Advertising and Marketing Blog

Communicating for the Sake of Communicating

Posted on 08/25/2010, by Jenn McLean

My job is to be a good communicator. Through words and images and color and concept. As such, I should embrace all of the different ways I communicate with others, making sure nothing gets lost in translation or misunderstood or, God forbid, forgotten. And I’m not even talking about social media. I’m talking about the basics in a workplace between coworkers... emails, phone calls, yadda-yadda. In our office, we use a lovely program called “BaseCamp”... where everything we ever do or say is posted for all of us to have access (excess) to.

So on any given day, I respond to all sorts or things, sometimes more than once, while trying to do what it is I am sitting here trying to do, which is to... wait for it.... be a great communicator. All of this communicating is what it is... in our (physical and mind) spaces today, but I’m always looking for ways to lessen the amount of communicating I do so I can be better and more efficient at communicating... on my client’s behalf.

I know I have a lot of choir members out there saying “Amen, sister!” while others of you are probably thinking “Get over it.” I know we would all be lost without our unlimited ways we keep in touch, so I do see the value. But I just marvel some days when I look at actual working hours I have billed and wonder where the heck my day went.

Right?

I am reminded (again) of my mentor and boss, John, who once told me he wanted me to set my computer up to “auto-boot” in the morning before I got in, all in an effort to save those precious few minutes in order to make the morning that much more efficient for time to work and focus.

Ah, focus!

I see now, as a business partner, exactly where he was coming from. How he knew in his infinite wisdom how easily we creatives can be distracted, when we should be sitting down with our coffee with gobs of ideas ready to create.

So, a little advice before I go.

For those of us who have more than one hat to wear at our jobs, resulting in many emails that require our attention and response, here are some things I have learned to do in order to make my masses of emails remain relevant and meaningful to me and to those I communicate with:

1. Take the time required to read and absorb your emails, particularly the ones that require YOUR feedback and direction. To skim them will only cause you to miss something and lengthen that email thread when something required of you comes up missing.

2. If there’s more than one email about the same topic, read them all and THEN combine your responses into one concise email, eliminating the annoying snippets that end up getting sent over the course of an hour...as you think of them. It only confuses and frustrates everyone on the receiving end...and makes you look like a hot mess (say it isn’t so!!!!). So get it all in that first email: questions you have, things requiring clarification, changes to deadlines, needs from the client, next steps for you from here, etc. The more you can close the loop on any one subject the less you have to endure back and forth – and the more time you’ll have left to communicate some more!

3. Context is key. If you are writing with your officemate about the hottest new nail colors and then suddenly decide to email her about something related to a job you are both working on, change the subject line to reflect that! Seems obvious, right? Well, we all do it and that’s how that really important shipping address you emailed to her ended up getting lost or overlooked.

Thanks for listening (I feel better now). And, lest I get accused of communicating for the sake of communicating, I’ll get back to communicating (for the sake of billing), and you can get back to whatever it is you’re supposed to be doing...

Signing off....for now, at least.

“jenn mac” 

IdeaField Coworking

Posted on 07/22/2010, by DMC

Well it has been a whirlwind of a last month or two between launching the anti-litter campaign in Cincinnati and moving into our new space, we wanted to spend a moment and speak to all the freelancers, creatives and entrepreneurs in the community. In tandem with the launch of the new DMC space we have also relocated (co-located?) IdeaField with us as well! For those of you new to the idea of coworking here is some good info to bring you up to speed on the concept.

That being said you can currently check out the happenings, membership rates, and free days at IdeaField.org. We are planning to have a brand spanking new site up in the very near future (since Ning went rogue) so be sure to check back often. And for those who don’t feel like link clicking here is the ten second run down: free wifi and coffee, desk space and all the fresh air you can breathe. Fridays and your first time in are always free, so swing by check out the new space and have a steaming hot cup o’ coworking.

Oh, and we're at 1911 19th St. N. in Ybor City.

-g.d.

Can U Writ Gud?

Posted on 04/26/2010, by DMC

O.K. it literally almost killed me to write the title of this post. Bad grammar and misspelled words are like nails on a chalkboard to me. Does it take me twice as long as the average bear to compose a text message? Yup. But you won’t find me using ‘4’ instead of ‘for’ or the like. And, as a new report out of Marketing Lure conjectures, it could not only hurt your personal rep, but might cost you business as well.

To give you a quick peek: “Printed company literature is most likely to influence both opinions and behavior. Fifty‐seven percent of the survey participants expect perfection, and will eliminate a prospective company if a print brochure contains one writing error” (p. 4). Bam. When was the last time you proofed your company’s collateral? How much would it suck to see your big prospect walk away because your copywriter was drinking and forgot the difference between they’re and their? Just a thought - many times companies get focused on the forest and forget all about the trees. The details most certainly matter.

-g.d.

You can download and read the full report here.

Hi, We're DAVIEMCLEAN.

Posted on 03/19/2010, by DMC

There’s a lot of energy required to run a successful ad agency. We think most of that energy should be put into creating inspired opportunities for clients. Into unveiling microscopic details that lead to ingenious strategic thinking. Into a parallel and relentless focus on helping our clients improve their business metrics. Into pushing people’s envelopes just a tad, to make them aware, in a good way, that they’re being marketed to.

We find they don’t mind being marketed to when we hit them with something relevant or entertaining or educational or compelling. Oh, and memorable. Always memorable. We formed DAVIEMCLEAN to do just that. With one finger on the pulse of today’s business considerations, and one on consumers’ anthropological pulse. So we know how to say what, to whom and when.