Essential Productivity Apps

I use technology every day at work in order to increase productivity in our office. Though it assists us everyday, we use it in conjunction with face-to-face communication – not instead of face-to-face communication. Technology has streamlined our processes and allowed us to spend more time focusing on brainstorming and creativity.

Our Graphics & Marketing office has gone through many changes over the last four years.  We’ve gone from not having a graphics request form to carbon copy forms, to paper forms, and now we’re digital.  We’ve increased the number of graphic request forms by 8% and the number of projects we created by 44% in the last fiscal year alone. These apps are not solely responsible for these increases in productivity, but they have been an instrumental component.  Here are just a few of the tools we are currently utilizing in our office to help with productivity.  I should mention that we are avid iPad users and lovers!

iAnnotate: As I mentioned, we’ve gone from paper graphics forms to digital forms.  We developed a .pdf check sheet for any graphics project requested from our office.  When a client needs a project, we sit down and fill out the request form on my iPad.   Using iAnnotate, we are able to mark up the .pdf with all of the customer specifications. We do require everyone in our organization to set up a meeting prior to filling out a graphic request form. This helps us establish buy-in and makes the department feel more invested in their marketing efforts.  (This is the only app we pay for)

Downside to iAnnotate: No spell check

 

Our Graphic Request Form

Trello: (I absolutely LOVE this.)  After a client and I fill out the form, I take a screenshot and upload it from my iPad into our project management system, Trello.  Each student has their own “slot” in the program and we can add “cards” that contain all of the information needed to complete the project.  We can assign the project to multiple people, pass “cards” back and forth, and upload documents and revisions to Trello.  When students have a draft for me to view they can put the card (with the draft) in my “slot” and I can make comments and return it to them.  It saves an enormous amount of time, energy, and confusion for our students.

Upside to Trello: FREE apps!

 

Our Trello Board

Evernote: I realize this has been around for a while however, I love how easy it is to use.  I no longer have to carry around notebooks or file information.  I can take notes, minutes, and photos and easily organize them in one area. You can also integrate PenUltimate with Evernote so you can write notes and incorporate them into your Evernote notebooks.

Easy Note: This is a great to-do list app.  I can write down all of the different things I need to get done and carry them with me all day.  You can setup different lists for personal, professional, departmental, etc.  It is very easy to use and keeps me very organized.

Dropbox: If you’re not using dropbox, sign up now!  It is so easy to use and allows for easy document storage and updating.  I can access files on my phone, computer, and through the website.  Plus, you get additional storage the more you share the program. We use Dropbox to pass large files back and forth between clients and our office to ensure no one is getting upset that their inbox is constantly full.

As I mentioned before, technology assists us in our daily tasks, but it doesn’t replace face-to-face communication. We still meet regularly as a staff to build relationships, brainstorm ideas, and discuss projects.  These apps are just tools to help keep us organized.  Nothing takes the place of good conversation and relationship building.

I hope you found some of these apps helpful! As I mentioned, we use a great number of apps in our office, but these are the ones that have been instrumental in our solving some of productivity and communication challenges. Feel free to share some of your favorites in the comments section!

Q&A with Dr. Larry Stultz.

I’ve been an IMC student for over a year now, yet the resumes of the program’s instructors still impress me. One of those who is impressive both as a professional and professor is Dr. Larry Stultz. If you haven’t already had Dr. Larry for IMC 615, I’ll let you learn more about his background here.

When I took his class, he provided me with motivating, constructive feedback that contributed to- what I believe- is one of my best projects in the program (a Quiznos campaign, for anyone wondering).

I thought it would be interesting to get Dr. Larry’s take on the direction of the ad industry and advice for students entering his class. Can you guess what his favorite ad slogan is? Read on to find out.

Q: How do you envision the decline of print and rise of digital influencing future advertising approaches?

A: The rise of digital marketing and social communications has changed advertising and public relations in very human ways. Print advertising was always about pushing products, services, and philosophies. Print designers knew how to make graphic matter yell out to us and demand attention.

Ten years ago, Joseph Jaffe urged us to “join the conversation,” and the conversation became social at first. Then, it spread into marketing platforms that we all find much more personal and satisfying than print ever was.

Digital marketing gives us affinity groups we can purposely join and/or identify with. We all feel better about pull strategies, even if we do not recognize them as purposeful, because we feel we are making our own decisions about our media consumption, as well as our goods and services consumption.

Q: In your Creative Strategy & Execution class, you ask students to select a brand that is in need of revitalization. If you were the student, what brand would you choose?

A: Were I to choose a brand for my revitalization efforts, I would first choose an industry category I am passionate about. More importantly, I would select a category that will need me in the future. Creative Strategy & Execution is all about portfolio building.

Big box stores won’t be needing me. Electronics megastores probably won’t need me, and the me-too shopping mall clothing outlets won’t either.

I would try and discover the near-future preferences a growing target market will be developing, probably an online brand or at least one with an online market. I would select one of the struggling start ups and brand them into super stardom. Then, my portfolio would serve me well upon graduation.

Q: Favorite iconic campaign slogan?

A: The most memorable campaign slogans come from my early days in the advertising business, when I think advertising tried harder.

Hertz vs. Avis- Whose slogan wins?

I remember the early days of car rental companies. Hertz laid claim to being number one. They weren’t number one, but they said they were and we believed them. So, competitor Avis was the one that got it right. They said “We’re number two, so we have to try harder.” Their employees wore big white buttons with red type that read, “We try harder.”

Of course, the iconic Rolling Stone magazine campaign was emulated for years. How many iterations of “Perception. Reality” have we seen since the 1980s?

If we look at current advertising campaigns, my favorite has to be Southwest.com and their slogan, “If it matters to you, it matters to us.” Southwest.com has aligned itself completely with the Internet. It has a social media presence and an online reservation presence that is killing the competition, including the online travel sites. They have rebranded their planes, too, with a bold and bright new look featuring a red, yellow and blue heart. The name on the planes is not Southwest Airlines, it is Southwest.com.

How do we know a campaign slogan is great? It must feel true and transparent. It must surprise us and make us smile or nod knowingly. It must not insult us. And it must make us wish we had created it ourself.

 

Thanks to Dr. Larry for answering my questions!

-R

Engaged Employees = Brand Success

Employee advocacy is a critical component to any brand’s success. Employees are not only the face of a company; they ARE the company… from internal culture to consumer engagement and brand image. By turning employees into trusted brand ambassadors, companies bring their strongest assets and their most vocal internal advocates into direct contact with their customer base. Internal employee communications strategies can have a direct impact on building consumer brand loyalty. When employees love their job, it shows, and the ripple effect of that honest and organic company adoration can be greater than any pre-planned marketing campaign.

There are more and more companies out there who are ditching the top-down internal communications approach and moving to a more employee-driven engagement model. Why? Because it works on many levels! Here are a few ideas of what successful brands are doing to engage employees:

Encourage employees to help build (and live) the brand mission and company culture. Create a sense of shared ownership in the goals of the company, and focus on using employee experiences and feedback to improve products/services and customer service. Seventh Generation, a green cleaning company, included employees in both setting goals and accountability for achieving them. In 2012, a group of Seventh Generation employees came together to help simplify the company mission into four aspirational principles: Nurturing Nature, Transforming Commerce, Enhancing Health and Building Communities. The principles help to provide year-to-year goals and business plans across all company units and is used as the road map for long term company planning. The Whole Foods “Declaration of Interdependence” is a sort of creed that works in conjunction with the company mission and values – Whole Foods believes the ideal that company success is dependent upon the collective energy and intelligence of all team members. By being empowered to fulfill the organization’s mission and values in every way they can, the company builds trust but also unleashes creativity and innovation. When employees are empowered to make decisions and problem solve, they feel appreciated and valued and thus work harder. Having employees who live and breathe the brand promise will result in better consumer experiences.

Seventh Generation Aspirational Principles Created by Employees

Cheer on Volunteerism. Corporate volunteer programs drive employee engagement, help recruit younger staff and increase visibility. There is a recent trend of companies offering volunteer opportunities and incorporating those opportunities into the company mission. LUSH, Seventh Generation and New Belgium Brewing Company are only a few examples of companies who have volunteerism baked into their corporate culture – offering benefits to those employees who volunteer their time within the local community. The outdoor clothing manufacturer Patagonia has also been successful in building a loyal employee base for not only the laid-back work environment of the company, but also the emphasis the company places on social and environmental causes. Through the Patagonia Employee Internship Program, employees can take paid leave for up to one month to intern with environmental organizations around the world. How cool!

Check out how New Belgium Volunteers at: http://www.newbelgium.com/Sustainability/Community/BeerScouts.aspx

Reward good work. LUSH, a fresh handmade cosmetics company in North America spearheaded a recognition program that builds on the company philosophy of employee interaction and volunteerism. Using a program called Kudos, LUSH encourages employees to reward each other for good work. Each staff member is given 50 points a month that they can use to reward each other with. In addition, LUSH team leaders have a larger pool of points to give out so that they can reward staff for positive things that they see each day. Employees can earn points by exemplifying LUSH values or for great customer feedback, leading by example, learning skills in new areas, perfect attendance, and random acts of kindness. Once received, the employee can exchange Kudos points for chocolate bars, movie tickets, gift cards, and even a big reward: a day off with pay. The goal of the program is to encourage staff to live in LUSH core values, participate in volunteer opportunities and find ways to thank each other each day. And, it isn’t just LUSH that’s doing it… even companies like Safeway has recently jumped on board!

Encourage social interaction. Be it through external social media or an effective and engaging Intranet, employees must have the opportunity to engage with one another to build friendships that go beyond the brick and mortar business walls.

Lead through Leadership. Leadership is more than just having a written mission statement. True leaders must have a genuine commitment to team members’ happiness, excellence and transparency. It is about leading by example, not just talking the talk, but being able to walk the walk. In order to foster a culture that adopts and truly believes in the mission, the leaders must set the bar themselves.

Empowered employees can be brand advocates and industry thought leaders who can help to increase a brands positive footprint both online and off. At the end of the day, an adoring employee base isn’t just great for word-of-mouth marketing, but it’s also good for the bottom line – impacting everything from brand awareness, to the recruitment of new employees. Simply put, engaged and motivated employees translate to happy customers. Helping employees to feel equipped and motivated to support the company may be one of the most important and effective elements in building market share. They are the front lines of any brand – don’t leave them out of the loop!

Life is Like a Box of Chicken Nuggets

Forrest Gump was on to something when he uttered a line that would become one of the most quotable movie lines, “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.”

image source

I may not be as profound or as original as Forrest’s mama, but if I could borrow a few of her words today, I’d say, “Life is like a box of chicken nuggets. You can only eat one bite at a time.” We don’t have the patience for the whole chicken these days. We’ve become a society that consumes and digests one bite at a time – both our fried chicken and our information. We crave the instant gratification of bite-sized nuggets.

Maybe it all started when Vh1’s Pop Up Videos were revived in 2011. Those pop-ups are officially called “info nuggets.” We get our pop culture fix in BuzzFeed’s countdown lists or in a single photo on Instagram. We are suckers for a good infographic. We get our news in bite-sized pieces from The Skimm. We constantly check our Twitter feeds, which is essentially an all-you-can-eat chicken nugget buffet.

One of my biggest challenges as a market researcher is communicating the findings in a compelling story. I’ve learned to tell stories one nugget at a time – sometimes it is a 6-pack and other times it is a 12-pack, but digesting one nugget at a time ensures that the audience will be satisfied at the end of the meal presentation, and still recall what they ate for lunch.

The next time you’re staring at a mile-high data set or hours of focus group videos, be inspired by your lunch. Tell your story one nugget at a time.