Through hard work, creative ideas, fair pricing, a large portfolio of varied work, longevity, trustworthy vendors, very loyal clients, a good business sense, very thorough processes, happy and talented employees, and consistency, we have earned a reputation as a very good agency, if I don’t say so myself – but the reality of an agency being so cool, fun, profitable, and creative is something I am here to shed some light on. For those of you other agency owners reading this and asking why I’d want to tarnish this mystique that we all try to build up, I am here to say that I have all the confidence that those who know me and Belding Associates will think no less of us for sharing the truth.

Like any small business owner, running an agency is like a balancing act, but with 15 performances a day! And that’s exactly why I love it. My biggest balancing act is not being sucked in to working IN the business but ON the business. I can easily get caught up each day with IT issues, financial situations, personnel matters, general operations, facilities and matters IN the business, but in order to succeed I have had to differentiate between what a mentor of mine, who is president of Second Wind, calls “IN the business” and that of working “ON the business”.

“ON the business” is what is intellectually and creatively challenging and thus inspiring.  We’re helping clients reach new audiences, gain market share and go down paths that are leading them to new successes as businesses – this is fun (maybe not as fun as skiing, vacationing in Hawaii, etc, but fun in the work world!). Working “ON the business” is finding the right opportunities and creating the right solutions for our clients. But again, the problem in the agency world is that no worthwhile campaign really repeats itself, thus this finding of the opportunities and solutions is part of the daily fold of the business from now until the end – which is just another reason that agencies don’t last forever.

The agency-balancing act continues each and every day both internally and with clients. Our creative director and account team have an incredible idea that is the perfect solution for the client. The client agrees – everyone is happy. As the project moves along, the timeline slightly changes, the budget gets squeezed, some project-creep happens, a few new people are part of the review, and  – surprise, surprise  -compromises happen. Expectations need to be managed, creative egos need to be kept in check and we need to stay the course and roll with the punches and meet or exceed client expectations. We do! Or did we? Now it’s time for the analytics, the ROI(Return-On-Investment), not the client results but the results of the final audience. And phew, all went well and we reached our target. Time to celebrate like agencies do- party all night, play pool all day, sit in bean-bag chairs and hang out until the next job. Oh, maybe not, we have other clients , other jobs and now that that idea has been used – it’s old – time to start again new!

Did you know that Starbucks is the only business-related page on facebook’s Top 10 Liked Pages list? We all love Starbucks coffee, but this praiseworthy status really is fitting to their interactive social media campaigns and outreach as a consumer business.

Starbucks utilizes social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, the Starbucks blog and even their website to interact with their customers. For instance, asking customers to post “My Starbucks Idea” on their blog is an interactive way to learn how to improve customer service and experience; or posting daily coffee buzz on Twitter and facebook allows Starbucks to develop a fan-base that can be useful for future outreach and programs.

While attending and participating in the annual eMarketing Associations’s Power of eMarketing Conference in San Francisco, it became evident that Starbucks is an ideal example of how to use social media to your company’s advantage. Social media is a constant two-way communication between a company and its customers, so it will take time and effort to keep up with it. One of the digital and social media panelists at the conference suggested that a company just starting out on the social media trend should choose three of four social media platforms to launch into and actively manage them by using employee voices, interactive contests and customer participation.

Keep in mind, it is not just about how many facebook “likes” or Twitter followers that a company can collect, but it is what you do with this customer base through social media platforms now and in the future that creates the ROI a company needs.

Partnered with Cisco Systems, worldwide leader in network and communications technology, Belding staff scooped up heart-felt sundaes to raise money for Students Rising Above, an independent non-profit organization that aims to break the poverty cycle by helping underprivileged kids reach their goals of earning a college diploma. The organization provides kids with the educational resources and support needed to succeed.

The Belding team understands the importance of giving back to the community. With ice cream scoops in hand, they took on the day dishing up one tasty treat after another. With headquarters in the heart of San Francisco, Belding has been providing clients with satisfactory results for years, from creating distinguished identities and award-winning campaigns to positioning companies for optimal success.

Through hard work, creative ideas, fair pricing, a large portfolio of varied work, longevity, trustworthy vendors, very loyal clients, a good business sense, very thorough processes, happy and talented employees, and consistency, we have earned a reputation as a very good agency, if I don’t say so myself! But running a cool, fun, profitable, and creative agency takes hard work. I understand that some agencies may not want to share their secret sauce, but as the owner of Belding a huge part of my job is being a mentor. With that being said, I would love to share how we make it all come together here at Belding Associates.

Like any small business owners, running an agency is a balancing act, but with 15 performances a day — and I love it. My biggest balancing act is working ON the business instead of working IN the business. I can easily get caught up each day with IT issues, financial situations, personnel matters, general operations, facilities and matters IN the business. According to a mentor of mine, the president of Second Wind, I have had to differentiate between working “IN the business” and that of working “ON the business”.

“ON the business” is what is intellectually and creatively challenging and thus inspiring. Helping clients reach new audiences, gain market share and grow as a business is fun and rewarding (maybe not as fun as skiing, vacationing in Hawaii, etc, but fun in the work world!). Working “ON the business” is finding the right opportunities and creating the right solutions for our clients. But again, the problem in the agency world is that no worthwhile campaign really repeats itself. Finding new opportunities and solutions is part of the daily fold, which is why, many agencies cannot sustain growth.

The agency-balancing act continues each and every day both internally and with clients. For example, let’s say our creative director and account team have an incredible idea that is the perfect solution for the client. The client agrees and everyone is happy. However, as the project moves along, the timeline slightly changes, the budget gets squeezed, some project-creep happens, a few new people are part of the review, and surprise, surprise compromises must happen. Expectations need to be managed, creative egos need to be kept in check and we need to stay the course and roll with the punches in order to meet or exceed client expectations. Did we achieve the desired results?

Now it’s time for the analytics. The ROI (Return-On-Investment), not the client results but the results of the final audience. Phew, all went well and we reached our target! Time to celebrate like agencies do — party all night, play fuss ball all day, sit in bean-bag chairs and hang out until the next job. Yeah right! We still have other clients, and new projects — it’s time to start generating new ideas!

All writers, whether copy writers or content developers, can benefit from editing, not only to find errors of style, grammar, or facts, but also to make sure that a piece flows properly, makes sense, and has an appropriate tone. Spell checking is wonderful, but there are many kinds of errors that spell check will not find.

In general it’s best to remember what your high school English teacher taught you (or should have taught you):

• Write short, simple, direct prose. If you can say it in three words, don’t use ten.
• Use descriptive nouns and verbs, avoiding too many adjectives and adverbs. For example, the word “steak” is more concise and powerful than “a great big piece of meat.” And “whispered” is more descriptive than “spoke quietly.”
• Avoid the passive voice whenever possible. It is not always possible to avoid using the passive voice, especially when writing about high-tech products, but do so whenever possible. For example, instead of:

“With this user-friendly tool, the work can be handled with a standard Web browser.”

Use the active voice:

“The user-friendly tool allows you to handle your work with a standard Web browser.”.

• Avoid jargon, colloquialisms, and idioms. Jargon is the specialized language of a trade, profession, industry, or other group and as such these terms may not be clearly understood by the general population. You may be very fond of and familiar with these terms, but your audience may not be and may be turned off by the overuse of marketing jargon (just think about how you feel reading an article full of legal jargon).
• Make sure you know how to correctly use: its and it’s, your and you’re, and their, they’re, there (it is surprising how many people do not know how to use these common homonyms correctly).
• Put the customer first – focus on what the reader needs to know and how the product will benefit them (and not, for example, about how excited you are with a new product). Ask yourself: What problem can this product solve for our customers?
• Try to avoid the use of exclamation points in marketing pieces. Chances are that although you might find your company very exciting, your target audience may not be so excited about your products.
• If possible, write in the second person (“you”). This can help keep your writing direct and can sound more natural and conversational. For example:

“This product can help you work more efficiently.”

Rather than:

“This product can help users work more efficiently.”

There are a few words and phrases which appear over and over in marketing communications, and which I almost always change when I am editing.
The first word is “leverage” as in “Leverage your existing infrastructure”. The definitions of leverage are:

• the action of a lever or the mechanical advantage gained by it
• power, effectiveness
• the use of credit to enhance one’s speculative capacity

Most people misuse the word leverage in marketing communications. Substitute “use”, “take full advantage of” or, in bandwidth references, “utilize” and your writing will instantly be clearer and more accurate.

Another pet peeve of mine is the use of the word “drive” as a colloquial verb: “drive market share” or “drive adoption”. While the word drive can sometimes be confusing, especially to global audiences, it also strikes me as lazy writing. Instead of “drive” ask yourself which of the following words could be substituted: advance, affect, direct, encourage, guide, improve, increase, influence, lead, propel. All of these have slightly different meanings, so if you choose the word that truly expresses what you mean, you will communicate your intentions more clearly and accurately. (There is a good chance that the marketing leaders in your company are doing a lot improving, influencing, guiding. At least, I hope they are).

Finally, make sure you have a trusted editor or colleague read your writing before it is published. Everyone needs a good editor and proofreader. So have a colleague read your writing to check for errors of fact, gaps in logic, or missing information, and ask a second reviewer to check for proper spelling, grammar, and readability. Your readers will thank you.

A soccer match lasts 90 minutes, which includes two 45 minutes halves with very minimal interruptions.  This leaves very little time for commercials to air advertisement.  In most televised sports, including baseball, basketball, football, and golf – there are regular breaks during the game allowing networks to sell airtime and companies to market their products to viewers.  Unfortunately, the game of soccer is not structured to accommodate standard commercial advertising In my opinion this is one of the main reasons soccer is not regularly broadcasted on TV.

Advertisers and networks should explore alternative advertising methods that satisfy the advertiser and compliment the sport.  In similar fashion to NASCAR, MLS recently implemented the sale of advertising space on soccer jerseys and warm-up gear.  This gives advertisers the opportunity to purchase ad space and place company logos directly on the players, for an entire 90 minutes, not just 30 seconds of air time.  Networks could benefit by incorporating advertisements in the scoreboard graphic overlays or tickers in the bottom of the screen during the games.

As my colleague stated, why should we have to wait another four years to cheer on our favorite soccer teams?  Advertisers and networks should embrace America’s growing love for soccer, by seeking alternative advertising techniques and televising more matches!

These features can create an impressive end-result; however, there is one issue that can arise: “The Purple Bar” issue. If you have generated long-format interactive pdfs from InDesign, you will be well-acquainted with this “Purple Bar” reference.

Adobe has coded a few different warning messages to appear on any pdfs that have form fields. The warning message encountered frequently is: “Please fill out the following form. If you are a form author, choose Distribute Form in the Forms menu to send it to your recipients.”

Sample of View with Purple Form Error Message

This message is handy for the majority of viewers of a form document. However, the bar also appears on interactive documents that do not have any fields to fill out! This is because Adobe interprets a large amount of buttons on an interactive document as form fields. This includes Previous/Next and other navigation buttons. This has been an issue from Adobe CS3 onward, and the subject of many animated Adobe support forums. Turning off the purple bar is easily done once the end-user manipulates his or her preferences. However, this workaround is less than ideal and appears more like a programming error versus a software flaw. Another workaround has been to program the navigation within InDesign using linking versus buttons. This proves tedious and is unattractive for scalable templates.

Problem Solved!
After many hours of testing and scouring support sites, a fix has finally emerged that appears to work across platforms and versions and its easy to do. Go into Acrobat reader Document Properties>Initial View tab> Check the “Hide Window Controls” option.

Adjust Initial View from Document Properties Panel

Once the pdf is saved and reopened, the purple bar is removed:

Sample of View without Purple Form Error Message

Turning off the Window controls option should be weighed against the needs of the audience and the nature of the document.

For more information on the interactivity options in Adobe, go to Adobe TV and check out their video: Interactive InDesign PDF & SWF.

I was fortunate enough to travel to South Africa and experience the World Cup in person.  The pride and joy that many of you saw on television, was bigger and better then you can imagine.  The hospitality and kindness that I experienced was something I won’t soon forget.  Meeting so many people from different countries and being able to watch the world come together to celebrate was great. However, the connection I felt to those around me was truly magical.

I’m fortunate in that this was my second trip to the continent of Africa.  My first being a summer abroad when I was in high school, living with a host family in Tunisia.  I was blessed to have parents who saw the importance of introducing their children to other cultures and making us realize that our similarities to people around the world are much greater than our differences. The memories I took away from both experiences will last a life time.  However it made me think: Do I have to travel across the globe to feel that way again?

The answer is no. We can all experience a great connection to one another without ever leaving town.  I encourage everyone to expand your horizons.  Move outside your comfort zone and experience something new.  Whether it is volunteering at a cultural center, teaching English as a second language or hosting a foreign exchange student, there are countless ways we can shrink our world and enrich our lives.  Below are just a few resources which offer these opportunities.  Go out and experience different cultures.  Learn to respect our differences and embrace our similarities.  Let’s not wait another four years to experience World Cup fever!

AFS: http://www.afs.org/afs_or/home

AYUSA: http://www.ayusa.org/

TESOL: http://www.tesol.org/

So how do advertisers reach the 71 million “Millennials” in GenY that spend over 200 billion dollars annually and will soon replace the baby boomer generation as the largest percentage of the workforce?  The answer: Advertising can no longer be a group of old men deciding what is best for consumers.

According to the book, Trust Us, We’re Experts: How Industry Manipulates Science and Gambles with Your Future, Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber attack the 20^th Century model of marketing and public relations for misusing their power as “experts” in the eyes of the consumer.

Products and services used to be validated using this “third-party technique”, where an industry would purchase the services of so-called independent experts (a.k.a. advertising agencies) to promote a message that would monetarily benefit a specific industry.  The advertising spin-doctors would then shape a message to flatter the product or service, while simultaneously discrediting or attacking the competition.  Sometimes they would even go so far as to suppress or manipulate problematic data about the product or service to make it “sell-able”.

But advertising has taken a turn – consumers no longer rely on the experts.  Not only do they not want to be told what to buy, they don’t want to be pushed into what to think, who to vote for and how to raise their children.

Today’s advertising is about the consumer deciding what they want to see and buy.  For example, according to a national survey from Arbitron and Edison Research, 48 percent of Americans 12 years and older have a profile on one or more social networking sites.  On Facebook, the most visited website, consumers can “like” a note or post a page. Advertisers code the site to recognize those favorites and use this information to target the needs of consumers.  All of the sudden on your Facebook page there is an ad for your favorite band on tour in your area or a new restaurant to try on your street. No more pop-up ads flashing shiny letters and “experts” selling you catchy phrases and manipulated data.

Advertisers finally realize that it’s not about how much spin they can put on a product or service to increase sales – it’s now all about YOU.