Why Put the Why Before the What

“We need a flier (brochure, website, logo),” is how most design projects are initiated. That’s when the possibilities start to dissolve.

Maybe it’s a mandate from on high.

Maybe it’s what you’ve done every year.

Maybe you hope the flier will clarify what you want to accomplish. But that’s backwards.

Even when you really know you need a website or an annual report or an event logo, you should first ask why.

A brochure or a flier is merely a form — the what. They are just vehicles for your message.

The form could be writing in the sky.

The form could be a wine and cheese party with a presentation.

The form could be a short video. Read more

What’s In it for Me?

You sit down to write your marketing copy. Words flow easily about who you are and what your service or product includes. You can describe the what, where and when with finesse. The only problem is that the reader is going to ask, “What’s in it for me?”

It doesn’t matter if it’s a marketing brochure, a workshop description or website copy. It doesn’t matter if the reader is a devotee. It doesn’t matter how much you think they need your information or how interesting it is. In making a decision to sign up, purchase or read further, your customer is wondering how you can benefit them.

Why is focusing on benefits so hard?

Creative Inspiration: Gifts from the sea

Where do you go for creative inspiration? For me, one place is the sea. It offers extraordinary details if you’re patient and curious enough to let them wash over you. The sea reminds me that the most beautiful forms are the most simple and direct. Too often, we complicate things by seeking out lofty solutions. Most of the time, the answer is sitting right there just waiting to be noticed.

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“The sea does not reward those who are too anxious,
too greedy, or too impatient. One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach—
waiting for a gift from the sea.”
—Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Is Your Marketing Budget Working Smarter, Not Harder?

“I want to work smarter, not harder in 2012,” a friend resolved at an annual New Years Day party where guests reflect on the past year and state intentions for the new one.

Working smarter often involves working harder at first, but not harder on the same old stuff. Working smarter means putting systems in place that conserve time, energy and money. But that work often means asking hard questions. Otherwise we would set up resource-saving systems more often!

Which brings me to marketing budgets. It’s easy to squander time and money, two equally valuable assets. Read more

Take a first step. Figure out the rest later.

“Ship often. Ship lousy stuff, but ship. Ship constantly.” —Seth Godin

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Diving in head first not only goes against conventional wisdom, but it goes beyond most people’s comfort zones.

We’re always told to plan, to be level headed, to be prudent, to be structured. The only problem is that our fear, doubt, procrastination, worry, perfectionism, definitions of success (add as necessary) trick us into staying put. But we believe that our delay is really prudence. Read more

If Only We’d Made Cheese in High School Chemistry Class

My mother likes to tell people what I said about chemistry class, “I don’t know why anyone would care about the rate of a reaction. I don’t even care about the reaction itself.”

This, coming from the daughter of two biochemists.

I’ve always loved science, but failing at one type forever brands you a flunkie.

And yet, I’ve spent more hours than I can count creating science on the stove, in the oven and, unfortunately, in the fridge of the bluish-green variety.

Chemistry was never so fun than at a recent cheesemaking class with cheese whiz Mary Rosenblum (and science-fiction author). Thanks to SlowFood Portland (organizers) and to Chef Robert Reynolds Chef Studio (use of space). Read more