Daily Goal

My daily goal for today:

• Get all postcards in my queue out for proofing before 5 p.m. today

Once again, I’ve completed Initial Goals 2, 3 and 5.  I did not complete #4 yesterday.

Update: goal accomplished.

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Postcard Dos and Don’ts

I read an interesting article this morning about the Dos and Don’ts of Postcard Marketing.  Since postcard marketing is a large part of my job (perhaps only 15% of my time at the desk, but 25% of all marketing materials I produce), I definately paid attention.

Here’s what I learned:

• My agents need to get more personal, even if it does involve a little more time and effort.  Perhaps a scanned signature added to all postcards, and the removal of “or Current Resident” from our computerized labels (although that little detail didn’t bother the article author much).
• Make sure the picture is decent, and not just the version on the Multiple Listing Service.  Nothing would turn me off faster than a grainy picture of a home that’s badly framed in the shot, so what makes us think that the client receiving the postcard would not care?
• Letters are perfectly acceptable ways of promoting open houses and new listings.  In fact, when everyone else is sending postcards (glossy or not), your letter stands out.  Especially when you send it in an envelope that isn’t just generically white.
• Be willing to shell out more than just your name and number.  Personally, a license number on a postcard, for me, would be unnecessary data.  However, it does show that you’ve committed yourself to get your license, and you’re not just Joe Schmoe from the street trying to sell me a piece of real estate.

And the two things I disagreed with?

• The highlighter thing?  Not so crazy about that.  Besides, if the author of the article is so sure she’s going to start a trend with her comment that it worked on her, why would I want to jump on that wagon?  I’ll create my own, thankyouverymuch.
• There’s no way I’ll be asking my agents to hand write the addresses on their cards or letters.  When they’re giving me orders of 400 mailers to go out TODAY, with virtually no processing time?  I don’t think so.

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SEO? PQO!

I have learned a lot about SEO (Search Engine Optimization) from SEO Book, but I still only know just enough to get myself in trouble.  At any rate, I’ve been using the things I’ve learned in my latest web design job, and I think it’s going rather well.  It will be a definite improvement over what they have, and I’m sure they’ll have no problems letting me watch their Google Analytics for a while to see how effective I’ve been.

But I didn’t apply any of my new fangled Optimization techniques yesterday at work, which was Insanity², also to be forever known as The Worst Day This Month.  (Not “The Worst Day Ever”, because nobody was fired or diagnosed with a terminal illness - those days have already been claimed.)

Yesterday, I had a project for one of my Associates.  This person had made me aware of the project on Monday, went through the requirements on Tuesday, and then promptly left town.  I was promised critical pieces of the project on Wednesday morning, but didn’t receive them.  I sent proofs (a very important part of my job, in my opinion, because there is always something I don’t see because I am not a real estate agent, and I don’t have the 20+ years of experience as some of my Associates do), but did not receive back any approvals because where my Associate was, she could get online but not open PDF files.  (Hmm.)

To make a long story short, I started my day early yesterday so I could get the 400 pieces of mail out in time to be delivered today.  Around noon I finished the final two pieces, and sent them both to a printer which is also a copier in our office.  But I sent the very large and slow to print postcard first, and then the larger quantity but easier to print letter.

That was my mistake.  My postcard spent four hours holding up my queue, and there were four hours where nothing was stuffed, stamped, cut or mailed.  At four o’clock I finally had to give up on the hope that any minute now the postcards would be ready to go, and clear the queue (by which I mean turn off the copier by yanking the cord).

I spent the next two hours frantically redesigning, cutting, labeling, stamping, and folding, and the postcards that had urgently time-sensitive material made it out on time.  The letters did not, however they will make it out today, and still be delivered before they expire.  I used my BROKEN button, stayed late, and we got it done.

But it shouldn’t have come to that.  I learned through this experience that when it looks like it’s going to take more than thirty minutes, it’s time to redesign.  Just cut it off before hours are wasted that could have been productive.  Like the arm that gets stuck in a bear trap when you have no water and no food, I should have just chewed the thing off and got back to the process of living - or in my case, folding, stuffing, labeling and stamping.

That was my little lesson in Printer Queue Optimization.  Cut out the huge stuff, put the quick, but possibly less time sensitive information through first, and make the huge stuff smaller.  I’m a designer - I can do that.

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Logoish

I admit it - I’m a bit of a follower.  I read or find out about new ideas, new places to spread my wings, and I dive in head first.  I think this makes me a Jack of All Trades (whether I’m a Master of None remains to be seen - I think I’m doing okay).

So when I found David Airey’s site and read about how he created his new logo, of course I started thinking about making my own.  Natch.

I started with sketches (of course, being an amateur I use a regular comp book), and I actually came out with something I really like with very little effort.  Past history has proved to me (I-Search paper in the 9th grade - thank you to my English teacher that year whose name I can’t recall) that I can come up with some kick ass ideas, if I don’t stop once I think I’ve hit my favorite.

Maybe I ought to go back to sketching.

Well, even if I do more sketches, my problem right now is translating it into Photoshop (which is a post for another day).  I have acceptable PS skills, but apparently not enough to get my vectors to act the way I’d like them to.  Google ought to help, once I find some free time to go plunder it’s vault of information.

I actually gave up on my favorite design and went for my second choice because I could create that one simply with creative fonts, but I’m rethinking that now.  I mean, a font-logo doesn’t really feel like a real logo, right?  Maybe it could be - I probably ought to do more research.

Google, my friend, here I come!

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