Um rato, olhando pelo buraco na parede, vê o fazendeiro e sua esposa
abrindo um pacote. Pensou logo no tipo de comida que haveria ali. Ao
descobrir que era uma ratoeira ficou aterrorizado.
Correu ao pátio da fazenda advertindo a todos:
- Há uma ratoeira na casa, uma ratoeira na casa!!
A galinha disse:
- Desculpe-me Sr. Rato, eu entendo que isso seja um grande problema para
o senhor, mas não me prejudica em nada, não me incomoda.
O rato foi até o porco e disse:
- Há uma ratoeira na casa, uma ratoeira!
- Desculpe-me Sr. Rato, disse o porco, mas não há nada que eu possa
fazer, a não ser orar. Fique tranqüilo que o Sr. Será lembrado nas minhas
orações.
O rato dirigiu-se à vaca. E ela lhe disse:
- O que? Uma ratoeira? Por acaso estou em perigo? Acho que não!
Então o rato voltou para casa abatido, para encarar a ratoeira. Naquela
noite ouviu-se um barulho, como o da ratoeira pegando sua vítima. A
mulher do fazendeiro correu para ver o que havia pegado. No escuro, ela
não viu que a ratoeira havia pego a cauda de uma cobra venenosa. E a
cobra picou a mulher...
O fazendeiro a levou imediatamente ao hospital. Ela voltou com febre.
Todo mundo sabe que para alimentar alguém com febre, nada melhor que uma
canja de galinha. O fazendeiro pegou seu cutelo e foi providenciar o
ingrediente principal.
Como a doença da mulher continuava, os amigos e vizinhos vieram
visitá-la. Para alimentá-los, o fazendeiro matou o porco.
A mulher não melhorou e acabou morrendo. Muita gente veio para o funeral.
O fazendeiro então sacrificou a vaca, para alimentar todo aquele povo.
Moral da estória:
Na próxima vez que você ouvir dizer que alguém está diante de um problema
e acreditar que o problema não lhe diz respeito, lembre-se que quando' há
uma ratoeira na casa', toda fazenda corre risco.
O mesmo ocorre em uma empresa... O problema de um departamento, de uma
área É PROBLEMA DE TODOS!!!
ESTAMOS NO MESMO BARCO!!! JOGAMOS NO MESMO TIME!!!
'Nós aprendemos a voar como os pássaros, a nadar como os peixes, mas
ainda não aprendemos a conviver como irmãos. '
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Why Not to Drop $1000+ on Adobe CS3: Freeware Alternatives
Wednesday, June 25th, 2008
by ethanbaker
I very well know that Adobe CS3 offers some compelling programs. However, I have a solution to the major problem with the software: the price. The following are free alternatives to CS3 programs that will save you some major dough. Photoshop is Adobe’s stab at a photo editing program. For this common task, I have two programs to offer. The first program is The Gimp. The Gimp is slightly complex, but offers all the features that Photoshop does. A recompilation of The Gimp, called Gimpshop, is designed to be like Photoshop. Secondly, the infamous program Paint.NET. Paint.NET is a more basic image editor, but is still much more advanced than Windows Paint. Paint.NET is only available for Windows, while The Gimp is open source and therefore is available to most platforms.
Flash is a web 2.0 standard, however Adobe’s Flash program is expensive and complicated. I have found two alternatives to use instead of Flash. I have not extensively tested Synfig so I cannot comment on the UI or performance. The other option is called Powerbullet Presenter. Powerbullet is a well built program that makes Flash presentations. The UI is a little bit cluttered, but its performance really packs a punch. Synfig is available for Windows and OS X and Powerbullet is a Windows-only app.
Ah, Dreamweaver, the benchmark of all WYSIWYG editors. My suggested alternative is called Komposer. Komposer is the successor to NVU and is very similar. Komposer has a visual design and a code view, very similar to Dreamweaver. The only true difference between the two is that integrating Flash in Komposer can be a little bit tricky. Komposer is available for all major platforms.
Next up is Adobe Acrobat. I have a very simple solution to create PDFs rather then spending your hard earned cash. I suggest downloading PrimoPDF which is a printer driver that creates PDFs from any application that supports printing. All you need to do is select PrimoPDF in the Print dialogue box. PrimoPDf is available only for Windows.
Adobe Illustrator is great for creating works of art. Inkscape can be easily substituted for Illustrator saving you money. Inkscape is available for all major platforms.
Every now and again, everybody needs to build a publication. Of course you could use MS Publisher or Adobe InDesign, but why would you use those when you could use Scribus for free? Scribus has a simple, but powerful UI that reminds me of Komposer and the Open Office suite. Scribus is available for all major platforms.
Video editing is something that nowadays lots of people do. Windows Movie Maker is not great, iMovie is OK, but Adobe Premiere is professional quality. Jahshaka is a great alternative to Premiere and offers many of the same features. Jahshaka is available on all major platforms.
Audio editing is something required for podcasting and music recordings. Adobe Soundbooth allows this to be done professionally, but the open source program Audacity can do the same thing for a lot less. Audacity is available to all major platforms.
Finally, we have an Adobe product that is not part of CS3, but still has a free alternative. That product is Adobe Captivate. Adobe Captivate allows you to create screencasts to share with the web, colleagues, or friends. A free program that allows this to be done is CamStudio.
I hope that this list of freeware alternatives to expensive software helps everybody find an easy, cheap way to do what they need.
Note: These programs were found by use of Google, osalt.com, and CNet.
by ethanbaker
I very well know that Adobe CS3 offers some compelling programs. However, I have a solution to the major problem with the software: the price. The following are free alternatives to CS3 programs that will save you some major dough. Photoshop is Adobe’s stab at a photo editing program. For this common task, I have two programs to offer. The first program is The Gimp. The Gimp is slightly complex, but offers all the features that Photoshop does. A recompilation of The Gimp, called Gimpshop, is designed to be like Photoshop. Secondly, the infamous program Paint.NET. Paint.NET is a more basic image editor, but is still much more advanced than Windows Paint. Paint.NET is only available for Windows, while The Gimp is open source and therefore is available to most platforms.
Flash is a web 2.0 standard, however Adobe’s Flash program is expensive and complicated. I have found two alternatives to use instead of Flash. I have not extensively tested Synfig so I cannot comment on the UI or performance. The other option is called Powerbullet Presenter. Powerbullet is a well built program that makes Flash presentations. The UI is a little bit cluttered, but its performance really packs a punch. Synfig is available for Windows and OS X and Powerbullet is a Windows-only app.
Ah, Dreamweaver, the benchmark of all WYSIWYG editors. My suggested alternative is called Komposer. Komposer is the successor to NVU and is very similar. Komposer has a visual design and a code view, very similar to Dreamweaver. The only true difference between the two is that integrating Flash in Komposer can be a little bit tricky. Komposer is available for all major platforms.
Next up is Adobe Acrobat. I have a very simple solution to create PDFs rather then spending your hard earned cash. I suggest downloading PrimoPDF which is a printer driver that creates PDFs from any application that supports printing. All you need to do is select PrimoPDF in the Print dialogue box. PrimoPDf is available only for Windows.
Adobe Illustrator is great for creating works of art. Inkscape can be easily substituted for Illustrator saving you money. Inkscape is available for all major platforms.
Every now and again, everybody needs to build a publication. Of course you could use MS Publisher or Adobe InDesign, but why would you use those when you could use Scribus for free? Scribus has a simple, but powerful UI that reminds me of Komposer and the Open Office suite. Scribus is available for all major platforms.
Video editing is something that nowadays lots of people do. Windows Movie Maker is not great, iMovie is OK, but Adobe Premiere is professional quality. Jahshaka is a great alternative to Premiere and offers many of the same features. Jahshaka is available on all major platforms.
Audio editing is something required for podcasting and music recordings. Adobe Soundbooth allows this to be done professionally, but the open source program Audacity can do the same thing for a lot less. Audacity is available to all major platforms.
Finally, we have an Adobe product that is not part of CS3, but still has a free alternative. That product is Adobe Captivate. Adobe Captivate allows you to create screencasts to share with the web, colleagues, or friends. A free program that allows this to be done is CamStudio.
I hope that this list of freeware alternatives to expensive software helps everybody find an easy, cheap way to do what they need.
Note: These programs were found by use of Google, osalt.com, and CNet.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Power Point Version Hell
Software makers release new versions of their products all the time -- and each version upgrade adds an updated file format that can no longer be opened by users of previous versions. This makes sure that users upgrade all the time -- and it's easier for the software maker too since they don't have to find workarounds for users of previous versions.
Microsoft doesn't work that way -- they make sure that users of older versions can still open new and improved file formats -- this approach is laudable but it's not without its share of problems -- these problems have been more rampant than usual in the case of PowerPoint. While it was already a tough task moving PowerPoint presentations between Windows and Mac machines, now it's downright difficult moving between PowerPoint 2007 for Windows and users of older Windows versions of PowerPoint. Welcome to PowerPoint Version Hell!
Introduction
If you have are still working with PowerPoint 2003, and work in a mixed environment where some users have upgraded to PowerPoint 2007, you know that it’s no easy task working with presentations that have been opened, edited, and saved on both versions. The opposite is also true. If you are using PowerPoint 2007, and need to share files with users who are still working on PowerPoint 2003 (or even older versions), you know that there have been some unhappy times!
And if you really haven’t noticed any issues while working with different PowerPoint versions, then you are absolutely lucky – but even then, make sure you are aware of the possible pitfalls.
Now, let us look at another part of this version story that spans across OS platforms – with file issues, link problems, and media maladies that stem from viewing and editing PowerPoint presentations created on Windows on the Mac – or even vice versa. Everything isn’t too well on that front too.
All these issues can be placed under a common umbrella that I’ll call Version Hell – and while it’s no fun being under this umbrella, life can be much more uncomplicated if you are aware of these problems, and ready to look at workarounds and best practices. You might have noticed that I never promised any solutions – that’s because very few of them exist – most of the time, you’ll have to look at workarounds for existing content, and plan with best practices for any new slides you create. As goes the famous saying: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Version Hell can raise its head at a time you least expect it to show up – and many times, there’s nothing much you can do. However, I don’t expect you to pray, and fully recommend that you be prepared for any such situation. That calls for a two pronged approach.
First, be aware of the common problem areas.
And secondly, follow a set of guidelines all the time.
Let me first show you the main problem areas. In exploring these, I decided to categorize them into three distinct areas:
* Template Issues between PowerPoint 2003 and 2007
* Charting Issues between PowerPoint 2003 and 2007
* Cross Platform Issues between PowerPoint on Windows and Mac
Back
line
Template Terror
It’s quite apt that this is named template terror. What else would you call it when your masters gets deleted, multiple masters become hundreds of slide layouts, and you end up with something that doesn’t work within PowerPoint 2003 or 2007?
As one my friends explained it: Huge client makes a move to PowerPoint 2007 -- needs all their templates and presentations updated for 2007 using new layouts, charts, and tables (and needs them all to work in PowerPoint 2003 as well)! Cannot go backwards, layouts become many, many masters and charts lose the wow factor. Version Hell raises its head yet again.
The workaround for this is actually quite simple – so simple that some would call it blunt. As far as possible, create a separate set of templates and prototype presentations for PowerPoint 2007 and 2003 (and earlier). Use multiple masters for version 2003 and earlier sets, and slide layouts for version 2007. Also, if you also need to use these templates on PowerPoint for Mac, be aware that 2003 and earlier on Windows roughly translates to 2004 and earlier on the Mac. Similarly 2007 on Windows is the file format equivalent of 2008 on the Mac. Ignore this approach, and you’ll have a nightmare sorting out the hell you’ll be in!
Also, if there are some important presentations that are shown by large groups using different versions of PowerPoint – make sure you keep separate PPT and PPTX versions of them. This will make sure that you are prepared for any situation.
To a certain extent, smaller groups working with a very simple template (one slide master, no title master) and simple slides may relax these rules. In that case, working in both versions might be possible. But again in that case, your templates and master need to use the PowerPoint 203 PPT and POT file formats, and version 2007 users will have to work in compatible mode. This might alleviate some issues, but it still will only address the template terror in version hell – you are still prone to other version problems. Evolve your simple template with a single master to something that includes a title master, or heaven forbid multiple masters – and you are again on the highway to version hell.
So, if you make the template in PowerPoint 2007, will it be okay in PowerPoint 2003? How about making it in PowerPoint 2003 – will it work in PowerPoint 2007? Short answer: if you make the template in 2007, you may have some oddities with title slides in 2003. If you make the template in 2003, the color scheme will not be right in 2007. It’s best to make the 2007 template in 2007 and the 2003 template in 2003.
Back
line
Charting Concerns
Charting concerns are not as terrible as template terrors – even then I’ll put them on a close second rank since many presentations that belong to the PowerPoint 2003 and earlier era have charts that were created using the Microsoft Graph component. Enter version 2007, and the amazing improvements in charts stemmed from the fact that Excel 2007 rather than Graph was doing the charting.
I need to add here that if you have PowerPoint 2007 installed without Excel 2007 on your system, you’ll still get to use Microsoft Graph. That could be an advantage if you need to share chart slides with users who are still using PowerPoint 2003 or earlier. However, for the rest of this content, I’ll assume that you are using Excel 2007 as the charting component for PowerPoint 2007, and Microsoft Graph as the charting component in PowerPoint 2003 – that’s the default, and I don’t find an easy way to change that option.
Some users report error messages about open dialog boxes in Excel when the try to insert a new chart in PowerPoint 2007 – most of the time, running the Office Diagnostics option in Office Button | PowerPoint Options | Resources resolves the issue. This, and other similar issues may result from some broken registry entries between 2007 versions of PowerPoint and Excel as far as charting is concerned – running Office Diagnostics is therefore a good idea even if you run into a similar, unrelated issue.
A majority of charting problems stem from the fact that PowerPoint 2007 prompts you to convert, convert all, or edit existing charts when you try to edit a chart that was created in PowerPoint 2003 or earlier using Microsoft Graph. If you need to share these slides with users of older versions of PowerPoint, make sure you choose the Edit Existing option. In fact, you can change the default behavior in PowerPoint 2007 to Edit Existing by using a registry key edit explained by PowerPoint MVP Steve Rindsberg.
Create this key in the registry (registry editing is not recommended for the faint hearted – always keep a backup of your system before attempting any registry edit):
* Quit PowerPoint 2007 if it's running.
* Choose Start Menu | Run (in Windows XP) or Start Menu | All Programs | Accessories | Run (in Windows Vista) and type in “regedit” without the quotes to open the Registry Editor.
* Navigate to this folder in the registry: HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Office/12.0/Common/Charting/
* Click on Charting, right-click and choose New | DWORD Value.
* Registry Editor now inserts a new value, and leaves it highlighted for you to rename.
* Type in “MSGraphEnable” without the quotes. If you clicked off the new value, you'll need to rightclick it and choose Rename, then type the new name.
* Now doubleclick the MSGraphEnable value and set the data value to 1 in the dialog box that appears.
* Click OK to close the dialog box then quit Registry Editor.
This change in the registry results in new behaviors in PowerPoint 2007 as far as charting is concerned:
* PowerPoint will no longer convert existing Microsoft Graph charts to Microsoft Excel 2007 charts – nor will it prompt you to do so when you try to edit one by double-clicking.
* Inserting a new chart via the Insert options, or by clicking the chart icon in a content placeholder will result in a Microsoft Graph chart that you can share with users of pre-2007 versions of PowerPoint.
* PowerPoint 2007 will also retain Microsoft Graph charts if you choose the Office Button | Convert option to create a PPTX file from a PPT file.
If you edit a 2007 chart in 2003, you lose the colors. Maybe something to note for users.
Updated information on this technique can be always found at: http://www.pptfaq.com/FAQ00872.htm
To restore the charting options to Excel 2007, just delete the DWORD key you created.
Back
line
Cross Platform PowerPoint
PowerPoint started life as a Mac program that was acquired by Microsoft, which continued creating a Mac version of PowerPoint along with Windows versions. Somewhere along the way, maybe around version 4 – both the Mac and Windows versions started drifting a little as far as the feature set and media support was concerned. The rift is at its widest in PowerPoint versions 2007 and 2008 although these current versions are better behaved in the way they explain these errors.
PowerPoint 2008 for the Mac includes the Compatibility Report option (View | Compatibility Report) – this checks the open presentation for compatibility issues with profiles of all versions of PowerPoint on Windows and Mac – right back to PowerPoint 97 and 98 – it then tells you exactly what features may be compromised, and what will not work.
PowerPoint 2007 has a similar Compatibility Checker that can be accessed from Office Button | Prepare | Run Compatibility Checker – but this option only looks at compatibility issues with older versions of PowerPoint on Windows – there’s no reporting on problems with Mac versions of PowerPoint.
There are some guidelines that you can follow when you are creating PowerPoint presentations intended to be viewed or edited on both Windows and Mac versions of PowerPoint:
1. Keep things simple – and use PowerPoint’s drawing tools to create shapes and drawings rather than using content from a third party application.
2. Always use industry standard media formats that are not too platform specific: stay away from WindowsMedia and QuickTime file formats – use MPEG videos. Similarly, use DRM-free MP3s rather than iTunes songs or WindowsMedia audio files.
3. Use fonts that can be found as standard on Windows and Mac – these include Arial, Times New Roman, Courier New, Verdana, Tahoma, Trebuchet MS, etc. PowerPoint 2007 and 2008 can also use the new fonts such as Calibri.
4. On the Mac, avoid using PICT graphics – on both OS platforms, GIF, PNG, and JPG work best. For illustrations, use WMF or EMF files.
5. Don’t space out your text too tightly – font rendering differences may add an extra line to a text box on either Windows or Mac versions of PowerPoint.
6. Remember some features don’t work on both platforms – Mac versions of PowerPoint still don’t have motion path or trigger animations – although they can show you motion path animations in presentations created on Windows – you still cannot edit them though.
Back
line
Conclusion
We discussed three important aspects of Version Hell – and there’s a whole lot more than just these issues that you may encounter. The best thing you can do is create a unique set of guidelines for everything you do on a PowerPoint slide. Here’s a starting set of thoughts – add to these, and make changes as per your unique requirements:
* Decide upon the lowest common denominator for your organization, and document them.
* Don’t edit files through a cycle of version pairs. This could be something like this: you created the presentation in PowerPoint 2003, then made changes in 2007 using the compatibility mode, and saved again – and kept alternating between versions.
* Although you should not edit your PowerPoint presentations on different versions, the opposite is true as far as checking them is concerned. Always check the presentations files as often as you can on versions/platforms where you need to deliver.
* As far as possible, use industry standards file formats that are not platform specific.
As you might have realized by now, there are no solutions to version hell – but there is still so much you can do to avoid it in the first place.
Having said that, there’s no better solution to this problem other than creating a long term plan – this is a plan that moves everyone in your organization to working on the same version of PowerPoint. But I guess that does not happen very often in the real world!
Microsoft doesn't work that way -- they make sure that users of older versions can still open new and improved file formats -- this approach is laudable but it's not without its share of problems -- these problems have been more rampant than usual in the case of PowerPoint. While it was already a tough task moving PowerPoint presentations between Windows and Mac machines, now it's downright difficult moving between PowerPoint 2007 for Windows and users of older Windows versions of PowerPoint. Welcome to PowerPoint Version Hell!
Introduction
If you have are still working with PowerPoint 2003, and work in a mixed environment where some users have upgraded to PowerPoint 2007, you know that it’s no easy task working with presentations that have been opened, edited, and saved on both versions. The opposite is also true. If you are using PowerPoint 2007, and need to share files with users who are still working on PowerPoint 2003 (or even older versions), you know that there have been some unhappy times!
And if you really haven’t noticed any issues while working with different PowerPoint versions, then you are absolutely lucky – but even then, make sure you are aware of the possible pitfalls.
Now, let us look at another part of this version story that spans across OS platforms – with file issues, link problems, and media maladies that stem from viewing and editing PowerPoint presentations created on Windows on the Mac – or even vice versa. Everything isn’t too well on that front too.
All these issues can be placed under a common umbrella that I’ll call Version Hell – and while it’s no fun being under this umbrella, life can be much more uncomplicated if you are aware of these problems, and ready to look at workarounds and best practices. You might have noticed that I never promised any solutions – that’s because very few of them exist – most of the time, you’ll have to look at workarounds for existing content, and plan with best practices for any new slides you create. As goes the famous saying: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Version Hell can raise its head at a time you least expect it to show up – and many times, there’s nothing much you can do. However, I don’t expect you to pray, and fully recommend that you be prepared for any such situation. That calls for a two pronged approach.
First, be aware of the common problem areas.
And secondly, follow a set of guidelines all the time.
Let me first show you the main problem areas. In exploring these, I decided to categorize them into three distinct areas:
* Template Issues between PowerPoint 2003 and 2007
* Charting Issues between PowerPoint 2003 and 2007
* Cross Platform Issues between PowerPoint on Windows and Mac
Back
line
Template Terror
It’s quite apt that this is named template terror. What else would you call it when your masters gets deleted, multiple masters become hundreds of slide layouts, and you end up with something that doesn’t work within PowerPoint 2003 or 2007?
As one my friends explained it: Huge client makes a move to PowerPoint 2007 -- needs all their templates and presentations updated for 2007 using new layouts, charts, and tables (and needs them all to work in PowerPoint 2003 as well)! Cannot go backwards, layouts become many, many masters and charts lose the wow factor. Version Hell raises its head yet again.
The workaround for this is actually quite simple – so simple that some would call it blunt. As far as possible, create a separate set of templates and prototype presentations for PowerPoint 2007 and 2003 (and earlier). Use multiple masters for version 2003 and earlier sets, and slide layouts for version 2007. Also, if you also need to use these templates on PowerPoint for Mac, be aware that 2003 and earlier on Windows roughly translates to 2004 and earlier on the Mac. Similarly 2007 on Windows is the file format equivalent of 2008 on the Mac. Ignore this approach, and you’ll have a nightmare sorting out the hell you’ll be in!
Also, if there are some important presentations that are shown by large groups using different versions of PowerPoint – make sure you keep separate PPT and PPTX versions of them. This will make sure that you are prepared for any situation.
To a certain extent, smaller groups working with a very simple template (one slide master, no title master) and simple slides may relax these rules. In that case, working in both versions might be possible. But again in that case, your templates and master need to use the PowerPoint 203 PPT and POT file formats, and version 2007 users will have to work in compatible mode. This might alleviate some issues, but it still will only address the template terror in version hell – you are still prone to other version problems. Evolve your simple template with a single master to something that includes a title master, or heaven forbid multiple masters – and you are again on the highway to version hell.
So, if you make the template in PowerPoint 2007, will it be okay in PowerPoint 2003? How about making it in PowerPoint 2003 – will it work in PowerPoint 2007? Short answer: if you make the template in 2007, you may have some oddities with title slides in 2003. If you make the template in 2003, the color scheme will not be right in 2007. It’s best to make the 2007 template in 2007 and the 2003 template in 2003.
Back
line
Charting Concerns
Charting concerns are not as terrible as template terrors – even then I’ll put them on a close second rank since many presentations that belong to the PowerPoint 2003 and earlier era have charts that were created using the Microsoft Graph component. Enter version 2007, and the amazing improvements in charts stemmed from the fact that Excel 2007 rather than Graph was doing the charting.
I need to add here that if you have PowerPoint 2007 installed without Excel 2007 on your system, you’ll still get to use Microsoft Graph. That could be an advantage if you need to share chart slides with users who are still using PowerPoint 2003 or earlier. However, for the rest of this content, I’ll assume that you are using Excel 2007 as the charting component for PowerPoint 2007, and Microsoft Graph as the charting component in PowerPoint 2003 – that’s the default, and I don’t find an easy way to change that option.
Some users report error messages about open dialog boxes in Excel when the try to insert a new chart in PowerPoint 2007 – most of the time, running the Office Diagnostics option in Office Button | PowerPoint Options | Resources resolves the issue. This, and other similar issues may result from some broken registry entries between 2007 versions of PowerPoint and Excel as far as charting is concerned – running Office Diagnostics is therefore a good idea even if you run into a similar, unrelated issue.
A majority of charting problems stem from the fact that PowerPoint 2007 prompts you to convert, convert all, or edit existing charts when you try to edit a chart that was created in PowerPoint 2003 or earlier using Microsoft Graph. If you need to share these slides with users of older versions of PowerPoint, make sure you choose the Edit Existing option. In fact, you can change the default behavior in PowerPoint 2007 to Edit Existing by using a registry key edit explained by PowerPoint MVP Steve Rindsberg.
Create this key in the registry (registry editing is not recommended for the faint hearted – always keep a backup of your system before attempting any registry edit):
* Quit PowerPoint 2007 if it's running.
* Choose Start Menu | Run (in Windows XP) or Start Menu | All Programs | Accessories | Run (in Windows Vista) and type in “regedit” without the quotes to open the Registry Editor.
* Navigate to this folder in the registry: HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Office/12.0/Common/Charting/
* Click on Charting, right-click and choose New | DWORD Value.
* Registry Editor now inserts a new value, and leaves it highlighted for you to rename.
* Type in “MSGraphEnable” without the quotes. If you clicked off the new value, you'll need to rightclick it and choose Rename, then type the new name.
* Now doubleclick the MSGraphEnable value and set the data value to 1 in the dialog box that appears.
* Click OK to close the dialog box then quit Registry Editor.
This change in the registry results in new behaviors in PowerPoint 2007 as far as charting is concerned:
* PowerPoint will no longer convert existing Microsoft Graph charts to Microsoft Excel 2007 charts – nor will it prompt you to do so when you try to edit one by double-clicking.
* Inserting a new chart via the Insert options, or by clicking the chart icon in a content placeholder will result in a Microsoft Graph chart that you can share with users of pre-2007 versions of PowerPoint.
* PowerPoint 2007 will also retain Microsoft Graph charts if you choose the Office Button | Convert option to create a PPTX file from a PPT file.
If you edit a 2007 chart in 2003, you lose the colors. Maybe something to note for users.
Updated information on this technique can be always found at: http://www.pptfaq.com/FAQ00872.htm
To restore the charting options to Excel 2007, just delete the DWORD key you created.
Back
line
Cross Platform PowerPoint
PowerPoint started life as a Mac program that was acquired by Microsoft, which continued creating a Mac version of PowerPoint along with Windows versions. Somewhere along the way, maybe around version 4 – both the Mac and Windows versions started drifting a little as far as the feature set and media support was concerned. The rift is at its widest in PowerPoint versions 2007 and 2008 although these current versions are better behaved in the way they explain these errors.
PowerPoint 2008 for the Mac includes the Compatibility Report option (View | Compatibility Report) – this checks the open presentation for compatibility issues with profiles of all versions of PowerPoint on Windows and Mac – right back to PowerPoint 97 and 98 – it then tells you exactly what features may be compromised, and what will not work.
PowerPoint 2007 has a similar Compatibility Checker that can be accessed from Office Button | Prepare | Run Compatibility Checker – but this option only looks at compatibility issues with older versions of PowerPoint on Windows – there’s no reporting on problems with Mac versions of PowerPoint.
There are some guidelines that you can follow when you are creating PowerPoint presentations intended to be viewed or edited on both Windows and Mac versions of PowerPoint:
1. Keep things simple – and use PowerPoint’s drawing tools to create shapes and drawings rather than using content from a third party application.
2. Always use industry standard media formats that are not too platform specific: stay away from WindowsMedia and QuickTime file formats – use MPEG videos. Similarly, use DRM-free MP3s rather than iTunes songs or WindowsMedia audio files.
3. Use fonts that can be found as standard on Windows and Mac – these include Arial, Times New Roman, Courier New, Verdana, Tahoma, Trebuchet MS, etc. PowerPoint 2007 and 2008 can also use the new fonts such as Calibri.
4. On the Mac, avoid using PICT graphics – on both OS platforms, GIF, PNG, and JPG work best. For illustrations, use WMF or EMF files.
5. Don’t space out your text too tightly – font rendering differences may add an extra line to a text box on either Windows or Mac versions of PowerPoint.
6. Remember some features don’t work on both platforms – Mac versions of PowerPoint still don’t have motion path or trigger animations – although they can show you motion path animations in presentations created on Windows – you still cannot edit them though.
Back
line
Conclusion
We discussed three important aspects of Version Hell – and there’s a whole lot more than just these issues that you may encounter. The best thing you can do is create a unique set of guidelines for everything you do on a PowerPoint slide. Here’s a starting set of thoughts – add to these, and make changes as per your unique requirements:
* Decide upon the lowest common denominator for your organization, and document them.
* Don’t edit files through a cycle of version pairs. This could be something like this: you created the presentation in PowerPoint 2003, then made changes in 2007 using the compatibility mode, and saved again – and kept alternating between versions.
* Although you should not edit your PowerPoint presentations on different versions, the opposite is true as far as checking them is concerned. Always check the presentations files as often as you can on versions/platforms where you need to deliver.
* As far as possible, use industry standards file formats that are not platform specific.
As you might have realized by now, there are no solutions to version hell – but there is still so much you can do to avoid it in the first place.
Having said that, there’s no better solution to this problem other than creating a long term plan – this is a plan that moves everyone in your organization to working on the same version of PowerPoint. But I guess that does not happen very often in the real world!
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Business Model Innovation Matters
Check out this SlideShare Presentation:
Why PowerPoint rules the business world
A CALL FOR VISUAL LITERACY
In many organizations, the beginning and end of any business activity is marked by the PowerPoint presentation. In the early stages of an initiative, PowerPoint is used in strategy sessions, to present proposals and put forth plans. Later, it’s used for updates and progress reports. In the final stages, it’s used to report back and to present findings and conclusions. PowerPoint is everywhere, and it shows no signs of going away anytime soon.
Why is it used so broadly? And how did this simple tool become so entrenched in business? Here are a few thoughts:
1. PowerPoint is accessible. For the novice, it’s easy to learn and use.
2. PowerPoint is everywhere. Pretty much everyone has it, or has the ability to view a file. This makes it easy to share ideas and generally move meaning around. Slides can be borrowed, stolen, recycled and re-used.
3. PowerPoint is flexible. The same document that is used to present information in a meeting or conference, can, with little or no modification, be emailed as a document or shared online, retaining much of its meaning.
4. PowerPoint is easy to read. PowerPoint documents can be scanned and understood more rapidly than text documents. Because they are primarily visual they tend to be more easily understood and remembered.
5. PowerPoint is modular. It can be broken down into single slides, which can be arranged and rearranged into numerous different sequences. Over time you can build up a storehouse of slides that represent your – or your team’s – collective knowledge about any subject, which can be distributed, shared, discussed and modified as things evolve over time.
6. PowerPoint is powerful. For the more experienced user, it’s a powerful multimedia tool, with animation and other advanced effects. It’s easy to add information of any kind: Video, charts, photographs, maps – just about anything that can be digitized can be added to PowerPoint.
People use PowerPoint to represent knowledge, and the main element is relatively small and useful atomic unit we call the slide.
So what’s the problem?
“Death by PowerPoint” is the popular term for the much-dreaded meeting where a presenter subjects his audience to slide after slide, each one densely packed with bullet points or complex, confusing information, leaving the audience bored, frustrated confused.
But PowerPoint is not the enemy. When used appropriately, slides, and short sequences of slides, are excellent tools to represent knowledge. A good slide contains visual and verbal information in equal measure, and as an “information container,” a slide is just about the perfect size for memory and retention: big enough to hold meaningful information, but not so big that it’s likely to become overwhelming. A well-designed slide – one that’s comfortable to view and read – holds just about the same amount of information that you can hold in your short-term memory.
The problem is much, much deeper than PowerPoint. The issue is this: PowerPoint is a visual tool, and we are a visually illiterate society.
What do I mean by this?
In the modern world we are constantly confronted – you might say bombarded – with visual information: Television and film are the primary culprits, followed closely by billboards, brochures, and, yes, bullet points. Advertisers have long known that visualizing an idea is one of the quickest and most reliable ways to insert it into a human brain.
Due to this visual assault, we have, over time, become more sophisticated in our reading of visual information. In a world where information is digital, where photos can be altered in Photoshop and where films can show impossible things like dinosaurs and talking animals with a high degree of realism, we understand that seeing is no longer believing.
But this kind of visual sophistication is not literacy. Literacy is the ability to both read and write. If a child could read written language but not write it – if he could read a mathematical equation but not perform such operations himself – then we would not consider him prepared for success in the world.
In our school systems we teach our children the three R’s – reading, writing and arithmetic, because we believe them to be fundamental skills for successful integration in society. But the three R’s are no longer enough. Our world is changing fast – faster than we can keep up with our historical modes of thinking and communicating. Visual literacy – the ability to both read and write visual information; the ability to learn visually; to think and solve problems in the visual domain – will, as the information revolution evolves, become a requirement for success in business and in life.
PowerPoint has risen to its current position for two reasons:
1. We’re processing more information than ever before, at unprecedented volumes
2. We don’t have as much time to read anymore, and
3. Much of the information we need to share is non-linear in nature.
PowerPoint is a visual medium. If you want to convey information visually, it’s the most accessible and ubiquitous tool there is. The answer to bad PowerPoint is not to eliminate the tool, but to improve our visual literacy. We need to teach visual literacy in our schools, and to our business people. We need an ABC book of visual language (a project I am working on).
We’re leaving an industrial age and entering an information age, yet we continue to teach, and operate our schools, as if they were factories. In an information age, visually literate societies will succeed and thrive. Shouldn’t we be one of them?
source: http://www.davegrayinfo.com/2008/05/22/why-powerpoint-rules-the-business-world/
In many organizations, the beginning and end of any business activity is marked by the PowerPoint presentation. In the early stages of an initiative, PowerPoint is used in strategy sessions, to present proposals and put forth plans. Later, it’s used for updates and progress reports. In the final stages, it’s used to report back and to present findings and conclusions. PowerPoint is everywhere, and it shows no signs of going away anytime soon.
Why is it used so broadly? And how did this simple tool become so entrenched in business? Here are a few thoughts:
1. PowerPoint is accessible. For the novice, it’s easy to learn and use.
2. PowerPoint is everywhere. Pretty much everyone has it, or has the ability to view a file. This makes it easy to share ideas and generally move meaning around. Slides can be borrowed, stolen, recycled and re-used.
3. PowerPoint is flexible. The same document that is used to present information in a meeting or conference, can, with little or no modification, be emailed as a document or shared online, retaining much of its meaning.
4. PowerPoint is easy to read. PowerPoint documents can be scanned and understood more rapidly than text documents. Because they are primarily visual they tend to be more easily understood and remembered.
5. PowerPoint is modular. It can be broken down into single slides, which can be arranged and rearranged into numerous different sequences. Over time you can build up a storehouse of slides that represent your – or your team’s – collective knowledge about any subject, which can be distributed, shared, discussed and modified as things evolve over time.
6. PowerPoint is powerful. For the more experienced user, it’s a powerful multimedia tool, with animation and other advanced effects. It’s easy to add information of any kind: Video, charts, photographs, maps – just about anything that can be digitized can be added to PowerPoint.
People use PowerPoint to represent knowledge, and the main element is relatively small and useful atomic unit we call the slide.
So what’s the problem?
“Death by PowerPoint” is the popular term for the much-dreaded meeting where a presenter subjects his audience to slide after slide, each one densely packed with bullet points or complex, confusing information, leaving the audience bored, frustrated confused.
But PowerPoint is not the enemy. When used appropriately, slides, and short sequences of slides, are excellent tools to represent knowledge. A good slide contains visual and verbal information in equal measure, and as an “information container,” a slide is just about the perfect size for memory and retention: big enough to hold meaningful information, but not so big that it’s likely to become overwhelming. A well-designed slide – one that’s comfortable to view and read – holds just about the same amount of information that you can hold in your short-term memory.
The problem is much, much deeper than PowerPoint. The issue is this: PowerPoint is a visual tool, and we are a visually illiterate society.
What do I mean by this?
In the modern world we are constantly confronted – you might say bombarded – with visual information: Television and film are the primary culprits, followed closely by billboards, brochures, and, yes, bullet points. Advertisers have long known that visualizing an idea is one of the quickest and most reliable ways to insert it into a human brain.
Due to this visual assault, we have, over time, become more sophisticated in our reading of visual information. In a world where information is digital, where photos can be altered in Photoshop and where films can show impossible things like dinosaurs and talking animals with a high degree of realism, we understand that seeing is no longer believing.
But this kind of visual sophistication is not literacy. Literacy is the ability to both read and write. If a child could read written language but not write it – if he could read a mathematical equation but not perform such operations himself – then we would not consider him prepared for success in the world.
In our school systems we teach our children the three R’s – reading, writing and arithmetic, because we believe them to be fundamental skills for successful integration in society. But the three R’s are no longer enough. Our world is changing fast – faster than we can keep up with our historical modes of thinking and communicating. Visual literacy – the ability to both read and write visual information; the ability to learn visually; to think and solve problems in the visual domain – will, as the information revolution evolves, become a requirement for success in business and in life.
PowerPoint has risen to its current position for two reasons:
1. We’re processing more information than ever before, at unprecedented volumes
2. We don’t have as much time to read anymore, and
3. Much of the information we need to share is non-linear in nature.
PowerPoint is a visual medium. If you want to convey information visually, it’s the most accessible and ubiquitous tool there is. The answer to bad PowerPoint is not to eliminate the tool, but to improve our visual literacy. We need to teach visual literacy in our schools, and to our business people. We need an ABC book of visual language (a project I am working on).
We’re leaving an industrial age and entering an information age, yet we continue to teach, and operate our schools, as if they were factories. In an information age, visually literate societies will succeed and thrive. Shouldn’t we be one of them?
source: http://www.davegrayinfo.com/2008/05/22/why-powerpoint-rules-the-business-world/
Friday, November 28, 2008
Email Marketing Disobedience: Six laws of proper e-Newsletter creation, and why you should ignore every one of them
by Gary Levitt
Nobody loves email marketing more than I do. But even I admit that within the grand taxonomy of consumer touchpoints, e-newsletters hold a sorry position.
They're the longwinded busybodies who never get invited to the cool parties. Porcelain-skinned print campaigns turn up their perky, sans-serif noses at e-newsletters' frumpy templates and canned copy. Super Bowl spots kick sand in e-newsletters' bespectacled faces.
Yet, these boxy embodiments of mediocrity move product and build loyalty. Marketing people are aware of this—they've proven it with charts and everything. You need an e-newsletter and you know it.
Before rolling up your sleeves, cranking up the REO Speedwagon, and cooking up some long-form creation-wizard-based love, please review the following six bromides from a recent how-to article phoned in by a reigning email-marketing magnate.
After each, I'll explain how to do the exact opposite so that you can avoid polluting the e-cosystem with mediocre e-newsletters.
1. Share expertise
Wrong—share ignorance. Consider the old Zen adage "the more I know, the less I know." It means the more expertise we have, the more we're dazzled by just how little we currently understand.
Pick something you're marvelously clueless about and confess the fact to your readers. They won't fault you for it—but they just might love you for it. As long as the topic you're "ignorant" about is something they didn't even know they were ignorant about until reading your enlightening e-newsletter.
2. Tell a success story
Wrong—tell a failure story. It humanizes your company and demonstrates your high standards. Example: a legendary 1960s ad for the Volkswagen Beetle showed just the car, with "Lemon" in bold type. The copy explained, "The chrome strip on the glove compartment was blemished and needs to be replaced."
While other car companies waxed self-congratulatory about success, Volkswagen cornered the market talking about failure. You can do the same with your e-newsletters—simply master the art of strategic self-criticism. It never fails.
3. Conduct a relevant interview
Wrong—conduct a gloriously irrelevant interview. Approaching a topic head-on can be a headache—especially if it's been done to death. Try a sideways approach. What can your design firm glean from interviewing a homeless man? How might a chat with a priest spice up your women's fashion newsletter? Why would a software developer pick a farmer's brain about emptying grain bins into semi trailers?
I don't know the answers to these questions, but I'm willing to read your e-newsletter to find out!
4. Take an in-depth look at a product or service you offer
Wrong—take an in-depth look at a product or service you refuse to offer. As the visionaries of 37signals say in Getting Real (sort of a Thomas Paine's Common Sense for the digital generation), "do less than your competitors in order to beat them."
Embrace l'esprit du moment by poking satirical fun at the superfluous features common to your industry. Waving the simplicity banner while it's still in vogue is smart—and your next e-newsletter is a smart place to wave it.
5. Springboard off of current events
Wrong—springboard off of that which is timeless. Your readers are suffering from information overload—spare them the latest trope on gas prices, politics and Paris Hilton. Realize that the guys reading your scrap metal e-newsletter probably don't give a rat's ass that it's Halloween.
And while you're at it, throw away the springboard. Relying on convoluted conversation-starters is a milquetoast way to win friends and influence people—both in life and in e-newsletters.
6. Ask your readers
Wrong—listen to readers. In the words of Louis Armstrong, "if you have to ask what jazz is, you'll never know." Same wisdom applies to knowing the hearts of your readers. Get in sync with customers' needs by observing their riffs in natural online habitats built around your company. Replace pre-fab surveys with improvised forums. The intuition you gain will free you up to follow the inspiration of the moment and hit the high notes needed to create authentic brand loyalty.
* * *
Rebelling against clichés will keep your customers reading, and it'll keep you writing—without falling asleep. This matters. Readers can sense when you're just going through the motions. That can't be good for your brand, regardless of what the stats say.
So ask yourself: Am I excited about my e-newsletter? Does it express my voice and vision? Did I have fun creating it? If you have to ignore an army of email experts' advice (including mine) to get to where you can answer "yes" to those questions, so be it. That's called employing the virtues of e-newsletter disobedience.
Super Bowl commercials, watch out!
Nobody loves email marketing more than I do. But even I admit that within the grand taxonomy of consumer touchpoints, e-newsletters hold a sorry position.
They're the longwinded busybodies who never get invited to the cool parties. Porcelain-skinned print campaigns turn up their perky, sans-serif noses at e-newsletters' frumpy templates and canned copy. Super Bowl spots kick sand in e-newsletters' bespectacled faces.
Yet, these boxy embodiments of mediocrity move product and build loyalty. Marketing people are aware of this—they've proven it with charts and everything. You need an e-newsletter and you know it.
Before rolling up your sleeves, cranking up the REO Speedwagon, and cooking up some long-form creation-wizard-based love, please review the following six bromides from a recent how-to article phoned in by a reigning email-marketing magnate.
After each, I'll explain how to do the exact opposite so that you can avoid polluting the e-cosystem with mediocre e-newsletters.
1. Share expertise
Wrong—share ignorance. Consider the old Zen adage "the more I know, the less I know." It means the more expertise we have, the more we're dazzled by just how little we currently understand.
Pick something you're marvelously clueless about and confess the fact to your readers. They won't fault you for it—but they just might love you for it. As long as the topic you're "ignorant" about is something they didn't even know they were ignorant about until reading your enlightening e-newsletter.
2. Tell a success story
Wrong—tell a failure story. It humanizes your company and demonstrates your high standards. Example: a legendary 1960s ad for the Volkswagen Beetle showed just the car, with "Lemon" in bold type. The copy explained, "The chrome strip on the glove compartment was blemished and needs to be replaced."
While other car companies waxed self-congratulatory about success, Volkswagen cornered the market talking about failure. You can do the same with your e-newsletters—simply master the art of strategic self-criticism. It never fails.
3. Conduct a relevant interview
Wrong—conduct a gloriously irrelevant interview. Approaching a topic head-on can be a headache—especially if it's been done to death. Try a sideways approach. What can your design firm glean from interviewing a homeless man? How might a chat with a priest spice up your women's fashion newsletter? Why would a software developer pick a farmer's brain about emptying grain bins into semi trailers?
I don't know the answers to these questions, but I'm willing to read your e-newsletter to find out!
4. Take an in-depth look at a product or service you offer
Wrong—take an in-depth look at a product or service you refuse to offer. As the visionaries of 37signals say in Getting Real (sort of a Thomas Paine's Common Sense for the digital generation), "do less than your competitors in order to beat them."
Embrace l'esprit du moment by poking satirical fun at the superfluous features common to your industry. Waving the simplicity banner while it's still in vogue is smart—and your next e-newsletter is a smart place to wave it.
5. Springboard off of current events
Wrong—springboard off of that which is timeless. Your readers are suffering from information overload—spare them the latest trope on gas prices, politics and Paris Hilton. Realize that the guys reading your scrap metal e-newsletter probably don't give a rat's ass that it's Halloween.
And while you're at it, throw away the springboard. Relying on convoluted conversation-starters is a milquetoast way to win friends and influence people—both in life and in e-newsletters.
6. Ask your readers
Wrong—listen to readers. In the words of Louis Armstrong, "if you have to ask what jazz is, you'll never know." Same wisdom applies to knowing the hearts of your readers. Get in sync with customers' needs by observing their riffs in natural online habitats built around your company. Replace pre-fab surveys with improvised forums. The intuition you gain will free you up to follow the inspiration of the moment and hit the high notes needed to create authentic brand loyalty.
* * *
Rebelling against clichés will keep your customers reading, and it'll keep you writing—without falling asleep. This matters. Readers can sense when you're just going through the motions. That can't be good for your brand, regardless of what the stats say.
So ask yourself: Am I excited about my e-newsletter? Does it express my voice and vision? Did I have fun creating it? If you have to ignore an army of email experts' advice (including mine) to get to where you can answer "yes" to those questions, so be it. That's called employing the virtues of e-newsletter disobedience.
Super Bowl commercials, watch out!
Five Steps to Building Brand Equity for the Small Business
by Mike O'Toole
Instinctively, every small business owner understands the importance of brand equity, even if they may not be able to define the idea. Marketing-speak aside, brand equity is how your customer recognizes why you are different and better than the alternative.
Brand equity is built on that customer's direct experience with your product or service. This experience, repeated over time, creates equity or value in your brand. And it serves as a shorthand in the buyer's mind that separates you from everyone else.
Brand equity is what creates loyalty that carries beyond price or the occasional product or service bump in the road. It is the quality that motivates your customers to recommend their friends or colleagues to you.
Everyone wants brand equity. But building it, when you are more likely to qualify for the Inc. 500 rather than the Fortune 500, can be a puzzle. Particularly when the role models for brand equity are global icons like Coca Cola, Volvo, or Sony—hardly your peer set.
The good news is that the path to building brand equity is clear. Here are six simple steps you can take to get started:
1. Clarify your position
The first step to building brand equity is to define your positioning: the single thing your company stands for to your customers. Single is the operative word here. Good positioning forces hard choices.
To define your brand position, get the key leaders in your company together. Decide what makes you different and better than your competition. This might sound blindingly obvious, but most small businesses are too busy responding to customers or making payroll to do a lot of introspection.
You don't need an agency or consultant to get started. There are a couple of good exercises out there that you can do on your own. A simple one that I like is the Positioning XYZs:
"We are the only X that solves Y problem in Z unique way."
Where...
* X is the category of the company, product, or service or other offering you've chosen to own.
* Y is the unmet need of your target audience.
* Z is the differentiation, advantage, or key positive distinction you have over your competition.
2. Tell your story
Clear positioning is critical, but positioning statements are internal touchstones, not external expressions. Your next job is to make it interesting, to imbue the rational positioning with emotion.
All brands are stories, and a good way to get started is to document and share your best corporate stories: the founding insight of the company, the times you went to extraordinary lengths to take care of a customer, or the background behind the big product breakthrough.
The good news is that with ubiquitous broadband access and Web-based applications, it is within every company's grasp to share these stories more broadly through rich-media video and audio.
B.Good (www.bgood.com), a small restaurant chain in Boston, has done this well. It's a burger joint that promises "real food," positioning itself against the typical fast-food burger and experience. The real food story begins with the stories of the "real people," the founders whose corporate values are based on their experiences growing up at their uncle's restaurant. You're reminded of these stories when you're in the restaurant or checking store hours online.
3. Bring it to life
Once you have the story, you need to bring it to life. Make sure that the way your company looks and feels to the outside world matches that truth. This leads to questions about your corporate identity: Do the basics (starting with your name and logo) make the impression you want? And your broader system for communicating to the market: Web site, brochures, your retail environment.
A client of mine talked about his Web site as a "corporate veil" that obscured what made the company special. Does your corporate identity reveal the best truth about your business, or does it hide it?
4. Start building brand before they buy
Think beyond the transaction. Brands begin at the transaction level, but the brand experience goes much deeper. The opportunity to create a brand impression starts long before the buying decision. The principle is a simple one: Give away an artifact of your brand for free. In the professional services world, this means a taste of your service or your intellectual property. Here are two creative examples:
Igor (www.igorinternational.com) is a naming consultancy based in San Francisco. It has built a methodology—and a client list that rivals those of much-larger branding agencies. That methodology is laid bare in a 100-page guide to naming that it gives away—without any registration requirements—on its Web site.
This move is both generous, in the spirit of Web content "wanting to be free," and also incredibly shrewd. The naming guide is rich, detailed, and outlines a very clear process for naming. Igor understands that giving away IP (intellectual property) doesn't cost it business—but it is its lead business generator.
It doesn't have to be just IP. Peet's (www.peets.com), the coffee retailer, allows customers to send their friends an "eCup," an email redeemable for a free cup of coffee. This is an ingenious way to enable the fiercely loyal customers of Peet's to promote the brand themselves.
5. Measure your efforts
Here are a few direct ways to measure the progress of your brand:
* Ask your customers. Survey a subset of customers, prospective customers, and (ideally) people who chose a competitor over you. You'll be surprised at how candid people will be about your strengths—and your weaknesses. Make sure you ask the most important question in any customer research: Would you recommend us to a friend or colleague? Research (check out www.netpromoter.com) has shown that the willingness to recommend is the most important indicator of brand health. This research can be done quite cheaply online, using free or near-free tools like KeySurvey (www.keysurvey.com) or SurveyMonkey (www.surveymonkey.com).
* Check your search rankings. I don't know all of what Igor measures, but I do know it fares very well in what is perhaps the most important measure of them all: organic search results. Type "product naming" on Google, and chances are you'll see Igor come up in the top three listings (the earned ones in the middle, not the paid ones on the top or side).
* Monitor the social media conversation. In most categories, consumers are holding a very active and candid conversation about the brands they love and hate. Check out what they're saying about you in blogs, bulletin boards, and vendor-rating Web sites (www.technorati.com or www.yelp.com are good places to start).
* * *
At the end of the day, brand value is tangible. If you're skeptical, take a look at Interbrand's annual survey of the world's most valuable brands.
These companies start with a clear, focused position in the market. They have built a special relationship with customers that extends far beyond the product. And they exercise a fanatical discipline in how that brand position is communicated in the market.
These are practices you don't need a billion dollar marketing budget to emulate. In fact, you can start today.
Instinctively, every small business owner understands the importance of brand equity, even if they may not be able to define the idea. Marketing-speak aside, brand equity is how your customer recognizes why you are different and better than the alternative.
Brand equity is built on that customer's direct experience with your product or service. This experience, repeated over time, creates equity or value in your brand. And it serves as a shorthand in the buyer's mind that separates you from everyone else.
Brand equity is what creates loyalty that carries beyond price or the occasional product or service bump in the road. It is the quality that motivates your customers to recommend their friends or colleagues to you.
Everyone wants brand equity. But building it, when you are more likely to qualify for the Inc. 500 rather than the Fortune 500, can be a puzzle. Particularly when the role models for brand equity are global icons like Coca Cola, Volvo, or Sony—hardly your peer set.
The good news is that the path to building brand equity is clear. Here are six simple steps you can take to get started:
1. Clarify your position
The first step to building brand equity is to define your positioning: the single thing your company stands for to your customers. Single is the operative word here. Good positioning forces hard choices.
To define your brand position, get the key leaders in your company together. Decide what makes you different and better than your competition. This might sound blindingly obvious, but most small businesses are too busy responding to customers or making payroll to do a lot of introspection.
You don't need an agency or consultant to get started. There are a couple of good exercises out there that you can do on your own. A simple one that I like is the Positioning XYZs:
"We are the only X that solves Y problem in Z unique way."
Where...
* X is the category of the company, product, or service or other offering you've chosen to own.
* Y is the unmet need of your target audience.
* Z is the differentiation, advantage, or key positive distinction you have over your competition.
2. Tell your story
Clear positioning is critical, but positioning statements are internal touchstones, not external expressions. Your next job is to make it interesting, to imbue the rational positioning with emotion.
All brands are stories, and a good way to get started is to document and share your best corporate stories: the founding insight of the company, the times you went to extraordinary lengths to take care of a customer, or the background behind the big product breakthrough.
The good news is that with ubiquitous broadband access and Web-based applications, it is within every company's grasp to share these stories more broadly through rich-media video and audio.
B.Good (www.bgood.com), a small restaurant chain in Boston, has done this well. It's a burger joint that promises "real food," positioning itself against the typical fast-food burger and experience. The real food story begins with the stories of the "real people," the founders whose corporate values are based on their experiences growing up at their uncle's restaurant. You're reminded of these stories when you're in the restaurant or checking store hours online.
3. Bring it to life
Once you have the story, you need to bring it to life. Make sure that the way your company looks and feels to the outside world matches that truth. This leads to questions about your corporate identity: Do the basics (starting with your name and logo) make the impression you want? And your broader system for communicating to the market: Web site, brochures, your retail environment.
A client of mine talked about his Web site as a "corporate veil" that obscured what made the company special. Does your corporate identity reveal the best truth about your business, or does it hide it?
4. Start building brand before they buy
Think beyond the transaction. Brands begin at the transaction level, but the brand experience goes much deeper. The opportunity to create a brand impression starts long before the buying decision. The principle is a simple one: Give away an artifact of your brand for free. In the professional services world, this means a taste of your service or your intellectual property. Here are two creative examples:
Igor (www.igorinternational.com) is a naming consultancy based in San Francisco. It has built a methodology—and a client list that rivals those of much-larger branding agencies. That methodology is laid bare in a 100-page guide to naming that it gives away—without any registration requirements—on its Web site.
This move is both generous, in the spirit of Web content "wanting to be free," and also incredibly shrewd. The naming guide is rich, detailed, and outlines a very clear process for naming. Igor understands that giving away IP (intellectual property) doesn't cost it business—but it is its lead business generator.
It doesn't have to be just IP. Peet's (www.peets.com), the coffee retailer, allows customers to send their friends an "eCup," an email redeemable for a free cup of coffee. This is an ingenious way to enable the fiercely loyal customers of Peet's to promote the brand themselves.
5. Measure your efforts
Here are a few direct ways to measure the progress of your brand:
* Ask your customers. Survey a subset of customers, prospective customers, and (ideally) people who chose a competitor over you. You'll be surprised at how candid people will be about your strengths—and your weaknesses. Make sure you ask the most important question in any customer research: Would you recommend us to a friend or colleague? Research (check out www.netpromoter.com) has shown that the willingness to recommend is the most important indicator of brand health. This research can be done quite cheaply online, using free or near-free tools like KeySurvey (www.keysurvey.com) or SurveyMonkey (www.surveymonkey.com).
* Check your search rankings. I don't know all of what Igor measures, but I do know it fares very well in what is perhaps the most important measure of them all: organic search results. Type "product naming" on Google, and chances are you'll see Igor come up in the top three listings (the earned ones in the middle, not the paid ones on the top or side).
* Monitor the social media conversation. In most categories, consumers are holding a very active and candid conversation about the brands they love and hate. Check out what they're saying about you in blogs, bulletin boards, and vendor-rating Web sites (www.technorati.com or www.yelp.com are good places to start).
* * *
At the end of the day, brand value is tangible. If you're skeptical, take a look at Interbrand's annual survey of the world's most valuable brands.
These companies start with a clear, focused position in the market. They have built a special relationship with customers that extends far beyond the product. And they exercise a fanatical discipline in how that brand position is communicated in the market.
These are practices you don't need a billion dollar marketing budget to emulate. In fact, you can start today.
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