Eric Marschall on That Marketing Show

This week I'm featured on Rodger Roeser's That Marketing Show!

That Marketing Show is the official broadcast of the Public Relations Agency Owners Association.

My discussion with Rodger centers around how we handle the discussion of public vs. private and personal vs. professional when it comes to social media. What happens when your personality is part of your business or you want to inject some personality into your blog? How far do you stick it out there? Is there a line?

These are just a couple of questions we address in this excellent and informative marketing conversation. Take a listen!

Social Networking in Cincinnati

I've been doing a great deal of networking over the past few weeks and have had some excellent experiences and met fantastic people. Here's a quick guide to some of the events and groups I've been interacting with.

Cincinnati AMA
The Cincinnati chapter of the American Marketing Association has over 600 members in the Cincinnati/NKY region. With about a dozen monthly events planned around SIGs like Business-to-Business and International Marketing, there are plenty of opportunities to get to know people in your niche in both structured learning environments and more social mingling that the Young Professionals group gravitates towards. The fee is reasonable and scaled for business size, but non-members can attend just about every event.

Tristate Business Network
TBN's mission is to bring businesses from all over the Tri-state area together to meet, network and help each other grow business relationships. They have a monthly speed networking event (90 seconds - go!) and daily - yes, I said daily - meeting and networking opportunities in and around greater Cincinnati. With over 200 official members and a constantly changing flow of visitors, TBN focuses on giving first. A modest membership fee is worth the friendships and connections.

New Media Cincinnati - Second Saturday
If you don't know about this one, check out the New Media Cincy site. A relaxed gathering every second Saturday at the Pub at Rookwood organized around new media of some sort by Daniel Johnson, Jr., you can see some of the Twitter traffic by searching #newmediacincy. Event is free, food and drink are attendee's responsibility.

Jelly Cincinnati
This is the #CincyTweetup coworking event that takes place at Crossroads at Ridge and Madison once a month. "The idea here is to have folks who work in many different job functions working together in an open environment. The expectation is that creative juices will flow and new friendships will be forged." Honestly, more networking happens than actual work getting done, but there are people coming and going all day and always someone interesting to talk to and learn from. Was started by @researchgoddess (we'll miss you!) but is now headed up by @hellogerard and @blecount. Event is free.

Market and Profit (MAP)
Twice a month a speed networking event (where you're the only in your field in your group) followed by open networking and a meal. Excellent turnout every time. Very small fee to attend (joining group is free) and another great way to meet professionals and business owners in Cincinnati. Keep abreast of the events through the Linkedin Group. Over 600 Linkedin members.

Social media helps you get out your message and helps to build your presence for your face and your brand online. But nothing substitutes meeting people face to face and growing real-world relationships. Remember: A smile and a handshake is worth a thousand tweets.


So where do you go to network? What groups do you belong to or mingle with? I'd love to get your feedback.

UPDATE!
Thanks to some great feedback through Twitter from @newmediacincy and @hellogerard, we've got some more resources to toss in there, and some things I needed reminding of:

Job Search Focus Group
The Job Search Focus Group of Hyde Park is often lauded in Cincinnati as one of the most extensive "in transition" groups in the region. I was able to attend once and the resources and networking are great; if I ever moved from owning my own business to in transition, that's the first place I'd stop. Follow some of the Tweeting with #jsfg

Cincinnati Social Media
Follow the tweets at #cincysm. And set your alerts! The Enquirer event coming up 9/9 knocked down 50 seats in 45 minutes and the Social Media Breakfast usually goes faster than that.

Resources for Women
I've heard nothing but good things about the Cincinnati Women Bloggers (@cinwomenbloggers), Girlfriendology (@girlfriendology), and the women's publication Cincy Chic.

Additionally, Breanna Gaddie's Networking With Passion blog is always a great read, and Krista Neher created a post a while back that covers some of the items I did not in this post.

Oh, and Thursday, August 20th is networking at the Hofbrauhaus in NKY at 11:30 (thanks @justinrains

Anything else? I'm always up to update!

The Trouble With "Vision"

I've been doing a lot of work recently with my own business (see sidebar) and in that work, I invariably come across both direct (web design, SEO, search marketing, social marketing) and indirect (general marketing and public relations) companies and their web presences.

Most of their sites are straightforward and professional enough to keep a browser's interest, providing the necessary information about what they do and how to contact them. However, there are a couple of common items I continue to run into that are just not good design/business.

V a g u e n e s s . . .
Maybe I missed the memo. Maybe nebulous ideas of what you actually do, descriptions rife with ideals and forms but no concrete language is what is of the moment. But I don't believe it. That's the trouble with "vision." Sure, it's necessary to have a mission statement, great to have a vision statement. But to format your web copy (you know, that primary - potentially only - contact point your potential client) on vague thoughts and non-targeted language could seriously be hurting you.

Then again, I can guarantee there are those consumers out there that eat that up. Not sure how to address those folks.

Mystery Bag O' Image Fun
If you use significant images to represent different aspects of your business then for the love of all things holy please make it intuitive. Or put labels on the images. The idea of a landing page with various, un-labeled images that represent varied and anomalous things or change on mouseover to reveal a "Hey, that's what I'm looking for!" label was tired after fifteen minutes at some indeterminate time in 2002.

People don't want to have to think too hard. Make them think about what they would like to find on your site, not figure out the puzzle of your layout scheme.

SO Out of the Box
So you want to go "out of the box" and have designed your website with a unique layout unlike any other. I commend you. But is it usable? If I want to do a quick two clicks to find out if you even provide web design, is it like solving the day's Sudoku puzzle in the paper to get to that revelation?

There are definitive conventions of web design that - while not entirely sexy - are conventions for a reason. Try to keep that in mind. I repeat: People don't want to have to think too hard. Make them think about what they would like to find on your site, not figure out the puzzle of your layout scheme.

Conclusion
Innovation and vision are good things in business and marketing. But people are on such a limited time schedule - and sickeningly low attention span - that it's the quick nuts and bolts that should be straightforward. If you want visitors to see your vision, put together a vision statement page with a prominent link. The fewer things potential clients have to think/worry about when visiting your site, the more follow-through you'll get.

Would you rather a low percentage contact you as to your exact services or a medium to high percentage contact you on details and pricing for what you obviously do?


So what are your thoughts? Is this something you've noticed? Is it okay? What do you want to see on the websites of service providers?

Comments always welcome.

Eastern Hills Journal (Community Press) Small Business Spotlight

The Eastern Hills Journal (Community Press for our chunk of the East Side of Cincinnati) printed a great article highlighting EJM Designs Limited in the Small Business Spotlight. Lisa Wakeland did a great job on the piece. Since not everyone in Cinci gets this form of the paper (and those outside of Cinci don't have access to it), I've posted it here.

The article came out in print today (07/08/09), and I'd just link to the web version of the article, but Community Press technically posted the article online - much to my chagrin - June 2nd and their 30 day purge of online articles has passed. But you can still see the electronic version here - article on B1.





For anyone in the area who owns a small business, you may be wondering: "How'd you get that?" Here's the secret: when I saw the feature I contacted the journalist. I find in my dealings with other small businesses that some owners have a tendency to take the word "small" and make it a part of their being, a part of the core of their business. This leads to a subconscious view of self in the diminutive sense.

You never land if you don't jump. You don't sign the contract if you don't make the call. EJM Designs Limited is only "small" right now because it's not "big." But it's moving in that direction. Don't think small and push; think big and pull.

Google Calendar Integration

I recently added a calendar page to the EJM Designs Limited website that allows people to track some of the "in person" events I attend. I used Google Calendar to embed the piece. (I'll have a DIY post on this in the future.)

From a social marketing angle, is this something you, as a reader, find interesting? Useful? Are there better ideas or implementations that you've seen or used?

Chat Widgets for Your Website

Because not everyone has Trillian running on their system with 9 different accounts funneled into it (seriously, I do), I wanted to make the time investment to make sure people could chat with me whenever they wanted to. I have succeeded on the EJM Designs Limited Chat page.

The bonus to providing this service is that while you need an active AIM, Google, or Y!M login, your website visitor does not.

AIM WIMZI Widget

Visit AIM's WIMZI page and sign in next to the orange question mark in the grey area above the options section (or it will not give you the source code). Then fill out your specs and click the "Create it" button to get the source code. Paste into your website.

Mine looks like this:



Pluses: easy setup, shows I'm connected when using Trillian. No minuses so far. Must stick to my webpage to chat, but with tabs today (I have 10 open now), not a biggie.

Google Talk Widget

Log into your Google Account and head on over to the Google Talk Widget Page. Set your Preferences, update the code, copy, paste into your website, and voila! You get this:



Visitor will click on the link which will open a separate chat window. Pluses: Easy setup, simple styling, and even though stuck on the page isn't a detraction, I like the separate window. Flexibility. And ALT-Tab is easier than CTRL-Tab. Go about your business. Chat with me. Minuses: Because Trillian does not gobble up Google Talk, I need to be logged into this account to hear from you on my site. That happens for about 25% of the day.

Yahoo Messenger Pingbox

Go to the Pingbox studio, enter your parameters, copy and paste. Looks like this:



Pluses: Easy setup. Minuses: FAIL. When you get to the second page of setup, every time you change the dimensions, the object id attribute changes as well, which wouldn't be an issue at all if the characters didn't change to include - 75% of the time - Chinese and other definitively unicode characters that show up as boxes and don't paste as anything other than question marks.

(sidenote: tweaks to the widget size have a lower limit of 180x320 and will repeatedly reset in the interface despite no stated limits, though change in pasted code to 160 width shows up fine.)

And once you tease it enough to hand you basic ascii, logging in through Trillian or logging in through Yahoo Mail still shows you are not logged in on the widget. Bad widget!

My only guess on this one is that you actually need to be logged in through Yahoo Messenger, though I'm not sure why as Trillian's login to Yahoo always upsets the messenger-through-mail. And because I won't download Yahoo Messenger to test this theory...FAIL!

Why do you think I've got Trillian installed? 9 IM accounts. Duh. Removed from page.


Snark aside, and Yahoo aside, the Google and AIM widgets are lovely and it's only because of the Google login that I must go with AIM FTW!

Let me know your thoughts on whether website widgets are a good idea or a pain. Should we allow anyone to contact us anywhere anytime? Ups and downs?

What Are Your Feelings on a Face?

My current avatar/image thing for all my social media is a lovely, lower-case "e" with a semi-transparent, desaturated version of the main graphic feature on my website. But it's impersonal, and I plan to change that in the next week.

"How do you plan to change it, Eric?" you ask. By doing what most people do for their images: use a picture of my face.

My question today is: What are your feelings about the avatars people use? Does seeing a smiling face imbue that person with an aura of trustworthiness? Does a logo or non-face do the opposite, as though a wall is up? And - finally - what are your thoughts on someone's baby or pet plugged in as their avatar?

I'll post on all these things and more as soon as I get my own mug up there, but wanted to know what you were feeling.

Joe Kowalski and RetainingWallExpert and Gary Sullivan

I don't usually throw out my clients as blog subjects, but a good friend and client of mine, Joe Kowalski, runs the site RetainingWallExpert.com. Joe is a brilliant engineer here in Cincinnati and I've been lucky enough to work with him in the past couple months through EJM Designs Limited to develop some interactive ideas and implementations for his current site.

Joe has quite a following here in Cincinnati and nationally for what he does, so it's exciting from a personal and local event to find that he's going to be live on "At Home with Gary Sullivan" tomorrow morning at 9am. National audience, national exposure, and his business and talent gets the recognition it deserves.

And if you're not in Cincinnati, it's surprisingly difficult to find affiliates that have picked up Gary's show, but you can listen live at WKRC's website or, of course, on the actual radio at 550 AM.

Joe Kowalski, RetainingWallExpert.com and local Cincinnati entrepreneur on Gary Sullivan Saturday, March 21, 2009 at 9am.

I'm always happy when someone makes good for themselves, especially when they're local, and it's a friend of mine.

Have a great weekend!

7 Mistakes - LinkedIn Guidelines Article

As I've been expanding my social marketing reach and getting into the ins and outs of many different platforms, it certainly helps to have someone to drop a couple of guideposts to help you along the way. Whether or not you're actively pursuing a position, Louise Fletcher has a great article about mistakes you're probably making on LinkedIn.

Indeed, LinkedIn now markets a service for recruiters that allows them to search profiles, store results and contact candidates, all from within an interface that they pay to access. But even recruiters who don’t pay for access, use the system to research candidates.

Worth the read.

And when you're done over there, say hi on the Eric Marschall (EJM Designs Limited) LinkedIn page.

Plaxo Me Sideways

Plaxo? Yes, Eric Marschall and EJM Designs Limited are now on Plaxo.

Next frontier: Orkut. Anyone have any other suggestions?

Ooh, poo. Now I have to keep writing.

Why?

Because I put this mirror watermark element in the bottom left of the content div and if I don't type enough then the top of the wisp does not terminate naturally and looks like sloppy design work.

Which it might well be.

Let's just declare everything in flux.

CNN: You Need a Web Presence

If you didn't believe it before, believe it now: You need a web presence.

Today, CNN Money tossed out a great business article. #10: Get online. Now.

It's the basis of the ideas that run EJM Designs: we provide an online presence, make an online presence usable, and make a usable online presence visible to search engines.

Over 80% of American adults are online now, and the internet has easily taken the place of the Yellow Pages. The difference between the Yellow Pages and the internet is that despite a simple listing of your business online, you need a presence. You need to be found when people are looking for you, especially locally.

If you are not online, especially in this economy, you risk limiting the value your business holds for others. You risk people who need your services, who would be your customers or clients not making their way to your door.

Contact us. Contact someone else. But get online. Now is more important than ever.

Who Doesn't Want a Myspace?

Continuing the flow of the day, I've added a MySpace account for EJM Designs.

Like? Friend me, of course.

Available logos for MySpace kind of suck, so I'm eschewing them on this one. Just imagine blue and Gort-shaped white bodies with circle heads...

Now Listening: "New York, I love you, but you're freaking me out." LCD Soundsystem. Delicious. Sirius 26.

EJM Designs on Twitter

How about some SEO/SEM/PPC/Design EJM Designs Tweets?



EJM Design Twitter. Love it.

Sidebar widget coming soon, if it's not already there by the time you see this (oh, my: there it is!).

Join the conversation. Pass the love!

EJM Designs on Facebook

Getting this journey off to the right start.



Check out EJM Designs on Facebook Pages!

Join the conversation, pass on the love.

Yay! Search Engine Marketing and All Things Web!

My name is Eric Marschall and I am the owner of EJM Designs Limited, providing quality web design, consulting, and internet marketing, based in Cincinnati, Ohio.



Background: I've been designing graphics for ten years now, having gone from television to print to web in the process. Web design and development have been my forte for the last eight years. And for the past five years I've been making clients happy through my expertise in search engine marketing.

Just because I focus on search engine marketing in my professional world, that will not be the sole purpose of this blog. I love all things tech and internet and regularly spend time devouring sites like BoingBoing, DVICE, and XKCD. I have an eclectic and distinctive taste in music which has been sitting on CBC Radio 3 (Canadian indie) for the past few weeks, and if I get thirty minutes to turn on my 360, I may just complain about how much of a pain it is to knock off a Big Daddy, even with the grenade launcher.

Not to worry - I also keep on the edge of what is going on in the search engine marketing world and will offer links, opinions, and original articles as they pertain to Google, Yahoo, Ask, and ...has anyone heard from Microsoft Live lately? Quick! Put a mirror in front of his mouth.

Obviously, in the coming days you'll see changes in the look and feel of the blog as I squeeze my own template into this architecture, add links, etc.

Join the conversation, post a comment, send me an email (visible in my profile) if you have an idea or opinion or insight or question. I'm looking forward to being a part of the community as myself.