A quick visit to their website and you will find the words – goals, outgoing, upbeat, energetic and fun – permeate the site.  Here’s the really cool thing – had I only ever gone to their Facebook fan page, blog or Twitter feed I still would have received that message.

I want to revisit that thought.  Think of one of your favorite brands.  What words come to mind?  Do these words come from the root of who they are?  To more clearly demonstrate what I mean, I took three brands (Apple, Harley Davidson and Richard Branson’s Virgin) and matched them up to their core words – many of them taken directly off of their own websites.  Here’s what I found:

Apple – creative, fun, user friendly, cool, revolutionary

Harley Davidson – rebel, American, tough, distinct, power, bold

Richard Branson’s Virgin – rule breaker, innovative, quality, fun

Now step back and think about it.  These companies use the words that define them to clearly send out their message.  They stay true to their definitions and use them as a guide to help them see what paths to take.  The definitions of themselves are their core and everything else radiates from that point.  Those words are the foundation for everything that follows.  Defining yourself is a fabulous thing!  It helps you narrow down the choices when making decisions.  The choice is either part of who you are or it isn’t.

Now take a look at your own business.  What words define you?  Are you being true to that definition?  Do you keep that definition in the forefront of your mind when you make new business decisions?  I think you’ll find that if you have a clear definition and stay true to that definition, the decisions that follow will be much easier to make.  Now go grab pen and paper and start defining!

There is an old saying in business – “You can’t sell it if you don’t show it.”  Let’s look at this in relation to the photography business.  A majority of photographers will find that their clients gravitate to the 8×10 and smaller print sizes.  It’s what they grew up with – in their head they carry a picture of what that looks like.  Now say you really, really want to sell 20×24 and larger wall prints.  They are featured in your pricing brochure yet no one seems to buy.  To make those sales happen somewhere in your studio you have to display that size print in a way that your client can envision that in their home.

A few weeks ago this was brought back home to me when I was reading a post called Show, Don’t Tell on Jonathan Fields’ blog – Awake at the Wheel.  He was commenting on how the ipad that is being released by Apple won’t have flash.  I had registered that the new ipad wouldn’t have flash but I hadn’t really pictured what that would mean.  In his post Jonathan posted an image from The Flash Blog that showed me quite clearly what that meant.  Before it was words and talk that I heard but didn’t connect.  With this one visual I finally got it.

Where does Mabel’s Labels fit in all this?  Not long after I read Jonathan’s post the crew at Mabel’s Labels posted this fun video.  One of the benefits they tout is that their – “labels are designed to stick – no matter what!”  To prove this they started creating fun videos challenging that statement.  They attach their labels to something and run it through its paces.  One such challenge is to run the labels over with a car, another to drop them off a roof, but my favorite by far is when they attach them to a hockey puck and have kids use the puck in practice.  Love it!!  The Mabel’s Label crew completely understands the show it to sell it theory and put it into action in a fun creative way.

*Disclaimer – I know I’ve mentioned Mabel’s Labels in the past.  However I have no connection to them.  Well.. my sister does buy them for her kids, which is how I found out about them in the first place.  Or maybe it’s just that I have a thing for Canadian companies.  Looking at my twitter followers – I’m HUGE in Canada.  Possibly it’s all my connections to North Sydney, Nova Scotia… Nahh really don’t think so. *

I knew of Lululemon, but they didn’t really hit on my radar until I did some research for my Inner Girl Athlete and Under Armour post.  In that post, if you recall, I mentioned how Under Armour had a position open for a Women’s Marketing Manager and that I had applied for the position (still no word there).  In doing my homework I researched other women’s athletic apparel makers, including Title Nine and Lululemon.  I also started following their Twitter feeds and became a fan on Facebook.  Not only did Lululemon blow me away, but I’m quickly becoming a super fan when I’ve never spent a dime with them or own a single piece of their apparel!!

When it comes to having a clear vision of who they are and how to communicate that vision with their “guests” they have it nailed!  A quick visit to their website and you will find the words – goals, outgoing, upbeat, energetic and fun – permeate the site.  Here’s the really cool thing – had I only ever gone to their Facebook fan page, blog or Twitter feed I still would have received that message.

Their message isn’t just about putting out the word but actively living the lifestyle they preach.  Lululemon runs challenges that they not only promote but actively engage in as well.  For the month of February they ran “A Challenge a Day”.  A couple of my favorite challenges were #21 – leave a positive message in a public place and #22 – hold downward dog for 5 minutes.  They posted the challenge with images of themselves participating in the challenge.  Fans then participated by commenting on how they met the challenge.  The challenges spread Lululemon’s overall message in a fun, upbeat way.

Here is how Lululemon knocks the socks off with their Social Media efforts.  They very, very actively listen and take part in the conversation people are having about them.  They are constantly looking for feedback on their products.  You can give your input in several different ways – a form off their website, an in store form or comments on their Facebook fan page.  And I know they are listening.   Look at their fan page, someone from Lululemon almost always comments on the customer feedback.  They let the commenter know they will pass the word on to the designers, etc…  Usually Whitney does the honors.  I love that I know Whitney is taking care of me should I have an issue.  I now no longer feel like one of many but like I have a personal connection – an inside line so to speak.  Mind you I’ve never met Whitney but I know she hears me.

Lastly, in terms of using Social Media in a way that I love, Lululemon posts on their fan page new products.  I know many people do that, but here is where Lululemon stands out – they attach a small story to it.  They give you a review – what the product is – ie rain jacket etc.., an image of a real person (usually someone in their office) with the person’s measurements so you can envision how it fits on you and then they tell you why they made it.  I love knowing their thoughts behind the piece – it lets me feel like I have a peek into the inner works of the company – I then can feel like I own a piece of the process – especially if some part of the new design came from feedback I gave them! (check it out here)

There are so many other ways that Lululemon makes a complete circle with their message and I urge you to check out their site, blog and facebook fan page to make the connections for yourself.  Now I’m off to find one of their retail stores to experience the message in real time!

This post is not the one I planned to write next.  It was on the list of post ideas, but not slated to be the next one up.  However, three recent conversations with other photographers made realize now was the time!

Over the past two months I’ve had conversations with other photographers about what’s working, what’s not and just general frustrations that go along with running your own business.  What really surprised and stuck with me is in three separate conversations I heard -

“I have ideas, lots and lots of ideas.  I just don’t know how to wrap my head around them and figure out what to do with them!”

I so get it.  There are times that my brain is spinning with so many ideas I can’t seem to think straight.  What I’ve learned to do is to grab a piece of paper and write them down – just get them out of my head!  I write down every single idea – now matter how silly or grandiose it may seem at the time.  Sometimes it’s just a quick sketch and I always write my ideas in pencil.  Why pencil I don’t know, it a feel thing for me – it feels better to leave it loose and in pencil.

This system worked but not as well as I hoped.  You see I would write on what ever random piece of paper I could find.  Next I learned I had to put them all into one binder so they didn’t get lost on my desk.  Then I was finding that I’d wake up in the middle of the night with this incredible idea but no paper was by the bed.  I convinced myself it was such an awesome idea that there was no way I’d forget it in the morning – yeah not so much.  Finally now I have a small red sketch book that I carry everywhere with me – even if it’s from the bedroom to the kitchen.  I’ve also learned that if the book is in the room but not next to the bed at night… you guessed it, I won’t get out of bed to get it…

So now what do I do with all these ideas?  Periodically, I take my idea book and start writing each idea individually on 5×7 index cards.  Once I get them all written out I categorize them.  Does this idea belong under sales or management?  My main categories are management, marketing, sales, products/programs and what is the experience.  What is the experience can be – what do I want my packaging to look like and how do I want my clients to feel as they are opening the packaging or how do I want my business cards feel in my clients hands.  You get the idea.

The reason I love the index cards so much is, now I can shuffle them – move them around in order of importance or see that one has to happen before another.  I can see that x marketing idea is perfect for my new y product, etc… Because I have an overall vision of where I’m taking my business I can now also see what isn’t going to bring me forward to the next step.  Alternatively, I can see ideas that are ahead of me.  I’m not ready for them yet – be it financially, technically, whatever the case may be.  They now become goals and I can set mile markers for me to reach them.  I never ever trash an idea completely, if I don’t think I can use it now I put it back in the pile.  I may later see it in a different light or maybe it’ll spark something completely new.

In closing I have to restate – you need to know what your overall vision of your business is.  Without out knowing my vision I can still organize my ideas but I won’t really know which one is going to bring me closer to where I want to be.  Ideas without focus are ideas that don’t have a clear action plan!

With this statement, a million different questions popped in to my head; who is their best client, who do they want to serve etc… Basic marketing questions. With each question she didn’t have a clear answer but she could tell me what she wasn’t – what she didn’t like about the current branding. As dinner conversations go, we moved on to a different topic and didn’t get to delve in as deep as I would have liked.

If you read my previous post – Your Story is Your Brand – you would know that I work off the basis that every company has a story, a vision to help lead them. In a recent blog post Bernadette Doyle stated it beautifully.

Vision is a powerful thing.

It’s one of the most important tools you have to move you from where your business currently is, to where you want it to be. If you have a picture in your mind of what you want your business to look like, you’ll find that it’s much easier to bring this vision into being.

If you don’t know where you want to go, how will you know what to do? You don’t jump into your car and start driving, with no destination in mind. Before you start the engine, you have in your mind where you want to go so you know whether to turn left or right at the bottom of the driveway. The same principle applies to your business.

I believe, whenever someone goes into business, they have a vision whether they are conscious of it or not.  It’s actually very common for people to not know how to put their vision into words, but I can bet you they know exactly what they’re not.  I would love to sit down with the above couple and have them list everything they know they’re not.  Doing this doing this exercise will help them narrow down and focus on who they and their company are, giving them a more direct route to where they want to go.  Sometimes listing what your not brings a clearer more focused vision of what you are.

Back in my days of coaching rowing, how much more effective of a coach would I have been if I told my athletes, up front, exactly what I expected of them!  I knew my adult athletes wanted to learn and some of them would eventually want to try racing.  What I didn’t articulate was what my desire for them was.  I moved ahead with my coaching techniques and plans.  Never having had this important conversation about what our expectations of each other were.  How much easier would my coaching job have been if I had only had this conversation at the very first training session??

This led me to thinking about how I interact with my clients.  I realized, when working with clients, I too was like Paulie. I have never clearly, in detail, stated what my expectations were.  Based on my presentation and previous work I assumed they were understood.  With each new job, I have in my head how I want a project to go – scheduling, process and outcome. My clients often have their own expectations and it’s my job to draw it out from them.  We often have a basic discussion and both sides walk away assuming our expectations are the same.  This is where problems can arise.  When expectations don’t match, frustrations and tension in the working relationship start to crop up.  It was a duh moment for me – if I sit down and have a detailed discussion with my clients, about both of our expectations – from the very beginning, not only will we have a great working relationship but better work will also be created!

Moving forward, I plan on having this detailed discussion with each new project, regardless of whether I working with a new client or not.  Are you clearly stating your expectations?

A brand is the well crafted story of your business.  Let me explain.  When reading a really great book the writer takes you on a journey – giving you the details and pieces along the way to move the story forward.  All the details of the story are devised to support the main theme and give a more complete telling.  In a business the details of the story are the touch points.  Literally the things that touch a ‘reader’ – be it physically or emotionally – how you answer the phone, the colors you use, websites, office decor, packaging and yes logos. In the process of telling your story you give clues to your ‘reader’ on how to interact with you, what they can expect from you and what is expected of them.  However, if the book your reading has no central theme or there is a complete disconnect in the details (those times when your reading something and you have absolutely no idea why it pertains to the story) you never invest in it.  More often than not you’ll find the whole thing to confusing or hard to read, put the book down and never come back.

What is the story you or your business is trying to tell?  Does it engage your ‘reader’, bringing them in closer and giving them a better understanding of who you are and what’s expected of them?  Does it invite them to take the journey with you or does it confuse them and leave them shaking their head in bemusement?

Under Armour, whether they know it or not, already have a grass roots connection to rowing. Go into any boathouse and I promise you over half of the athletes, from juniors to masters, will be wearing at least one piece of Under Armour apparel. Better yet, right in their own home town is the Baltimore Rowing Club. They can take a morning (a very early morning) and do a little field research for themselves.

Let’s take that thought a little further. Baltimore Rowing holds The Great Baltimore Burn every year. This year it will be held on Feb 6^th. It is an indoor erg race. These indoor races were originally set up to break up the monotony of winter training – painful, painful event I might add. Baltimore Rowing Club bills theirs as being named after the Great Baltimore Fire of 1904 and the deep pain you feel in your legs during and after a 2k sprint – yeah barrels of fun! But my point is this is a local event. Under Armour can do some small test marketing here and see how they best connect with the rowing community. From there they can take what they’ve learned and bring it to the Crash B’s (the World Indoor Rowing Championship) and also forge a connection with Concept 2 (the makers of the erg).

Under Armour has a well planned marketing strategy of working with top high school and college teams and there is no reason this wouldn’t work in the rowing community as well. However, I’d also like them to consider a different tactic. The fastest growing segment in the sport of rowing is in the Masters Division – age 21+. Within that division it is women who are leading the way. Find away to connect with these women!

Finally I’ll end with a dream product that if Under Armour could find a way to produce I will fall at their feet!! Get a rower to talk about the shoes attached to the foot stretcher in the boat and you will hear a never ending litany of complaints – they’re to small/large, can’t keep them closed – ties/velcro are worn out, they’re just plain nasty and the list goes on and on. If Under Armour could come up with a quick release type shoe system – maybe something similar to how a bike shoe clips onto a pedal – and each rower could invest in having their own shoes in the boat – you would have rowing gold!

I would love to see Under Armour strengthen their already unofficial ties to rowing. As always I’d be thrilled to discuss any of my ideas with Under Armour in person. And for all you rowers reading this – Stay Long, Row Hard!!

At the end of 2009 I found myself pondering these questions – 1) who do I want to give back to and 2) how do I want to give back. I knew pretty quickly on that I wanted to help women and children. I ended up choosing two organizations – Save the Children and Grameen Foundation. Both of these organization currently have an A rating with Charity Watch. Save the Children was an easy decision for me – I’ve been involved in the lives of children – be it babysitting, nanny, juniors rowing coach or photographing them since I was 11 years old – perfect fit!

Grameen came on my radar when a Facebook friend referred them to me. In regards to helping women I wanted help them in power and better their circumstances. I started researching micro loan organizations. The majority of the people helped by these organizations are poor women who want to make a change in their lives and the lives of those around them. Hard part was finding a micro loan organization that truly did what it said it would. With the combination of my friend’s referral and their Charity Watch rating I’m confident Grameen Foundation is an excellent match.

Here’s my plan for donating: Complete a session with me this year and I will donate $25 to either Save the Children or Grameen Foundation in your name. I would like you to help me choose which charity you would like the money to go to. For those that have no preference, in December I will evenly divide the money and donate to both organizations. I’m really excited to start giving back in this way and thank-you for helping me make it happen!!

I was first introduced to Under Armour roughly six years ago. I was sitting in a rowing shell – moving up and down to the rhythm set by the stroke – my eye was drawn time and time again to an imprint showing through the compression shorts in front of me. While trying to stay in time with the stroke I was wracking my brain trying to figure out what the imprint was, what did it mean, etc… Over the next couple of days I realized that EVERY woman I sat behind had that imprint showing through their rowing clothes. Now I really had to figure it out. Finally after much sleuth work I realized I was seeing the impression of Under Armour’s logo time and again. I had seen it before but hadn’t connected that almost everyone in the boathouse wore at least one piece of Under Armour clothing.

Flash back to the future. Researching my move to Baltimore I stumbled upon Under Armour’s career page where I saw they had an opening in Brand Management for a Women’s Marketing Manager. I applied for the position becaue 1) I’m moving to Baltimore and 2) how cool would working for Under Armour be?? Totally speaks to my Inner Girl Athlete! I haven’t heard back but it set my brain in motion – how to better connect women and Under Armour.

The very first thing that jumped out at me was pants. Talk to any women and they will tell you they have a horrible time finding good pants. Once they find that magical pair they will buy not 1 but 3-4 pairs of that pants (usually 2 in black and 1 or 2 in another color). They finally found IT and want to make sure they always have a pair available. I love my Under Armour Tech pants but they are long – way to long for my 5’3” frame. I actually have to wear clogs with a 2” heel when I wear them or I’ll trip all over the bottoms. I did a little digging and found in the reviews over and over again that this was one of the most often cited complaint women have with Under Armour pants. They’re just to dang long. I – and I think just about any women out there – would love to see Under Armour sell their pants in short, regular and long lengths. Give us a good fitting pant and you own us – seriously!

To carry the fit theme a little further. When I registered with Under Armour I was asked which areas of sports I was most interested in. I would love it if I could also enter my measurements when I register. Under Armour could then take that information and suggest which pieces of clothing would best fit me. Then when new lines were released I could be updated not only by sport but fit as well. It would make my shopping experience quicker and easier – especially when some of the research work has already been done for me. As a busy woman I want to be able to hone in on the most useful information to me as quickly and painlessly as possible.

Back to my UA Tech pant (I currently own 2 pair) – I can never remember the proper name of these pants – in my head they are yoga pants. I have to search and search until I find them again on Under Armour’s site. How happy would I be if I could have my own personal favorite / wish list!! I’d love it to work similar to Amazon’s wish list – it would so simplify the buying process for me and when family are asking me what I want for my birthday or Christmas I could direct them to my list. We’d both end up happy.

Women are social but because of time constraints we don’t go shopping in groups or out to lunch like days past. The majority of our social activities now take place in mobile media or online. Under Armour has a general Facebook Page as well as one for running and baseball. I really believe that Under Armour needs to have a fan page dedicated to women. Make the page appeal to her Inner Girl Athlete. Every women involved in sports has an Inner Girl Athlete – the part of her that feels powerful and sexy. Create a place where she can connect and tap into the feeling – she wants to feel like she can conquer the world.

Along with connecting to a women’s Inner Girl Athlete reward her for being a fan. There are applications now where you can set up a boutique inside a fan page. Release new or special items to your fans first. Give fans a two week window where only they can access the new apparel. Women love exclusivity and being the first to have something new!

I have many other ideas but I’ll close with this one because I feel it’s important. I am Title Nine baby – without all the women who came before me I would not have had the opportunities to grow into the athlete I am. March is women’s history month. Under Armour can spotlight women in sports who paved the way and in their honor donate a percentage of every sale for the month of March to a female sports initiative. The 40th anniversary of Title Nine is June 23, 2012 – if Under Armour starts the planning process now they can have a major celebration of women in sports in June 2012 – culminating in creating their own sports initiative for women. I would love to see that happen!

I’m excited to see what direction Under Armour is going to take their women’s line. I admit my brain is currently locked into exploring the many different ways they can better connect with women. I’ve also have some fabulous ideas on how to make better ties to the rowing community. If anyone from Under Armour should come a calling – I’d love to share what’s kicking around in my head!