15 Year Anniversary: Reflections on Running a Small Business

I can’t think of a job I’d rather have. And so, on this 15^th anniversary, allow me to share why it is that we love what we do—and are energized as we look to the future and contemplate even better ways to do our work. 

1. We help other companies be successful. In partnership with their marketing and communication teams, we’re able to create communications that brings measurable successes.
2. We’re creating jobs. It’s ever so gratifying to know that you are able to help others sustain themselves and their families by offering them meaningful work. Especially during a time of global financial instability, we feel like creating jobs is a very real way we can make a difference.
3. Small is nimble. Having worked in national and international corporate settings (from which I learned much), I can say that I love the responsiveness that comes with being a small business owner. We can make decisions quickly—unhampered by long review and lead times or bureaucracies—changing course when needed in the blink of an eye.
4. We have skin in the game. As a business owner, I don’t look at work as a stepping stone to my next job. This company is our destination—so we’re fully immersed in making it successful. This lends a continuity to a company because of the consistency of steady leadership.
5. We are beholden to no stockholders. As a privately held company, we have the wonderful luxury of making decisions for the company that are in its long-term best interest—without being beholden to producing quarterly results that are sometimes produced at the cost of the future.
6. We get to pick the people we work with. Most of us spend as much or more time during the week with our co-workers as we do with our families, and so the task of selecting high quality, motivated individuals who share one’s views of work is indeed one of the great benefits. In our company there are certain things we just don’t tolerate—laziness, sloppy work, lack of resourcefulness or an unwillingness to tackle whatever it is that needs to be done. The result is a highly productive, satisfying and collegial environment that allows individuals to do their best work—without wasting energy on distractions.
7. It’s never boring. Not only do we work with all kinds of communication tools, but we work in different markets and in several industries—each of which teaches us something new.

The past 15 years of running this business have given us the chance to meet and learn from fascinating people doing interesting work. On any given day we might traverse the continent—talking with a client in LA in the morning and one in Denver in the afternoon. Each one brings energy, vision and their own unique approach to work that makes our lives interesting. We are always learning from and inspired by them.

Owning your own company isn’t for everyone. But for those of us who love to have a say in forging our futures, it’s the job of a lifetime—and not a day goes by but I am grateful to our team and our clients for being a part of this dream.

Four Ways to Improve Your Customers' Experience (And Be Happier)

In this business, we pay attention to image because image matters. We also pay attention to substance, because without substance, image makeovers won't matter. So when it comes to retaining customers, paying attention to every interaction a customer has with your brand is imperative. But as professionals, our job is also to create the narrative that inspires your organization to thinking about customers in a way that builds strong alliances.
 
No, you can’t do this alone. But don’t underestimate the power of our words and the images to  inspire a perspective that improves the customer experience—and ultimately sales. Here are four ways you can do that:

1. Engage, don’t perform. Help your organization decide in its collective heads and hearts that they really are interested in helping your customers achieve their goals. Tell the stories of happy customers. Make them compelling, real and personal. (This, by the way, is also a very happy way to live.)
2. Deliver compulsively on your promises. This is where the executors separate themselves from the going-out-of-business businesses. Build an ethos that talks about how that looks. Help the team see how quickly they can rise above their competitors by returning calls, following up on promises, making notes, reviewing notes, delivering actions.
3. Help orient your team to the long-term. It is not only immensely more pleasant to have mutually satisfying long-term relationships than making an extra buck—it also allows yourself to truly invest in, and therefore become an expert, on what your customer needs.
4. Put yourself in their shoes. Be the voice in your organization that inspires your  team to treat people the way you’d like to be treated. Showcase examples, tell stories.

The facts are, anything you needed to learn about selling your mother has probably already told you. Share. Care. Listen. Be polite. Keep your promises. As professionals, we can help nudge our organizations in this direction by modeling this behavior and by shaping our company’s narrative.
 
As Geoffrey James so wisely said in his Inc. article. “The secret to customer loyalty lies in putting the interests of the customer ahead of your own. It’s really that simple.”

A Simple Way to Increase Your Facebook Impressions by 50 Percent

Jeff Bullas cites a study by Roost.com that evaluated 10,000 Facebook and Twitter posts by 8,000 small businesses across 50 industries and found the following content drives engagement the most:

1. Photo posts. They received 50 percent more impressions than any other type of content.
2. Quotes. These provided 22 percent more interactions compared with other types of posts.
3. Questions. They generated nearly twice as many comments as any other post type.

The report also showed that links were 87 percent more likely to be shared than any other type of post.

What pages do you frequently visit that do this well?

Five Things You Should Know About Advertising With 2D Barcodes

The use of 2D barcodes (which come in varieties like QR Codes or Microsoft Tags) continues to escalate because of the immediacy possibilities they present. Put simply, 2D barcodes let people respond to a call to action at the time they are interested—when they’re more likely to respond. Most of us won’t respond to a call to action if there’s a delay between the impulse and access to your computer. But mobile closes that gap, making now the perfect time to respond.

Here’s what you should know about 2D barcodes:

1. They can lead to contact entries, calendar items, video, apps, directions, coupons, menus, links to reviews, virtual tours—you name it. But make no mistake—users expect valuable content, entertainment value, or time or money savings (like downloading a coupon, or contact information).
2. Linking to a Web page is the old way—linking to content devised for mobile is the new way.
3. They can be customized visually.
4. Test, test, test before you launch.
5. Be wary now of malicious QR codes with malware. Criminals can replace the QR code on your Web site or even put a sticker onto existing marketing material, reports PC World.

Don’t overlook the possibilities of using barcodes in your advertising campaign. The possibilities are both endless and promising.

15 Ways Communications Will Change the Way You Live and Work

Whether you are a consumer or in the world of business, changes in communications will alter the way all of us live and work in the future. For us as professionals, this makes the world of communications exciting, challenging and at times, sobering. 

Below you'll find 15 significant changes we’re observing in the industry—changes that will have a huge impact on all of us—and on the world of business.

Everything’s going mobile
Our mobile phone is no longer just a phone. It’s  a remote control for navigating our personal and professional lives: communication device, portal to entertainment, camera, organizer, travel and commuting guide, connection to the world of knowledge. No communication plan should overlook the central role mobile is playing in our lives—and no company should fail to resource at least some key mobile strategies.

Creating our own realities
If you haven’t watched Eli Pariser’s TED Talk, it’s a must see.

Pariser reminds us that while human editors once served as gatekeepers for information, this responsibility is shifting to algorithmic gatekeepers, which don’t have embedded the ethics humans are capable of. These algorithms—filtering techniques for the likes of Google and Facebook—are increasingly deciding not what we ought to see or what’s actually occurring in the world around us, but what we want to see—based on what’s relevant to us.

Two people can search for Egypt, for example—and one will get travel information, while the other gets news of political unrest. This creates a filtered view of the world—one in which we are at the center, and reality is created to serve our preferences. It prohibits us from seeing differing points of view and information that is important, uncomfortable and perhaps even challenging—but that is necessary to make informed judgments of the world around us.
 
Anonymity, detachment and the decline of civility
Anonymity promotes a lack of accountability, truthfulness and civility. Marked by crude and even hateful language, anonymous comments dehumanize our relationships, causing us to behave differently than if we were speaking face-to-face with someone. 

And even when we’re not communicating anonymously, electronic communications create distance, shielding us from body language, facial expressions and tone of voice—all key aspects of communicating. This changes our behavior towards others and diminishes the kindness and civility that contributes to a more humane society.
 
Shift in power
The consumer now owns your business’ message, and this will only intensify. As we talk with clients about how to deal with online critics, they’re justifiably concerned. Businesses are more vulnerable and can more easily sustain damage by individuals who may or may not have a legitimate criticism or be informed, honest, civil or truthful.

On the other hand, this calls businesses to a higher level of accountability—and that’s good. Positive news can spread quickly, so endorsements from your customers can also increase the value of your brand. We hope this will cause all of us in business to focus as much on who we are as on what we communicate.

A rise in cynicism
Access to overwhelming levels of information, inability to discern authoritative sources from those that aren’t, and limited time to explore the truth of a claim or point of view can make us all feel like deer in the headlights. We may have more information, but we also have less certainty about its truth and credibility—and little time to sort it out. As a result, a healthy cynicism clouds our minds, making us skeptical of any communication. Successful businesses have to work harder now to break through that barrier to build trust.
 
Exploding technologies
The explosion of new technology allows us to deliver information in new and more personal ways. This is exciting but also difficult to sort through for businesses that are overwhelmed by the options. But it also provides some very exciting new possibilities for communicating. One positive outcome is that we now have more access to our customers’ stories, which can be used to reinforce the brand message.
 
Talking with, not talking to
Stories in print are static, but stories online develop organically and quickly, resulting in conversations rather than speeches. Today's customers want deals and dialogue with companies they follow—“talking to” them is no longer the most effective way to deliver your message.

A demographic of one
It’s hard to imagine today that the term mass media ever existed. Demographic slices are becoming smaller and smaller as microcosms of our culture connect more around ideas and interests than geography. As businesses, our job is to create and feed our tribes with the information and experiences they’re craving. It’s also much more complicated—and time-intensive—for businesses to create messages for many smaller marketers, rather than one mass market.
 
Information destinations vs. selling
Yes, there's still a place for messages that sell. But consumers are demanding information and experiences that fit their interests. Shifting our Web strategies from a focus on sales messages to an information destination is an imperative if we want to build a tribe that follows us.
 
Harder to get the consumer’s attention
We are all chased by too much information. In the rising sea of communication, it’s harder and harder to get the attention of the person you want to reach. This means that our messaging, visuals and methods all have to be sharper, more compelling and more original than your best competitor's.
 
More sophisticated visual appetites
Remember the PowerPoint presentations crammed full of charts, graphs and full-on prose? In today’s market, those will never do. In a culture that expects Target to sell artful kitchen spatulas, we must deliver increasingly higher quality visuals. Mediocre pictures, design and writing will instantly brand your company as second rate—even more than in the past.

The video imperative
If you’re not using video and motion graphics to tell your stories, you’re falling behind your competitors. Video can add authenticity and increase Web traffic. It brings stories to life more than any other medium, and by adding motion, voice and music it increases engagement.

Entertain us, please
Our culture’s insatiable appetite for entertainment is impacting the world of business in big ways, as businesses are finding their messages get better traction when they also entertain. This has proven to be a very effective way to generate consumer interest in a topic they might not otherwise seek out. Regardless of whether we think it’s a good idea to select our information on the basis of whether it can amuse or even shock us, this is a reality we can’t ignore.

Restraint: the other side of freedom
One can't observe these changes without thinking philosophically about their impact on culture. Because we can now speak on any topic to a much broader audience, our messages carry more weight. We must govern ourselves with restraint and responsibility, consciously considering the impact of our words and messages.

Decentralizing company communications
Communications will no longer come only from a business' official communication team. Employees, friends and stakeholders are all voices of the company, and while they can’t be controlled they do have the added value of authenticity. Attempts to script these voices are usually detected and chided. As this shift continues, the role of the organization’s chief communicator will need to adapt to fit this new paradigm.
 
Communication remains the engine of societies. No building is built, no product launched, no democracy preserved without it. It’s up to each of us to write our own script about how we’ll navigate these changes. At CMBell Company, we're embracing these changes, thinking about how they'll impact our clients, and creating communication strategies that will work in a very new paradigm.

Showcase: Making the Case for Bread and Water

This week the entrepreneurial Wilkinson Baking Company launched the in-store testing phase of the world's first fully automated commercial Bread Bakery—a technology that mixes and bakes fresh, healthy bread from start to finish without any human involvement.

We worked with them to develop a series of electronic billboards (see below)—among other promotional elements—that deliver in-store key messages.

This one-of-a-kind technology has been in development for nearly four decades—and introduces a completely new way of thinking about bread. Using only the purest and best natural ingredients, Wilkinson bread is more affordable than other premium brands and has a smaller carbon footprint than national brands. They never sell any loaf older than 24-hours—and natural enzymes keep it fresh for at least seven days.

Taking inspiration from the creator of Tom’s shoes, WBC took the bread concept one step further and has committed a portion of every loaf’s sale to drilling and maintaining wells in Africa. Each loaf provides 77 cups of fresh, pure water to people whose only source of water is often filthy and several hours’ walk by foot.

This is a company to watch, so if you’re in eastern Washington, stop by Super 1 and follow your nose.

The Difference Between Good and Bad Writing is Sales

We decry the plethora of pedestrian copy that populates the world of business communication and sales. Why must it be boring? Tiresome? Mediocre?

An idea, after all, is no good whatsoever if you can’t communicate it to a prospective client, consumer, donor, board member, community leader. Surely an idea worth having is worth investing in the time and talent to convey its value. 

If you want a customers to change their buying or loyalty habits, your writing must do these three things:

• Get their attention. (Yes, amid the noise of ALL the daily voices they hear.)
• Get them to absorb your message. (Draw them in, hold their attention.)
• Deliver something they care about—in a way that motivates engagement. (Not the job of novice writers.)

If your writing doesn’t reinforce the superiority of your product or service, doesn’t give them reasons to change or reinforce the consumer’s behavior or viewpoint, then it hasn’t done its job. Good writing is more than good grammar—it must move people to buy, try or support your product or service.

Need some inspiration? Here’s an example of a piece we wrote for our own Web site. We dare you to stop midway.

Build Better Presentations: Part 2

If you follow our blog you'll know that we are advocates for bringing the same level of design and writing to PowerPoint presentations that one finds in other professionally developed communications. (See our first post on PowerPoint Design.) Here's the second rule we live by:

Rule 2: Limit Bullet Points and Text
Instead of filling your slides with bullet point after bullet point, pare your message down to one main idea per slide and unpack the idea verbally.

Compare these two slides below, the first which uses a traditional PowerPoint layout and the second which uses a much cleaner layout.

Which one do you find more visually pleasing? Which one do you think will be more likely to catch an audience's attention and to communicate the message?

Results: Helpline Raises Money to Keep its Women’s Shelter Open

If you saw our blog post about the motion graphic we designed to help raise funds for a local women’s homeless shelter, then you might be interested to know that we just learned that they have raised all the needed funds to keep this shelter open. A board member told me this week that the coverage in the local paper, direct mail to donors and supporters, and this motion graphic helped generate enough donor interest in the course of month to sustain its operation through 2012.
 
We’re thrilled at the news, and want to thank any of our readers who helped with this project for their generosity. This is the best part of being professional communicators—when words and images converge to help relieve suffering and bring hope to people in need.

15 Year Anniversary: A Time to Be Thankful

Celebrating a milestone like our 15^th year in business immediately brings to mind the clients whom we have been fortunate to serve over the years. Many of them have been with us since our earliest days, and have helped our business grow primarily by word of mouth.

The creative work we produce with them is a direct result of how they manage, inspire and work with our creative team. Today we want to say thank you to those of you who have trusted us with your company’s image—and sent us other clients because of your referrals.