X-CUBE 06.12.00
v.1.i.2
Welcome to the second issue of X-CUBE a free E-zine, produced by Out of
the Box Marketing, to provide small, minority and women-owned firms in the
A/E/C industry with helpful marketing and business information. The theme
for this issue is «crossing industry lines: staying fresh through
professional diversity.»
Thanks for all of the positive responses to the last issue! This issue is
dedicated to Artist Jacob Lawrence, who died in his sleep at age 82 on June
9th, 2000. He was a great communicator and documentarian of the migration of
African Americans in the last century from the South to the North…from a
dismal past to a brighter future.
This issue includes:
Marketing Know-how: Three fun marketing tips for the month of June
Diversity in the City: Leads to sign up for
Integrating Online and Offline Marketing
Set-Aside Blues
Cyber scene: Bridge that Digital Divide with These Synapses Baby!
Industry Events
Non-Industry Events
Marketing Know-How:
1.
Get a CD ROM business card. They are shaped like a credit card but
can fit into your CD-ROM drive. You can put your brochure on it. You can put
a power point presentation on it. Or you can hire a super cool macro-media
firm to design a sophisticated, interactive «experience» that your
client can review.
2.
Schmooze! Aside from your talent, nothing helps your business efforts
out better than «who you know». Pick one of these activities for
starters: join your college alumni, be active with a professional industry
association or trade organization, get involved with your child’s school,
volunteer in an area where you’d like more clients (like museums), share
your services with your church or cultural institution, or –as Architecture
Magazine Editor Reed Kroloff says–get politically involved (join your
community board, become a member of a city commission, etc.) We have seen
political involvement really work for A/E/C professionals.
3.
Be generous with your clients and have a little fun. Knoll, the
international ever-sexy furniture company (did you know Knoll is a woman?),
holds individual cocktail parties for firms they’d like to do more business
with. Leni Schwendinger’s Light Projects, an international, woman-owned
lighting studio holds a party in her engaging office right after the Light
Fair conference. Anthony C. Baker Architects, a Black-owned firm, holds a
holiday party in their office for colleagues and clients. Some firms send
sports tickets to their clients. Some send pies. Some just send promotional
merchandise – our favorite being Grid Magazine’s ruler.
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Diversity in the City: Leads to sign up for
Con Edison: Joining the Minority Business Program – Con Edison is
ready to do business with reliable, efficient and customer-focused companies
who can supply our needs. To qualify for the Minority Business Program, your
company should be in business for at least 2-5 years and be certified by the
New York/New Jersey Minority Purchasing Council. If your minority-owned
business meets these requirements, E-mail us at MinorityBusinessProgram@coned.com
or write to: Joy Crichlow, Director, Minority Business Program,
Consolidated Edison, 4 Irving Place, New York, NY 10003
KeySpan Energy’s Commitment to Minority & Women in Business
New York is one of the most ethnically diverse areas of the country.
Incorporating a rich cultural environment into KeySpan’s workforce and
supplier base gives KeySpan a competitive advantage while supporting the
communities we serve. KeySpan actively encourages supplier relationships
with minority & women owned business enterprises that provide
competitive prices, quality and service. For more information contact
KeySpan Energy’s Vendor Manager: jpowers@keyspanenergy.com
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey http://www.panynj.gov/bus/busframe.HTM
– Firms interested in providing professional and technical engineering
services to the Port Authority are encouraged to complete and return a copy
of the Engineering Department’s Professional Service Firm Questionnaire (PSFQ)
presented at this web address: http://www.panynj.gov/bus/psframe.html.
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Integrating Online and Offline Marketing by Michael Fischler
June 12, 2000
One of the weakest areas of modern tactical marketing is the integration
of online with offline. The finest web site and the most carefully planned
print or broadcast campaign are both significantly hobbled if they aren’t
tightly interwoven.
To show you what I mean, I examined the May 29 issue of The
Industry Standard <http://www.thestandard.com/>. My
conclusion: When it comes to integrating offline advertising with the web, a
full 87 percent of the advertisements in that issue are either wasted or
doing a fraction of the job for the advertiser that they could (and should)
be doing.
Advertising Has Work to Do
Advertising communicates a message and drives action. If an ad can pull
someone to a web site, the opportunity to communicate in a targeted fashion
is enormous. But that means that your ad and your web site have to work
together – the ad must lure them in and the web site must present the
information visitors came for.
Now, some people are going to tell you that advertising is a branding
vehicle, and that you can’t judge its success by its pull. That’s pure
nonsense.
Of the 129 ads I reviewed for this article, 112 of them contained
explicit calls to action (visit, call, learn, contact, etc.). And of the 17
that did not, half were clearly implying that a visit to the web site was
the logical action to take. Once a call to action appears, the ad’s
effectiveness must be based on whether that action is taken. From
that point on, the branding argument becomes the branding excuse for ads
that fail.
Which takes us to the big question: «What if the ad actually
works?» What happens if the visitor actually responds to the message
and decides to take that highly qualifying act of typing in the URL you
publish?
What should happen is that these visitors should be sent to a unique URL,
where they are presented with graphical and verbal information that relates
directly to the ad they responded to. It should mention the referring
publication and reflect an understanding of that publication’s readership (a
visitor from The Standard is a different animal than one from Information
Week <http://www.informationweek.com/> or Time
<http://www.time.com/>). It should talk about the same
specific topic the ad discussed (security, price, testimonials… whatever).
And it should itself contain further calls to action (which may be nothing
more than links to other equally focused content).
The Web Is Not a Dumping Ground
Truth is though, in most cases, visitors from the ads in review are
unceremoniously dumped into the public pool of all visitors and left to swim
for themselves. This occurs without any content visible that relates to the
ad they’re responding to.
Judge for yourself.
1. Sixty-six percent of the ads in our sample issue use the home page as
the URL to link to. Why spend so much money to deliver a message, and then
bring a visitor who responded to it to a page that has no specific relevance
(either graphically or textually) to that message?
2. Nine percent have no visible URL at all. (And that includes some pure
plays like Real Media <http://www.realmedia.com/>.)
Why advertise in «the newsmagazine of the Internet economy» and
not publish a web site address?
3. Twelve percent have unique URLs, but they’re wasted since they’re
established only to do hit counts to determine pull. (In fact, about half
immediately redirect to the home page.) This is «ask for operator
15» mentality, and it’s most foolish.
There Are Some That Do This Right
That leaves 13 percent of the ads that are integrated (including multiple
ads by the same company). Three advertisers stand out… And the names are
going to be no surprise. Microsoft
<http://www.microsoft.com/>, IBM
<http://www.ibm.com/> and Siebel
<http://www.siebel.com/> together, and Hewlett
Packard <http://www.hp.com/>.
And of these top dogs, the pick of the litter is HP. The ad in question
occupies a spread. I’ve put a scan of the left side of the spread Error!
Hyperlink reference not valid. and a scan of the right side Error!
Hyperlink reference not valid.
The URLs to link to are <http://www.hp.com/david>
or <http://www.hp.com/goliath>.
Link to either to see what you’re presented with online.
There are a few execution problems (that floating window hides the real
information for instance), but the payoff for the ad is exactly what I came
to the site to find. It was presented in exactly the form I was expecting to
see it, focused on who I am, and had additional links to the topic that
brought me there. Integrated and targeted from tip to toe.
And this is inexpensive to do. Repurposing ad artwork, building a few
static HTML pages, and applying some graphical links to content pages isn’t
a blip in even small budgets. All it requires is a little extra effort and a
little extra thought. But it’s well worth it. At between US$ 16,000 and US$
22,000 a pop, a display ad is a terrible thing to waste.
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Set-Aside Blues: A National View of W/M/D – Business Enterprise Set-Aside
Issues
THE U. S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (DoT) and the U. S. Small Business
Administration (SBA) signed a memorandum of understanding that reciprocally
streamlines the certification process for current and future 8(a)
Business Development, Small Disadvantaged Business Development (SDB) and
Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program participants. This will
permit each agency to recognize the program certification of the other,
reducing the burden on applicants.
Legislation
THE SMALL BUSINESS Administration (SBA) has issued an interim rule
designed to limit the «bundling» of federal procurement contracts.
Contract bundling, as defined by the SBA, is the consolidation of two
or more federal procurements into a prime contract so large that small
businesses can’t compete for it. The Small Business Reauthorization Act
of 1997 states that federal agencies can only bundle contracts to
achieve «measurably substantial benefits» in terms of cost,
shorter acquisition cycles, or better terms and conditions, among other
benefits. The interim rule defines the term «measurably substantial
benefit» by establishing a two-tiered approach to determine the
benefits that can be expected from a bundled contract. The rule states that
only the most senior procurement officials within a federal agency can make
the determination to allow a bundled contract to proceed if it fails to meet
the benefit analysis requirements. To justify the action, said official must
determine that the contract consolidation is critical to the success of the
agency’s mission and link that to a procurement strategy that allows for the
maximum small business participation possible. The interim rule also
establishes clear guidelines for small businesses that want to create a
joint venture, or team, to go after the bundled contracts that cannot be
broken down. Under the old rule, small businesses banding together were
sometimes disqualified because the resulting new employee count or combined
revenues would exceed SBA’s definition of a small business. With the new
regulations, if the firms are small before they enter the arrangement, a
joint venture will not change that status. The rule takes effect 60 days
after the comment period, which ended December 27, 1999.
FOR THE FIRST TIME IN NEARLY 60 YEARS, the U.S. Small Business
Administration (SBA) has proposed new guidelines for classifying a small
business. The current Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code
would be replaced by the more precise North American Industry
Classification System (NAICS) which will serve as the basis for the
agency’s widely used small business size standards. SIC codes have been used
since the 1930’s to identify businesses by industry type, services and
products, but that system has not kept up with the technology revolution and
lacks codes for many advanced technology and services industries. Shifting
to the new NAICS-based size standard table will help the SBA «open new
doors of opportunity for small business owners in these emerging
industries,» states SBA Administrator Aida Alvarez. The NAICS
classification is already being used to compile business and trade
statistics in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
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Cyber scene: Bridge that Digital Divide with These Synapses Baby!
The A/E/C industry is hot for dot.com firms. We want a piece of the pie
before it is all gone, don’t we? Educate yourself about the dot.com scene by
registering with the following sites or contacting the listed sources:
1.
The AIA NY Information Technology Committee is so hot right now it
sizzles.
This month’s meeting is Today, Tuesday, June 13th, 2000 at 6:15pm. Their
normal schedule every 2nd Tuesday of the month at 6:15pm, for approximately
two hours. This meeting will be an open discussion forum on technology
issues. According to the Committee Chair, John Howell, there is so much
going on in the A/E/C industry in relation to technology issues, products
and trends. For more information contact John Howell via email: howell_john@jpmorgan.com.
Ask him to sign you up for his awesome newsletter.
2.
«THE PERILS OF DOING BUSINESS ON THE INTERNET!» What you need
to know about the legal concerns of online entrepreneurship, and how you
must address them. The Things You Don’t Know and Need to Know About Doing
Business on the Internet, How to Manage Risks You Didn’t Even Know You
Faced, How to Avoid and Manage Employee Exposure, The Risks and Perils of
Doing Business on An International Medium Without Physical Boundaries, How
to Protect Your Intellectual Property and Keep from Infringing on the
Property of Others, and other essential topics. RSVP/COST: $20 Prepaid
(Credit Card) RSVP at:
http://www.ersvp.com/reply/nycof
$25 At the Door (if available – you will not be guaranteed a place!)
WHEN: MONDAY, JUNE 19, 2000, 6:30 PM, WHERE: TBWA/CHIAT/DAY Advertising,
488 MADISON AVENUE, 6th FLOOR, NEW YORK CITY To RESERVE your place at this
workshop- you MUST prepay by credit card! The PREPAID FEE for this event is
$20. Space will be limited to 60 persons.
3.
ADWEEK/LAREDO GROUP INTERNET MEDIA DYNAMICS CONFERENCE
June 15-16th. Hear how the pros «Buy & Sell Web Ads»,
«Measure, Research &
Target Internet Ads & Audiences» and «Build Internet
Revenues & Business
Plans» in this comprehensive training series for Internet
advertising,
marketing and management professionals. http://www.adweek.com/adweekconf
or call 888.536.8536.
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Come meet the African Burial Ground Interpretive Center Design Team – The
design team will give an oral/visual presentation of the design and will
open the forum to the community for sharing and input. Saturday, June 17th,
2000 from 2-4pm. Location: City College of NY, Shepard Hall (140th St. &
Convent Ave.) 3rd Floor, Room 304. Seating is limited. Call (212) 252-6913
to R.S.V.P. or for more information.
Urban Summit: Making Ourselves Heard: Community activists will
discuss how coalitions of civic and community groups can help shape public
policy. Also, the use of new technology in forming coalitions and delivering
their message will be covered. Sponsored by: Women’s City Club of New York.
When: Wednesday, 06/14/2000, 8:00 am – 2:00 pm Location: Bobst Library, 12th
floor, New York University, 70 Washington Square South, New York, NY
Speakers: Keynote speaker: Derek Bok, National Chair of Common Cause
Registration Contact: Wendy Chen Reg. Tel: 212-353-8070, Member Price: $50
Nonmember Price: $50 More Info: <www.wccny.org>
Managing Your Practice to Increase Fees and Reduce Professional Liability
– Friday, 06/23/2000, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm Location: Pratt Manhattan
Center, 295 Lafayette Street Sponsored by: Pratt School of Architecture
Description: For more information, call the registration number listed
below. Speakers: Jeffrey Kinzler, an attorney and graduate of the Pratt
School of Architecture. Reg. Tel: 212-461-6040, Nonmember Price: $285 CES
Lus: 7, CES HSW: N/A
Blacklines Magazine will continue its intriguing networking/seminar
series on June 15th with a forum on «Hip Hop Architecture» call
718.703.8000 for more information or visit their web site at http://www.blacklines.net
DesigNation3: DesignMinds 2000 Conference Scheduled for Los Angeles –
Contact: Bill Browne 202-488-1530 Web: http://www.DesigNation.net
DesigNationŽ, the Organization of Black Designers Multidiscipline &
Multicultural Design Conference announces its fourth National Conference
– DesigNation3: DesignMinds – October 2000, Los Angeles. The International
Design Conference is expected to attract 5,000 attendees and a variety of
corporate exhibitors.
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Non-Industry Events:
AchieversOnLine Breakfast w/ The NYC Fast Company of Friends present
David J. Moore CEO of 24/7 Media. Inc. on «A Lifetime of Winning
StartUps, From Cable to Clicks». David J. Moore, President and CEO of
24/7 Media, the contending interactive advertising agency. Starting with
Turner Broadcasting, Dave moved through cable’s growth–selling products and
companies along the way–he then turned (again) to a new media–the
Internet–only to find himself where he always did–on top! Tuesday, June
13th, 2000 with continental breakfast at 7:30am Where: THE WILLIAMS CLUB, 24
EAST 39TH STREET (between Park and Madison) ABOUT: The future of net
advertising, the internet, and selling just about anything. This topic
extends the recent Company of Friends weekend seminars on teamwork and
branding. COST: Admission is $45 with advanced registration, and $55 at the
door, as available. HOW ? Reservations can be made using our online
registration form at:
http://newbizincubator.com/achieversonline/orderform.html
For more information, please visit:
http://www.achieversonline.com/BreakfastClubFlyer.html
or call Dasia at 212-736-9224
Trying to become a «Fast Company»? Well then study
«Retention» – «Retention: Training and Development’s Big
Opportunity?» Where: The New York Helmsley Hotel, 212 East 42nd St.
When: Wednesday, June 21 from 9 am to 11:30 am. Featured will be Dan
Treadwell, author of Money Isn’t All That Matters, and a panel of training
and development experts, each bringing his/her expertise, perspective, and
best practices for discussion and examination.
Dan will discuss his book, which will be available to all attendees. The
panel will offer their successes and current challenges. Featured Panelists:
Austin Zullo – Citibank, Kathy Wankel – Federal Reserve Bank of New York,
Dana Ertischek – Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Gary Schulze –
Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Jane Kendall – New School for Social
Research, Milano Graduate School, Ron Carter – Partners in Human Resources
Intl., Kathryn Mayer – Salomon Smith Barney, Jean Patton – SIAC, Teri
Caperna – Syntra Technologies. Cost is $30 per person ($20 for ASTD
members). Place your reservation by calling Tracy Sheehan at 800-222-1349 or
send an email to tracys@bwinc.com
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If you have any comments, suggestions, or if you have an events that you
would like us to include in X-CUBE, please email Elizabeth Geary-Archer at
ega@outoftheboxmarketing.net
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