Adventures in Candyland

Since Limor started talking about some of our favorite new things (Whitestarr and Pinky Vodka), I thought I’d add two more of my favorite things this week.

First, there’s my absolute favorite mommy blogger Chris.  You can read her posts at NotesfromtheTrenches.  Her take on the moments of motherhood are fab, and her photos are beautiful.  She’ll make you laugh (hysterically I might add) and cry.  And she has seven kids, so she’s kind of an expert…  I just wonder how she finds the time to post so often!

Next, I was recently reading an article about how chefs are the new celebrities.  So celeb-watchers and foodies alike will love the new live video feed from The Foundry on Melrose.  Every night after 6PM, watch Owner/Chef Eric Greenspan and his team live from the kitchen of this new LA hotspot.  Its an unedited version of what happens in a gourmet kitchen.  We feasted there this week and had a beautiful meal! 

What are some of your favorite things of the moment?  Let us know so we can check ’em out too! 

Once upon a time (before children and starting a business) I had time to read my city’s daily newspaper each morning, listen to news radio in the car, check news on the internet throughout the day, and read a magazine and part of a bestselling novel before watching network news each evening.  Oh yeah - there was also time for reading the NYTimes on Sundays.  All of that is really important if you’re in PR - some might argue its really important if you’re a human, but particularly important if your job involves monitoring current events and the media so as to develop and pitch timely story ideas for your clients. 

So along came a kid and a biz, and suddenly my mornings are consumed by cartoons while trying to get everyone out the door, my car rides consist of listening to ”family rocker” Dan Zanes (who by the way offers the coolest kid-friendly music!), I barely have time to visit my homepage at work, I can’t stay awake for the network news and let’s face it, Sundays aren’t much different.  So what’s a PR girl to do?  Well, all I can say is thank god for Google Reader.

Give me a half-hour a day with Reader and I can consume more news than I ever have before.  With Reader I can subscribe to all kinds of feeds (my subscriptions vary from the LATimes, to parenting blogs, marketing blogs, celeb-tracking sites and business and monthly pubs) then scan the user-friendly list of headlines to click on the articles or posts I want to read.  And I can email items of interest to my friends, family and partners directly from the Reader list.  Its so easy…AND it save trees! 

But wait, there’s more!  There’s another little handy-dandy Google tool that lets me be an even better media monitor - Alerts.  Alerts lets you monitor certain topics by sending you email updates of the latest relevant Google results for that topic.  So for each project or client I’m working with, I can set up an Alert and will receive daily emails about that topic - from articles in community papers, to international coverage, to personal blog posts about the same topic.  And with these being forwarded to my PDA each day, I’m always up-to-date on my media…even when I’m watching Dora the Explorer or falling asleep on the couch.

Thanks Google! :)     

Today I read an article about a company called PRstore, which basically sells a la carte marketing to small businesses who might normally just use a family member or friend to develop their logo, collateral or what not.  Point is, these small businesses don’t think they are able to afford real agency prices, so they sort of slap something together because they think they need something no matter if it’s good or bad.  So PRstore comes in and offers per-project fees that are much lower than what any typical agency would offer.  Even more, this company is a franchise, so there are currently 41 locations in 20 states with plans to be at 350 stores in three years.  Interesting…

Since I found the concept to be good, I proceeded to the company website.  It’s an understatement to say I was shocked.  Now – who am I to be judging another company?  We’re a small start-up ourselves and while I’m sure I would not necessarily appreciate someone judging, I would at least listen and try to understand.  So, lets just call this a little constructive criticism and obviously you (the reader) or they (the company) can take it or leave it.  I am sure they will leave it as they will probably never read this, they are very successful (hello, 41 stores so far) and seriously, who the hell am I? 

Ok – after that huge disclaimer, let me just get to the point.  There site is so generic-looking…absolutely zero personality.  Though I get what they are doing, what I hope they are doing – sort of leaving it as a blank slate so companies don’t immediately judge them and think they aren’t right for them.  But, what is marketing about if not about creativity, meaningful copy and drawing people in.  From this company’s site, you would think they were trying to turn people away.  Have I passed the point of constructive criticism?  If you can’t take it anymore, stop reading, cuz I ain’t finished.  I just can’t control my opinions – it’s like diarrhea of the mouth.  BTW – and this is a TOTAL side note.  Does anyone else feel like spell check has completely abolished their spelling skills?  I used to be a better than average speller, but now…You should have seen my first attempt at diarrhea – so, so sad. Now back to my rant…

So my question is would this be the company you choose to create your logo?  I mean, look at their logo.  Have we turned back time, because I feel like we just stepped back into the ‘80s.  Is the bar so low for small businesses that they feel like this is the level they should reach for?  It’s funny because you can scroll over each one of their services and another area talks about the importance of it.  For instance, when you scroll over “Corporate Branding” it says, “Never Underestimate the Importance of a First Impression.”  Whoa!  If you’re expecting other companies to go with your advice, don’t you think you should follow your own?

I only say this because I know that when we create anything or work with someone to create something, we put so much effort into making it unique, stylish, sophisticated, fun or whatever feeling we think it needs to evoke.  We don’t stop until we’re happy and the client is happy. 

We took the time putting together the Sweet Talk brand because we know it truly makes an impression.  And people are always complimenting us on it, which is great to hear.  Our brand, combined with our energy is really what is bringing new business to our door.  That’s what the PRstore brand and site seems to be lacking – energy. 

But again, who am I to judge? You can’t help but admit there are true benefits to the service they are offering. Some marketing is better no marketing and this company is obviously filling a needed niche (41 stores and counting).  Also it is raising awareness and educating people about the importance of branding and marketing in a non-threatening way. 

But that logo and site is so cookie-cutter…maybe I should email them to see if they want to do a re-brand. 

A few weeks ago I wrote a post that mentioned Google - you can see it below.  I said I’d follow up with some posts about the Google tools I can no longer live without, and so I’ll start by talking about Google Analytics. 

Google Analytics provides free, in-depth tracking - really in-depth.  The cynics out there say that Google blatantly sinks a ton of money into making Analytics the best so that they will increase revenue from AdWords…businesses can analyze their traffic and site marketing, and then make wiser pay-per-click purchases.  Frankly, I think that’s Google’s brilliance at work.  Sweet Talk can see the words people are using to find us on searches, and perhaps respond by choosing the appropriate AdWords for online advertising. 

Actually, we’ve yet to do any pay-per-click advertising, but we’re learning a ton about our site and it’s traffic by monitoring Analytics.  For example, our traffic volume has been much higher than we expected in it’s first quarter.  As a new business, that’s encouraging. 

In addition, we have a client with members all over the world, and they have generously promoted our site.  Its amazing to see that we now have people from places as varied as Ghana, Saudi Arabia and Smyrna, Georgia visiting our site on a regular basis.  

Also interesting is that we can track the networks our traffic comes from.  Sometimes, if we’re pitching new business or trying to contact the media, it is helpful to see if someone from a specific company or corporate entity has taken the next step and viewed our site for additional information.  And now, with a Blog, it is nice to know that not only are people from all over the world interested enough to check our posts on a near-daily basis, but so are people in organizations as close by as the mid-Wilshire district of LA.

Google Analytis is really an enlightening tool…one we will use to help us direct our online presence.                       

For the past two weeks, we’ve been working on a branding project for a client.  We’ve been looking for inspiration in modern architecture.  So I found all of last week’s hoopla about the London Olympics logo pretty interesting.  If you haven’t seen it, click here to check it out.

It was released to a firestorm of criticism, much of which wondered where the inspiration came from.  That night, I was building blocks with my toddler and I began to wonder…what type of inspiration translates into good logo design?  Seems like I might have a budding architect or designer on my hands. :)  Check out his designs here.