It’s been frighteningly busy around here as of late. It seems everyone is gearing up for the summer season in our area, not to mention looking over their marketing plans for 2010.  Right now everyone is hearing all the social media hype and having a hard time sorting through it.  What’s best?  Is it worth it?  Do I have to do that “Twitter” thing?  Lots of questions.  Well there’s no need to get too worried. Social Media is important, but it’s not all or nothing.  In fact while there are certainly things you should be doing, there are probably others you needn’t waste your time on.  Which is which?  Well, let’s talk.. 608-356-3954

We got a note this morning that there is maintenance going on with an email server that may effect some clients.  I’m sure you know the drill.. usually these things take less than an hour to resolve.  If you are affected you should be able to check your mail online through your webmail address.

Recently we’ve been working with Baraboo Candy Company on a variety of tasks all focused around, you guessed it.. selling candy.  It’s not a hard task when Baraboo Candy Company’s “Cow Pie” candies are practically synonymous with “Wisconsin”…  If you’ve not taken a big bite out of a Cow Pie!, Now’s the time.

We are now working with Reserve America & IHS to provide both Hotel & State Park Campground reservations to our website visitors.  You’ll see “Book Now” buttons placed at DevilsLakeWisconsin.com & MirrorLakeWisconsin.com and Ads for our new Skillet Creek Reservation Engine throughout our sites.  Through our IHS partnership we can target links to our visitors needs, like finding reservations near Baraboo for instance.

In this line of work you sometimes get clients who come to you hoping the internet will save their business. It won’t.  Not on it’s own anyway.  Thing is, if there is a problem somewhere, you have to deal with it before taking on another venture, otherwise chances are you’ll simply be out more money and no better off for the expenditure.

One situation that really stands out to me, is where the client has been at it all so long that they simply forgot that they used to love their business. Over the years, they’ve found a pattern.  You know, a “rut”.  Once there it can be a challenge to get out.  A nice deep rut blocks the view of the horizon and kills the imagination. (All the stuff that made you successful in the first place.) In companies like this new ideas fall on deaf ears, the buck is always in mid-pass, and sadly customers are seen as inevitable irritations…  These are what I call “revitalization” projects. The only thing worse than working with a company in this phase, is being their customer.

I try to avoid these sorts of situations as much as possible.  It’s not rebuilding mind you, it’s the fire.  Without the excitement and energy we have nothing to build on.  It really bums me out when I can see the path to a successful campaign, only to realize that the bigger issue is the client’s lack of enthusiasm for their own product or service or even their customers that is sucking the wind out of their sails. In that case all you can do is be honest and tell them exactly that.  After all, they are paying you to help them find solutions.  A bit of  harsh reality may be the most valuable solution you can offer.

I suddenly looked at our company website and thought, “Too Much. Too Much” and as you can see I’ve cleared it all out and brought it down to the bare essentials.  That’s one thing we often do when we build websites, we simply try to say too much.  Sometimes it’s simply a better idea to provide the essential information, and then have folks call.  That’s where relationship building really starts.

Have you ever looked at Delicious?  It’s an online service that allows you to store and share your bookmarks.  Ours is here http://delicious.com/skilletcreek. What information could you share with your customers, readers, friends and fans?

I was posting a response on another website discussing approches to social media, and I thought I’d share this with you….

My experience with social media is that it’s organic and personal. For most of us our lives and personal interests connect deeply with our business anyway. If we explore and follow people, brands and networks that interest us personally we tend to blend in others who are like minded in business and life in general. That’s where the doors start to open up and not usually the ones we were conceiving of when we started. I love the bit about being yourself. I think there is success in just being in social media and as soon as you start overtly “doing” you lose your authenticity. -

Of course you’ve probably already heard me spin on about this on this before…

I’ll be out of the office quite a bit this week as you can imagine.  I hope everyone has a great holiday!

You may have noticed that I am now offering art quality print photography online at our new Skillet Creek Gallery Store.  Just in time to miss Christmas of course, but on schedule with the growth plans for Skillet Creek.  I even have new business cards coming this week!  You know what they say, “A change is as good as a rest” and I’m feeling well rested!

In other news I am now working with a couple new clients to help them to develop a strong social media strategy for their companies.  I am a strong advocate of social media. Still for many companies the amount of work and attention it requires can be daunting. Just creating a twitter account without quantifiable goals and realistic expectations is simply a fast track to disappointment.  It’s a good idea to get a little outside help.

Oh, and yes our website did change from green to brown… fiddle, fiddle…

I always get excited right along with my clients when a new project reaches it’s fruition.  Especially when they see rare instant success.  Such is the case with local author Royce Boyles who along with Dave Robinson have just released their new book, The Lombardi Legacy.   I am proud to be part of this project and so happy to see it take off almost as fast as we could get the website live.   Congratulations Royce & Dave!

The most interesting bit of this project from a developer’s point of view is how simple the approach is.  One product, basic information.  Sometimes there is no need to be fancy, just clean, and classy.  The website simply allows the product to sell itself.