Launching a new business
Jul 14, 2008 Blogging, work work work
This is what I’ve been working on for the past couple of weeks: Open Book Strategies
You can see I’m changing out my links to Smart Cookie Communications because we’re really going to focus on marketing this other business instead. Here’s how it came about:
- There are a lot of marketing communication professionals here in Central Ohio and I’ve been having a hard time figuring out how to market myself so I’d stand out.
- Even though I was reluctant to see this, what differentiates me from my marketing communications competition is my web 2.0 experience: I’ve managed email lists, enormous forums, and of course all the blogging I do. I understand virtual relationships and I know that web 2.0 content isn’t just regular old content with hyperlinks thrown in; I know it’s about relationships. So that’s what I ended up talking about with folks.
- Every time I said the word “blog” ears pricked up and that’s where people had questions. I did a lot of consulting on the side but kept brushing off requests to do more of it thinking I needed to focus on the writing.
- And yet the blog jobs kept coming.
- Finally one of my mentors said, “Take the leap!” She advised me to come up with blog service packages to make it easier for people to understand my services.
- So here we are.
My ideal client is a small to medium local business owner who’s a little nervous about web 2.0 and blogs. I like to work closely with people and I don’t mind doing a lot of hand holding. I’m pretty darn patient with people who have a lot of questions. (Ask Kristen!) And I understand narrative so I can help people find their most compelling bloggable stories. (This was my favorite part about this project — listening to them talk, asking lots of questions, and identifying blog entries in what they shared.)
Anyway! That’s what we’re doing and now the writing is on the side instead of the blog consulting.
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Tags: blog, Central Ohio, consulting, Kristen, marketing, narrative, Open Book Strategies
It’s raining
Jul 3, 2008 Friends, work work work
This may mean no Red, White & Boom festivities at the Clippers game tonight. It may mean no Clippers game. I’m not all that heart-broken about it but Madison is. She says, “I’ve never did Red, White & Boom before!” I’ve never did either but you don’t see me complaining. Of course I’m old and grouchy and on my way to crotchety so not having to sit in bleachers eating stale peanuts and slapping mosquitoes while I wait for fireworks is ok by me. Don’t worry — I’m playing sympathetic while hiding my glee. I just hope Kristin’s shindig doesn’t get rained out because really, it’s the pinnacle of our social life.
Brett and I spent the morning brainstorming new names for our non-existant company. It was fun because he’s funny. It was also annoying because he doesn’t really understand brainstorming, which is just shouting out ideas and not shooting ‘em down as they come up. Brett is used to self-censorship and being overly self-critical. He needs some loosening up in the brainstorming department but eventually he got the hang of it and we ended up with a short list of names that neither of us hate. I sent ‘em off to a couple of smart, branding-savvy friends and now we’re waiting to see if any of them are worth keeping.
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Tags: branding, Brett, business, clippers, consulting, fireworks, freelancing, Kristen, red white and boom, work
