posted by Robin Tooms @ 8:15 AM
Why are asking the right questions so important? When approaching any strategy, it’s not possible to create great recommendations unless you have first defined the right problem. Ask… What are the real needs? Who are we really talking to and what do they care about?
Plus, if you haven’t taken the time to first do your homework and reveal all of the essential information, then your recommendations are shaky at best. Ask the hard questions. What are the real strengths and weaknesses? How will we make a real contribution with this strategy?
Asking the right questions is one of the most important skills to have. This part of the process can be creative too, especially since this may be the best time to apply a different lens that will help you get to the heart of a business or communications challenge. This is the best time to think like a designer. Designers are naturally curious and tend to approach information from new directions.
And once you get that information, here are a couple of tips that will keep you on track.
- Don’t come into a challenge with preconceived ideas. If you do, then you’ll be working towards validation of existing thoughts instead of exploration of new ones.
- Distance is sometimes a blessing. We all know that if you’re too close, or too entangled, in a challenge, it can be difficult to generate new ideas. This is where an “outsider” often helps – someone who is able to look at a challenge without the baggage of past failures. If you don’t have the luxury of distance, then try an exercise where you give yourself a short time constraint so that you don’t have a chance to “over think” the challenge.
Asking great questions to create innovative ideas is core to any business, but at the same time we know that ideas and strategies have to live throughout the organization and not just in the boardroom.
Leslie Koch, the president of the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation (GIPEC), ties these ideas nicely together in this clip about Governors Island. Her speech helps bridge the process of applying sound strategy and thinking into action, which she tells in a very real way.
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4.28.2010
posted by Robin Tooms @ 8:45 AM
Have you ever wondered what other people see about you online? It’s actually practical to do a search engine query on your own name, or your company name, and see what comes up. This is not meant to be an exercise for your ego, but rather a prudent bit of research. There are three possibilities here:
- You find valuable links back to your online profiles and other areas of online content
- You find a mixture of information – content that may send a mixed message about you professionally
- You find almost nothing. It’s as if you don’t exist.
Back in February I gave a presentation to AMA San Antonio on using social networks to build your Personal Brand and thought maybe I should put a little follow-up information here (just in case you answered either two or three above).
Ready for tips on how to approach your personal brand strategically?
Think like a search engine
Are you an expert in a certain topic? Then make sure those keywords appear in your LinkedIn profile. You’ll be amazed at how high in the search engine results in Google LinkedIn profiles appear. It’s a missed opportunity to not put your keywords in here.
Share, share and share some more
All of these widgets on websites make it so easy now to share what you’ve found online. It’s just good karma to share. Don’t overdo it though. Sharing is more about dropping breadcrumbs on the way so that others can find where you’re going, but it shouldn”t be a constant stream. Just as people don’t want to know what you’re doing every minute of the day, they don’t want to know what you’re reading every minute either. Just post what you think is quality content.
What to talk about?
Anything that will start a conversation! On social networks, I often mention articles, videos or blogs that I find interesting. If you find them interesting too, then chances are, we have good reason to talk. The LAST thing to do is to talk about yourself. Networking, whether in person or online, is really about engaging others. This means that you need to give more than you get, and help others more than you ask for help yourself.
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4.26.2010
posted by Robin Tooms @ 10:13 PM
I love innovative technology, and I especially love when new technology mediums force us as communicators to challenge the norms and think differently (Apple reference intended).
Apple’s iPad is not a digital reader, it’s an interactive storyteller. Here’s why.
Publishing on Apple’s iPad won’t be about re-purposing existing print content, but rather developing new ways to communicate that take advantage of the medium. As an example of this, view this video from Wired Magazine – they demonstrate the possibilities of an immersive experience with a publication.
Think about how social sharing has changed reading articles online – the ease of sharing means that interesting content is virally spread. The form factor of the iPad will affect branded content on the same scale – anytime access to a large screen of full-color moving content encourages information display using motion and interactivity.
Everything from “magazine” articles to advertisements will become more about storytelling through rich, interactive media than reading. Ultimately, as the Wired video points out, this really will change the relationship a user has to brands.
Personally, I’m excited for the chance to experience this new medium, and as a designer, ready for the opportunity to create for it as well.
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2.28.2010
posted by Robin Tooms @ 11:57 PM
A great idea, executed well, really can be done on a budget.
Case in point. Artist Rebecca Ward uses everyday materials, such as fluorescent gaffers tape, in an unexpected way to create something memorable. Granted, there’s a LOT of tape that got sacrificed as part of the Kate Spade Broome Street New York store installation, but it’s easy to see how the finished installation transcends the actual cost of the tape rolls. It’s how the tape was used that makes it worthwhile.
Creatives tend to look at challenges in different ways. Where one person may just see a roll of tape for its utility – a way to attach or mark off something – a creative sees the possibilities. It’s what is often called “thinking outside the box,” and it’s what we, as designers, do for a living everyday, so we’re rather good at it.
kate spade ny party from Jessica J Schroeder on Vimeo.
This was also interesting. During the event, there was a “tape bar” setup where attendees could get into the spirit of the installation by creating their own keepsakes of custom decorated journals. Kudos on the event marketing committee for extending the theme in a relevant way that appealed to their fashion-conscious attendees while reminding them of the Kate Spade brand. Living colorfully is good!
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2.07.2010
posted by Robin Tooms @ 10:56 PM
Super Bowl Sunday is supposed to be one of the biggest pizza-consuming days of the year. Unless all of these advertisements have been lying to me, you’re supposed to eat pizza today. A lot of it. And for some reason, $10 is the sweet spot. Did you order pizza today and contribute to keeping this economy afloat?
So, how is Domino’s Pizza Turnaround campaign going? Well, it depends on who you ask. In the end, it looks like they’ll measure the success with the same store sales numbers. Boring. Personally, I would like to see them correlate the positive and negative mentions on their social media sites as well. It would be great to know if a certain “sentiment” ranking could be tied to the numbers.
This excerpt really sums it up:
Truly engaging in social media necessitates this kind of imperfect back-and-forth. It requires that companies hand over some control over their brands to their customers publicly. There are enormous benefits to doing so. Endorsement of a product by a large group of strangers, or, better yet, people whom you know, is arguably much more valuable than a one-sided advertisement. But with the advantages of social-media engagement come the downsides. For example, when a customer rants about what may be an isolated incident of lousy service on that company’s Facebook wall, everyone can see it. When a bunch of people don’t like a new product or policy, they can rise up against it together.
Part of Social Media 101 is that when you ask for comments, you will get some negative comments, but you can’t ignore these.
Sidenote: I actually did have pizza last week, but we ordered it through an iPhone app. Again, Domino’s where is your app? As one of my co-workers put it “lazy pizza lovers” like me are looking for this type of service.
