Design2Market - Thoughts on Creativity and Sustainability in the B2B Marketplace

Your opportunity to help shape the future

2010-05-05T15:22:00.000-07:00

The San Jose Santa Clara Water Pollution Control Plant is staging community workshops for the public to voice their opinions in regard to the Plant Master Plan, the the future development of the 2,600 acres surrounding the plant. The largest, undeveloped region in the South Bay, the plan is not only looking at the upgrade and renovation of the treatment plant, but the development and integration of the natural habitat along with commercial, educational, recreational and industrial uses.

This development will have a critical and major impact on our community into the future.

Voice your opinion and come to a workshop.

Saturday, May 1 – 9:30-11:30 a.m.
Milpitas City Hall – 455 East Calaveras Blvd., Milpitas

Tuesday, May 4 – 6:00-8:00 p.m.
Santa Clara Library – 2635 Homestead Rd., Santa Clara

Saturday, May 8 – 2:30-4:30 p.m.
Roosevelt Community Center – 901 East Santa Clara St., San Jose

Wednesday, May 12 – 6:00-8:00 p.m.
Alviso Library – 5050 North 1st St., San Jose

Wednesday, May 19 – 6:00-8:00 p.m.
Cupertino Community Hall – 10350 Torre Ave., Cupertino

http://www.rebuildtheplant.org

Success on the tradeshow floor-more than just sell sell sell

2010-02-15T16:38:00.000-08:00

The challenges of business today is that it has become more and more impersonal. With the Internet as a prime channel of business to business marketing, we tend to lose that personal relationships we had with our customers, our vendors, and even our fellow co-workers. It is so easy to snap off an email and dispense with all the formalities that go along with meeting someone in person, or for that matter, talking on the phone. We think we know all about a company by checking their website and doing a Google search. But what we sometimes forget is that business is about relationships. People make the products. They provide the service. And we buy from people. Yes, the Internet makes doing business a lot easier in some ways. But the bottom line is, in the long run it's about relationships.

Meeting people, face-to-face. Find out what their challenges are. Issues. Concerns. Getting to know them. Understand them. And get them to know and understand you.

With that in mind, NEC Informatec Systems and the EMIStream Team fully know and understand that building relationships is key to building business. Their participation in key technology tradeshows such as the recent DesignCon (http://www.designcon.com/2010/) is about getting to know the prospective customers and sharing a little about themselves. It's about team spirit. It's about reaching out. And it's about enjoying the time spent together. That's why the team created the SS NEC cruise theme and beckoned guest to "join them as they set sail for effortless PCB design". The infectious enthusiasm spread throughout the show and guests "jumped on board" and joined in the fun.

The bottomline, NEC continued to gather more leads than previous years, and recruited more attendees at their private seminar showcasing their products. The enthusiasm is growing and the team spirit is getting stronger. Build relationships. Win customers. Win business. And enjoy the cruise.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=156528&id=288282311931

Marketing in the new mobile world Part 1

2009-10-06T22:17:00.001-07:00

With the business world moving to a global 24/7 environment, we are no longer tied to our desktop computers to conduct business and communicate with our colleagues. Cell phones, PDAs, and other mobile devices are fast becoming the digital companion for the business person. At the same time, leaps in technology have empowered us far beyond the traditional email, scheduling and text messaging apps that have been the staple of our mobile existence. New apps are coming online daily that will continue to change how we work, play and interact with others.

A major challenge is the ability to find information quickly on your mobile device. The iPhone app world, with over 85,000 apps and counting is quickly becoming a cacophony of colors, images, words and graphics. Good design is a must to communicate functionality and for the ability stand out from the crowd. And a well designed app logo will not only stand out from the crowd with good visual design, but communicate its functionality as well.

Mobile enabled websites

2009-10-06T22:14:00.000-07:00

It’s great that mobile devices can now display your company’s website on its browser. But wait. Can you read it? How combersome to have to zoom in and scroll around, then zoom out to find the information you need. Viewing websites on a mobile device can be extremely frustrating. That’s why mobile device friendly websites is perfect for the business person on the go. No more zooming in and out and scrolling around. The type is formated specifically for mobile devices in a simple easy-to-read layout. The best sites don’t just take the content of a website and reflow it, but edit the content specifically for reading on a very small screen. Only the essentials.

As this is a new but growing field, it will be interesting to see how websites will evolve to accomodate good copy and graphics that will be of value to the mobile warrior.

Is Social Media the New Marketing Tool for Small Business?

2009-06-11T18:16:00.001-07:00

As "everybody" is jumping on the bandwagon, Social Media and web 2.0 is all the rage in Silicon Valley. With Social Media gurus touting thousands of followers on Twitter, and thousands of friends on Facebook, one wonders if anybody out there is really doing any work, or are we busy thinking of things to tweat about (which no one really cares about). If Twitter gives us the up to date happenings of our "closest" friends or interested parties, how can one read the thousands of tweats a day let alone "learn from it" or enrichen our lives? Is it all about adding to the clutter? Throwing "mud" on the wall and see what sticks? Have we lost sight of what Social Media is really all about?

Building relationships, strengthening our community, sharing experiences. Fundamentally, these advance technological tools can enhance our lives. But along the way, we went overboard, got greedy, and over consumed like we always do.

Sometimes it's important to just stop. Set things aside. And re-evaluate. "Is it really making my life better? Is it adding value to my friendships? My relationships?"

How does it help my small business? Is it draining resources? Or is it adding value to business relationships? Am I learning from others? Is there a healthy exchange.

In the process of redesigning our own website, these are questions that we are going to have to ask ourselves. And design a process that will really add value... not just clutter.

Increase qualified leads at tradeshows

2009-04-01T16:21:00.000-07:00

We all know that the goal of a trade show participation is generating new leads. Yet we almost treat the lead generating activity as a last minute low priority item. Much of our time is working on our "sales pitch", the new features of the product, how much it costs, etc. When it comes down to getting the lead (much less qualifying the lead), we ask for a card, or "can I scan your badge". If we took time to fill out the standard form on the lead scanner, it usually is a last minute guess at what information we are looking for.

What we don't do is plan ahead. When was the last time you had a "lead generation" work session? Asking the questions that a prospective customer may have? Role playing? Getting to know and understand the prospective customer, what the issues and hot buttons are?

• A good brainstorm session will bring up situations or questions that may have arisen at a previous show. It can give light to how to handle a situation. What to look for at the next show.

Many times, the visitor may not be the purchaser of a product. Or even the influencer.
• Asking leading questions to find out who the decision maker is and how to get to them is more valuable that doing your sales pitch on every visitor that comes by.

• Asking questions about their work environment, their team, and what their challenges are will help you determine if your product is the right solution for them. How can your product make their work easier, faster, more cost effective, etc.

It's not just about trying to "SELL" your product to every visitor that comes by, but really, trying to find the right customer that needs your product. Once you do that, your selling process will become much easier. For more tips on increasing your performance at a tradeshow, goto: http://www.design2marketinc.com/solutions/solutions_goexpo.html

SXSW 2009 Panel on Spec Work Comments

2009-03-19T14:51:00.000-07:00

There was an interesting panel on Spec Work in regards to designers and the creative industry at the SXSW conference last week.
It is a very hot topic.

Spec work is neither good or evil. It's the motive behind it. Too often it's the buyer trying to get the cheapest price and is not considering the value added of a relationship. A good designer needs to understand the client in order to do their best work. I don't think the current model of spec work is a sustainable model as it does nothing to build relationships. It's oxymoronic to talk about "creative community" when these models destroy relationships and therefore community.

Small Businesses need to get on the bandwagon

2009-03-17T17:50:00.000-07:00

The Obama administration has approved a $15B loan program targeting small businesses. Yes!!! But that alone is not going to "bail us out". It's a start.

The cards are stacked against us. We don't have the depth of funding, or the legal/financial/technical resources that guide and advise big business. And with the increase of the sales tax, many of us are having to "re-engineer" their invoicing system without the help of an IT staff or programmer. We do it ourselves.

In order to sustain our business, it is imperative that we continue to build relationships with other small businesses. We're in the same boat. We face the same challenges and uncertainties. And we all have limited resources.

In marketing, we know we have to appeal to both the intellect and the emotion. And it challenging economic times, it is hard to not make rash decisions that are based on our emotions of fear and uncertainty. We not only need financial support, but we also need emotional support. Networks, coaching, seminars, and peer-to-peer discussion groups are vital in this topsy-turvy world today. And the occasional outlet of blogging helps to get our thoughts out to the market in the hopes that some other small business owner can relate and respond.

Meet and Greet. The key to business relationships

2009-02-25T12:43:00.000-08:00

With all the social media tools available today, it's easy to ignore one of the most fundamental MO's of doing business... that is meeting your customer in person. Challenging as it may, getting to know someone beyond the basic "buy and sell" conversations is really the heart and soul of building relationships.

All the social media tools are great: LinkedIn, Facebook, and others. It's part of my daily morning ritual. And with today's busy lifestyle, it saves time tremendously. But when we have a chance to meet in person, those are the precious moments that are so fleeting, and so valuable.

Challenges of Exhibiting in a Down Economy

2008-12-09T18:57:00.000-08:00

Yikes! Now that we know we’re officially in a recession, we can go about the business at hand. Of course there’s the initial panic, denial and withdrawal, but how many times have we gone through this cycle? Business has and always will be a rollercoaster.

What can we do this time around? The same strategy as always… long term planning.

Business development is a process of ongoing research, planning, reviewing budgets, building relationships, negotiation, instituting metrics and reviewing, changing and starting all over again. “Steady as she goes”. As time, technology and market demands forces us to eliminate excess and maximize productivity and profits, we need to continually exercise a “lean and mean” modus operandi in an up or down economy.

Make do with less.
We need to continually look at cost effective ways of reaching our market. “Do you really need that many people to staff the booth?” What are the new technology tools that can help us sell? Are shipping, setup, and managing the booth eating up most of the budgets?

More often than not, outside consultants can be a most cost-effective way to assist in planning, strategizing, and executing a long term plan that will get you more “bang for the buck” than trying to manage with your internal team. Because of their experience with many companies, issues and circumstances, they can bring to the table a wider array of solutions and experiences as well as a broader network of resources.

Re-use, extend, repurpose
Before you trash that old exhibit, try to find creative ways to re-use and extend the life of it. There are many opportunities to take a custom sign tower, and re-engineer it to work with a modular system. Or reface booth walls with new materials and graphics. Large or small, with a creative eye, there are many possibilities to save costs by extending the life of your booth properties.

Ongoing training, planning
Too often, tradeshow activities in small companies gear up 2-3 months before a show and panic ensues dues to deadlines and rash decisions. Whether you exhibit once or year, or dozens of times a year, your tradeshow program should be a year-round, ongoing concern. Training sales and marketing staff on the ins-and-outs of how the shows work and understanding the system will go a long way in terms of efficiency and ultimate success. It also empowers staff to multitask, thereby reducing overhead by eliminating unnecessary personnel at the show.

There are many more options besides the general panic and budget slashing. Bottom-line, institute a long-term program to plan for the next market boom… or bust.

Marketing Operation - Revolution in the corporate landscape

2008-11-20T23:29:00.001-08:00

There's a quiet revolution going on in the corporate enterprise arena. It's not on the forefront of new technological discoveries, nor the high rolling adrenalin-spilling merger/acquistion/IPO investment side of business. It's the re-alignment of all business units and personnel with the vision and mission of the company. Under the banner of Marketing Operations, businesses pain-stakingly realizing that the basic fundamentals of business, that of providing goods and services to customers is a customer-centric value proposition, is and should aways be the driving force for the sustainability of any business.

Marketing is no longer just the traditional "promotional barrage" of drowning the market with potent messages. It is all about building a dialog between buyers and sellers, resulting in a mutually beneficial, long-term relationship. On the surface, nothing revolutionary. But under the leadership of visionary Chief Marketing Officers and champions of Marketing Operations, marketing is gaining new respect from the top of the ladder through the rank and file.

"Marketing owns the voice of the customer." In today's business world, listening to the customer and responding immediately is key to building customer loyalty and retention. And the underlying mechanism that makes that happen is, of course, the Internet. Millions upon millions of dollars are going into the technological infrastructure that enables marketing ops to gain insight into customer's buying habits and thought processes. It enables customers to voice their opinion and actually "get heard". The internet enables meaningful metrics to be applied to promotional campaigns to measure performance. It also allows for data flow upstream and downstream so management can see front line customer interactions and respond to issues and opportunities quickly.

Where does this leave small business who don't have the budgets and the resources that global enterprise companies have?

The same business and marketing issues and challenges apply to the small and midsized companies as well. As technology advances and the costs go down, the tools of the trade will trickle down to the smaller organizations and businesses. But it's the people who understand the mission of Marketing Operations that will re-engineer the buyer/seller relationship to a more interactive dialog proposition.

Gary Katz, of Marketing Operations Partners, is a champion of this quiet revolution. After years of consulting and presenting workshops across the country and in Asia, Gary recently launched the very first marketing operations course in the country. Through the University of Santa Cruz Extension, Gary's mission is to re-educate and elevate the ranks of marketing professional and give them new tools and methodologies to empower a company's marketing efforts. I had the pleasure and honor to be a part of this inaugural course. Gary is a wealth of knowledge and a visionary in his own right. His enthusiasm in the subject matter is infectious. This revolution in the marketing operations arena may not make headlines anytime yet. But Gary is determined to make a difference... one class at a time.

For more info, goto mopartners.com

Secrets to a successful setup of your exhibit at the next tradeshow

2006-03-04T13:00:00.000-08:00

Having completed a successful tradeshow setup for one of our clients at a major show, I had a chance to reflect on the many weeks of planning, design, production and setup leading to the actual show event.

It is clear that "planning, planning, planning" is essential to the success of the show, but just as important is the ability to work with the show producers, organizers, show service contractors, laborers, exhibit house, and designers. The ability to create and communicate the vision of your exhibit, how you want it to function and what your expectations are, is key to making it happen. The old adage, "nothing goes as planned" rings true on the show floor. Being able to "think on your feet", compromise, make decisions, communicate and take action is critical. And above all, building a "team" by listening, communicating and showing respect and common courtesy will make a difference between a successful event vs a miserable experience.

A few simple tips
1. Create a vision statement with goals and objectives
2. Plan, plan, plan (budget, schedules, activities, requirements)
3. Build your team early (marcom/tradeshow managers, designers, exhibit house, show producers, service contractors, etc.) and bring them in on your vision (the quality of each participant's contribution will increase when they are in on the vision, and feel a part of the team).
4. On the show floor - Meet the show organizers, the show service contractors, your exhibit service rep, the floor manager and especially the people at the service desk. They are the ones that can facilitate the communication and action when something needs to get done.
5. Keep your database of contacts in your PDA, cell phone, Blackberry. Take notes and document the process (this will come in handy during the setup, teardown, discussing final billing issues, and reporting back to management.
6. Have a post meeting will all the above (of course this won't be a one meeting gathering but one-on-ones or by phone to recap and discuss ways to improve for the next show).
7. A final report back to management with recommendations as well as acknowledgements.

Have a great show.

Steve

Happy New Year! Time to retool business strategies.

2006-01-06T10:22:00.000-08:00

For many, the start of the New Year is an annual reminder that in business, stagnation means death, and the vitality of any business is all about change. 2006 launches two power-engines of change, CES and MacWorld. No longer the domain of techno-nerds, both shows have embraced the open market of everyday-people as well as the glitterati of Hollywood, fashion and the 'rich and famous'.

With the likes of Microsoft's Bill Gates and Sony's Howard Stringer sitting side-by-side with Tom Hanks, Ron Howard, the Black Eyed Peas, Dan Marino and Justin Timberlake, CES is more about "lifestyle Americana" and "coolness" than techno-wizardry (almost).

And who won't be sporting the cool, sleek, "gotta-have" iPod at MacWorld? The evolution from "techno-different for the few" to "digital-cool for the masses" has invigorated Apple, and has opened up the floodgates of streaming digital content into our daily life.

A smart business plan embraces change. How we retarget, move, alter, switch, test, retreat and leap can mean the difference between glorious success and dismal failure. As the digital stream flows through our every business action and transaction, we need to be nimble and fluid to ride the waves in the sea of constant uncertainty.

Discover. Test. Try. Discard. Adopt. Move-on.

Welcome to the New Year, :-)

Article: "Finding profitable ways to fight global warming" SJ Merc

2005-11-16T21:42:00.000-08:00

Great article on how it's possible to do good for the planet and be profitable.

Posted on Wed, Nov. 16, 2005
San Jose Mercury News

Finding profitable ways to fight global warming

CITIES, COMPANIES COMBINE SAVINGS WITH CUTTING EMISSIONS

Mercury News Editorial
When a coalition of Silicon Valley businesses, public agencies and environmental groups banded together to find ways to cut carbon dioxide emissions some 20 months ago, they hoped to prove a point: that doing the right thing for the environment can be good for the bottom line.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/opinion/13180226.htm

Mercury News article on Jeff Skoll - EBAY Founder

2005-10-16T10:20:00.000-07:00

Posted on Fri, Oct. 14, 2005
San Jose Mercury News

MAGNATE: FILMS MUST `EDUCATE AND INSPIRE'
By Bruce Newman
Mercury News

HOLLYWOOD - Jeff Skoll -- the shy multibillionaire co-founder of eBay -- left Silicon Valley last year, and set out to test his theory ``that people are basically good'' on the movie industry.

At first, people quite naturally assumed he must be demented. But employing many of the same business principles he used at eBay, Skoll assembled a slate of movies, the first of which begins rolling out today.

Complete article, goto:

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/12902854.htm

Newsweek Article: "I'm an artist, but not the starving kind"

2005-09-15T17:40:00.001-07:00

Great article in this week's NewsWeek Sept 19, 2005

I'm an Artist, But Not the Starving Kind
We have as much training as other professionals. Imagine if we had their business sense, too.

By J. D. Jordan
Newsweek
Sept. 19, 2005 issue - "I could get an art student to do it for $35 and a six-pack." I remember the first time a prospective client said that to try to intimidate me into accepting dramatically reduced fees for Website design services. I was newly self-employed and hungry for work, so I conceded. I delivered a great Web site, but I hated my client for making me work for so little—and myself for not knowing how to get what I deserved.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9287027/site/newsweek/

What creates business culture, business relations?

2005-08-15T18:04:00.000-07:00

Bill Watkins, the current CEO of Seagate was quoted in a recent San Jose Mercury News interview about his efforts at turning Seagate around. He says that you have to change the corporate culture in order to make positive changes in a company. And the way to change and shape culture is to communicate stories about a company.

Q "What shapes company culture?

A Culture gets created by the stories you tell in a company. It's almost like urban legends. If you think about HP (Hewlett-Packard) -- they used to tell the stories of Bill and Dave coming in and talking to you. Then they would talk about Carly, and then the stories became about hair dressers and jets.

That starts to define it."
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/12331063.htm

In addition to expressing positive stories, events, and ideals about a company, it is also the "actions" of the people that shape the culture. An effective manager that tells the story of Bill and Dave walking around, must also walk around, meet the employee, listen and talk about their problems and issues.

Extending the dialog and action to consultants, vendors, contractors, supplies, etc., "extends" the culture beyond the boundaries of the company itself... effectively building a broader business culture, building better business relationships and building empowered business communities.

Surviving the downturn, building lasting relationships

2005-05-26T11:43:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Design2Market's blog on creative marketing solutions for the business to business marketplace.

Having worked in Silicon Valley for over 25 years, we have been a part of the explosive growth of the tech sector that has shaped the world.

From the early days of semiconductor development (Osborne Computers, Intel Inside, IBM, HP, National Semiconductor) to many of the emerging technology companies in the embedded environment (networking, video compression) as well as middleware application software, biotech and entertainment, we've seen Silicon Valley morph into the technological center of the universe.

We've also experienced the downside of technology, the collapse of the economy including many of our clients (big and small) downsizing, off-shoring, and even closing down.

Yet, we've survived.

What have we learned over the past decades is that change and evolution are a constant of business. Yet basic business fundamentals, delivering quality products and services, filling a market need, interpersonal relationships and respect for others are as important to business as turning a profit.

We look to the future of continued relationships in a team effort to create "win-win" results for all. We encourage your ideas, comments, critiques, examples and stories (good and bad) so that we can learn, share, grow and prosper.

:-) Steve