Really? It's been eight months since my last post?

(The following blog entry was originally posted on Blogger on 06/12/11)

My apologies to anyone out there who's following me and reading this drivel. I haven't posted anything since August 2010, and it's a testimony to a) a rebound in the economy late last summer, and b) that rebound translating into a freighter-load of new projects that landed in our busy little company, and c) a little help from LinkedIn.

I remember a former client of mine (a marketing guy) emailing me back in probably 2006 or 2007 about urging me to join LinkedIn and I went pfff, nah, I'm not interested in another social networking site. And he said no it's not like that, it's more focused on businesses and professional networking. I still poo-pooed it and dismissed it, skeptic that I am.

Then about a year later I kept hearing chatter from colleagues and clients about LinkedIn, and it seemed like it was gaining momentum in the business world. Not long after that it became downright embarrassing if you didn't have a profile on the site. Peer pressure won, so I joined up (as did my business partner) and we started banging out the invitations.

Cut to 2011, and between the two of us, we've amassed a list of current and former clients that would impress any new business developer. But as everyone knows, a LinkedIn profile is only as good/current/relevant as the profile itself. And some people in our networks seem to not give a shit about it at all.

Then there was the example of one of our former clients whose profile announcements, ("so-and-so has just updated his experience") kept appearing almost daily for about a week. And I'm sure his co-workers must have seen them too. I said wow, sounds like so-and-so is either looking for a new job or is on the cusp of landing one. Sure enough, he emailed us both a couple weeks later and said "hey guys, I'm over at _____ now, here's my new info...". "Really? Best of luck in your new role. Thanks for letting us know!" (Like we didn't see it coming.)

In addition to the LinkedIn contacts and potential new business tool it represents to a small business like ours, we also took it upon ourselves to try a new business developer -- as in, a real person -- in late 2010 and early 2011. She found us on the internet and was old school: only wanted to work by the hour ($100 an hour and no commission on future billable jobs), and would work from a list of companies and contacts that we'd provide (which we culled from a 4-inch thick 2009 edition of Advertiser's Red Book we'd scored off eBay for $35). We picked our dream clients, and she went to work, burrowing her way into those selected companies. She'd get a contact and his/her info, forward to us, and we'd email them an intro letter, along with a link to our website to see samples of our work and to contact us if they needed a shop like ours.

Seemed fairly simple right? The process was relatively easy to manage and could all be done with email. My feeling was, if we got 1 new client, just 1, especially one that's outside the magazine publishing industry, from which we get probably 95% of our revenue, then this effort was worth it. As of this writing, not a single meeting has resulted from our efforts. We got a few nibbles, a few replies, mostly "check back with us later" or "check back when Jill or Richard or Amy is back from vacation." That sort of response. There are still a couple from that list who may have some potential, but I'd say it's probably a long shot.

All that said, I still feel optimistic about our networking prospects, and the power of a site like LinkedIn. And I think the year is going to be a good one. Early this week another former co-worker of my business partner emailed him (via LinkedIn) and said he was at a new company and was looking for a small agency/creative team and we met on Friday. It all transpired in less than a week. Maybe he's just kicking the tires, or maybe it's the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

A summer of good news/bad news.

(The following blog entry was originally posted on Blogger on 08/22/10)

Now that we're two-thirds of the way through summer, and two months since my last blog post, it's time to get all 4 of my followers/readers up to date. A lot has been happening business-wise and of course in current events. Let's start with the bad news.

If anyone remembers the summer of 2010 at all, it will probably be associated with one thing: the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Sure, the economy is still gasping for breath, but the spill stole the spotlight. It dumped 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf, and lasted nearly 3 months before they capped the well head. How it will affect the lives of those who make a living in the spill zone and the long-term future of sea life is anyone's guess. But one thing's for sure: as a nation we haven't taken the necessary steps to diversify our national energy portfolio. And any financial manager will tell you if you're too invested in one area, you take large risks with your investment. And so we have. It has taught oil companies a hard lesson as well: cutting corners on safety will most certainly hurt your employees, their families, your reputation and your share price.

One of the interesting things to track during the Gulf oil spill crisis was the shift in the Advertising/PR strategy of BP. Not only was the clean-up effort a remake of the old black and white movies of the Keystone Cops from the standpoint of those working with or around BP, it was also a slow-motion train wreck from a PR perspective. Not long into the spill, the feel-good ads that presented BP as being "alternative" and "green" disappeared from TV and print ads. They were replaced by BP manager testimonials about how they're "here for the long haul" and that they'll be "making a commitment to the environment" and so on. I don't doubt that the managers in the ads felt they were speaking the truth. But the reality is that BP didn't know heads from tails on how to coordinate the clean-up effort, and I wouldn't be surprised if we see more bad reports in the future coming from beaches and communities where BP has shirked its responsibility. Or has played pass the buck and pointed the finger at the U.S. Government.

Now the good news. My company has seen a solid rebound in new job requests from the lackluster first half of the year. It appears that our clients have turned on the marketing faucets again and job orders are steadily coming back in. We noticed a big up-tick in June and it's been steady so far through July and August. I'm crossing my fingers that it gains momentum through the rest of 2010 and into next year. Though I must say I'm cautiously optimistic - there's a lot of chatter from the financial sector about lukewarm forcasts and weak job growth projections. And slow sales growth in the housing market.

I hope my next post sometime in the 4th quarter has more good news. Maybe it'll be titled The Autumn of Good News/Good News. And maybe some of us small businesses will hold on through the worst of it. We've made it this far.

We might have suffered a stroke, but now our vitals look good.

(The following blog entry was originally posted on Blogger on 06/27/10)

So here we are nearing the end of the 2nd quarter of the year. How would I characterize the health of our company this year? It's been like a person with some health problems. It might have had a mild stroke even. It suffered from poor circulation to the brain and extremeties. Chills. Cold sweats. Anxiety attacks. It sought the advice from other patients. (That own companies too.) Got a lot of second opinions.

Needless to say it's been a nail-biting blur. It's somewhat miraculous that we've hung on this year. Lots of companies haven't been able to. The 1st quarter was marked by doubt, contingencies, worst-case scenarios, new business calls and emails, meetings, and a LOT of time spent on LinkedIn. I'm happy to say our perspiration and perseverence is bearing fruit.

Somehow we managed to turn the tide on what we saw as a near-total shutdown of our clients' marketing activity for the first 4 months of 2010. Then in May we started to get email RFPs for new jobs from current (but inactive) clients. We lobbied one client that markets 5 different membership clubs to "get out there with some new creative". We suggested a mid-June meeting to show new concepts.

We then spent nearly a month leading up to that meeting coming up with 13 direct mail concepts that the 5 marketing managers would consider mailing to their lists. The meeting went well, lots of nods and smiles, and while we switched gears to other business activity, we wondered how many they'd choose. Or if they'd decided to go with some other creative vendor.

Then the emails started to trickle in. One manager wanted 1. Another wanted 3. Another wanted 2, and so on. Final tally as of this blog entry: 10 out of the 13 were chosen to be produced and mailed in the 3rd quarter. My business partner and I did a lot of high-fiving last week, let me tell you.

And more work has come in from other formerly inactive clients that came out of the marketing woodwork.

And now it's looking like billing for 3Q alone will make up for our losses in 1Q and 2Q. Amazing. As a friend and colleague says, when you run your own business you're always a phone call away from being overwhelmed. And as I always say, that's a good problem to have.