Jeff Fisher LogoMotives is "on fire" in 2008StartupNation Home-Based 100 Competition

Jeff Fisher LogoMotives has attained "on fire" status on the Popularity Meter in the second annual StartupNation Home-Based 100, which celebrates America’s most outstanding home-based businesses and the people behind them. The competition ranks the best businesses operated from home in ten distinct categories. The Portland-based identity design firm is a candidate in the “Most Slacker Friendly” category and may be voted for daily on the Jeff Fisher LogoMotives competition page.

Votes for Jeff Fisher LogoMotives have come from many sources in cyberspace. Cat Morley, of Bangkok, Thailand threw her support behind the design firm through an entry on Designers Who Blog, and posts on the HOW Design Forum and About.com Graphic Design Forum. Calvin Lee of Mayhem Studios and Danita Reynolds of Creative Expertise have been leading the charge through design forum posts, micro-blogging on Twitter and mentions on Facebook. Jason Holland has been hard at work assisting my "campaign" as well. Many design peers, clients, vendors, friends and family members are also casting votes on a daily basis.

Fisher himself has made use of his Twitter and Facebook profiles in promoting the competition effort. Signature files on StartupNation, biznik, the HOW Design Forum, and elsewhere online direct potential voters to the Jeff Fisher LogoMotives competition page. Home-Based 100 related entries were also posted on bLog-oMotives, the Jeff Fisher LogoMotives blogfolio, dezumo, AdGabber, Adholes, Pink Banana Media, Cross Media Experts, Sta.rtUp.biz, Squidoo and other Internet social networking sites

With his competition effort Fisher hopes to demonstrate how social media and social networking can be used as effective marketing tools.

StartupNation is a free online business resource founded by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs. On the site, you’ll find all the easy-to-follow, practical information you could ever need to start and grow your own successful business.

Vote early. Vote often. Thank you for your support!

© 2008 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives

Resources from "Reaping the Rewards" at theCreative Freelancer Conference in Chicago

As a speaker, I had a great time at the Creative Freelancer Conference. It was incredible sitting in on the presentations of the other presenters, meeting so many of the participants in person, having the opportunity to answer so many of your questions on a one-to-one basis, and getting to review some great design and photography work.

In the course of my presentation "Reaping the Rewards of Creative Independence," and my "Marketing Through Social Networking" roundtable, many Creative Freelancer Conference attendees requested additional information. I mentioned I would make links to those resources available.

Many people requested the handout I created for the social networking roundtable. That information is available in my blogfolio post "Marketing through social networks & social media."

I was also asked about the online portfolios I use to market my identity design work. That information may be found in the article "Marketing logo design efforts with online resources." The marketing packet I send out to potential clients is described in the entry "Prepare for any marketing or promotion opportunity with a customizable "media kit."

A few of you requested a copy of my project agreement - which includes the wording of the rights clause I include to ensure I can use all work for self-promotion purposes. The text of my contract is detailed in the piece "Signing on the dotted line…"

StartupNation and biznik were the two general business networking sites I discussed in my presentation. "Real world" networking events are a possibility in your local area as a result of biznik, if there are enough nearby members. The organization for creatives working for, or with, colleges is the University and College Designers Association.

About every 30-45 days I post an updated list of design industry competitions and book submission calls-for-entries on bLog-oMotives.

I did have questions about my personal Facebook presence and my Jeff Fisher LogoMotives Facebook Page. These are two different entities - and any Facebook member may have a personal profile and a business Page.

A review of previous bLog-oMotives entries about the Creative Freelancer Conference will also provide information covered in my presentation.

Several people asked about any upcoming speaking engagements I may have on my schedule. On Monday, October 13, 2008, I will be making a presentation on self-promotion at the Create Chaos 2008 event in Orlando, FL. I will be conducting a day-long workshop on identity design on Thursday, October 16, 2008, at the School of Visual Concepts in Seattle, WA.

I hope that all attendees got a great deal of value out of the Creative Freelance Conference. I really appreciate all the feedback I have received in the form of emails, posts on forums and other sites, and in person from those participating in my roundtable and attending my session. Thanks also for the many positive comments about my books, blogs and forum postings.

I would like to thank my friends Ilise Benun and Peleg Top of Marketing Mentor, the entire staff of HOW Magazine, my new unimaginary friend Colleen Wainwright (aka "the communicatrix"), all the other speakers and the conference sponsors, for putting on a really great creative industry event.

© 2008 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives

Marketing through social networks and social media

The other night I was a member of a panel discussing "Harnessing the Power of Online Social Networks," hosted by Self-Employed Creative Professionals (SECP) in Portland. Others on the panel discussing the business advantages of social networking included writer Susan Rich of RichWriting Creative Services, Working Artists LLC founderAdrienne Fritze, and eMarketing Strategist Elgé Premeau. Christian Messer, of Whiplash Design, was the moderator for the evening.

I was asked to approach the subject of using online social sites from my perspective as the author of Identity Crisis!: 50 Redesigns That Transformed Stale Identities Into Successful Brands. Panel members wanted me to showcase how I had used social networking and related media to market and promote my book. In doing so, I prepared a handout for attendees with the following examples:

MySpace - MySpace drives more traffic to my web presence and blogs than any other social networking site I've used. It allows a detailed profile, image storage, blogs - which I use to post my blog headlines with links back to my own blog sites - forums and actual social networking. MySpace is much more than simply social networking for teenagers. I have eliminated most interaction not directly related to my book and my work with the posted statement: The primary purpose of this MySpace page is to discuss and promote various aspects of graphic design.

FaceBook: Facebook is probably my favorite social networking site. For me it's actually fun, in addition to providing a great opportunity for posting a detailed profile - with links back to whatever sites you wish to post, networking, image galleries, article posting capabilities, blog auto-feeds, and much more. Again, it's very effective in driving web traffic my way. A design industry editor once asked, "Isn't Facebook just for college kids?. My response was: "Have you visited Facebook lately?" It's amazing who in the design industry is making use of the resource as a marketing and promotion tool.

LinkedIn: LinkedIn comes across as primarily a technical information resource for job seekers and those seeking specialized employees. The specialized questions and answers, along with the recent addition of "groups." does make it a bit more interactive. I wish the navigation wasn't so "clunky." Still, making use of the detailed profile has been a great self-promotion tool. The more information provided the more successful LinkedIn will be for the user.

biznik: biznik - Business networking that doesn't suck - is one of the most user-friendly social networking/media sites. It's easy to connect with other members and to create an actual dialog with them. The detailed profile, ability to post articles and other aspects make it a value resource for the independent business person. Local "real world" networking events are an added benefit. As in many of the examples, there are additional benefits with paid memberships.

naymz: I'm relatively new to this site. Months ago I was invited by someone I know and I did little to complete the profile until a discussion with my fellow panel members. Less than one hour of work and a great deal of traffic was coming my way - primarily due to the blogs feeds to my personal profile.

Flickr: Referring to this resource as social networking may not be the first thing that comes to a individual's mind when visiting the site. The storage and sharing of images is it's main attribute. However, the creation of personal communities, groups and the image feeds to other social sites all become part of the online networking experience.

JumpUp: This site, from the Intuit folks, is an example of another aspect of social networking - the corporate-sponsored networking resource. JumpUp creates an avenue for a detailed business profile, interacting with other business professionals, creating a blog and more. My participation online also resulted in my work and book being featured in a traveling exhibit for the company. An online radio program is in the works.

StartupNation: I've been a participant on this site for some time. My primary reason for joining was that a designer shouldn't be networking only with other designers - one needs to be interacting with business people who may become potential clients. StartupNation provides an opportunity to mingle with business people through forum participation, forum postings, a detailed profile, blogs, articles and podcasts.

Adholes: This online networking resource is primarily for the advertising professional. It's a great vehicle for networking through forum participation, posting blogs and articles, and scheduling local meetups through groups. Besides, I like the name of the group, and their tagline: "Ad industry schmoozing without the expensive restaurant tabs."

Fast Pitch: I initially made use of this site for the press release distribution capabilities. Fast Pitch now includes greater networking opportunities, blog feeds and more.

Fast Company: This is the social networking and social media presence of my favorite business magazine, Fast Company. You can network, join groups, post articles and more.

GOOD Magazine: I'm fairly new to GOOD. It's another publication that allows its readers and members to socially interact. My profile, with pertinent information posted, has drawn traffic to mt site and blogs.

Zoodango: This site recently went through a major update. I haven't yet checked out all of the features.

Ziki: The site allows you to network with others, post links, and revieve auto-feeds from blogs and Flickr. The blog feeds are especially effective in bring me a great deal of traffic.

Small Business Online Community: This offering, from Bank of America, is somewhat new and evolving. A forum allows for customer interaction, articles are posted by experts and more is offered on a regular basis.

This is far from a complete list of the sources available for social networking and social media. As mentioned earlier, these are just the resources I put into play in marketing and promoting my book, Identity Crisis!. As you can see, from each page example, I have taken the opportunity to establish a somewhat consistent look in the content and imagery used in each profile. The photo of me is the same in many, my logo is an identifying mark for most, the same book cover image is featured, mentions of the book are always included, and website, or blog, addresses are used with consistency.

Still, it the examples presented should give many people ideas of where they might look for added marketing opportunities.

For a look at portfolio sites check out my earlier piece Marketing logo design efforts with online resources.

© 2008 Jeff fisher LogoMotives