The other benefit of Foursquare and Gowalla is that of the businesses. Checking in and receiving a coupon or a special for being mayor, or whatever else, is very good marketing. I hope Facebook has a plan for Places and doesn’t become the new Google — releasing new products simply to release them.

Makes sense
Laurent

Liked the article!

“Web Start-Ups Offer Bargains for Users’ Data”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/31/business/media/31privacy.html?ref=technology

Mike Ricciardelli and Joan Honsberger

Thanks, I greatly admired and strongly related to Stephen, as so many others obviously did, as well. I think that’s a clear testament to what kind of human being he was. His memorial was truly inspirational and you could not have honored him in a more perfect way. My prayer is that you, your girls and the entire Parker family will rally from this immense loss, closer and stronger than ever. I know that you will. That’s the mold that Stephen and all of the Parker family were unmistakably cut from.

Best Regards,
Tim

I trust that his soul will rest in peace and that a merciful God will watch over all of us forever!

We Love you Stephen…you will be missed sorely but you will live on in our souls till we meet again!

Thanks for checking in! It was awesome and so were all the people I met and worked with. They are extremely gracious and as you mentioned- a lot of intelligent folks over there in fields ranging from information technology, science, medicine, business management, medicine, literature and film. Certainly, many of them end up over here. One of the gents I worked with has over 500 Facebook connections and said he has Indian friends in nearly every state over here, working for nearly every major corporation you can think of, from Microsoft to Apple to Google and so on. He said he never lacks for a place to stay when visiting.

Thanks,
Tim

Sounds like an AWESOME trip !!! A few of my really good friends are from India – One an Attorney, they other a Computer Programmer, Very smart, awesome guys !!!!

Best,
Tim

Thanks for stopping by and thanks again for the inspirational tweet! (And BTW, your subsequent, “Honored to be a footnote in…” tweet cracked me up). : )

Marketers and designers have so many challenges- quality and creativity vs. tight budgets and deadlines, among the most notorious. Like Lindsey Vonn, my advice is to embrace these challenges and then try to rise above them.

Sometimes, you don’t have to expand budgets, but simply rearrange / reprioritize them. With respect to tight deadlines, communication is key. We realize that most of our clients are on tight deadlines. Many of them rush us because that’s how we’ve always performed for them in the past. I believe we sometimes need to do a better job of communicating the benefits of extra time to our clients. Perhaps we could gain a little ground and move closer to the ideal. They have an agenda. We have one too, built around a quality design ethic.

Ultimately, in my experience, the most important characteristic of “Champions”, be they world-class athletes or world-class designers, is simply good attitude. Most clients recognize earnest effort, and appreciate open and honest communication, whether easy to hear or not. I think most expect us to push for only the highest quality and we owe them our best efforts, even in the most challenging conditions. Hopefully, they acknowledge and appreciate this and if not; then maybe they’re not the type of clients we should seek to work with.

Thanks again Matt-
Tim

Thank you for your kind words. Would you be interested in trading careers? A lot of people around here dream about becoming landscape designers. (It looks like it’s going to be a banner spring, too. EVERYTHING’S dead, and this year it wasn’t our fault- it really was the weather.)

I’m glad you enjoy the blog and hope you find it helpful. To subscribe, simply go to the homepage: http://www.renaissancecreative.com/blog/ then click on your RSS button (it may appear as a small icon with the letters “RSS”, or as that little orange “speaker” symbol). It sits in different places in different browsers. I use Safari and mine is located on the inside of the address bar on the far right. Once you click on that icon, you’ll automatically be notified whenever any new content is posted to the page you are looking at. (RSS, by the way, stands for “Really Simple Syndication”).

By the way, my compliments on your own lawn and landcare website. It is well-designed and optimized, and exemplifies my assertion that online marketing is essential to all types of businesses, including those who have relied upon upon more traditional offline channels in the past.

You should next plan to create a Facebook Fan page (providing a link from your website and back into it from the Fan page), where you can provide useful tips for plant and lawn serial killers like myself; showcase new design ideas and completed projects (pictures or video); offer weekly/monthly Fan-only incentives and specials; and continue to build a community around your business and business around your community.

Thanks again for checking in and feel free to comment or ask questions anytime. If you know someone else who might appreciate our “Make Belief” blog, we’d appreciate your sharing it with them. There’s no more powerful validation than the recommendation of trusted friends.

Warm Regards,
Tim

Cheers to pushing beyond while risking failure.

Thanks for checking in. It’s an honor to hear from professionals like yourself and I appreciate you sharing your insights.

You make some great points about the value of businesses / brands entering the social media space sooner, rather than later, due to audiences who will become committed to their friends and/or groups and may be hard to lure away. Also, recent studies suggest that humans can only actively process a finite number of relationships at any given time. (We needed a study to tell us that). The bottom line is that if you don’t reach out, you can be sure your competitors will. I’ve always believed that in marketing, as in life, the strongest relationships yield the most enduring rewards. Committing the time to build meaningful relationships is such a valuable asset for those with the wisdom to do so.

And you’re right- Time is money, so investing in social media while a relatively cost efficient means of marketing, is not free; therefore, it does involve some degree of foresight, faith and risk. Risk requires courage, but it also yields great rewards.

Finally, regarding your comments about point #18: Something sure does seem out of whack, doesn’t it? They say the most recent quake in Chile shifted the earth’s axis another 3. Go figure. While we can point our fingers at any number of reasons why things may seem ‘broken”, I’d suggest you astutely laid your finger on the common denominator (greed). We’ve got to overcome that.

I never did catch a single episode of “My Name is Earl”, but heard it was good. Eastern religions (Hindus, Buddhists) call it “Karma”; Abrahamic religions (Christianity, Judaism) call it, “cause and effect” or God’s will. Bob Marley simply said, “What goes round, comes round”. I definitely think the world could use a little more selflessness, and open-source anything is a great example of that. One other suggestion: Instead of praying for our own needs, why don’t we all start praying for somebody else’s?

Best,
Tim

“Social Media can be used very effectively for branding and marketing when integrated strategically, naturally, creatively and consistently. Those who give up on it too soon will be sorry down the road because networks by their nature, grow exponentially over time.”

My prediction: A social media land rush will peak sooner than anyone expects. Soon online communities will blanket the space, and (when done well) audiences will become committed (read not likely to ditch their friends because your interface is better).

The companies that step out now will benefit greatly, especially those who have been marginalized by lack of spending power. This requires leadership, which involved risk, which is particularly hard when you know it’s not so easy to land on your feet should your boss grow impatient with this social media thing.

Regarding point 18: I believe there’s a fundamental cultural shift underway … the most obvious example is Open Source … if we create something that benefits many people, good will come to us, oh wait I just quoted “My Name Is Earl,” but see what I mean? There (was) a whole TV show about karma, what better indicator do we need? Ultimately, how many lives worldwide have been shattered by greed … momentum is on our side.

Thanks for working out the synapses!

Thanks for your comments and sharing the link to Ms. Gilbert’s interesting talk on “Nurturing Creativity”. I believe the things that make Chris Martin so inspiring are his unbridled enthusiasm and emotional honesty. He’s true to his authentic core and that comes through in his work. It also requires great courage. In her speech, Ms. Gilbert starts by noting her own refusal to allow herself to be boxed in by fear and negativity. Like her, I believe overcoming both are keys to nurturing creativity. You have to be willing to mess up, fail and make yourself vulnerable to some degree in order to be “free” creatively, and in other areas of life. Regarding the origins of creativity and inspiration– Ms. Gilbert seems to well understand the frustratingly fleeting nature of inspiration and why we run to grab a sheet of paper or pull off the highway (Tom Waite notwithstanding), to collect a thought, lest we lose it forever. And I agree with her theory that creativity and inspiration spring from God. Whenever inspiration is revealed to us, be it a stirring image, exhilarating dance, moving song or a spectacular sunset, what we’re really experiencing – for that fleeting moment– is something bigger than ourselves.

Best,
Tim

This is a really good summary of both the interview and the inspirational and creative characteristics that Chris and his band members co-exist to develop their craft and their purpose of writing the perfect song. I found the interview both inspiring and humbling and sense that many creative and artist souls are often mislabelled ‘neurotic’ because of their passionate, creative and artistic flair, and how they demonstrate it to/with others. Post-notes, whiteboards, scribbles on paper (or a piano) … these are just channels for creative expression, chaos is natural process from which creation is spurred.

As for creativity … watch this talk by Elizabeth Gilbert on ‘Nurturing Creatvity’ … is very interesting. http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

Smiles
Kelly

cheers