. Social media gives us the ability to all share and collaborate on ideas, and the discussions we have here will be much more valuable for everyone if you share your thoughts and opinions with us!
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