Our graphic designers and programming team caught the resolution bug and decided it was time to revamp the Schipul site to align with Schipul’s resolutions. Last year one of the things we really tried to focus on was telling our story and teaching our clients how to tell theirs. Check out how we incorporated that onto our homepage!
Right at the top is our brand-spanking new Stories module. It can feed from a number of different places and works as a one-stop-shop for all of our friends and family to see what is going on at Schipul. Even better? After a new more tweaks it will be added to our arsenal of Tendenci modules!
So check out our new site and leave us comments and feedback. Just for grins, here’s a screen shot of what Schipul.com looked like ten years ago:
Our team is growing with a great new hire! We are incredibly pleased to welcome JJ Lassberg to our Production Team. JJ is a seasoned Web geek and designer with 10 years of experience in Web site development. She’ll be working closely with clients using Tendenci as a project manager, software support guru and all-around all-star developer.
We are very happy to welcome such a strong team player to our Schipul family. JJ shares not only our love of all that is Web marketing, but our company values and passion for online communication and connectivity as well.
Prior to becoming a Schipulite, JJ was co-owner of True Light Resources (www.truelightresources.com), a Web site and creative design studio in Houston and a company that we work with closely on a regular basis. Welcome to the team JJ! It’s great to have you as our latest New Guy 🙂
Ed went to speak to the New Orleans Ad Club today on advertisers engaging in Social Media. While annual ad budgets in 2008 only included 6.8% for Internet advertising, the online medium remains one of the fastest growing segments (says Marketing Charts).
Knowing the basics of Social Media Marketing and online interaction can help your business go far in an economy that is less than forgiving. This goes for both agencies and individuals in the advertising community.
Some simple tips for agencies wanting to survive the recession:
Build and maintain relationships
Recurring revenue
Retrain, Recruit, Retool
Get rid of dead weight NOW
Charge for Creative
Some simple tips for individuals in the ad world wanting to survive the recession:
Build your personal brand
Participate in Social Networks
Stay close to billable work
Be humble (arrogant people suck)
What are YOUR tips on surviving the recession? What unique ways is your agency just.making.it.work. through online tools and new tactical approaches?
Happy Thanksgiving from the Schipul crew!! We have so many blessings to count this year and wish you a beautiful holiday with your family! Here are a few things we are thankful for this year:
Every Monday morning we have a training session in our weekly meetings. This Monday’s training featured a TED talk by Stefan Sagmeister focused on happy moments in his life that were enriched by design.
One of the most profound moments in Stefan’s talk is when he discusses the moment in his life when he decided to only work on projects that matter to him. Although focused on design, Stefan’s message is applicable to whatever career you may have. Are you doing something that makes you happy?
A few of us attended the IABC Houston luncheon last Thursday and it was great! The speaker was Carol Kinsey Goman, the author of The Nonverbal Advantage and President of Kinsey Consulting Services. Carol has been dubbed a “Change Mangement Specialist” and focuses on how executives can ignite their work force during times of change or dispel fears through times of turmoil using non-verbal communication.
I took a lot from Carol’s presentation; she gave a lot of great tips on using non-verbal cues to your advantage in business situations. One of the most important things she talked can be carried over into your everyday life. Granted, this is a lesson we’ve all heard 100’s of time but It is nice to hear it again every once in a while.
First impressions are important; Carol gave some tangible tips on making them great:
Attitude: Choose the attitude you are going to bring when you meet someone new and BRING IT. Leave negative emotions and feelings at the door when meeting someone new, because through your non-verbal cues, the person you are meeting will sense your bad attitude.
Eyebrow Flash: Your eyebrows unconsciously go up for a flash of a second when you encounter someone you like or know. When you meet someone new, give them an eyebrow flash! People subconsciously like people with big, innocent eyes and when your eyebrows go up, your eyes automatically get bigger.
Eye Contact: This one is pretty simple. When meeting someone for the first time, look them in the eye long enough to register their eye color.
Smile: When someone smiles at you, the reward center in your brain (your orbital cortex) automatically “lights up;” this is why it is so important to smile when you first meet someone.
Lean In Slightly: Like the eyebrow flash, we subconsciously lean towards things we like. So lean in a little bit when you meet someone! It shows you’re interested and engaged.
Shake Hands: This is the most important tip of all! According to Carol, we live in an essentially touch-free society, that is why we need to optimize on this initial touch. Palm to Palm, Web to Web!
Houston (Schipul’s hometown) is bursting with talented artists, marketers and technologists, we love it here… what can we say.
And just to prove what a great city we live in, the ladies from OpMom (Houston-based) and Kirtsy (semi-Houston-based) are hosting the first ever Mom 2.0 Summit February 19-21, 2009. The conference is dedicated to helping marketers learn how to talk and relate to online Moms, with lively discussion on what’s working, what’s not working and where the future of online marketing is headed.
Definitely an event for any level of Social Media geek, parents and marketers to snag tickets for – pronto! You’ll get more than your fair share of brain candy – and some super networking to boot.
In Schipul-land, we’re focusing on building/growing our current relationships (boy, does Social Media ever help with that!), keeping our eyes on our recurring revenue and focusing hardcore on knowledge sharing both in and out of the company.
How is your organization weathering the current economy?
Hold the presses! If your voice is worthy of making headlines, why isn’t Schipul helping you make your voice heard?
Good news! Schipul is offering blogging services to our clients. Join us in kicking-off this new service by attending our blogging seminar today.
So, what took us so long to offer blogging services to our clients? It’s not like we aren’t avid about blogging; in fact, many of our employees voice their personal passions via blog posts. For example, MagsMac ‘N’ Cheese is a blog which translates the techie lexicon into easy to understand terms for the emerging tech geek.
We have guided community organizations in creating fun and factual blogs, like the Houston Zoo’s Frog Blog.
Schipul has also helped organizations such as the Houston Arts Alliance take advantage of the blogging mouthpiece to amplify their voice around the Houston area.
Whether the blog is for your organization, your company, or your own personal musings, Schipul is here to serve you with a customizable line of blog offerings.
You’ve probably seen at least one, an email telling you that a $XX,XXX payment is about to go in to your bank or Paypal account — but ONLY!! if you confirm your address. And your name. And your dog’s name. And your Social Security number. And your dog’s Social Security number.
Sure, they might look fairly convincing (same big company logos, similar email design template, same boring corporate text), but your gut is telling you ‘really? I’m getting $10,546.72 from nowhere and my DOG has a Social Security number???’. Listen to your gut. It’s probably a phishing scam.
Telltale signs of a phishing scam:
Sense of urgency (respond today or we close your account!!!!)
Scare tactics (your dog’s account security has been compromised – doomsday!)
They want you to click a link or fill out a form to verify information
Misspellings and poor grammar
Call you ‘valued customer’ instead of your actual name
Email sent from a weird email address
When you hover (DON’T CLICK!) over links in an email, the URLs are a little ‘off’
If you see an email that appears to be a phishing attempt, the best thing you can do is NOT do what they tell you (no link clicking, no replying, no form filling out). Delete the suspicious email or forward it to: reportphishing@antiphishing.org.
If the email has a hint of legitimacy, don’t report it yet – rather, call the organization it is supposedly from (using a phone number listed on their Web site, not in the email) to verify that THEY are the ones trying to reach you. Also, be sure that you regularly check your online accounts and credit reports regularly, so that you can catch anything less than desirable just in case.
Fake sites that look like sites your trust, but are not (check those URLs!!)
A little common sense goes a long way, as with everything. If you see something pop up in your email that looks too good to be true (how many times can you win the lottery you never played – really?), it just might be. Stay secure and don’t let the bad guys go phishing for your information!
