Balcom Agency

Dearest iPhone:

We have been together for over 4 months now. We've had time to get used to one another. You've learned my habits and my lingo. You fetch my weather, you keep my games, heck sometimes, you even count my calories. You keep my lists, you snap my pictures, you place my calls, you organize my life.

But iPhone – I'm sorry to tell you that you have fallen short of my expectations. Initially, I had concerns. I told you that your battery life was less than stellar, and it hasn't improved. You spell check as I go, and while I hate to point fingers, you're not very good at it. And then you have the audacity to tell me that I only have the two profiles that you dictate.

iPhone, I have adjusted to your keyless keyboard, and I won't lie, scrolling through things really is a whole lot of fun. But iPhone? When I got you, I knew what you were capable of, and I hoped that over time, I would learn you could do more. But iPhone? You can't. You didn't exceed my expectations. And now that I am past the shiny bits and flicking interface, now that I'm over your happy sounds and what not, I have to say that quite honestly – you're just sort of ok. Sure, I love you. Sure, you get the job done. But I'm sorry to say that you are not my favorite.

You have reminded me, iPhone, that sometimes, it's important to just stick to what you know. I'm glad I tried you out. I'm glad I gave you a whirl. I wouldn't call our time together a waste, by any means. I'm just saying: I wouldn't do it again.

I feel better now that we've had this chat. Hopefully you understand where I'm coming from.

Love,
Emily

It's been an especially crazy couple of weeks at the Balcom Agency. And that's a good thing. We've completed a bunch of new projects, been pitching a lot of new business and, of course, keeping our current clients happy. Being crazy busy is a recipe for (at least for me) to neglect something very important - working out. The more I thought about it, I realized social media is a lot like a workout. It's fun when you have the time, but for the stay fit, you need to keep at it.

Start

Every good workout program (and social media initiative) begins with good intentions. Just as you look in the mirror and see something that needs to change, you may need to hold your company up to a mirror and see where they need to change. After that realization is there, you have to start. Like any beginner in a yoga class, you'll have a large learning curve in social media. It also help to have a plan with goals and objectives. Just like you wouldn't attempt to attack every weight room in the gym, you need to focus on things that will give you the biggest result. 

Commit

You never go to one or two workout classes and expect big results. You shouldn't expect the same from social media. No pain, no gain. 40% of Twitter users have not tweeted since their first day on Twitter (source). Sounds a lot like a new years resolution.

Enjoy the results

If you've been working out for several months, you'll notice a lot of little changes - your pants fit better, people look at you differently, you don't have to huff and puff your way up the stairs. The same will be true in social media - your communication arsenal will fit you better, people will look at your company or organization differently and you'll be fit enough to beat your competition to the top.

Today, I am twenty six. Twenty six was feeling just like every other birthday I've had until I stumbled upon the following thought.

Ten years ago today, I was at the DMV getting my first drivers license.

My, how time flies...

I hate wearing lipstick. I don't really even like lip gloss. Occasionally (and only when necessary) I'll use some sort of lip balm, but other than that? You can forget it.

My glasses are held together with glue.

One night in January, I was in a serious car accident. Ultimately, my car came to a stop upside-down over a creek. The back windshield was shattered, and my things were scattered everywhere. My glasses were nowhere to be found.

The next day, my dad and I went back to the scene of the accident to look for anything that might not have been picked up the night before. In the bottom of the ravine, we found my purple glasses. While I had a pair of backup glasses, my purple glasses are my favorites. Laura (who has been taking care of my family's glasses adjustments for decades) managed to put them back together with some sort of super mighty glue.

Sure, I could replace these glasses. Maybe I'd find better glasses. But these are working just fine. We have a long history together. I can't bring myself to let them go.

So sorry that we missed Fact Friday last week! I had some technical issues at the time I normally blog and forgot to share my fact! Good news: we're back on track this week! So without further delay ... Fact Friday!

I hate Comic Sans.

When my mother was pregnant with me, she started a quilt. Unsure if I was a boy or a girl, she chose fabrics in burgundy and cream – an interesting combination that was fresh and new in 1983. Being the over-achiever that my mother is, she chose the hardest pattern available, and then she decided she'd hand piece it. When people see the quilt, they tell her she's crazy for doing this.

Mom toted a million little pieces of fabric around in an oversized Estée Lauder box which (when not in use) consumed a whole drawer of the secretary in the entry way of the house I grew up in. She meticulously cut each piece then drew sew lines on the back of each one. After some time, I think that this daunting pattern got the best of her, so it sat untouched for awhile (and by awhile, I mean a few years). She decided at some point that she wanted to have it finished by my 18th birthday, so she harnessed all of her chi and put the pedal to the metal (or the needle to the fabric, as the case was).

And then the unthinkable happened... She ran out of fabric.

What do you do when you're finishing a quilt that you've been working on for 18 years, and you run out of fabric? You can't exactly go to the store and buy more... We went to Cabbage Rose thinking that we'd be able to find a complimentary fabric to help finish the job. The ladies at that shop are always so helpful! And then the unthinkable happened (again): one of the ladies in the shop had the same fabric we needed in her attic.

The quilt was a team effort – the labor and love from my mother, some random scraps of fabric in a stranger's attic, the time and skill of a woman at church who bound and quilted the entire thing – all to yield one incredible and beautiful quilt (which I forgot to photograph for you).

We have chests and cabinets and drawers of quilts between my grandmother's house, my mother's house and my house – years of heritage all folded up and tucked away, each unique in style and color (some good, some bad). But I enjoy these things. I love pulling these quilts up to my ears and thinking about the time that went into making them, the passion that the people who made them had and all of the other people who have snuggled underneath them before me.

But I feel even more special that I have one made for me. I didn't go to the store and buy it. I didn't special order it from the internet. My mom chose the fabric, cut it up, lined it, sewed it and then gave it to me – a tangible expression of love and dedication that I'll always keep.

Seth Godin posted this list today of questions any business should consider before spending money on a new website. I'm going to print out this list and take it to every new business meeting I'm in. Answering these questions up front saves time and money. It also assures that the final product will be exactly what the client wanted.

• What is the goal of the site?
• In other words, when it's working great, what specific outcomes will occur?
• Who are we trying to please? If it's the boss, what does she want? Is impressing a certain kind of person important? Which kind?
• How many people on your team have to be involved? At what level?
• Who are we trying to reach? Is it everyone? Our customers? A certain kind of prospect?
• What are the sites that this group has demonstrated they enjoy interacting with?
• Are we trying to close sales?
• Are we telling a story?
• Are we earning permission to follow up?
• Are we hoping that people will watch or learn?
• Do we need people to spread the word using various social media tools?
• Are we building a tribe of people who will use the site to connect with each other?
• Do people find the site via word of mouth? Are they looking to answer a specific question?
• Is there ongoing news and updates that need to be presented to people?
• Is the site part of a larger suite of places online where people can find out about us, or is this our one sign post?
• Is that information high in bandwidth or just little bits of data?
• Do we want people to call us?
• How many times a month would we like people to come by? For how long?
• Who needs to update this site? How often?
• How often can we afford to overhaul this site?
• Does showing up in the search engines matter? If so, for what terms? At what cost? Will we be willing to compromise any of the things above in order to achieve this goal?
• Will the site need to be universally accessible? Do issues of disability or language or browser come into it?
• How much money do we have to spend? How much time?
• And finally, does the organization understand that 'everything' is not an option?

I'd recommend adding Seth's blog to your RSS feed. It's a great resource for technology and marketing info. Have a good weekend everybody!

You're dismissed.

Oh wait – no, it's not. It's just me.

I'm cold most all of the time. I have a space heater under my desk and use it at least once a day, even though it's 102 outside. I put a heated mattress pad on my bed in the winter.

I don't even mind if you want to insist that it's not cold. If I'm cold, I'm cold. I can't help it.

I really like movies about football, even though I don't care much about football at all.