Off-Piste

Things have been going well for us in the NOVA/DC area, but we’re not the types to settle for prominence in just one major metropolitan area. That’s why PeakTwo is proud to announce the opening of our next outpost in Charlotte, North Carolina. We can already boast a strong core of clients in the area: Mercury Global Advisors, AtoZ.com, and Focus Physical Therapy & Fitness. Word’s apparently getting out that we’re good at what we do, and we’re racking up even more referrals. Being there makes good business sense.

So here’s the plan: Michael Granetz, our intrepid founder and CEO, will be heading down to Charlotte for a few months to get things underway. All you South Riding golf buddies can stop sobbing; Mike will be back regularly, meeting with clients and schooling you on the links. We have to remind him that accumulated frequent flyer miles can’t be used to defray greens fees. Partners Jay Ferrari and Joan Latta-Fernandez will keep things under control back at home base.

The expansion is underway and should be established by the end of the summer. See you down in Charlotte!

I have to credit my financial advisor/sales pro brother-in-law for this little triplet. It’s well known in his biz but strangely foreign in communications and creative circles. Let’s fix that.

Fast, good and cheap? Sounds like an ideal circumstance for any project, but there’s a catch. You can only have two.

Here’s how it works:

• If you want something good and cheap, it’s not going to be fast.
• If you want something fast and good, it’s not going to be cheap.
• If you want something cheap and fast, it’s not going to be good.

That last point can be a killer. We know all about light-speed turnaround and can can punch out stuff of pretty consistent quality, often in less than a week. It’s not our favorite M.O., but it can be done. That said, if you want to make sure you get work that meets your expectations and respects your budget, try to account for that all-important lead time. It gives everyone breathing room, keeps the “Murphy Factor” to a minimum, and saves you stress and expense.

Of course, if it’s an emergency, we’ll work all hours of the night to get something done. Just don’t be surprised when you see a line item for Red Bull.

No excuses. We’ve been buried — and in the best way. Lots of work and plenty of proposals in the pipeline. As much as I want to, trying to write a post at the end of the day, after getting a four-year-old and a six-month-old to bed has proven a mighty challenge. Hell, I don’t even know what happend on Grey’s Anatomy last night (don’t spoil it!)

With that, here’s a shameless re-direct to a great post by one of our favorite gurus, ValMal over at Conversation Agent:

100 Thoughts on Social Media

Five favorites:

1. make the content rock (or at least swing)
2. participate sincerely, and not to brown nose (does this count?)
3. stay offline when you’re tired or argumentative (see explanation above, gotta problem w/ that?)
4. make your writing a work of art (personal favorite, JF)
5. appreciate success is several years in the making (man, are we learning that)

More soon!

Social media maniacs, viral marketeers, bloggers and Web-casters — your arsenal of strategy is white hot and more popular than the center cafeteria table. And with good (eh, maybe decent) reason. The outreach works. It’s inexpensive compared to traditional efforts, and from Foursquare to Facebook, it’s just fun.

But there’s still something that’s going to knock it on its heels: Reality.

Earlier this week, Mike enjoyed the privilege of participating in Social Media Strategy, an interactive panel session hosted by Business Innovation Growth in Charlotte, NC. It was a full afternoon of conversation, questions and answers regarding the effectiveness of social media in both B2B and B2C contexts. And like so many of these exchanges, it took place (irony alert) in real time, in the real world — with cocktails afterward.

One of the most important realizations resulting from our participation in that panel was that there’s no need to beat the death out of the “social media buy-in” message. Self-proclaimed experts hell bent on simply describing social media benefits are a few spaces back on the board; most companies are at the “ok, enough people are doing it – I want to do it too” phase. The challenge now is that getting started is still overwhelming to them.

Rest easy. If you have any appreciation for marketing, you’re already on board. Social media effectiveness is built on basic marketing principles: company buy-in, clear program objectives, ongoing testing, analysis and improvement. These apply regardless of media.

The best way to start a social media effort? Start a social media effort. Pick a point, choose a goal, and commit to the channel. Don’t treat it as a the holy grail. Instead, think of it as another outlet that deserves the same respect as advertising, PR, traditional web presence, broadcast, print, etc.

Of course, don’t forget what we learned by simply showing up: information sharing, thought leadership, and business interaction is sometimes best facilitated by smiles, handshakes, and the actual exchange of business cards. Mike left Charlotte with new friends, a fresh perspective, and several valuable points of contact from which our business will inevitably benefit.

Last week, we completed a quick pitch for a local art gallery looking to tune up their Web presence and boost their marketing efforts. It’s a non-profit organization doing a beautiful job hosting events, showing exhibitions, and generally enriching the local arts community. And while the gallery is working to build visibility among potential patrons, it’s having no problem attracting the help of a dedicated team of volunteers.

And that, perhaps, is part of it’s challenge.

What organization in its right mind doesn’t appreciate the help of unpaid people passionate about the cause? We don’t merely welcome the idea — we do our best to let it climb right in bed and cozy up with us. The trouble is that volunteers tend to be people with a million commitments and obligations: careers, family, other interests. Nine out of ten are happy to show up and help in any way possible — from sweeping the floor to passing out Champagne. But the volunteers you need to be wary of are the folks with highly specialized skills. These are the volunteers who can bring your efforts to a dead stop. They tend to turn around projects you consider critical at their convenience.

We’ve seen this before. Whether it’s a non-profit or small business, somebody knows somebody’s nephew who is a graphic designer or web developer. They promise they can work up a perfect poster or whip the website in to shape and are happy to contribute time. They usually get things off to a good start, but then they do what most busy people who need to pay the bills do — they fade in the stretch.

Part of the reason we were approached by this organization was because, as much as they appreciated the efforts of their more technically minded volunteers, they were suffering from their inability to consistently contribute. The folks running the show have recognized that if they want to get their marketing up to a speed that matches their vision, it’s probably worth a line-item in the annual budget.

We definitely look forward to the chance to work on behalf of the gallery, and understand that non-profits generally don’t have budget to burn. We also appreciate their realization that, as much as they depend on volunteers to support and sustain their organization, they will be well served making a modest investment in a professional firm that can make getting them what they need a top priority.

Slideshow presentations have become landing page mainstays — done well, they’re an eye-catching and effective way to convey a lot of info and imagery. And they serve up plenty of that “wow, the Web sure is cool” factor. Who doesn’t dig a little animation, so to speak?

After reading an article this morning citing 30 standout slideshow examples, and having a quick Twitter tete-a-tete (incongruity noted) with one of our designers revealed genuine concerns about slideshows.

We’re seeing the same syndrome that, just a couple years ago, was generally confined to PowerPoint. People want slides so packed with information that they become unappealing and unreadable. We all know the dangers of PowerPoint abuse. We’ve all fallen asleep to the droning presenter who does little more than read every word on his or her slides. We’ve all grappled with clients who insist every iota of information has to be in the presentation and then wonders why feedback was in the cellar.

Think of slides as flashcards — the old-school animals-and-alphabet ones your nursery school teacher would chant with you morning after morning. One message, one image, now move on. The information sticks because it is the right dose for a typical attention span — and today’s hyper-media audience has an attention span that makes a nursery school student look like a Buddhist monk.

Like the idea of slides for y0ur site build or redesign? Great. Keep content under control. Keep design clean. They’ll get the job done. Load them up like a jitney bus bound for Cartagena and your slides wont be worth . . . well, enough about that.