Change takes time. This is where grace comes in.  The members of your marketing department are going to be taking on new roles and defining new systems with the launch of any new material, especially something like a website.  They will be asked to change the way they think about online communication as well as how they perform their jobs.  It will take time to learn to use new pieces of big collateral, and processes will be put in place that will help your organization move forward.  Here at Marah, we are always asking a lot of Marketing and Information Service departments and as long there is a spirit of collaboration rather than run by dictators or by committee, they always do an amazing job stretching beyond their comfort zones.  Big changes are going to take a lot of time and patience, but in the end the hard work will be worth it when new intrest and sales are generated for your organization.

It’s never a good sign when the National Advertising wing of the Better Business Bureau calls out your organization for false advertising.  That’s what has happen with LG as they are accused, and rightfully so, of misleading consumers about their 3D technology as in comparison with their rival counterparts.  The issue stems from questionable product testing with focus groups, (read all the details at TechCrunch).

I know that this won’t do much to hurt LG in product sales and brand image but sometimes I wonder how it is companies or divisions of companies can continue to exist when they employ ridiculous non-thinkers.  As a marketers we should be telling a well crafted stories rather than spinning untruths in hope to persuade a minute percentage of consumers to purchase your product over the competition.  Where is the brand awareness?

If you have a problem with telling the truth check out the video below, (I actually thought it was a joke at first.  Now, go see a therapist).

Before you jump in head first on a new business venture, you will need to take a great deal of time working through strategy.  A good strategy will allow you to grow and be flexible as you run across challenges and unexpected turns.

Create a Business Plan

Yes, it is time consuming, but if you don’t have a plan the chances of success are slim.  If you have questions on how to create a business plan, visitEntrepreneur.com.  (More importantly, find a resource who can help create a solid business plan so you will have a firm foundation to stand on.)  Review your business plan with people you trust and respect.  Go to other people who work for, or started their own successful business, and have them review and give you critical feedback.  Encourage them to be honest…brutally honest.  If there are flaws in your business plan, it is better to discover them before you begin investing money into your start-up.

Find an Angel Investor

You have your business plan; you know how much you need to survive; now you need to put your plan into action.  Chances are, you are going to need money for start-up costs.  Depending on the vertical you are in, you should plan on needing somewhere between $5,000 – $500k invested into your company from an Angel Investor prior to starting your business.  This money can be used toward marketing collateral, space to purchase or lease, supplies, contractors, etc.

Manage Your Time

Getting your business up and running will take more time than you have.  Plan accordingly.  Create schedules, deadlines, monitor your time, and stop for the day when you are no longer making any progress.

Create a Sales Strategy

Tap into your contacts.  Ask them for their contacts.  Don’t be afraid to ask people you know for leads.  Create a 3 month, 6 month, 9 month, and 12 month sales plan.  Set goals and review those goals.  If you are not making your numbers, you need to be doing something different.  To be a business, you have to make money.

Figure out how to use a financial tracking system like Quickbooks

If you are not lucky enough to be able to afford someone to run your books, don’t worry.  There are several solutions in the marketplace to help you track the day-to-day financies of your organization.  Don’t avoid your finances.  Learn how to use a financial program like Quickbooks and track your invoices and expenses.  Plan for how you are going to pay your taxes before April rolls around.

Find People to Partner With

Ask any free agent or private contractor, working alone is awful.  You need people to communicate with throughout the day that understand your business and what you are going through.  This might be a family member or someone from the outside who has the same passion and vision.  Having someone to hold you accountable and support you will help your business succeed in the long run.

Will the agency you are working with send someone over in a chapeau?  Probably not, but that doesn’t mean the discovery phase is any less harrowing than that of the travels of Lewis and Clark…  (I suppose the likelihood of being attacked by a mountain lion is slim so you win there.)  The discovery phase of a web design and development project will help the agency you are working with create a high functioning piece of art that your users will love.

A website should be considered a living, breathing entity that your organization uses to not help you survive, but to thrive.  With that in mind there are realities that are important to consider.  Most important is that there is no such thing as a cookie-cutter website that is good for every organization.  A website needs proper consideration as it relates to your brand and your target market.  If you fail understanding this point, you run a very high risk of losing your customer base and stunting the growth of your organization.  The discovery phase is designed to help answer the question, “Who are you?”

1.  Internal Meetings.  Your agency should now be setting up meetings with you and key stakeholders within your organization to round out the picture of who you are as an organization.  You will be answering questions on your history, clients, competition, applicable internal business strategies and of course marketing strategies.

2.  External Meetings.  To create a successful website will require some time spent with your customer base and other potential user groups.  It might also be important to spend time with the community in which your business exists and works from depending on the communities and customers you serve.

3.  Brand Research.  Researching current and past collateral is going to be important along with your organizations brand book and any style guides you have.  If you don’t have any of these documents we would highly recommend spending some time having them made as they are documents that will help create unity in everything that is created moving forward in your organizations future.

Now that the research has been completed you can begin working on how the information will be displayed on your new site.

 Next up: Information Architecture Phase.

We won’t pretend that creating a new website or working through an update is going to be easy for your organization, in fact, it will be difficult and a lot of hard work will have to happen to make a website that actually works for you.  It is important that you find a good team to work with, a team who understands your organization-your products and services.  If you keep these tips on the forefront of the conversation while considering a website upgrade or build, we are confident that you will be successful.

Here is an excellent process you should expect when building a website: Part 1:  Technical Specifications

Change is not easy. That statement is said too often but never recognized enough.  With the launch of the new website, we are asking you to change the way you not only think about web design, but also how you think about the process of delivering information to your audience.  I have said before that a piece of collateral like a new website is a living entity that will be monitored, developed, and changed over time based on the feedback and needs of the user.  Static websites are dying, and by developing a website that can be easily managed allows our clients the opportunity to continuously add new content that will ultimately help recruit and retain new clients.

This is just one example of the type of change we help user in and often each piece is part of a larger strategy.  To change a system or an ideology can become quite complex but with the right strategy it can be easily managed.  Below is a great video on how complexity can actually lead to simplicity.

 

It is said that the key to any great relationship is communication and the same can be said for the root of a new business.  I know, you are very intelligent and there is no way that your passion can hold you back from success.  The smart however will always look to those who are wise when planning their path.

Talk to Your Family

If your family isn’t on board with you quitting your job, you won’t be successful.  Whether they are financial or personal, sacrifices will have to be made.  You may not have money to take your family out to eat or to buy designer clothes.  In all honesty, your life will change.  Working for yourself is stressful and a bigger time commitment that you can imagine.  Even when you are not “working” your mind is still racing with ideas, fears, questions.  Ask your family if they are ready for the change that will effect their lives as well as your own.

Talk to your friends

Presumably your friends know a lot about you and have a different perspective than your family will.  Take the time to seriously discuss your plans with your friends and ask them the tough questions and be willing to accept a challenging response.  Use those people in your life to gain a different perspective.

Talk to the Lord

If you are someone who does have a relationship with Lord you should be spending more time communicating here than anywhere else.  This decision will change the landscape of everything you are doing in your life and you are going to need a lot of insight.  At Marah, we would not be where we are at today with out the constant walk that we have with Jesus.  Even though we make a great deal of mistakes we always have a place to go when we need to get back on track.  Take the time to seriously consider this choice by chewing it over for a period of time with the Lord.

We are pretty blessed here at Marah Creative to be working with some great people and clients but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t get stressful around here. Reliving stress at work can be a challenge but you might be surprised at how a few small changes might make all the difference. As our lives get more chaotic it is no surprise to find that work related stress is going through the roof, and the time that is lost because of this stress can be devastating to the schedule.  Here are a few things to consider that have helped me with my own perspective on my working life:

Adam Koller

My Diet & Exercise 

Stop the press.  You mean that our diet can affect our mood and stress levels which leads to less output and time wasted?  This is no secret and at the same time we do nothing about it.  I wish there was some way to slap people into the reality that if you eat poorly then you are going to feel miserable.  I do not agree with everything that Mark Bittman, (popular author on food and health), has to say, but his philosophy in Food Matters is hard to argue with:  ”Eat far less meat and stock up on fruits and veggies.”

Along with diet you would be shocked at how different your stress level would be if you worked out.  Even getting up and walking around the office a handful of times through out the day would be a big help.  I never really got in to anything with a great level of physical activity because I never really liked track or football growing up.  I found cycling, which changed my perspective on everything.  The point is, find something you love and make it a part of your routine.  When you can find ways to relax, you will be more productive with the time you have at work.

Sam Bible

I Thought About Multi-tasking 

Forget it.  Multi-tasking doesn’t work.  I know there are many of you out there who say you are great at multi-tasking.  What that translates to me in the working world is you are good at doing small things here and there and never really getting anything of substance done.  Make a clear plan for your day, week, even month with clear goals and paths to finish those goals.  Multi-tasking usually leads to large amounts of stress because in reality is incredibly difficult/impossible to work on multiple things at once.  There is something called,Chunking which helps if you are someone who thinks they are great at multi-tasking.

Stop the Behind the Back Chatter

This means stop the water cooler talk so-to-speak.  When you get involved with personal politics you open yourself up to a lot of problems, one of them being stressed.  If your nose doesn’t belong there, keep it out!  You will be better for it.

Kelsey Drake

Communication

Communication really does go both ways.  If you do not feel like you have a strong direction at work, tell those directly responsible for your workflow that you need help to better understand your responsibilities.  Many people get frustrated with management and that frustration leads to a lot of stress.  Now I know there are some terrible managers out there but take it from someone who does manage projects and people, if you communicate and are open to listening and learning you would be surprised at how grateful the management will be.  And if you have a clear direction, the stress at work would vastly decrease.

Relationships

One of the best things I have found to help relieve stress at work is surround yourself with great people both in and out of the workplace environment.  When you align yourself with smart people who work hard and compliment your abilities you will be much more satisfied and that will help relieve stress.  If surrounding yourself with those types of people is not an option, do it outside of work.  Let’s be honest, work isn’t everything right?

Final Thoughts

So, we know that it isn’t possible to relieve all of your stress or use all of your time efficiently but that doesn’t mean you can’t be doing a better job than you are right now.  If you work on focusing on being more holistic at work rather than just a cog in the wheel, you have a good shot at bring the stress levels down while become a more productive and efficient employee.

(And seriously, we love coffee…)

Cue the IT folks with the big thick glasses.  Gather them all in the conference room; this is their world and they MUST be heard for this, the first item of the design and development process.  Don’t glaze over on me, this is the most critical step when designing and developing a website.  If this process is handled correctly, your website has an excellent shot at staying on budget and being launched on time.  Falter here, as so many before you have, and your project budget could skyrocket to astronomical proportions and your website launch will look something like the current space shuttle program.  So, what is involved in the technical specifications process and what deliverables will come from it?  I’m glad you asked.

1.  The Internal Technical Meeting.  Gather all individuals who are involved in the project on the IT side and make sure you don’t leave that room until they tell you everything the website must accomplish from a technical point-of-view.  What systems must the website communicate with?  What will the forms need to do when a user clicks submit?  What are the legal requirements the site must meet?  Do you need a closed or Open-Source CMS platform?  These are just a few questions that demand answers.  If you realize you need more or different functionality after the project has started, it is going to cost you.  It’s easier and less expensive to account for building materials before the house starts coming together rather than waiting and having to tear down walls while the house is already under construction.

2.  The Internal Marketing Meeting:  Although the marketing side of the process is less emphasized here, there are still items to consider among your team.  Will your project need any additional collateral development like photography or video?  Who will be involved in the training process?  Who will be managing the project and the website after launch?  Answers to these questions will help set the structure of the project and insure any additional material needed matches your brand and that the proper people are in place to handle the change-over at the end of the project.

3.  The Agency Meeting.  When you meet with the company you have selected to design and develop your website have them meet your technical team as you discuss the needs of your website.  Any good agency will bring a someone with them that can help account for technical aspects of the project.  Leave a good amount of time for discussion back and forth.

4.  Statement of Work, (SOW).  Out of the technical talk will rise a document that you will live your project life by:  The SOW.  The SOW will contain all of the technical specifications and collateral your website needs.  Think of this document as the building blocks to what will become the most beautifully designed and user friendly website the world has ever seen.  After the SOW is signed you can now work on creating and signing a full project contract.

*Pleas note:  We love the IT professionals of the world, we truly do.  But they, like everyone else who have an expertise that needs a voice on your web project only understand a piece of the puzzle.  If you are unable to collect the proper feedback from your IT team and implement that data appropriately your site will most likely look like something from the year 1998.  The screen will just be lines of code, and no one wants that.  (Don’t worry, we have a lot to say about other stakeholders in upcoming parts of the series.)      

Next up:  Discovery Phase.

Simplicity

You would think that in today’s online world, all websites would be easy for visitor to navigate.  Well, we know that isn’t true.  There are thousands, scratch that, millions of websites that are cluttered with ads, text, hidden buttons, and confusing messages.  The good news is there are young companies that seek to improve the way visitors use and interact with websites.

One of my new favorite websites is Acts of Sharing.  This site is a fantastic example of how to sell a message/brand/idea through the use of simple website design,  video, community based forums, and clean navigation.  The colors, white space, large buttons, heavy footer, simple text, make this site a winner.  Even more impressive, Acts of Sharing took a rather complex idea – connecting people in communities, or “friends” and allowing them the ability to borrow and share books, DVDs, video games, and more.

Right now, Acts of Sharing is only serving three cities in Texas.  As more people sign up and start sharing their collections, the website will grow into other cities.  I would encourage you to check out their website to not only get an idea of what simple website design looks like, but also to help Acts of Sharing grow into your city.

Side note – I predict Acts of Sharing will become as popular as Groupon. (Kelsey Drake.)

Understanding the Tool

We often talk about the challenges of bringing a tool like a website to clients who don’t necessary understand what it is for.  Most people assume it is to look appealing and if it looks appealing you will be able to sell or share anything with the viewer.  This line of thinking is a simplification and in most cases just isn’t true.  If you are in the process of building or need a website built there are some things to consider.

1)  What is the central action you want a user to make? 

Most people become enamored with thoughts like, “I want to see more flash,” or “I want to see that logo tweaked a bit before I can be happy.”  What most fail to realize is that you are not the user and the user rarely cares about what you care about on your own site.  You need to figure out what the main objective is for your site and make it as easy as possible to complete that objective for the user.

2)  Who is your user? 

If you are a college and your main user is a college student, fight the temptation to create a site that the staff and faculty dictate must be made.  They are not the user and almost always have no idea what a student would like to see.  This goes across the board in every industry.  Identify who is using your site and make it an experience enjoyable for the user.

3)  Who makes the decisions?

Well designed and executed websites are exceedingly difficult to create because they are so complicated.  Do you know who will be making the approvals on your project?  If you don’t that must be step one of your process.  And if the approvals must come from a group, get ready for your budget to skyrocket.

But most of all, find an organization with a process to help you with your redesign or complete site design.  Many companies we have seen promise the world but don’t have a process to bring these dreams to reality; and when this happens get ready for a lot of headache and budget explosions.

Next up:  Thinking About the Process of Web Design