SandboxPM

SandboxPM is a full service idea to launch company! We create winning product strategies, marketing and social media campaigns designed for high conversion, gorgeous graphic designs and branding for the web, print and exhibits, Photography, videography and product demos, and spectacular events where you are a guest and can celebrate your success. Visit Sandbox PM at http://www.sandboxpm.com!

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To APP or Not to APP?

Very excited to bring you an awesome guest post from Elsie Escobar, an expert on new media content and of course Apps!

To app or not to app that is the question many small to medium size businesses are asking themselves.

With the immense growth of the general population’s acceptance of smartphones, and a drastic increase of usage of smartphone apps even beyond internet and web browsing in the past 12 months, as an entrepreneur one would think having a smartphone app is a must.

The increasing popularity of iOS devices and Android devices necessitates action on the part of businesses to see how and if stepping into this new ecosystem is beneficial to the profitability and scalability of the business.

Every week there are articles published on smartphones, apps, and statistics of usage. From an outsider perspective, especially from the entrepreneur perspective it may feel like you have to jump right in and get a piece of the pie.

Before you do, consider the points below.

Why does your business want an app?

I’m going to assume that those reading this are not entrepreneurs or businesses that will be build solely on developing smartphone apps. That sort of business merits a completely different blog post. This post is for those that would like to supplement their existing business with an app offering.

There are currently over 425,000 apps in the iTunes app store and over 250,000 in the Android Marketplace. If you are planning on simply creating an app for your business and expecting easy discoverability and success you have another thing coming.

Apps like anything else in your business require focused and clear development based on why: why does your business need or want an app?

Do you want to generate passive income?

Will this app be another way to market your existing business?

Will this app offer a service that specifically addresses a pain point to your customers?

Do you plan on selling your products directly from your app?

Will the app offer supplementary or complementary material to your already existing content or programs?

The more you refine the questions regarding the why behind your app development, the clearer your path to success within the app smartphone-sphere.

Embrace The Boundaries

After getting clear as to why you want an app for your business, your first step in the process of developing your app is to find out if what you are choosing to do with your app is compatible with the terms of service of the various app stores.

What will be your users main interaction with your app?

Is it content consumption? Where is the content coming from?

Is it purchasing products?

Is it managing accounts or systems?

Is it simple static information ie: a business card app?

Here are the App Store Review Guidelines for iOS apps and Android Application Fundamentals so that you can search them to see if you are violating any existing TOS based on your idea BEFORE you spend precious time and resources in development.

This is something that you can do alone or you can consult with a developer. In this way you can iterate your idea according to the existing boundaries.

Consider Algorithms and Discoverability

Every app store has their own algorithm for showcasing and featuring apps. In the beginning it seemed that all algorithms were based purely on the amount of downloads for each app, but as time has gone on there have been some mysterious changes to what truly drives an app to be featured.

iTunes App Store algorithm changes- If you want to be featured within the app store, it seems that in addition to download numbers and positive ratings, usage had become pretty important. The more app owners interact with the apps the more the apps will rise up the ranks. This means that apps that people use a lot, such as the Facebook app, will be featured more than those that are beautifully designed but only used occasionally, such as a Resume app or a Christmas Shopping List app that you may only use once in a while.

Android marketplace algorithm- There really isn’t much consensus regarding the Android Marketplace and being featured. These are factors that have been mentioned in terms of being seen: positive ratings, having a major publisher, being a new app, installation and usage.

You can see from the above that there is a lot of mystery to being featured as well as inconsistencies. Although a spotlight in the app stores would absolutely drive downloads and discoverability, to count on that as your sole means of discovery or promotion would be less than optimal.

For some businesses pushing for a feature in the app store may be counterproductive, especially, if the app’s purpose isn’t about making money off the app. If you have a highly targeted audience and you know your consumer/client inside and out, the approach to market your app aligns with your existing marketing strategy, so your level of success goes back to the very first question I asked at the beginning of the post: to app or not to app for your business.

If you spent the time figuring out what best works for you, your business as well as serving your customers the best, algorithms in the app stores will be important, but they won’t impede your level of success.

Free or Paid

Statistics at this moment show that iOS device users are buying 61% more apps than a year ago andpaying higher prices. At the same time Flurry has just recently found that Freemium beats Premium in revenue earned. Another interesting bit of data is that Android users are less likely to pay for apps than their iOS counterparts.

Although this data is important to keep in mind, you as an entrepreneur must look again at the why behind your app. If you are creating an app that will solve an important pain point for your customer in an elegant and beautifully designed manner, then premium pricing will be the best choice.

If your app is all about enhancing your reach and strengthening your brand then perhaps offering a free app with the potential for paid upgrades will serve your business best. This is also a great opportunity for feedback and perhaps renewed ideas of refining your app offering.

A Bright Future For Apps and Your Business

As entrepreneurs being involved in some way in the smartphone-sphere is very important. This level of engagement with your customers and potential customers will only be more crucial in the future.

If you are not ready to step into developing and app for your business at the very least choose to stay informed regarding the goings on in that marketplace. One of the best places to start is to subscribe tothe Flurry Blog, they do a great job at offering data, and providing insight regarding the mobile population.

Have you already started developing a smartphone app?

Do you have an app for your business? In what ways has it empowered your business?

Are there any app questions or concerns that you’d like to address?

Please share in the comments! Would love to hear from you!

Elsie Escobar has been teaching yoga to global audiences, ranging from 1 to thousands live and via her audio podcast and videos since 2006. Through her work as an Anusara Yoga Inspired™ Instructor and producer of new media content, she has gained unique experiences and insights both in creating passionate online communities and maintaing integrity and honesty in building physical relationships using new media.

Elsie works as a new media producer/creator/developerwith a yogic spice helping individuals and companies develop media content with an emphasis on podcasting. Currently she blogs extensively at libsyn/Wizzard Media, the world’s largest podcast hosting network, plus supports podcast producers as part of the Wizzard Media smartphone app team.

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Content Rules - Interview with C.C. Chapman

Our CEO, Anastasia Valentine had the opportunity to meet C.C. Chapman at a Social Media Breakfast in Ottawa as he hit the nation’s capital of Canada with the launch of his new book Content Rules.   With so many books about social media, marketing and how to create killer content on the market I wasn’t sure what to expect.  Everyone in the audience that day was completely energized by C.C.’s presentation, honest discussion and his awesome delivery about creating, re-purposing and leveraging amazing content.  In fact we all left his presentation to go back to our computers and turn into content creation machines!

Traditionally I would place a nice clean graphic of a book for a book review or interview in this post, however, this one is different.  I wanted to show that it isn’t just any book, it is not a single read then place lightly on the bookshelf to sit nicely between Crossing the Chasm, one of the many Guerilla Marketing books or something by Tom Peters.    This one is a play book, a reference book and one that you will use often, even daily.  Here’s a picture of my copy complete with sticky notes and dog eared pages.  It is worse for wear now and because of that, I can’t recommend it enough.

C.C. Chapman graciously agreed to do an interview about his latest book.  I’m hoping he won’t hold the condition my copy of Content Rules against me!

What is the first step for established sites with existing content to make their content rule?

No matter if they are already established or they are just starting out, the first thing they have to think about is what their strategy is going to be for using content. Creating anything just for the sake of creating it is a waste of time. You should up front know why you’ll be creating it, how you are going to measure if it is successful or not and how it is going to help your business.

One of our rules is: Reimagine, Don’t Recycle and if someone already has a lot of existing content then they should think about how they can take it and reimagine it on another medium or to blow some new life into it. Have a series of presentations on video? What if you have them transcribed and take the really meaty parts to form an eBook. Lots of photos from the past year? Put them together with some independent music into a slideshow to post on the web so everyone can see what you did.

Content sharing seems to be more powerful than traditional marketing.  How powerful is sharing of content to promote a business?

The whole reason a company should be creating content and putting it on the web is in the hopes that people will discover it and share it. That is where the power of the Internet comes into play and what you have to always be asking yourself. “Is this going to make people react in such a way that they want to share it with others?” If you don’t think the answer is yes, then perhaps it is time to go back to the drawing board.

We trust recommendations from friends more then any printed billboard. When someone tells me that I need to check out a product or service and I trust their opinion then I will go look at it immediately. Every business can leverage this, yet so many fail to see the true power in it and instead stick to the old way of marketing and never get the results they hope for.

Do you need big budgets to be successful online?  What is most important for the startup, freelancer or entrepreneur to consider when creating their content with little or no budget?

Everyone wants more money in their budgets, but most of us can’t get it. The truth is that you can execute a successful marketing campaign online with very little money. In fact, the most expensive thing is going to be your time.

This isn’t like a print ad where you hire a designer, print it and then just wait for something to happen. You must remember that Social Media works when you are social and interacting with the people out there that you want to become your customer. This takes time every day to do correctly and if you don’t have the time to do it yourself then you must hire someone. But, don’t forget that no one knows your business as good as you so be sure in who you bring in.

Keep thinking about our rule of Play To Your Strengths. You can’t be everywhere and on every medium without some budget. So figure out what you enjoy doing and can create on a regular basis and start there. Personally I prefer to take photos over video so you’ll see me do that much more often. If you like to write, then focus there. Because you’ll be spending more time than dollars make sure that each minute is spent strategically and smartly.

Knowing how much you like lists (insert sly grin here),  what are the top 5 things to consider when creating content to drive traffic?

You are really going to have me make a list? Grrr…

Passion is Contagious so make sure whatever you create hits a nerve with whoever watches, reads or consumes it.

Be Human in everything you do. Speak like you do to a friend and not in buzzwords and marketing fluff.

Make sure that everything you create has wings and roots. Your content should live on your website, but make it easily sharable on any and all platforms.

Be ready to grow organically or to put some money into a media spend to drive traffic to it.

Ensure that your content is able to be enjoyed and consumed on mobile devices.

Explain your comment “Content is to Google what brains are to zombies.”

I can’t take credit for that quote. Todd Defren from SHIFT Communications said that in a presentation I saw.

What he means is that in every Zombie movie they can never get enough brains. They always want more and have a never ending appetite. Google is the same way when it comes to new content. The fresher the better in both cases.

How can the executive leadership or owners of a company bridge or close the gap between them and the customer using content?

Well done content lets the customers see behind the big gates and inside of the company. Just like people enjoy back stage passes for the bands they like, brands can allow people to see what is going on by creating human content that is honest, direct and fun. If all an executive wants to do is play golf and sit in their big office then let them do that. But, I tell you that anytime an executive actually comments on a blog post or responds to a tweet I might send out it makes me appreciate that company more.

Customers have unlimited choice in today’s world. They don’t have to buy from you just because you are the cheapest or closest. The Internet allows them to buy from any vendor they want, but those small town principals of buying from you who know still applies. Become a buddy and they will buy from you rather than your competitor and content allows you to speak directly to them.

One of the rules is Share or solve, don’t shill.  What are some good recommendations on how to self promote without being smarmy.

Show people how your product will make their lives better. Get your customers to film testimonials where your services helped them out and make them the hero rather than your company.

People will react to this and they certainly will want to do business with you. No one likes the used car salesman approach where all they do is try to sell to you. Just because you have the megaphone of the Internet doesn’t mean you have to use it all the time.

It is so easy to get caught up in social media like Twitter, blogs, Facebook etc… how do you make sure you have downtime from content?  Do we really need no-content time?

I’m not even sure how to answer this question. Life is full of content. If I’m out walking I’m taking in the leaves, clouds and people I meet. On the television or radio I might be listening to the game. Online I’m constantly drinking from the fire hose of content.

Should you get offline and enjoy life? Yes! But to try and find true content free time is a bit impossible. Even when we sleep we have dreams so that isn’t an escape either.

Human speak is not something many of us were taught in marketing 101 in university. How do we get back to speaking human to our target audience and why is it important?

Guess that is why I encourage people to major in anything BUT marketing huh?

I’m sorry, but if the concept of “human speak” is a difficult one to grasp, I can’t help you.

I hate to be so blunt, but I don’t understand why this confuses so many people. NO ONE likes to be talked to in marketing speak and buzzwords. No one! So why can’t we all just move past it and have good old fashion conversations with people. The old days of telling people what they wanted to buy are over. Next question.

What are some ways to re-purpose or keep really great content alive?

Didn’t we already answer this back a few questions ago? *grin*

There is nothing wrong with telling people again about your content if it is really good. E-mail newsletters are great for this where if you send it out once a month you can highlight the top five pieces of content you’ve shared this month. Or consider not doing an automatic import to Facebook and Twitter and instead post them at different times manually to try and hit different audiences.

You’ve done some really out of the box unorthodox marketing campaigns that have had some great results and increased traffic and heightened visibility of a brand.  Which one was the most effective and why?

I have been able to take part in a lot of great campaigns with companies big and small. Some of the ones I’m really proud of include bringing The Coca-Cola Company into Second Life, helping build buzz and awareness for HBO’s True Blood and over the course of three years working with the American Eagle Outfitter’s brands to embrace and thrive in social media.

While they were all successful, the key with all of them was a combination of online and offline components mixed with lots of social objects that insured that when someone got excited about what they saw they were empowered to take it and tell the story in their own way.  So many people forget that story telling both on your part and on the consumers that you hope will tell others is a key component to your content strategy. Never forget that.

Content Rules is a fantastic read!  Its a great combination of practical how to’s people can do today, case studies, useful stats and words of wisdom based on experience and its all written in human speak!  Where can people get your book?

Everywhere that books and ebooks are sold around the globe!  To check out a free preview and more go tohttp://www.contentrulesbook.com/.

Who is C.C. Chapman?

Speaker:

C.C. has years of public speaking experience, nearly all of it presented to companies, marketers and content creators. He often speaks about building passionate consumer communities, and the strategic value of content-based marketing.

Author:

C.C. is the co-author (with Ann Handley) of Content Rules, a book that showcases the value of “organizations as publishers.” Content Rules clearly explains how companies can create remarkable blogs, podcasts, webinars, ebooks, and more — content that converts online audiences into customer evangelists. It was published in December 2010 by Publisher Press.

Entrepreneur:

In 2007, C.C. co-founded The Advance Guard, a marketing agency. After two stellar years, the company was acquired by Campfire. Now a freelance consultant looking for the next great challenge, C.C. understands the entrepreneurial spirit, and the “in the trenches” economic and organizational challenges companies face every day. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for both Wediko and Know My World.

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Sandbox PM is a full service idea to launch company! We create winning product strategies, marketing and social media campaigns designed for high conversion, gorgeous graphic designs and branding for the web, print and exhibits, and spectacular events where you are a guest and can celebrate your success.  Visit us at www.sandboxpm.com!

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Startups ROCK! StartupFest Recap!

Startups ROCK! StartupFest Recap

Here are some of the companies I met and was impressed with!The International Startup Festival in Montreal was by far one of the best and most importantly, VALUABLE conferences for the entrepreneur, startup and small business! My company Sandbox PM attended the fest so that we could get to know some new startups and help them launch their companies and bring their ideas and products to market. I had the opportunity to meet some extraordinarily talented developers, entrepreneurs, seasoned veterans and see some incredible technologies in action!

NEXALOGY - www.nexalogy.com – This company takes data visualization to new heights beyond just eye candy! In fact, they have coined the term “data sculpting” to represent the unique way Nexalogy interprets and serves up the data visually in REAL TIME! They were capturing all of the online conversations at StartupFest to create some incredible data visualizations and dashboards. Check them out! (can you find me (@avv) on the Top Interacting?

Tweet Analysis and Relationships

Twitter Stats Dashboard

HAPPY STUFF – A mobile visual selling tool!  Most of what you need to know about what you buy can be found in a photo of the item.  The Happy Stuff mobile app allows you to share your “Have’s” and “Wants” visually with people in your area!  The process is simple.  Take a photo with your mobile of something you want to sell, post the photo in the Have’s and your local community knows whats available and can contact you quickly to make the purchase!  Maybe there is something you want?  Again, an easy process.  Take a photo of your wanted item with your mobile, post it and maybe someone HAS the item and can sell it to you OR knows where you can get a good deal!   Download Happy stuff!  You may even be the lucky buyer of my Autographed Kiss Alive album 

MY CAR FIXER – Got a fender bender? Get into an accident.  Are you dreading to go through the estimation process?  Have no fear, My Car Fixer is here!  Upload a photo or video of the damage and get instant quotes from vendors!  Not only that My Car Fixer share great info via Twitter so don’t forget to follow them @mycarfixer!   My Car Fixer is still in beta but sign up now to get all of the launch details!

DISHCRAWL – Some of you may have heard of this great startup that is sweeping urban centers to create a community around food!  Dishcrawl is a perfect opportunity for you to experience 4 (or more) restaurants in 1 night for a fabulous food extravaganza!  I liked them so much I’m helping organize one in Ottawa & Montreal!  Save the Ottawa date – September 13th will be a local food focused Dishcrawl!

By no means is this an exhaustive list of the talent that was at the International Startup Fest!  Thank you so much to the organizers who worked terribly hard to bring us a great venue, good food & drink and most importantly a little bit of WIFI for us connectivity addicts!  THANK YOU!

As part of our Startups ROCK! Campaign we caught up some a bunch of great startups and one anonymous startup guy in stealth mode to tell us first hand why their startup ROCKS!

Special thanks to AlertPay, Nexalogy, Dishcrawl, SimpleWebID, GnowIt for participating in this second Startups ROCK! Video!

What? You missed our first video?  You MISSED THE SLAM POETRY about Fabulous Startups!  Say it isn’t so!  Check out both videos below!

Startups tell us why THEY ROCK!  

A little Slam Poetry Meets Startup Maven – Anastasia CEO of Sandbox PM dishes it out, Startup Style!

Participate in the conversation!  Tell us why your Startup ROCKS!  Tweet all about it using the #startupsrock hashtag!

About Us!

Sandbox PM is a full service idea to launch company! We create winning product strategies, marketing and social media campaigns designed for high conversion, gorgeous graphic designs and branding for the web, print and exhibits, and spectacular events where you are a guest and can celebrate your success.  Visit us at www.sandboxpm.com!

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Live from Startupfest! Great startups telling sandboxpm.com why their startups ROCK! In this video see: AlertPay GnowIT Dishcrawl SimpleWebID Nexalogy and The "Anonymous" Startup Guy who is currently in stealth mode... Thank you everyone for sharing why your startup ROCKS!

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would you like to become an official champion of the biggest online launch EVER?

Always!  We love challenges and we create amazing launches!

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Startups ROCK!

You can take my word for it that Startups ROCK! Here are some rockin’ examples from  leaders of some great startups to back me up!

Dishcrawl is the best way to discover your food neighborhood! Our City Dishcrawls are a social dining experience through 4 restaurants in 1 night with a group of awesome food lovers. Try a taste of everything while meeting your neighbors and local chefs & owners. And trust us, pacing yourself is everything. 

CEO Tracy “Ladyleet” Lee of Dishcrawl.

“Dishcrawl Rocks because we bring people together over food and build real communities, online and offline.”

Guardly has transformed from an idea to a best-in-class application that helps people stay safe everyday  Read about their amazing 300 day startup journey through testing, the support of the startup community, closing seed round funding, their DEMO 2011 experience, launching Guardly for the iPhone and much more!   This story alone demonstrates that they completely ROCKED IT OUT in YEAR  1!  www.guardly.com

Openera delivers ‘Smart Cloud’ services for mobile people. Automatically puts your stuff where you want and need it – save your sanity.  http://openeraventures.com/home.html

Pete Lalonde, CEO of Openera

“The best thing about a startup is freedom to create value without politics or bureaucracy! “

Payfortheband.com is the world’s first of its kind social networking site designed for music fans to have a personal connection with Indie, Local and Unsigned bands.

Matt Coleman, CEO for Payfortheband.com 

“Let me tell you why startups rock, cause they unleash real creativity  inside yourself. It’s all about dreaming big and making that idea come to life. I created PayForTheBand.com because I had a vision of giving a VIP experience to music fans which in turn would help indie bands all over the country succeed. Nothing else was needed just the Fan to Band. Launching a Startup makes you dig deep, find your stride and be rewarded with the satisfaction of knowing you gave someone something they enjoyed.”

Aaron Shapland CEO of Vordik.  Vordik is a Canadian advertising agency, specializing in corporate identity management and brand stewardship. Founded in 2010, the company currently has operations in Calgary (Western Canada) and Toronto (Eastern Canada), with an ever-expanding roster of unique and outgoing clients.   www.vordik.com

“Best thing about a #startup? Hands down, the #flexibility. Schedule, product, team, policy…everything.”

Jason Kealey, CEO  of  LavaBlast.  Designed from the ground up for startup franchises, the FranchiseBlast franchise management software provides both the operational software needed by franchisees and the centralized dashboard required by franchisors.

“The best thing about a startup is the combined energy and dedication of everyone involved. Startups thrive off exceeding customer expectations.”

We hope to see you at the International Startup Festival and would love to connect.   Drop us a note!  Tweet us! Visit Sandbox PM, an Idea to Launch Company to see if we can help each other out!  

If you are a startup not attending the festival (hint…attend the festival), lets also sure we get connected!

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A Behind the Scenes Look Into Design & Inspiration

Today’s post is a guest post from our newest graphic designer / artist to the Sandbox PM team.  Victoria Weiss is an accomplished artist who will be an amazing addition to our team!  In this post, she gives an exclusive behind the scenes look at the creative process of graphic and web design and what happens after the initial consult.  For more information on Sandbox PM Graphic Design services please visit www.sandboxpm.com

I like to thank Sandbox PM’s, founder Anastasia Valentine, for inspiring this post today. I'm also charged up on her compliments with my work. I met her at the Selling Your Soul Event, NYC, with Danielle Laporte and Marie Forleo. It’s been a really interesting road getting my design work to this caliber, and all I have to say is like my old cello teacher would say: "practice, practice, practice!" Yes I have contracts, deposit requirements, time deadlines I follow to get any project done. Though today I like to just slow down a bit and share how it all happens. When I meet my prospective client, I usually have an instant intuition how we will work together. Here is where the art starts. It starts with the art of conversation with my clients, I listen, I get clear, I do the research. The research is at times online, or offline and at moments organic. Organic meaning there could be a leaf, a feather that falls from the sky while walking my dog on quick break. It could be the shadow forming from a tree that unconsciously taps the new shape or background to a logo forming abstractedly. It could be a song, or during my yoga practice a solution presents itself for the client or project. It may pop out of my bookshelf once in a while, or a color that day vibrantly talks to me like a game when I'm out and about.

This post about art and web design development also reminds me of visiting NYC recently. I made it to see Alexander McQueens Exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was amazing, absolutely gorgeous. It was so natural for me to want to touch the garments. It just astonishes me the amount of dedication, passion I see through the veins and threads on all of the dresses. There was all kind of materials, from wood, to leather. The presentation was theatric, dramatic, and sci-fi in some moments. Choice of classical music, lighting, ambience, and holographic video display of a dress in flight acts as a small movie box for the viewers. The exhibit is still fresh in my mind, and entered my creative soul in quite an interesting way. I plan to incorporate it back into my art, and my writing.  

But that is really what it is all about. Owning the experience of inspiration, whether it is from travel, art exhibits, food, scent, and the engagement with nature and family. We just need to take action to get the most of our happiness in line.  I'm going to leave this post today with one of Mcqueens Quote, based off a gown he created from feathers. I think it is a good reminder for us to always look at the sky, whether for a skyscraper, or bird. It is always ever so possible to reach your dreams.

"Birds in flight fascinate me. I admire eagles and falcons. I'm inspired by a feather but also its color, its graphics, its weightlessness and its engineering, It is so elaborate. In fact I try and transpose the beauty of a bird to a women." --A. Mcqueen

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Ways to MAKE or BREAK your Online Community

Online communities are the ideal way to communicate with and engage your prospects, customers, partners or fans and extremely powerful customer relationship management tool.  Good communities provide a level of interaction and immediacy that cannot be found with traditional dialog through email, web site submissions and a level of contact with all parts of your organization that is typically done via phone.   Organizations adopting communities have some challenges when launching including how to launch a community that attracts members, how to keep their community interesting, how to make it  “sticky” so users keep coming back and when they do, they stay for long time.

I’ve launched a number of internal and external communities wanted to share some of my make or break lessons learned for online communities that I experienced as a community manager and executive stakeholder.

Single point of failure – The Lone Community Manager

A community manager’s responsibility is to create content, interact with users and promote the community to potential members.   Essentially they are the point of contact for all things community…or is that the single point of failure?   The fact is the community manager should be an overseer vs. lone ranger with key contributors on their team to keep the community running smoothly.  One community manager responsible for all content and interaction is a sure way for your community to fail. This is especially true where the community manager is wearing multiple hats for the company and community management is only a part time job.  They need help to ensure they are effective and your community thrives!

The Chokehold – Super Sanitized Content

You want to make sure all of your content is customer ready, on message and bullet proof.  Who doesn’t?  To do this it requires approval from the Communications Director, Marketing Director, Legal, and revisions to make the posts suitable for community viewing.   Epic #Fail!   If you go down this path you are going to encounter at least two things with really poor and potentially damaging side effects to your community.

Issue #1 – by the time your content goes up and down the flag pole it will be stale…like old bread and your members won’t care because it won’t be timely nor will it be relevant.

Issue #2 – your customers are smart and they can smell sanitized spin from miles away!  Quite frankly they won’t tolerate it for long.  People want to do business with people.  They don’t come to a community to get hooked, spun and buzzed.  Save this material for your collateral, presentations and website.

The poor side effects I was eluding to?   Your members won’t stay, won’t return, your message won’t stick and your community will ultimately your community will fail.

But Some Employees are not “Customer Facing”

Why not?

Seriously…why not? Because your organization never tried?  Because these employees were never given the opportunity?  Because traditionally, some people just don’t talk to customers?

Hogwash and hooeeey to an extent…  To make a community successful we need to establish a team of key contributors that represent the organization to their members in various capacities ranging from development, support, marketing and all the way through to sales!

But you can’t throw traditionally non customer facing people into the fire.  That is just asking for trouble.  To ensure this is successful, ensure you have rules of engagement to follow that foster a positive sense of community and encourage engagement by members with your community ambassadors.  Train your people on the standards of care to be delivered and the type of conduct that is expected when they represent the company.  Then MAKE IT HAPPEN and empower your employees to engage and interact with your community members.    Communities will fail if company participants are not empowered to respond and participate.  REAL PEOPLE – REAL DIALOG is a win win for both your members and your organization.

Recognition and Rewards

Recognize and reward key internal and external participants of your community who go above and beyond in contributing to content, discussions and dialog.   These members should be part of your company’s top tier, TLC group and should be publicly recognized in the community as key contributors, and even given special treatment as ambassadors of the organization.  Some platforms offer badges and visual recognition of contributions and participation.  Leverage these features and reward and recognize key members of your community that are keeping your community vibrant and alive.

Damage Control – CRISIS, SCANDAL, What to do?

Not everything that happens in a community is sunshine and happiness.  Your members will use their voice in your community if they are unhappy for whatever reason.   In the case where there is a negative statement or a concern or quite frankly if your organization screwed up (yes it happens) use it as an opportunity to demonstrate leadership with this approach:

ACKNOWLEDGE, OWN, ADDRESS and REPORT BACK

This shows your constituents that you are serious about customer satisfaction and will address a problem if it arises.  Some organizations choose to censor this activity however this creates a false community that ultimately will fail.  It will always be a little fishy if there is never voices of displeasure or worse, if posts voicing discontent are suddenly “missing.”

Organizations that correct customer issues ultimately build stronger customer relationships.  In fact, it is easier and more cost effective to “fix” a customer problem than to get a new customer so it is definitely worth the investment.

We Don’t Need to be INVOLVED in our Community

Some organizations believe that if you build an online community not only will “they” come but they will contribute, maintain and interact in a way that will build your community all by itself with little or no involvement of the organization.   While this has been successful for some very large organizations where they have very knowledgeable external self designated customer ambassadors to essentially run and manage their community, it is not the norm.  Being present and available in your community and contributing content is vital to the initial and future success of any community you launch for your organization.  Don’t believe that if you create a community it will magically attract your target members and they will run it themselves.  The inmates should not be running the asylum…in other words…take ownership, responsibility and accountability for your community success with clear objectives and contributions.  If you build it…they may never come…so get and stay involved!

SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM  SPAMITY SPAM

This is a huge problem for free communities.  If your users are being pelted with spam directly and have to wade through it to get to the real content, your community is at high risk of losing the majority or all of its members.  No one will return to a community if they will be spending most of their time sifting through the spam to get to the content they came there for.    Once one spammer gets through, spam will multiply…like rabbits…and fast so take care of it immediately.   How to do this?    Consider a pay model.  Spammers don’t like to pay to spam in your community.  If pay models are not in your future consider a stronger account validation service.  Limited activity for a period of time, providing full profile details of real profile information and depending on volume or bandwidth a review and approval of new accounts.

What to do with Disruptors?

It will happen.  Someone will act out, say something inappropriate and this doesn’t work in favor of your community (or anywhere for that matter.) The great thing about a healthy community is that the community members themselves will not tolerate disruptors with any personal attacks, profanity, bullying or unfounded negativity.  In any case, you need to address it.  If there is profanity, racism, and direct attacks on members or ambassadors – REMOVE IT and consider removing the offender.  No good can come from that type of content on your community.  If however it is simple disruption for the sake of being acknowledged or get attention…consider leaving it there for a little while and see how your members respond.  You can quickly gauge the health and loyalty of the community by how members defend it.  Don’t let it go on to long though…consider it an experiment and really be clear as to whether it is something YOUR ORGANIZATION needs to address quickly or put a stop to.

Did you find what you needed with regards to Community Management?  Is your organization launching a community or requires assistance with online community strategy?  Contact Sandbox PM  if you require additional assistance mapping out your strategy for a healthy online community with tremendous ROI!

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10 + 1 ways to Kickstart Your Innovation Strategy

We have had the opportunity to work with some great companies, researchers and people who are absolutely passionate about innovation in the high technology industry. Each of them had different approaches and experiences with innovation and had great input on how to balance creativity, feedback, competitiveness with doing business. Here are some tips that you can put into practice in your organization to generate ideas, capture the details and execute when the time is right.

Tip # 1 TEAR DOWN THE WALLS

Benefits

An open concept environment encourages dialog while walls and offices discourage communication. Remain accessible by organizing the office environment in a way that makes communication easy and brainstorming a breeze. Leverage instant messaging (IM) and virtual communities to encourage communication when convenient to enable dialog that cross time, geographic and cultural boundaries. Some closet idea makers may be discovered who have the next big thing on their mind! A physical environment that promotes discussion, collaboration and brainstorming = ideation!

Tip # 2 PROVIDE FRAMEWORK AND RESOURCES TO CAPTURE THE IDEA

Benefits

By outlining exactly what is required to pitch and consider an idea your organization will gain the information required to make a decision to invest and take an idea forward. Resources could include a business template to capture a preliminary business case and alignment with corporate objectives, technology template to identify what technology is required and the level of complexity to develop and a preliminary SWOT analysis to understand the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats for this potential project. This will also ensure that QUALITY vs. QUANTITY will be the focus of your ideation strategy.

Tip # 3 PROVIDE A POSITIVE ENVIRONMENT TO PITCH TO DECIONMAKERS  

Benefits

Employees gain presentation experience, business operations knowledge and direct contact with management as well as direct constructive feedback from peers and executive stakeholders. The organization benefits by internally crowdsourcing innovations which can be patented and released as products that will generate revenue for the organization.

Tip # 4 CREATE YOUR IDEA INVENTORY

Benefits

An online idea inventory is a company’s best asset! Ideas are not lost and always available for peer, customer and executive feedback and review. Through the wisdom of the internal and external crowd, the idea can be further vetted, validated /invalidated by a virtual team. By creating an idea inventory, ideas that are not yet ready for prime time can be put on hiatus or revisited when the time is right to begin the development and go to market process.  Consider exposing some key ideas to close customers (under Non Disclosure of  course) and advisors for additional feedback and alternative perspectives.

Tip # 5 BE ACCESSIBLE

 Benefits

People do business with people. Having your employees and management accessible provides a relationship building experience and trust that will encourage loyalty to your company, your brand and your products.

Tip # 6 REGULARLY REVIEW YOUR IDEA INVENTORY

Benefits

Ideas and innovations that may not have come previously at the “right time” may be ready for consideration later. Ensure ideas don’t become stale and regularly review and update the status of the ideas in your idea inventory.

Tip # 7 PROVIDE LIGHT RULES OF POSITIVE PRODUCTIVE ENGAGEMENT

Benefits

People will more open and willing to share ideas if they are assured of a safe and positive environment. Rules of engagement ensure everyone is on the same page. Positive feedback and collaboration will encourage the sharing of ideas and for participants to be open to receiving constructive feedback.

Tip # 8 MAKE IT EASY FOR CUSTOMERS TO PROVIDE AND TRACK FEEDBACK

Benefits

Customers will take the time to provide feedback if it is easy to do and they can return to check the status of their suggestions. Consider going beyond the customer base and those who are looking to improve a product they own and get feedback from prospects or the community at large for alternative perspectives.

Tip # 9 CLARIFY (IN STONE) IDEA OWNERSHIP

Benefits

When ownership of an idea upon disclosure is clear, it can potentially eliminate discrepancies regarding IP ownership or revenue allocation/compensation. For the employer, consider including a clause regarding ideas, inventions and suggestions and IP ownership in the employment contract. Consider a clause that clearly articulates ownership of product improvement and new product suggestions from customers in the End User License Agreement (EULA). In all cases, ensure a legal professional is consulted to ensure that IP is protected.

Tip # 10  RECOGNIZE AND REWARD CONTRIBUTORS

Benefits

Encourage loyalty, high employee morale and quality submissions of ideas and innovations by recognizing contributors at various gates in the process. This will ensure that volumes of ideas are not rewarded but rather viable ideas are recognized once they have achieved specific milestones. Recognition can include public recognition, gifts or financial rewards or incentives. Rewards do not have to be costly. In fact small but thoughtful and useful rewards are more effective to encourage commitment and continued contributions to the innovation process.

Tip # 11 ENCOURAGE THE CREATIVE PROCESS

Benefits

When people love what they do, they will contribute more, work harder and work smarter. Encourage the creative process in your organization at every level to create a healthy and consistently innovative environment.

Need help with crafting your ideation, innovation strategy or process?  Visit Sandbox PM at www.sandboxpm.com for all of your idea to launch requirements!

[betashop-deactivated20140509]

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betashop:

Being the CEO of a startup is a hard and complex job. Here’s my quick list of the 13 things every startup CEO should make sure to do each week:

Remember your One Thing. Your startup can only do one thing well at a time. Know Your One Thing. Write it on the wall. Repeat it every day. Put it...

[sandboxpm-blog]

Social Media Business Trends 2011

Everyone these days is a Social Media Expert and delivering Social Media Strategy services !  We at Sandbox are incredibly guilty.  (mea culpa!) 

I just attended a fabulous Social Media Breakfast in Ottawa with a presentation by David Fleet on Social Media Trends for Business in 2011.   While it wasn’t a wakeup call for those who have been using Social Media for quite some time to engage, attract and potentially convert there were some great takeaways and real world examples in Dave's talk that can be put into practice for any organization at any stage of their use and adoption of social media platforms!

The top trends were:

Integration

Social Customer Support

Social Impact Drives Reputation

Maturation of Social Media

Consolidation

Influence Matters

Democratization of Voice

Return of Websites

Rise of the “Less Shiny” Object

Digital Curation

Search Strategy

Community Management

Developer Engagement

Measurement Matters

Rise of the Content  Strategist

Communication Accelerates

Marketing in Streams

Social Media OVERLOAD

Ubiquitous Social

Location Location Facebook

If you weren’t able to attend and only have a couple of minutes, here are some key takeaways from Dave’s talk:

Integrate Social Media into other business functions and communication strategies.

Share social media measures and metrics across the organization

100% of 1 persons job shouldn’t be social media management. It should be 1% of 100 peoples  job with clear rules of engagement.

Don’t put your head in sand with social media.  The conversation will go on without you and you will have no way to influence or control it.

Reward your advocates!

Look beyond individual campaigns and continue engagement and communication between campaigns

If the top tier influences aren’t working for you, consider going to an alternative tier or feeders to get into the top tier communication fold.

If you aren’t getting results with social media, social media is not the problem.  Regroup, re-strategize and retarget!  Stop doing things that are not working.  Stop now!

Do not limit your social media spokespeople to a small and exclusive group, it doesn’t scale.

If you don’t trust the people you are working with to speak on behalf of your organization on social media platforms…this is an HR problem, or training problem…not a social media problem.

Be aware of potential risks and issues and continually monitor to ensure a proactive positive response for an issue or potential crisis.

Thank you @davefleet for the great presentation and real world customer examples to back it all up!

Come on out to Social Media Breakfast Ottawa or find a Social Media Breakfast near you!

If you weren’t able to make it or are out of town, here is the presentation and don't forget to check out the attendee comments on Twitter using the #SMBOttawa hashtag!

20 Social Media Business Trends in 2011

View more presentations from Dave Fleet

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Customer Testimonials - They aren't all created equal

A customer opinion is a compelling piece of marketing collateral that you can use to show the world that people are actually BUYING what you are SELLING!  It speaks louder than any landing page, and makes a bigger impact than any advertising you can buy.   It is telling the world, and your target market that what they sell is good, I bought it, I should know!  That simplified marketing message is enough to at minimum attract other like buyers to visit, to read and to convert themselves from prospects into customers.

Not all customer testimonials are created equally.

Choosing the right testimonial method for your customer is key to not only your success, but for repeat business.  You are in a position to make the customer feel entirely at home and comfortable or make them feel like a deer in the headlights.  When working with a customer to capture a testimonial, ensure they are prepared, comfortable with the exposure and comfortable with the delivery.

Video

The most valuable customer testimonials are those in video where a customer, ideally in their own words, are speaking into the camera about their experiences.  The problem with this is that not all customers are video friendly and an uncomfortable customer giving you a video testimonial is no way to sell your services.  If you choose to have video testimonials, ensure they are high quality and not home grown web cam testimonials.  A poor video quality will simply reflect poorly on your business regardless of the best intentions.  Get a great videographer if you can, make the customer comfortable and enjoy capturing an authentic customer experience that you can reuse on your web site, in presentations, at tradeshows and more!

Photo, Full Name & Quote

If a customer is not appropriate for a video testimonial or logistics would preclude you from securing their footage, consider showcasing them by photo, providing their full name and a quote.   A photo will provide users with a PERSON, a human being that they can relate to.  People do business with people and as soon as you are able to personalize the experience into something a customer can relate to and more importantly someone you have made some serious marketing progress.  A full name adds to the level of authenticity and the quote is supporting of their presence and their business with your company.

Full Name and Quote

This is useful in the event you are just showcasing a quote on a website, as part of a fact sheet or have limited real estate on a printed page or screen.  While not having an image will reduce the personalization and connection, it is not always feasible nor practical to include a photo.  Sometimes the customer is just camera shy.  Again, ensure your customer is always comfortable with the testimonial itself and the delivery method and you can’t go wrong.

Partial Name and Quote

These are probably the least desirable of all testimonials.  There is a very low level of personalization or authenticity by not providing details.  It implies that there may be something you are trying to hide.  In the event what you are offering is sensitive in nature and a published testimonial with full name could represent issues for the customer, this type of quote could be used.   I would recommend it as a last resort and to be avoided if you can.

Just a quote

Useless without attaching it to a customer.  Don’t do it.

DO I HAVE TO GIVE SOMETHING IN EXCHANGE?

Are you really asking…Do I have to buy the testimonial?

In short no.  If a customer is genuinely satisfied with their experience with you as a service provider or with your product, they should be willing to provide you with an endorsement at some level.   This is a one shot deal though so you have to be respectful and gracious.  It is bad business to keep going back to the same well (customer) for more testimonials AND it looks fishy if your company has one customer who is constantly saying great things about you…but no other customers can be found.

If at any time you choose to give your customer preferred status or discounts or any incentives, it should be done separately and not as a condition to the customer testimonial.  We all want provide special appreciation and yes even special treatment for our best customers, but you should not have to buy their love!

Did you know that sometimes a customer testimonial is written by the vendor?  Oh yes!  Is this a bad thing…not really, as long as the customer completely agrees with what has been written for them.  Large companies do this all the time for quotes in press releases, case studies or simple quotes to be used in marketing material.    Don’t be afraid to give your customer a suggestion, however, it is very important and I cannot stress this enough, that your customer is comfortable with what you are asking them to do.  If they show any hesitation, drop off the planet and are not responding to email or phone calls after you present them with a pre written endorsement, you can bet that there is discomfort.  Get the customer back and board, give them some space and see if they would like to try again in their own words, when the time is right.

Do you have any great customer testimonial stories?  Any lessons learned while capturing customer quotes?  Share them here!

We will be teaching more about how to secure top notch customer testimonials, how to use them and not abuse them, and much more in our Master your Marketing Mojo e-course!  Sign up today!  Early bird registration ends on April 8th, 2011!

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Send the RIGHT Message to your Customers

I have always enjoyed interacting with my customers whether I have worked for other companies or now that I have founded Sandbox PM.  It is my goal for the working relationship to be a joy, a breeze in fact.  This means we put our best foot forward, share our best talents, engage the best people so that the entire experience is perfect for our customers and our team.  Challenges are handled gracefully, roadblocks are dismantled or leveraged.  Its all part of making the entire experience a pleasure.   From the moment a customer is engaged, you would think that they would be encouraged to respond, ask questions and begin a dialog if they desired.    It gave me great pain to notice in my email box that companies who I had decided to interact with and receive their communications because I was interested in what they had to offer, did not appear to be at all interested in hearing back from me as a customer.  In fact in a recent email blast from a well known (and loved by me) high end hotel chain, the first sentence in the correspondence is:  

DO NOT REPLY TO THIS EMAIL 

Why the one sided communication?  What if I had a question? Would it not be easier to make the reply to address one that accepted a response?  I understand we are talking high volume here but making it difficult to engage is not the solution. One can interpret this bold statement at the beginning of their recent offering to me to say:

DO NOT CONTACT US.  THIS IS A ONE SIDED CONVERSATION.  MAKE A BETTER EFFORT AND FIND OUR CONTACT INFORMATION IF YOU REALLY WANT TO DO BUSINESS WITH US.

This burns me as I am a very loyal customer!   Another example is a restaurant that has a sign at the cash saying: We take credit cards but would prefer cash. I understand they want to avoid paying the fee that credit card companies charge as a premium to use their service.   The problem with this is that it is short sighted.  In fact, those who are paying by credit card tend to spend more than those who are parting with the money in their wallet.  Even when they pay the credit card processing fee, they are still making more so the cost of doing business is totally worth the investment.  How would this make you feel as a customer?  

Yes we want your money, but we don’t want you to take advantage of the convenience we are offering.

How about ditching the hand written sign and making a new sign, or even better, saying this person:

Thank you for your business.  We hope you enjoyed your meal and can’t wait to see you again!   

Which experience would you prefer? An amazing product or service combined with the warm and fuzzies and emotional benefits during and beyond the single transaction throughout the customer relationship will win and keep customers.

Finally I was in the bank today.  I love this bank.  I understand that very few people love their banks but I do.  I am waiting for my appointment and what do I see?  

How to make a formal complaint

Seriously? Not only do I see the text, there is an ENTIRE pamphlet dedicated to making a formal complaint right next to todays mortgage rates.  What message does that send a potential or existing customer?  Why would I need to make a formal complaint?  What would necessitate an entire pamphlet on the subject?  Sounds like a complicated process.   It is probably a deterrent.    

My suggestion is a pamphlet on how to communicate with your bank. We want to hear from you! How are we doing? Tell us all about your experience and you can win a <insert giveaway here>.  But do not create an entire manual on how to lodge a formal complaint.  THAT sends the WRONG message.  Oh and I love you bank but you have got it wrong this time.

This has given me as a founder plenty to think about.  Plenty of ways to put myself in the shoes of my customer.  We plan to make your customer experience holistic, rewarding and authentic and can't wait to do business with you.  That is how we plan to win and keep you as our customer as we launch on February 14th! Why? Because Sandbox PM is feeling the loooooove! Anastasia Founder, Sandbox PM

p.s We'd love to hear about your great customer experiences.  What company made you feel like the most important customer in the world?  What did they do to make your experience with them, worth repeating and bringing you back?

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WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE INANIMATE OBJECT?

Journals...fancy ones...lots of pages, colors, blank pages, lined pages...you name it...I just like journals.