Our first step was a discovery process that included a review of competitors, interviews with senior Hydroflow USA management, and interviews with leading dealers from other states. Clearly, we had to immediately establish credibility by designing a visual identity, building out a web site, and adapting collateral provided by the national office. In essence, to provide basic sales tools that would help land new customers and recruit potential dealers.

The site you see today is the first of many phases. It establishes a solid foundation to support Sales Reps from Hydroflow Pennsylvania and their dealer network. Coming soon will be a dealer extranet, lots more case studies, and a custom collateral suite built around the unique needs of the Pennsylvania market.

For the sake of both speed and budget, this site was built on the WordPress platform using a customized theme from WooThemes. The web project was a streamlined effort combining design and CSS adaptations by Rowland Creative with copywriting and site build out by Erickson Strategic.

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We’re not talking about the executive team here. We all agreed on an editorial calendar for the thought leadership themes – it’s working fine. The challenge is with folks writing about more tactical topics. Here’s my surefire  advice for those bloggers:

1. Go to your email system.
2. Look for client or prospect emails in which you’ve answered a question.
3. Review the advice you provided.
4. Figure out how to generalize it for a broader audience.
5. Turn those thoughts into a blog post.

Just about everyone provides targeted, blog-worthy advice as part of their day-in, day-out routine. The secret is to recognize just how smart you are, take 10 minutes, and jot down your thoughts. Guaranteed you’ll have an endless supply of topics.

Hmmm, come to think of it, that’s exactly what I did for this post.

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Years ago when I owned a Parcel Plus franchise, I had a standing monthly meeting with three other franchise owners – lunch followed by a couple hours discussing the challenges in our worlds. What was great about this particular group was that we all ran exactly the same business in the same market, just in different locations. Our stores were among the top-performing stores in the system, which certainly heightened the mutual respect. Each month, we shared ideas for marketing, staffing, operations, and just about anything store-related. No kidding, it was such a valuable meeting that I would have closed the store for the afternoon just to go. Within the franchise system, we became known as The Gang of Four (maybe not exactly a term of endearment after reading the Wikipedia article about the real Gang of Four).

Fast-forward many years and a few businesses – I crave the interaction and shared interest the Gang provided. It’s a constant challenge for small business owners – finding the right advisors, coaches, and mentors. If you’re big enough (and smart enough), you may have an Advisory Board. There are also business networking groups and local development agencies that provide some assistance. But what you really need goes well beyond superficial meetings, workshops and classes. You need someone who understands you and your business to their core.

I recently talked with both a former and prospective client who have their own business peer groups. They meet with owners of similar businesses several times a year. While geographically dispersed, they generally run the same types of businesses. Both of these guys swear by these groups.

So what’s the point? Simply this, it’s so easy to become isolated running your business. You tend to believe your company is unique. And there’s a genuine fear of sharing too much. My advice is to find your Gang of Four, open yourself up, and learn, learn, learn. It will be some of the most valuable time you ever spend.

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Over the years, I’ve found that filling out time sheets is rarely at the top of anyone’s list. This is especially the case with creatives. The absolute bane of my existence as an agency owner was trying to get my team to fill out time sheets. While these folks were wildly talented, their excuses were exceptionally lame. If I had a nickel for every time someone said they were too busy…

So what to do? Automated systems. Cajoling. Peer pressure. Rewards. I tried everything but withholding pay. Speaking of which, when I owned a retail business, hourly employees always filled out their time sheets. It was pretty simple relationship – no time sheet, no paycheck.

Well a combination of creative problem solving and technology has saved the day for Casa. They developed the Agency Beer Fridge. It provides everyone with free cold beer (something many agencies do) – but only when all weekly time sheets have been completed and submitted. The perfect combination of automation, peer pressure, and an effective reward system.

Sure, I could have used this at my old agency. The real question is how, as a one-man show, I can get one for my home office. Yes, I still do weekly time sheets. Get me one of these and I’ll do them daily!

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• 86% of those surveyed indicated they would be more likely to trust the company.
• 71% said it leads to an improved brand image.
• 77% are more likely to buy social media is used to define values and leadership principles.

That said, surveys indicate the C-Suite continues to be slow in adopting these new technologies. I’m sure part of the challenge is the temptation to use traditional measures such as ROI to evaluate effectiveness. It’s like any other new technology, sometimes you just have to give it a try and see what shakes out.

Interestingly, I made an off-hand remark to one of my clients during our weekly meeting about this article. As both a business owner and recent convert to blogging, he was pretty excited about the survey results. In fact, the next day he asked me to send him the link. He’s now blogging a couple of times a month and I for one have newfound respect and trust for his company.  ;-)

Please do check out the original article.

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Mea culpa – guilty on all counts.  In fact, up until recently, there was a 245-day gap between posts on this blog.

So I thought it might be helpful to do a bit of research (and soul searching) to come up with my top 10 tips for staying motivated to blog:

1. Read Other Blogs and Learn – Personally, I find this to be the most motivating.  I read a lot.  Some of it great.  Some of it total drivel.  But every time I read other blogs, I’m learning what works and what doesn’t.  So before you write, spend a little time reading.
2. Comment on Blogs and Forums – At its core, blogging is simply an online conversation.  Sometimes it helps to participate in other blogs or online forums.  It gets your mind going and the conversation often provides inspiration for your next topic.
3. Blog About What You Know – Start from a position of strength.  I assume you’re an expert in your field and you have something worthwhile to share.  Just get it down on paper (yes, that sounds rather old-school).  You’d be surprised at how much of what you take for granted is a true inspiration to others.
4. Write Somewhere Else – A change of scenery may do you good.  Despite having an office at home and another on campus, my wife does much of her writing at Starbucks (yes she has one of those cool gold cards).  Bottom line, it may help to get out of the office to blog.
5. Step Away from the Blog – Get motivated by stopping?  Oh sure, that makes sense.  But if you think about it, often it just helps clear your head.  Skip a week to take some pressure off then come back refreshed.  And no, this is not a viable monthly strategy.
6. Set Rational Goals – For some of you, your organization sets these goals for you.  For others, you’re out there on your own.  Just be sure to set realistic expectations.  One of the keys to success is consistency, so low-balling won’t work here.  Depending on your situation, think at least twice per month.
7. Write a Series – So you finally got inspired and wrote a massively long post.  Instead of immediately posting it and checking it off your list, consider turning it into a three-part series.  Basically, three digestible chunks are better than one big, indigestible chunk (hmmm, words to live by).  As a bonus, you get three checkmarks instead of one.
8. Keep a Running List – Do what works for you – Post Its, a notebook, iPhone app…  Just have a place to jot down those inspirations.  And more importantly, make it part of your routine to check that list regularly.
9. Don’t Try to Create Your Seminal Work – You’re not writing your dissertation here.  Yes it has to be relevant and insightful, but don’t pressure yourself to write an epic post every time.  To that end, you might just alternate between original pieces and sharing interesting posts from others (FYI, this is called “content curation” – the topic of an upcoming post).
10. Set Public Goals – Whether you say it to your boss, your spouse, or write it in your blog, there’s certainly motivation to saying it out loud.  See my post titled Blogging Should be This Easy for a recent example.

How do you keep motivated?

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• Headlines are absolutely critical. You have to draw the reader in – essentially give them a reason to click.
• Provide links to your old posts and to other people’s posts. Linking to external posts supports your position. Linking to your own posts provides continuity. No matter what, it helps with SEO.
• Pay attention to SEO. Fill out all those title, keyword, and descriptions fields. Also, create logical URLs with keywords. That’s what will help drive folks to your post.
• Be consistent. Blogging is not a one-shot or occasional effort. You have to set aside time. Try to write on a regular basis – at least once per month, preferably twice.
• Write succinctly using lots of lists and headlines. Make it easy for me to read and digest what you have to say. Remember, no one will read long paragraphs with complex sentences.

Please do read the original post – it’s full of great points.

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We see tons of logos every day – every one unique in its own way. What I love about the following logos has more to do with what you may not see. Each has a visual element that once it’s pointed out, you’ll see from here on out. Check them out:

Look for the arrow between the between the orange “E” and “x”.
The “R” in “Tour” is actually a cyclist (the yellow circle is the front wheel of the bike).
Look closely and you’ll see bear in the mountain. It turns out Toblerone bars originated in Berne, Switzerland whose symbol is the bear.
The 2nd and 3rd “t’s” are two people sharing a Tostito over a bowl of salsa.
This is the logo for Northwest Airlines. The circle represents a compass with the arrow pointing…you guessed it…to the northwest.
Of course, this one is near and dear to my heart. Can you see the “e” and the “B”?

To give proper credit, most of these were part of an email that’s been making the rounds (thanks Uncle Doug). I’ve known about the FedEx and Erickson Barnett logos for a long time. The others were a pleasant surprise. How many did you know about?

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Not so much. According to my blog feed on LinkedIn, it’s been 245 days since my last blog post. Now that’s embarrassing. Especially as I’m working very hard to get several of my clients to produce meaningful posts on a consistent basis. So we’ve heard it all before:

• Practice what you preach.
• The Cobbler’s kids have no shoes.
• I’m too busy doing client work to blog myself.

Well, I guess March 12th is almost as good as January 1st for a resolution. I resolve to blog more often. Both original content and curated content. There, I said it out loud.

Stay tuned. And call me on it if I this goes the same route as my “exercise more and eat healthier” resolution.

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As Blue Mountain broadened their focus beyond calibration, the role and target audience of eCalibration.com had to shift with it. Part of my job  was to evaluate new options for recasting the site. In the end, we opted for a true community site where like-minded Calibration, Maintenance, and Quality professionals could gather online.

We changed the URL to FocusOnGMP.com. (GMP stands for Good Manufacturing Practices – a set of “best practices” that Blue Mountain helps customers achieve.) Then, we chose Ning as the platform and Apps.IO’s Listing Plugin to run the Job Board. With a standout design from Rowland Creative, we launched a robust community where visitors have access to:

• Job Board that allows companies to post their own jobs.
• Forums to share thoughts and ask industry experts for help.
• Blog for industry leaders to share their insights.
• Event Calendar that allows members to post industry events themselves.

At this point, the Job Board and Event Calendar are both active and largely sustained by the members. Next up is fostering an active Forum and recruiting external bloggers. Of course, we’re early in the adoption curve now and, like any other online community, the hard work is on the front-end.

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