Marketing and Management Thoughts

Michael Bierut is one of the partners at Pentagram (one of the most well known agencies in the design/advertising world). He spoke at the 99% conference and gave an insightful talk on how he has designed over the years. Not bad for a guy who says that he isn’t creative, but just loves solving problems.

“Remember who you’re doing it for, and why you’re doing it and you will not go wrong.” – Michael Bierut

The 5 Tips

1. Listen first, then design
2. Don’t Avoid the Obvious
3. The Problem Contains the Solution
4. Indulge your Obsession
5. Love is the Answer

(via 99%)

I have several friends who work in the advertising/design industry. Several work a few blocks form us at a firm called Space150. They redesign their entire brand every 150 days (a bit excessive for the church, but a really cool concept) and my friend Dan Jenstad documented much of the design process in this 4 minute video for a previous version. Check it out for sure. This video is from their v22 launch (they are now on v23). Check out the rest of the finished work.

If you have ever wondered all the work that goes into good design check out this video. There is so much attention to detail that really comes through when designers screen cast their creative process. While the ability to design well is a gift, it is also a long process that require hard work.

For many people the idea of social media seems to be a fad or something that is inconsequential in today’s society. For much of the last decade it was seen as the place for teens and unproductive young adults. Today it has become a force to recon with. This video pulls together some amazing statistics on just how social media is transforming our culture and our world.

This reality is on of the driving forces behind many NGO projects like the One Laptop Per Child program designed to decrease the digital divide between the haves and the have not’s. It is this same reality that makes the online presence of your church so important.

So, what is your church doing to be a part of the Social Media Revolution?

Let us know in the comments below.

Video by Socialnomics – Sources

I recently read the article ‘Managing an Online Reputation‘ by Kermit Pattison in the NYT. It was a great article and we recommend that you check it out online.  The three keys are to Monitor, Manage, and Promote. Below are some of the highlights:

To monitor your online reputation check out some Web tools that do just that. We use Google Alerts here at nineteen05 and simply subscribe in our RSS reader to get updates daily. We have several set up for our business name, staff member names, and some key terms related to our business. Some of the tools in that review are free, others can get quite expensive. For churches I would recommend the free options.

Free Automatic Alert Options

• Google Alerts – Searches blogs and more
• technorati.com – Blog Search Engine
• keotag.com – very simple, but lacked ability to search all sources at once
• monitorthis.info – Blog Search Engine (found out of date entries)

With the rise of twitter (and their 140 character limit) there has been much confusion over what should be considered appropriate and what should be avoided. As I’ve read blog after blog on the subject these are the top 10 ideas the bubble to the top.

1. Define your purpose for this account, and be interesting
   When you clearly understand what your account is for everything will fall in line. People who follow you will understand the content you are posting, and will understand what content is coming in the future. This will attract the followers that you want.
2. Posts that have pass-along value
   When posting something decide if it has value that someone else might pass along. This would exclude comments about what you had for breakfast or what you are doing at this very moment. Unless of course what you are doing would have value to those you are interacting with on twitter.
3. Be a part of the Conversation
   Don’t just simply follow people. Talk to people about what is going on in life. There will be people you don’t know, and people you do. If you begin to interact you’d be surprised to watch some of these relationships make the online to offline jump.
4. Remember it’s Public
   Be smart about what you post. Remember that anyone out there can read your tweets. To avoid subjects that would be seen as culturally taboo, unless there is a purpose for it.
   
5. Not for chatting
   We understand that people want to chat. There are several services out there for chatting online. Remember #4, that that conversation is completely public. People seeing this conversation will likely be turned off by it.
6. Response to someone RT your tweet?
   Its flattering and encouraging when someone retweets something you posted. As a best practice send a private message to those who you can. Otherwise a short reply (@username) saying thanks goes a long way.
7. When you RT from someone else
   Let people know that you are re-tweeting their post. It’s really simple, all you need to do is write ‘RT: @username -’ and then post the tweet. If it is to long when you re-post, see if there aren’t words you can shorten or take out.
8. Keep your content Fresh – NO Repeats!
   Don’t keep posting the same thing. People will stop following you since they believe they already know everything you are going to share with them.
9. Get an Icon, good description, and Custom Background
   There are very few customizable options on twitter, so use the ones you have! Use an icon people will recognize, and same goes for the background. Keep it simple. Make your description a sort of vision statement for your tweets. If you say you’re a Web Developer you should have posts about being a developer. If you say you’re a pastor you should post pastoral tweets.
10. Watch the self promotion!
    If you are posting good and original content then the need to self promote should be minimal. This includes bragging about the number of followers that you’ve gotten to. Keep the content fresh and relevant and people will understand your value.

Thats my top 10 list. There might be something that would be added to the list. Anything you want to add to it? Leave it in the comments or reply to us on twitter @nineteen05.

Related Post: Twitter and 50 Ways to FAIL

Sources: NetworkWorld, Adam Copeland, Brandflakes,

This really is an awesome flash visualization (via NYT) that you just have to check out online. It has a number of demographic break downs to see the different in how people use their time. You can also click on a part of the stacked line graph to see how that activity breaks down for the selected demographics.

Below are some quotes from the project that are particularly relevant to the church. Remember, the better we understand how people are using their time the more likely they will be to make sacrifices for Jesus.

“On Sundays at 11 a.m., about 13 percent of Americans are at church or participating in other religious activities.”

Time spent on Religious Activity per day:

By Race:

• White people spent 7 minutes
• Black people spent 17 minutes
• Hispanic people spent 8 minutes

By Age:

• 15-24 spent 5 minutes
• 25-64 spent 8 minutes
• over 64 spent 15 minutes

By Gender:

• Men spend 7 minutes
• Women spend 10 minutes
• Everyone averaged 8 minutes

View the Visualization Online

(hat nod kottke)

This is what the twitter community would look like if it was only 100 people. It’s a fun play off the ‘if the world was a village‘ concept. Thanks mkandlez, for the graphic.

Twitter is one of the fastest growing social networks on the web. One thing people always seem to say about it is, ‘what is it for?’ To be honest it seems as though everyone has their own answer to that question. The data below does lend some insight as to how people are using the site as of this summer.

In June 2009 a survey was done on twitter by Sysomos to see how people are using twitter. The results include the following.

• 72.5% of all users joining during the first five months of 2009
• 85.3% of all Twitter users post less than one update/day
• 21% of users have never posted a Tweet
• 93.6% of users have less than 100 followers, while 92.4% follow less than 100 people
• 5% of Twitter users account for 75% of all activity
• New York has the most Twitters users, followed by Los Angeles, Toronto, San Francisco and Boston; while Detroit was the fast-growing city over the first five months of 2009
• More than 50% of all updates are published using tools, mobile and Web-based, other than Twitter.com. TweetDeck is the most popular non-Twitter.com tool with 19.7% market share.
• There are more women on Twitter (53%) than men (47%)
• Of the people who identify themselves as marketers, 15% follow more than 2,000 people. This compares with 0.29% of overall Twitter users who follow more than 2,000 people.

How do power users use twitter?

Of those 5% who account for 75% of the activity they discovered that (source):

• Of the most active Twitter users updating more than 150 times/day, nearly all of them are bots operated by sources such as hotels offering deals, regional and national news services, regional weather services, the top news within Digg, games, anim services, tags within del.icio.us and financial aggregators. These very active bots account for one-quarter of all tweets.
• Among the most active Twitter users with more than 50,000 followers, we find singer Tyrese (@tyrese4real), actress Alyssa Milano (@alyssa_milano), celebrity Tila Tequila (@officialtila), tv host Jonathan Ross (@wossy) and evangelist Guy Kawasaki (@guykawasaki).
• 60.6% of the most active Twitter users live in the United States, while 6.9% are located in the U.K, 4.7% in Japan, and 4.3% in Canada.
• The split between genders among the most active Twitter users is fairly balanced with 54% male, 46% female.
• 88% of the most active Twitter users have never missed a day without making at least one update, while another 2.1% have only been inactive for one day.
• 48% have more than 100 followers, compared with 6.3% for overall Twitter users.
• 44% of more than 100 friends, compared with 7.5% overall.
• 33.7% of the most active Twitter users have joined Twitter this year, compared with 72.5% of overall Twitter users who have signed up this year
• The most popular keywords within bios are Internet marketing, music lover, Web designer, video games, and husband/father.

When to post on twitter?

It is interesting to note the times of day that are most used on twitter. If you are posting something and hope others to see it is it best to be on the upside of these curves. Which would place it between 10 and noon, and then between 6 and 8pm.

Asking someone to do work on Spec means that they put all the time and energy into the work without any guarantee that they would ever receive any compensation for the work. We are nineteen05 are whole hearted against SPEC work. So why is it wrong?

The reason it has been an issue for designers in particular is that after a designer has finished their work, the client would reject it not liking something and the designer is then out of their time/effort/money. While the concept of spec work does exist on large scale (competitions for major building designs). Unless you are holding a competition for your new church building, don’t do spec work. Even with volunteers.

The newly appointed president of AIGA (the international designers association), Debbie Millman, on Spec Work.

I am personally vigorously, passionately and fundamentally AGAINST designers being asked to do work on spec and neither I nor my firm will ever participate in speculative work. I have said it before and I will say it again: Speculative work denigrates both the agencies and the designers that participate. If we give away our work for free, if we give away our talent and our expertise, we give away more than the work. We give away our souls.

Read the full interview over at NO!SPEC.

For more information on the NO!SPEC movement.

In another article about the Debbie Millman, the author referenced these great articles. The top three are particularly helpful for how the church is most likely to cross the SPEC boundary line.

• Spec Work Is Evil / Why I Hate CrowdSpring, by Andrew Hyde
• More logo design contest nonsense, on The Logo Factor
• Spec Watch on design contests, on Logo Design Love
• Don’t design on spec, by Jeffrey Zeldman
• Spec Work Arithmetic, from the Speak Up Archive
• An interview with SpecWatch, on Web Designer Depot
• Pay the Designer, on 8164
• The Personal Cost of Designing on Spec, by Mark Boulton

Hat Nod: swissmiss

While many churches never think twice about Intellectual property when it comes to what they use. Even fewer look at protecting their own intellectual property. For many they might see it being to expensive or not worth the time.

The reality is that it can be quite cheap, and will be worth it if problems arise later down the road.

Common Fallacies:

1. it’s not worth the time or effort to secure intellectual property rights.
2. Once I get a trademark, my brand is safe.
3. Having a patent gives me the right to produce something.
4. If I have a patent or trademark in the United States, I don’t need to worry about the rest of the world.

The first 2 points

It is these first two points I want to touch on quickly, since the last two aren’t particularly relevant for the church.

If your organization does any sort of mass mailing it is smart to at least get a trademark of your logo. This can be as cheap as a couple hundred dollars, but it will allow you recourse if someone modifies your mark to defame you. Having trade marks can help give you the necessary leverage to protect your brand and identity.

This protection is all the more important for the church since culture so closely identifies our ‘brand’ (for lack of a better word) with that of Christ.

Read the full New York Times article here.