Jan
06
2009
What would you risk for something you really believed in?
Emily Capps and I have been working together for nearly four years. She’s a fantastically talented copywriter and I’ve hired her many times. I’ve done work for her as well as she hired Zero-G to redo her web site back in 2007.
Over lunch a few months ago, she told me that she was working on a side project, a web site that was very important to her. Emily said that as a kid, she was bullied by her classmates to the point that she started hearing voices — and they didn’t stop for 14 years. Emily thought it was important to tell her story openly and honestly so she might help prevent someone else from having to go through what she went through.
But people she talked to were skeptical about her project, particularly from the point of view that it may negatively impact her business as a copywriter and creative consultant. After all, she would be publicly exposing her issues with depression and auditory hallucinations to to the world — an audience that includes people she works with or potentially may work for. She was torn about it, especially since she felt that publishing under a pen name or using a web nickname or handle wouldn’t be fair to the audience she was trying to help. She didn’t want to seem ashamed of her past problems or give the impression that she was hiding from them. It wouldn’t send the right message.
In the end, Emily chose to do the courageous thing (which was, in some ways more courageous than writing the site in the first place). When her new site, Just One Pepsi, launched it did include her real name and even a photograph.
Funny but back in high school when I got my first AOL account (which was many years before we all realized how annoying AOL was), the fascinating and intriguing thing about it was that everyone was pretty much anonymous out there. You didn’t have to give anyone your real name, you could be whoever you wanted… But now our entire lives are online. Massive databases have been built for the sole purpose of figuring out where I went to high school and if that Erik Wolf is the same Erik Wolf who then attended college at Emory. Our entire lives are online and for better or worse, true anonymity is a difficult thing to come by online or anywhere else.
There’s an expectation now that if you visit a web site that there is going to be a real person behind it and that you can “get to know” that person through their work online. Emily knew that if she was going to be true to what she wanted to accomplish with the site that she would have to do the brave thing, take a risk and show visitors who she was.
And by the way, Emily remains a fantastically talented writer and her Just One Pepsi site is a testament to that. The site clearly displays her talent, passion and creativity and tells an incredible story.
The moral of all this? Besides the lessons of Emily’s struggles and ultimate perseverance, the lessons to everyone should be that if you are passionate about something — whether it’s a good cause, a business venture or just about anything in life — you may need to take a significant risk on its behalf. And if it’s not worth the risk, what’s the point anyway?
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Published by Erik Wolf under Web/Interactive
Jan
02
2009
In my New Years Resolution post, I recommended that small businesses make positive changes this year towards environmental responsibility. Why? Because being “green” is not only good for the planet, it can also be profitable and give you a competitive edge over larger, slower-moving competitors. It also makes your firm an easy hire for customers that are also eco-conscious and looking to implement their own green initiatives.
I will disclaim up front that I am not an environmental expert… My expertise is in marketing and branding and so I won’t comment on the size of anyone’s carbon footprint or attempt to quantify any impact that your organization can make on our environmental crisis (though I do know that every little bit helps). I’ll focus instead on the benefits to your customers.
Every business is different, but I’ve used my compiled a short list of small “green” changes that we’ve made in the way that we’ve done business that have a positive impact on our position in the marketplace:
We don’t use presentation boards. This is actually a big deal. When I was running a corporate MarComm department for a consumer products company, I had a closet in my office literally FILLED with thick black presentation boards from various outside design firms that we had hired, with exactly one design idea on each one. And then in our production room downstairs I had a whole other closet filled with boards that we had used to present products to retailers. Using boards is expensive and extremely wasteful. By contrast, at Zero-G we present all of our concepts on a computer screen, whether online via conference call or in person. From a marketing perspective it’s a significant cost savings to us which we can pass on directly to our clients, and the use of technology makes us look savvy. And I hope we are, by the way 
We send proposals via email. This isn’t original, we’re definitely not the first firm to do this, but it’s important. I’ve received some VERY fancy agency proposals in my time, hand-bound on an expensive paper stock, cut to unconventional “creative” dimensions and delivered wrapped in tissue paper inside a custom box. I never went this far, but I did print and bind multi-page proposals and present them to clients in person early on in my entrepreneurial career. And while I was never as prolific a proposal-maker as some of my big-agency counterparts, it was wasteful and time consuming nonetheless. Our email proposals come on a simple format, easy to read (it’s a true HTML email, not a PDF attached to an email) and easy to create. From a customer benefits standpoint, there are savings in cost and sweat equity, but I think the biggest benefit is that doing business this way has allowed us to turn proposal requests very quickly, showing the client that we’re committed to customer service.
We manage projects online. In my experience as a client, I had lots of meetings and conversations with outside firms that I really didn’t need to have. Managing the process online in a transparent fashion helps eliminate some of that wasted time for us and for the client. As an additional benefit, it makes the project available to the client even when we are not: in the middle of the night, early in the morning or on weekends, for example, when a lot of small business owners are focusing on their marketing initiatives because they didn’t have time during the business day.
We also do a lot of little things, like foregoing a traditional fax in favor of an e-fax, allowing people to work with us remotely, resisting the urge to print emails, maintaining paperless processes wherever possible, etc. But not all of these tie back directly to a significant client benefit so we don’t talk about them as much.
I hope this doesn’t come off as tooting my own horn — the moral of this story isn’t supposed to be how wonderful Zero-G Creative is. Truly, none of these things I’ve mentioned are all that interesting or all that innovative. But hopefully it shows that if you really examine your business and the “standards” in your industry that you might follow “just because it’s the way we’ve always done things,” you may find a few things that are actually worth changing. Inefficiencies or wasteful processes that cost you money, are environmentally irresponsible and have LITTLE OR NO REAL BENEFIT to your customers.
Truly, if you can create a value proposition that either saves or makes your clients money in a down economy and with a significantly reduced environmental impact, you’ll have a great story to tell next time you’re making a sales pitch.
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Published by Erik Wolf under Branding, Random Thoughts, Strategy
Jan
01
2009
I guess it’s tough to get through the start of the year without acknowledging the opportunities that come with every new January 1st and the idea that maybe we’ll do things a little differently this year. So here are my Small Business New Year’s Resolutions for 2009… Hope they’re helpful!
1. Stop worrying about the economy. From what I see working with business owners every day, unless you’re in real estate or somehow otherwise tied to the banking/housing crises, small businesses seem to be doing just fine. Keep a positive outlook and resolve NOT to participate in the recession. A down economy is a fantastic business opportunity to gain an advantage over competitiors who — unlike yourself — are feeling skiddish about the economy and are cutting spending, cutting marketing and basically going into “hibernation” mode until CNN says it’s over. Now is the time to put your best face forward.
2. Focus. Focus everything. Focus your offerings and marketing on products/services that reap the greatest profit. Focus your marketing/mailing lists and don’t be afraid to cut it down by 20 or 30% and reinvest the time and cash savings in hitting the remaining 80% harder. And don’t forget to schedule time with yourself every week to focus on your outbound sales and marketing efforts.
3. Out with the old. Make a list of every item in your sales or marketing toolkit that you haven’t overhauled in at least two years. And then start replacing them one by one. Make yourself a calendar and set deadlines to remind you when that old web site needs to be gone, when you’re going to work on replacing that circa 2006 trifold with something more relevant. This also goes back to my first resolution about turning the bad economy into an opportunity. A fresh look sends a strong implied message to your customers that you’re not only surviving but excelling. No one wants to do business with someone who looks like they’re circling the drain; your customers and prospects want to partner with firms that look strong and have that “smell of success” about them.
4. Do SOMETHING online. I’m assuming here that you already have an active email marketing strategy. If not, start on that immediately. But social media affords some fantastic opportunities to connect with and stay in front of clients, prospects, partners and vendors and you should be represented somewhere out there. There are many social media tools out there that are great for promoting business and business people (besides good old-fashioned traditional blogging) including LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Squidoo to name just a handful. But don’t go and jump head first into all this stuff… Pick one and stick with it (we all know you don’t have time to devote to updating several social media tools every day so be realistic; after all, no one is impressed with a stale profile that never seems to have anything new or interesting). And stick with it for a few months at least before giving up.
My social media drug of choice is Twitter (though I’m also active on LinkedIn). I’ve been on Twitter a few months now, and even though it’s a big commitment to keep it current, it’s a lot of fun and I have definitely connected with people who will be valuable in my business this year. Really, it’s the easiest and most painless networking I’ve ever done.
5. Do something green. I think it should be crystal clear by now that “green” is the new color of money. Yes, it’s also the old color of money, but you all know what I mean. Being environmentally friendly is not only responsible, it’s profitable. And environmentally-friendly practices can be implemented MUCH more quickly and easily within nimble, streamlined small businesses than in our big, clunky large enterprise counterparts. Now is a great time to claim a point of differentiation for your business that is both socially responsible and relevant to your customers.
6. Give something back. Charity may not be directly tied to sales and marketing benefits but so what? No business is too small to care about philanthropy and supporting their community. Doing the right thing is its own reward and tends to bring other unexpected benefits as well.
Happy New Year! Here’s a to a fantastic 2009!
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Published by Erik Wolf under Marketing Materials, Strategy, Web/Interactive
Jan
01
2009
Zero-G Creative, one of Atlanta’s premier small business marketing, web and graphic design firms, announced this morning the launch of their new web site.
“Marketing and design are always evolving, especially on the web. Everyone on our team thought it was important to start 2009 right by demonstrating both our ability and our commitment to staying ahead of the curve,” said Erik Wolf, President of Zero-G Creative. “We’re always telling our clients how important it is for small businesses to put their best face forward, particularly in a down economy. This is our way of practicing what we preach.”
One of the first things that visitors are likely to notice when they arrive at zerogcreative.com is how prominently Zero-G’s clients are featured. “We wanted to make our clients the stars of site,” Wolf said. “Their success is really what makes our success.”
The new Zero-G Creative web site includes an RSS feed, a blog and lot of good tips and free information for small business owners looking for marketing help. Entrepreneurs “on the go” will also be pleasantly surprised to find that site is also extremely compatible with mobile browsers.
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Published by Erik Wolf under Announcements
Dec
19
2008
Zero-G Creative, an Alpharetta, Georgia-based marketing, web and graphic design firm has announced the addition of Keith Fletcher and Stephanie Frost to their team.
Fletcher, who is taking on the role of Creative Director at Zero-G Creative, brings more than 20 years of experience in marketing communications and graphic design, having worked for agencies and design studios including Pringle, Dixon & Pringle, Metaphor, Inc., Manning, Selvage & Lee and most recently Firstline Creative.
Frost has more than 15 years of experience — mostly in the wireless and technology industries — having worked for firms like Kore Telematics, Cingular, Motorola and Skytel. She is joining Zero-G as Director of Business Solutions.
“We’re very excited to have Keith and Stephanie on board,” said Erik Wolf, President of Zero-G Creative. “Keith is just an incredible designer and has more than two decades of outstanding creative under his belt. He will be a great asset not only to our clients but also as a mentor to our other designers. Stephanie comes from some extremely high-tech businesses, but she’s built a terrific track record of working with small and mid-sized business clients and her consultative approach has helped them position for growth. I’m very happy to have someone with her qualifications working hand-in-hand with our clients.”
Fletcher holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Kansas (Lawrence, KS) and has worked with a number of high profile clients including Delta Airlines, Georgia Pacific, Arby’s, The Coca Cola Company and he and his team at MS & L created the stylized “Peach” logo for the State of Georgia.
In addition to her many achievements in the wireless industry, helping businesses develop and integrate wireless solutons, Frost has also spent time as a lobbyist for the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) and spent a year working in the White House. Frost has a B.A. from Sweet Briar College (Sweet Briar, VA).
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Published by Erik Wolf under Announcements
Dec
14
2008
Zero-G Creative, an Alpharetta, Georgia-based marketing, web and graphic design firm has bolstered its marketing and branding consulting offerings by merging with its sister company The Zodo Group.
“We had been running Zodo and Zero-G Creative side by side for a couple of years,” according to Erik Wolf. President of Zero-G Creative, “but in the end we felt that we could serve our clients better by offering all of our services under the Zero-G Creative flag.”
Zero-G Creative, launched early in 2007, is now truly a full-service marketing agency serving exclusively small to mid-sized business clients in the Atlanta metro area and throughout the country. More information about Zero-G Creative is available online at zerogcreative.com.
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Published by Erik Wolf under Announcements
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