Social Networking Our Way Out of Recession

Twitter, Blogger, Digger? Where is the recognition market online? As part of our marketing plan I spend a few hours a day reading blogs on recognition and I'm always looking at what products are being offered in the recognition industry. I love reading HR blogs that talk about recognition, what works, what does not. I love looking at marketing ideas in other industries to see how they might apply to us. Many within management at Fusion Frames question how valuable my time is surfing the net, commenting on blogs, adding our URL like fairy dust around the world wide web.

My thought is this: if I can use my market research time online to help create conversation with vendors or marketing experts or EVEN CUSTOMERS then I am gaining ground in our online presence and learning ahead of the curve. The specialty product future is online. So you better be building your brand and carving your niche. You want certificate frames? Google us! We are THERE.

Who are my online idols? Who is serving their niche well?
http://www.despair.com/
http://www.diplomaframe.com/
And of course:
http://www.fusionframes.com/

I think we can be way better in the certificate frame niche. And we need to work on our other major key words to move our way organically into those markets. I'll be announcing how in the months to come. In the meantime I get to twitter around on the internet and call it work.

The Macintosh will be 25 on 1/24/09

My first memories of Mac was in college in 1986. The art department at Memphis State purchased their first Macs. Mac Classics I suppose or maybe SEs? I know the entire operating system fit on a floppy disk. Our graphic design work became this typography hybrid where we would make text, print it and then do paste-up with it to get our typography right. The typography on the first Macs lacked the finesse and sophistication of Service Bureau type. But, as students we loved the cheap, immediate results that we could xerox, cut-up and manipulate into beautiful work. April Greiman was my hero.

By the time I reached grad school at NC State in 1988 we had a Mac lab that was full of the first Mac IIci's. And yes, we had to sign-up and share the lab with everyone in the design program. We were still producing student work in a hybrid of Pagemaker and Photoshop layouts, stat machine, xerox, chromatex (sp?) to get color, marker comps and colored paper. Color out-put was pricey and saved for final portfolio. The work was no-less beautiful though.

At my first agency job we had a couple of Quadra 650's that we shared. It was with Quark Xpress that I was trained to see the entire project digitally, in its final typographic form to the printer, in color, transforming the printing industry forever.

Today, my job would not be possible without my Macintosh computer and iPhone. The Mac platform is how I have been trained and how my business and design skills have evolved for 20+ years.

Leave your own first Mac story at http://mac25.org/