Some want to lump pro bono work in the same category. While I feel it is every person’s personal decision as to whether they are willing to work on a project for free, I personally approve of doing pro bono work from time to time. It does not have to feel like somebody is trying to steal from you. Usually, you can choose a charity that is near and dear to your heart and offer your services. The non profit is able to put money where it is truly needed such as supplies for those in need, and the designer can help them promote their organization by offering their services for free.

What Can Pro Bono Work Do For You?

1. Take the lead on design. Most often, places in need of pro bono work let the designer have most of the input. What they can end up with is a very good portfolio piece and a great working addition on their resume.
2. Let your design freak flag fly. Often designers can get in a rut by doing conservative work for the same client over and over again. This is a chance to stretch your mind and creativity. Not only is the opportunity in pro bono good, but by getting the creative juices flowing again, we’re able to take that back to our full time jobs and utilized some new found ideas and skills.
3. New graduates. While pro bono is great for the seasoned designer, what about fresh out of school designers? It is an excellent way to start building their portfolios with real work as opposed to having only student work to show in your portfolio. When employers see that you have created actual marketable work, you will have a greater opportunity of landing that new job.
4. Learn something new in your field. The pro bono project at hand might be something you have never had the opportunity to create before. Perhaps there is a need for packaging, or an unusual brochure layout. Now this could really be a star piece in your portfolio and new knowledge in your back pocket.
5. Looking for work? OK, it can sound a little self serving, but in lieu of payment, the designer hopefully can take away SOMETHING from the experience. What a great way to have a current item for your resume for prospective employers. And you are networking. It may not feel like a networking event in the normal sense, but you are meeting new people, and people know other people. If they liked working with you and thought you did a great job, it can lead to more work or a full time job. Say that you take on some pro bono work for the Red Cross. Well it is a fairly large organization. Chances are somebody knows someone who is looking for a great dependable designer
6. Gain respect. While the spec work gremlins out there do not seem to have any respect for designers, charities will always be grateful for you and your skills.
7. Feel good for doing it. No strings attached. You will do better if you do not expect anything in return. Sometimes it is just the right thing to do.

Even AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts), the professional association for design, has there own area for non profits to advertise for pro bono work. Working for charity doesn’t always mean dishing in the soup kitchen.

If you cannot offer design services, what about teaching underprivileged kids or adults that need to enter the workforce some software or computer skills? There are many ways we can take our skills to those in need.

By Doing Pro Bono Work, Are We Hurting The Industry
and Setting Expectations?

Not at all. The reason is that the designers offer their services to a non profit of their choosing. Nobody is waving a fake carrot in front of their face making false promises.

I know it is hard to find time for an additional project in your busy schedule, but it can be rewarding.

We live in a world in which news can spread like wildfire. Stories break within minutes. If there’s good news, people will talk about it as soon as it happens. If there’s bad news, people will scream about it as soon as it happens. As a business owner trying to run a startup, the speed of technology is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, you have an opportunity for your product to “go viral” and spread exponentially through the web. On the other hand, any minor mishap with your product, promotion, or people can quickly turn into a public relations nightmare.

The good news is that the same tools and resources that are publicly available to tarnish your reputation are available to you to defend it. There are things that you can do to keep your brand from being trashed and, at the same time, improve the chances of your brand’s message being spread. Here are some tips on how you might go about monitoring your brand and managing your reputation in the digital era…

1. Stay tuned The first step in protecting and upholding your brand’s image in the digital era is to use the tools available to you to monitor what people are saying. Google yourself. What do you see being said about you on the web? Track what is being mentioned about you on the web using Google Alerts. Set it up so that, any time your brand is mentioned, you receive a notification via email. You can also monitor Twitter in a similar way using a service like TweetBeep, which sends you notifications via email whenever you are mentioned on Twitter. If you aren’t informed about what people are saying about you, you could show up on CNN before you even know anything is wrong.
2. Join the conversation The first step in managing your reputation is knowing what’s being said about you. The next step is doing something about it. Did someone write a nasty blog post about you? Respond to it with a comment and courteously offer your position. Apologize if you’ve done something wrong. Apologize if you haven’t. Did someone mention your brand on Twitter? Reply to the tweet. If it was negative, apologize to them. If it was positive, thank them. I would recommend using your Twitter account, or creating a separate Twitter account, to provide customer service. That way, you will be able to respond quickly to issues as they surface and before they turn into catastrophes. Whatever you do, let people know you are listening. Get involved in the conversation.
3. Craft a social media policy for employees Maybe you don’t want to blog. Maybe you don’t want to tweet. Maybe you don’t want to bother with a Facebook page. That’s fine. But even if you don’t want to bother getting on social media as a company, you are still going to have employees using social media. Many people, especially those using Twitter to build professional connections, state who they work for in their Twitter bios. The very first item listed on person’s Facebook profile is where they work. Even if you don’t know about it, you are being represented to the public by your employees. I would not suggest banning your employees from social media…unless you want them to hate you or leave your company. But, I would suggest setting guidelines for how they represent your company on the social web.
4. Build relationships with influencers More important than gaining a large number of followers on Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms is gaining the right kind of followers. You want to be connected with people on the social web who have the power and platform to spread your message. Build relationships with powerful bloggers and people who have a substantial amount of engaged followers on Twitter. Give them free samples. Read their content and respond to it. Quote them on your company blog. It’s great to have customers follow you on social media platforms, but an endorsement means a lot more coming from a third party than it does coming from you. Connect with as many influential third parties as you possibly can in order to amplify a positive message about your brand.
5. Be as transparent as possible Many of the largest PR fiascos in social media happen not because of what companies do but rather because of what they fail to do. You have something that you are trying to cover up or simply have not got around to announcing…and someone else breaks the news before you. Then, it looks like you were trying to keep secrets and pull the wool over the public’s eyes. Not good. The safer route in today’s day and age is to make transparency the default route. Obviously, there are trade secrets you can’t reveal and certain things that aren’t really important for the public to know. But if there is something that, if someone should leak it, would damage your reputation, the best thing to do is to simply come out with it. That way, you can break it gently to the public and have a measure of control over the subsequent conversation.

There is no going back to the way it was. The media no longer controls the conversation. You no longer control the conversation. The public controls the conversation. That means irate customers that are capable of running you into the ground. It also means enthusiastic customers that are capable of assembling an army of supporters. But this environment is a reality, whether or not you turn a blind eye to it.

So, you have two choices. You can close your eyes to the conversations taking place on the web. You can play the ignorance card and let the chips fall where they may. Or, you can get involved. Listen and respond. That’s all it takes. You’ve worked too hard to build your company and develop your brand to allow a small incident blown out proportion to ruin it. Address the incidents while they’re still small. Join the conversation.

What is Criticism?

CRITICISM can be an observation or remark, analysis or disapproval — but it can also mean judgement. Not all criticism is bad. Even when the client does not like a piece of work, if they provide something more than “I do not like it” and give solid and well thought out reasons as to why they do not like it, then that is still good criticism. How we process and use that criticism can make or break a piece of work, save or destroy working relationships.

In the design world, there is almost nothing worse than a vague client. Not getting paid for work is probably worse, but this is right up there. It is our job to help direct the client and ask questions about their needs and wants. My skin crawls when a client says they do not like something, then hem and haw and throw out arguments like I do not want to art direct, yet will not give any clues as to what they really want or why they do not like it. “You’re the designer” they say. I do not know about others out there, but I cannot read minds. I can ask questions and process them into artwork using my interpretation of the client’s requests. If it fails to please, I want to know if it is the wrong color, wrong shape, a bad font choice — anything to help me take it to the next level. Non useful replies or requests become a waste of everyone’s time.

CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM is when the client says, I do not like this and here is why. Yeah it stings, especially if you really like the design. But if you learn to not take criticism personally, then you can easily dissect the design with the client to create what will work. This is not saying roll over and do everything the client says and wants. Sometimes they have personal feelings about something, but it may not be the best solution for their brand or business. Designers are there to help the client understand what works and what does not work. Just as the client should be ready with arguments as to why they might not like the work, designers should also be armed with answers as to why they did something or why they believe it is what will work best for the client. Wanting the color blue removed because they personally like orange better is not a good reason to use orange when their business is swimming pools.

Do Not Take it Personally

Every artist has a personal attachment to their work. What many fail to realize is that fine art and commercial art are two completely different entities. Designers fall into the commercial area. We are working for a client. And if you are a full-time employee, the company you work for is your client. Sure, somebody can commission a piece of art, but they generally do that when they love that artist’s work and style. A client can also love a designer’s style and work, but what is being created is not a personal piece, but rather something that the client will use for their business — promotional and/or informational. They are not going to hang it in a gallery on a wall, or put over their mantle at home. The designer needs to let go of any personal attachment and understand that what they are creating is for the client.

When Criticism Becomes a Hindrance to One’s Livelihood

Lastly, if the client repeatedly criticizes yet offers no solutions to help the work move forward, the designer needs to consider letting that client go. Hopefully, a savvy designer will have added a clause to their work agreement that will allow them to get paid for time spent even if the work isn’t going to be completed. This clause is also good if the client decides to not finish a project for any given reason(s). I’ve been savvy and non savvy. Non savvy hurts our bottom line, which should be: time spent = payment.

Our goal should be great designer/client working relationships, not energy sucking ones.

The answer to this question is a lot simpler than you might imagine: it’s because they don’t need it.

“But, wait!” You say, “I asked them about my product and they said they would love it.” I don’t want to discount the importance of getting feedback from your customers. You should listen to your customers. At the same time, when it’s an issue of whether or not to launch a product, what your customers say they will do and what they will actually do after the launch are often two totally different things.

In a 1998 BusinessWeek interview with Steve Jobs, the business legend was asked whether or not he used focus groups when developing the iMac, and this is how he responded:

“No. We have a lot of customers, and we have a lot of research into our installed base. We also watch industry trends pretty carefully. But in the end, for something this complicated, it’s really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them. That’s why a lot of people at Apple get paid a lot of money, because they’re supposed to be on top of these things.”

People don’t know what they want until you show it to them. Those now famous words highlight a fundamental error entrepreneurs continue to make when doing market research. All too often, startups focus on selling the features of the product rather than the benefits. Of course people in focus groups are going to like the features. If your product is cool enough, most consumers will say they will buy it…until the time comes to put their money where their mouths are. “Sure, it’s cool,” they’ll say after you’ve launched and shipped, “but I can’t imagine paying for it.”

Before you sell the solution, you have to sell the problem.

The reason why no one is buying your stuff is because you’ve talked until you’re blue in the face about how great your products are for solving a problem that your customers either don’t know or don’t believe they have. If you’re going to do focus groups, don’t ask customers questions about how they will feel about your product. Instead, ask questions designed to get at their frustrations with products they’re currently using. If you’re selling something that your customers don’t believe they need, no matter how cool it is, nobody is going to buy it.

So, it’s back to the drawing board. This product launch has flopped. How can you launch your next product, or tweak your current product for a new launch, so that people will actually be willing to buy it this time? Here are a few things to consider…

People don’t know what they want until you show it to them. Your first intuition may be to find out what people like about the competitor they are currently using and then imitate it. Actually, that is a terrible idea. Companies are only rewarded for being second if they are doing something substantially better (which is another way of saying different) or providing it substantially cheaper. If you are doing the same thing your competitors are doing, even if you are doing it a little better, people aren’t going to care. They’re comfortable where they are. The default is always the status quo. If people like certain things about the products they are using, don’t try to compete with those features.

What do customers dislike about the product they are currently using? This is where your real opportunity lies. There are all kinds of ways that your customers are dissatisfied with what they’re currently using, but they don’t have any better alternatives. Tap into these deficiencies and build your product around them. And, when the time comes to launch your product, don’t promote it as a competitor to what your customers are currently using. Market to the gaps. Promote your product as a solution to the problems customers are having with the current products they are using. Otherwise, you’re just trying to build a better mousetrap when customers aren’t really concerned about mice anymore.

What has made your customers switch from product to product in the past? Sometimes, you will be able to beat competitors at their own game. Sometimes, you will be able to outdo competitors in features they already offer. Economists talk about switch costs faced by consumers—the costs of convenience, reliability, social status, and more that consumers face when switching from one product to another. Obviously, there is a threshold at which customers will switch to your product if it’s better enough than what they’re currently using. Find out where that threshold is by exploring their past purchasing decisions. How great will your offer have to be in order to convince customers to ditch your competitor in favor of your product?

The difficulty in understanding what customers really want is exacerbated by their ever-changing tastes and preferences due to the constant flow of information. But, until you understand the problems your customers are facing with the products they are currently using, you are going nowhere. It doesn’t matter how cool your stuff is. It doesn’t matter how much people are blogging about it or sharing it on Facebook. If it doesn’t solve a real-world problem for them in a way that an existing solution doesn’t, they aren’t going to spend a cent on what you’re bringing to the table. So, before you worry about your solution, try understanding your customers’ problems.

It is typical for many of the entrepreneurs that I know to work 70-80 hours per week. And if there is anything that is the bane of their existence, it is meetings. Sometimes, you’ve got to get together. Sometimes, a problem needs addressed or a plan needs formulated. But, more often than not, meetings take up a dangerous amount of time while accomplishing very little. In order to keep meetings from becoming unproductive, I propose a few guidelines…

1. Never meet without a reason – Many organizations of daily, weekly, and monthly meetings. As an entrepreneur, I do not recommend doing this. Don’t meet just because “it’s your regular meeting time” or because you haven’t met in a while. When you pull your team away from their work, always be sure that it is for a concrete reason. There are enough hoops you and your team have to jump through without adding meetings to the list. Whenever you meet, make sure that it is for a purpose. Meet when you an issue to solve. Never have a meeting simply in order to come up with issues to solve.
2. Avoid unnecessary travel – Does your team all work in the same building? Then meet in the building they are working. Don’t meet offsite. Don’t pull them away from their work to meet in a coffee house or a separate conference room. The best place to meet is where the work is being done. If your team does not work in a centralized location, consider a video conference instead of a physical meeting. There is some great software available on the market for video conferencing, and it might be worth your while to invest. If not, you can always do a Google Hangout with up to ten people and it works just as well. You can even record the meeting for later viewing.
3. Make sure your team is prepared –  Don’t just tell your team that you’re going to have a meeting. Tell them what you’re going to discuss and what they will need to bring with them. If your team knows why they are meeting, they will likely be more engaged. Also, if you team knows what they need to bring before the meeting starts, you forego that awkward inability to move the meeting forward due to not having what you need to get to the next step. Before they even get there, make sure everyone knows what role they will play in making the meeting a success.
4. Start early in the day –  The absolute worst time to have a meeting is at the end of the work day. By that time, your team is tired and unfocused. The second worst time to have meeting is in the middle of the work day. There are too many things going on and your team is not going to be focused on the content of the meeting. The best time to have a meeting is when the day begins. At that time, your team is most receptive and is not yet worrying about what the day has brought them. Always meet early.
5. Follow an agenda – Never wing it. Always have a plan. Keep to a certain length of time appropriate to the purpose of your meeting. If members of your team start to go on a tangent, shelve the item for future discussion and move on to your next point. Most meetings end up being unproductive because the person leading the meeting has a lack of control. Don’t let that be you. Master your meeting. Follow your agenda. Cover every item for which you had called the meeting. That’s how things get done.
6. Resist the temptation for small talk – There is quite a bit of a difference between a meeting and a “get together.” I am all for bonding socially with your team. For most company cultures, it’s good for employees to get together over drinks to celebrate successes and get to know one another more personally. The meeting, however, is not the time for this kind of socializing. You actually may feel compelled to talk about the game or what you saw on TV last night, in order to loosen the mood. Don’t do it. If you’ve chosen your team right, they aren’t there for small talk. They’re there for business. Use the meeting to talk business.
7. Leave the meeting with action items –  Never leave a meeting thinking to yourself simply, “Wow, that was a great conversation.” You don’t call a meeting to speculate or toss things around. You call a meeting to concoct a plan of action. Both you and the members of your team should always leave a meeting with the understanding that they have something to do. Make sure each member of your team knows which action they are responsible for. Send a follow-up email detailing the action plan and how each member of your team fits into it. If no action follows your meeting, then you have met in vain.

If there is one thing I would like you to take away from this article, it isn’t that meetings are a waste of time; rather, it’s that bad meetings are a waste of time. Meetings, done right, are an important part of a thriving enterprise. In his provocative business parable Death by Meeting, Patrick Lencioni says,

“There is simply no substitute for a good meeting–a dynamic, passionate, and focused engagement–when it comes to extracting the collective wisdom of a team”.

Many organizations have still not embraced social media as a valid form of communication in a professional setting. Many business professionals still think Facebook should be reserved for sharing pictures of one’s grandchildren and that Twitter is merely an outlet for celebrities and college students. Despite its ubiquitous presence in our everyday lives, there is still a large portion of the business community that is skeptical about its practicality in the workplace.

Those who have embraced social media have largely done so for the wrong reason. Major corporations and small businesses alike have come to see social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter as alternative channels to push advertising messages. Most of the businesses who are using social media think of it as an extension of marketing. Go to any company with a social media manager. Which department will you find that employee working in? Almost undoubtedly, the marketing department.

As a startup, you are looking for cost-effective an innovative ways to spread the ideas about your brand and build a community around what you’re doing. It may be tempting for you to hop into social media and allow it to take precedence in your marketing strategy. I’m not going to tell you that you’re wrong for doing so, but I am going to tell you that you’re missing the big picture.

Social media is not just about marketing. Social media is a form of communication. It is simply a method of communicating a message from sender to receiver. It’s like the telephone, email, or even a letter. All of these things can surely be used for marketing, but they are not in and of themselves a derivative of marketing. Before you make the mistake of thinking that social media is only good for marketing, allow me to outline how it could help you in all aspects of your business…

Customer Service –  In most businesses, the telephone is preferred tool for customer service. However, Twitter can be a very useful tool for quickly resolving customer issues. In fact, companies like Southwest Airlines and Vista Print use the service for customer service more than they do for marketing. Customers are often surprised when brands respond to them on Twitter. It may be worth your while to have someone manage Twitter like they would the telephone. People who are comfortable with the platform would typically prefer to send a tweet rather than make a call. You can stop the problem before it gets out of hand.

Public Relations –  As mentioned above, you can use social media to find out what people are saying to you online, but you can also use it to find out what people are saying about you online. Monitoring social networks and blogs can help you understand the perceptions that are being built around your brand. You can input keywords surrounding your company or industry into Twitter searches, use them to sign up for Google Alerts, or build a profile within a social media monitoring tool like Social Mention. After you know what people are saying about your company, you can then develop a PR strategy to address it.

Professional Networking –  Many other startup professionals are active on social media and in the blogosphere. You can find other smart people from whom you can learn how to achieve greater success in your endeavor. Follow other bloggers in your Google Reader or join Triberr to become part of the blogging community. Follow other entrepreneurs on Twitter. Hangout with other business people in your industry on Google Plus. You never know when you might meet someone who could become a strategic partner, a member of your team, or a just a promoter of your startup. Business is about people. There are great people to be found online. Find them and connect with them.

Sales –  Is your startup a B2B organization? Are your customers business people? Are you employing a sales team to get the word out about your company? If so, then you might want to consider getting your salespeople to use social media. LinkedIn provides an unprecedented means of prospecting. You can search for potential customers geographically, by industry, by company, and more. You can join groups related to your industry to get into discussions with potential customers. Your salespeople can even network with other salespeople to learn best practices and how to generate better results. Social media can’t be the only thing your salespeople are doing, but they had better not leave it out of their arsenals.

Marketing –  And, last but not least, social media can be a great tool for marketing. Content in the form of photos, videos, blog posts, podcasts, eBooks, and more can provide informative and engaging material that captures the interest of potential customers. A Facebook page can be used to develop a community around your brand and showcase new product launches or exciting changes in your offerings. There is also a greater potential, with social media, for greater word-of-mouth marketing. If content of yours goes viral in any way, you are getting your message out more efficiently at very little cost. Marketing isn’t the only use of social media, but don’t leave it out!

We can no longer say that social media is new. But we can begin to look at social media in a new way. We can dispense with this notion that it’s only good for marketing and begin to see it as the multi-dimensional communication tool that it really is. Yes, it can connect brands with consumers. But it can also connect salespeople with prospects, hiring managers with job candidates, PR people with journalists, and customer service reps with customers.

As a startup, you need to find a way to cover all of these functions at a minimal cost. Using social media as a key tool for your integrated business communications is your best bet. Go beyond marketing. Tap into the social web for every aspect of your business that you can think of.

Advertising is costly. Most startups are on a tight budget. Running commercials on local television channels, buying ads on billboards, or purchasing space in trade magazines often isn’t feasible. Startups are looking for ways to create buzz and spark a grassroots, word-of-mouth movement without generating too many expenses. If this sounds like you, you may want to look into marketing with content.

What is Content Marketing?

Let’s start with what content marketing isn’t. Content marketing isn’t an attempt to sell content. It’s an attempt to generate sales leads through the use of content. The content, most of the time, is given away freely to potential customers. Content marketing also isn’t promotional in nature. It is informational (or sometimes entertaining) in nature. It doesn’t attempt to sell anything directly. Rather, it attempts to demonstrate the value and expertise of the company providing it.

According to the Content Marketing Institute, “Content marketing is a marketing technique of creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action.” Content marketing can be thought of as “informational advertising.” It is using education, rather than persuasion, to generate sales.

Content marketing has actually been around for a long time. In 1895, John Deere began publishing a magazine showing farmers how to become more profitable. In 1900, Michelin started generating guides revealing basic auto maintenance and even some tourist information. In 1904, Jell-O created and distributed a free recipe book. So why has “content marketing” suddenly become a trending topic in just the last few years? Because it has gotten infinitely cheaper.

In the age of the Internet, content costs nearly nothing to distribute. There are still costs involved in generating content, but electronic distribution has made it a lot more accessible for marketers. As a startup, you may not have the resources to distribute a print magazine, but you can certainly distribute electronic content. Let’s look into how you might go about doing it…

7 Types of Content Used in Content Marketing

There are many ways in which people consume content and, consequently, there are a variety of platforms on the web for which content can be created. Moreover, some content can be combined with other content. The kinds of content you create will depend largely on the kind of business you are in. Let’s look at some key forms of content on the web today:

1. Blog –  Your blog should be your main platform. The best way to use your blog is as a means of answering your customers’ or prospects’ questions. The blog isn’t about your company; it’s about the issues your customers are facing and should contain information on how they might resolve them.
2. Images –  There are many ways to create interesting or informative images. You can create an inforgraphic, a visual “how to” photo showing some sort of process. You can also add your own text to viral memes circulating the web and tailor it to your customers’ interests. Furthermore, you might even create a cartoon, telling customers a story about how their problems might be solved.
3. Video –  Show your customers how to solve their problems. Who can forget Blendtec’s viral YouTube videos? Video is a great way to show your customers visually how your products can be used or how issues in your industry can be resolved.
4. Podcasts –  Broaden your perspective and start a radio show. The length can be anything from ten minutes to an hour, and you can cover issues faced by your industry that might be of interest to your customers. You can even bring on industry experts or professionals from peripheral industries and get their commentary.
5. Webinars –  Webinars are online seminars. They combine images, video, and podcasting components and place them within a more interactive framework. Offering free webinars in which you give away valuable information can be a great way to build trust and credibility with your potential customers.
6. White Papers and eBooks –  Think of white papers and eBooks as long form blog posts, covering specific issues faced by your customers. Typically, these will be 3,000 to 6,000 words in length and will be used as lead generation tools in exchange for email addresses of potential customers.
7. E-Mail Newsletter –  Having a weekly newsletter that goes out to email subscribers is a great way to remind your prospects that you’re there. You can create some unique tips, go over industry news, or simply give a recap of content you’ve produced elsewhere. The important thing is that the newsletter is showing up directly in their inbox.

As the Internet and user engagement evolve, more types of content will inevitably develop. So, be sure to stay on the cutting edge. Give your customers the content they want to consume.

5 Best Practices Tips for Startups using Content Marketing

As you experiment with creating content for some of the platforms mentioned above, you may run into some problems. Here are some tips to keep your content engine running smoothly:

1. Follow a content strategy. Don’t just randomly create content. Schedule everything. If you’re going to do a podcast, stick to a weekly or monthly regiment. Decide which days of the week you will blog and stick to your decision. Don’t leave consumers of your content wondering when or if they will be getting more.
2. Use multiple content creators. Spread the content creation out across your team. That way, you will get different perspectives. Also, you may even want to consider outsourcing some of the content—especially if no one on your team has the skills to create it.
3. Repurpose content. Never completely copy a block of text from one piece of content and place it into another. But you can use the same information across different platforms. For example, write a blog post. Then, host a webinar on the same topic.
4. Share content on social media platforms. Always share your content on your Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn streams. Encourage people to share. Ask them what they think and respond to their feedback. The social web is where word of mouth happens. The content just gives people something to talk about.
5. Track your success. Establish key performance indicators for the content you are creating and continually monitor whether or not the content is meeting its objectives. If no one is listening to podcast, perhaps you should try something else.

The world of content marketing on the web is new and continues to evolve every day. If you are to be successful in generating buzz for your startup, you’ll want to take advantage of the content distribution tools the web has to offer. Your customers are consumer more and more content via the web. The question is, “Will any of it be yours?”

This quote by Coach Taras Brown has been used to describe basketball player Kevin Durant. I feel that it applies to just about every type of work in existence. Every person has a talent for something, but if it is not combined with hard work there will be limited success.

Do you need talent as a designer, or can you still achieve good design with hard work alone?

My first stint in art school was a real eye opener due to the huge variety of students enrolled. In many ways it was disappointing. When you want to design for a living and grow as an artist, you also want to be surrounded by like minds and talent. It was very obvious that many students loved the idea of being a designer or artist, yet had no talent for it. But somehow they felt that they could learn how to become one. Herein lies the question, can hard work alone create a good designer?

With few exceptions, my answer is no. I have participated in discussions about this and many people have argued yes, you can become a good designer with just hard work. But from my experience, those with no talent drop out of school quickly within the first year, or they are not able to get work. Anyone can learn the mechanics of a particular job or skill, and by mechanics I mean, software, basic rules of design, color theory, history. But those that excel also have the talent.

I do not say any of this to be cruel, it is a basic necessity for the field of graphic design. Creating artwork needs a designer’s eye. That is a “duh” statement, but it is direct and true. I can learn basic math, but truthfully I really suck at it. I have no talent for numbers. Being good with numbers is a talent, and I know my limitations and abilities with numbers. I would never consider a career as a Math teacher, Astronomer, CPA or Engineer. I would fail miserably. I wish more people would realize their limitations with art and design. Those that drop out early are making a very difficult but good decision to switch gears and discover what they are truly talented at. I can never fault someone for trying, but they would most likely never be successful in the design field. And successful to me means making a living in design. It does not always mean fame and fortune.

I did say there are exceptions. These exceptions are when somebody works hard and becomes a good designer, never knowing that they truly had a talent for it. I have known people to change their career paths later in life when they discovered a talent for something other than what they received their degree in. And as with any talent, some will possess more than others.

Curse the Computer

Computers have been a blessing and a curse for us. They have created bad designers which have hurt and cheapened our industry. You could argue that it is not the computer’s fault, but here is why I believe it is. Now that they are affordable to the masses, too many individuals are now armed with a computer, a few fonts and a some software. They now feel that the software will do the design work for them—just as the calculator might process some numbers that I could not calculate by myself with pen and paper. These “Pseudo Designers” are out there marketing themselves and competing for jobs. They do not even possess any of the mechanics I mentioned above because they have not attended even one year of schooling that might have taught them SOMETHING about design. All that comes from this scenario is really bad design, and no clue how to truly help the client.

Computers have also created lazy people— designers that have talent but do not utilize it. This might be a designer that steals work from others (very easy to do on the computer), or one that relies only on the basic tools of the computer. When people do not push themselves outside of a comfort zone, they become complacent and boring. This is why hard work and talent need to come together. We need both to create successful work in any field. Even the most talented in their field, if they do not broaden their abilities, will not find success. This is the moment when hard work can best talent.

Therefore, I do not feel that hard work alone makes a successful designer, nor will talent alone. We still need to work hard while using our talents.

So, if your website is so important for getting people to know about your business, the question inevitably becomes, “How do you get people to know about your website?” As I’m sure you aware, that’s exactly what SEO (search engine optimization) does. SEO is all about structuring your website in such a way that people will find it when they search for things on the web.

Before you launch your business and build your website, there are a few things you might want to know about SEO that can help people find your website more easily and be more satisfied when they get there.

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There is undoubtedly much more to learn about search engine optimization and the field is ever-changing. But these principles should give you a primer for getting started. Your website is the digital front door of your business. Before launching, make sure you know how to drive traffic to it. If you do it right, you may have customers lining up before you are even ready to sell anything.

In a startup, the same principle applies. Your success or failure is an immediate and direct result of how well you use your time. There are an infinite amount of distractions that can take you away from building your business and serving your customers. It takes a substantial amount of concentration to get your projects off of the ground. Here are a few ideas that can help you narrow your focus and get the work done that changes the world.

Take Advantage of Your Commute. How are you using your commuting time? If you are driving, you might want to listen to some informative audio books or podcasts. Or, maybe you’ll want to collect your thoughts and reflect on your business philosophy and long-term strategy. If you’re taking the train, pretend like you’re already at work. Answer some emails. Read some reports. Use your commute!

Schedule Your Social Media Time. Don’t get caught mindlessly browsing your Twitter feed under the guise that you’re “building relationships.” Block out a chunk of your day to check your social media streams and don’t touch them outside of that time frame. Yes, those pictures of cats on Facebook are adorable. But, no, viewing them is not an efficient use of your time.

Tap Into the Cloud. Use a web-based storage system like Dropbox to store all of your files and documents. Don’t waste time transferring things from USBs or external hard drives. Save everything for immediate retrieval wherever you are. You’ll be surprised how much time this saves you in the transitions from project to project.

Be Careful with Meetings. Meetings can be good…or they can be atrocious. It might be a good idea to have a one hour meeting once a week with your team. When you do, though, always have an agenda. Don’t let meetings become ranting sessions. Have a plan for your meetings and execute it flawlessly.

Use To-Do Lists. Whenever you think of something that needs done, write it down! Keep a running list of the projects you need to do and plan them out as you get the time. When you complete a project, physically cross the item off of your list. Doing so will give you the impression that you’re getting things done and will provide the psychological motivation for you to work harder on the next project.

Eat Healthy and Stay Hydrated. You don’t have to be a dietician to realize that the old adage “you are what you eat” has some truth to it. When you eat heavy, greasy, high fat foods, you will move more slowly and feel more tired. Eat lighter foods. Eat fruits and salads. And drink water all day long. If you can manage, drink a gallon of water each day. As long as you are staying hydrated, you won’t run out of energy and you will move much more quickly.

Keep Your Workspace Organized. Here’s a simple rule that nearly all of us find incredibly difficult to follow: if you move something, put it back where you found it. Many entrepreneurs will indignantly say to this point, “I don’t have time to be organized!” On the contrary, you don’t have time to be disorganized! You need to be able to find the things you’re looking for at the very moment you need them. Keep your desk clear. Keep your documents in file folders. Keep your digital files in folders with appropriate labels. Put things where you can easily find them.

Check Email Only Three Times Per Day. Some would say to only check your email once per day. I think that tends to be a bit unrealistic. Most likely, you’ll need to be a bit more responsive than that. Here’s what I suggest. Block out one hour per day for checking and responding to email. Check it once in the morning when you start, once at lunchtime, and once at the end of the day before you leave. Always delete any email messages that you don’t intend to read immediately, so that you can narrow your focus on what needs addressed. If an email needs more time than your allotted twenty minutes for a response, put it on your to-do list and move on. Take “notifications” off of your mobile phone, and only check your email during your allotted timeframes.

Delegate. Delegate. Delegate. You have the other members of your team for a reason. Unless you are a solopreneur (and even then you should probably have partners), you have people who can help you shoulder the work. Here’s a thought: perhaps some of the people on your team are better at doing some of the work than you are. Perhaps there are people on your team who can do the work faster and with better results. Delegating is the only way that you can actually create more time for yourself. Yes, we all only have twenty-four hours in a day. But, if you can get someone on your team to give up an hour of his or her time, you can gain an hour to do the work you need to do. That’s what delegating is all about–allocating time to its most productive use. Are you trying to tackle everything yourself…or are you delegating?

In an ever-changing world, the one constant is time. You and your competitors are always going to have the same amount of time. If you are to ever have an edge to buffer you against the competition, it’s going to be your ability to use your time wisely. Shaving a second here and there can earn you millions. Do yourself a favor and watch the clock like there’s no tomorrow.