LOOKING INTO ARATIONALLY CREATIVE MIND

Contained inside is a selection of blog posts to serve as examples

of my writing, design,and marketing talents.

Attack of the Killer Tomato Festival

So the Attack of the Killer Tomato Festival at JCT Kitchen (benefiting Georgia Organics) this Sunday is sold out. I’ll see those with tickets at the event but those of you that are unable to attend for whatever reason can still be a part of the event.

How to Participate Online for the Killer Tomato FestIf you have never used Twitter before (or need a refresher) make sure and watch the How To Use Twitter Video. When tweeting about the event please use the #TomatoFest hashtag so others can follow along.

What are hashtags (the “#” symbol)?Because Twitter provided no easy way to group tweets or add extra data, the Twitter community came up with their own way: hashtags. A hashtag is similar to other web tags- it helps add tweets to a category. Hashtags have the ‘hash’ or ‘pound’ symbol (#) preceding the tag, like so: #traffic, #followfriday, #hashtag.

Using hashtagsIf you add a hashtag to your tweet and you have a public account, anyone who does a search for that hashtag may find your tweet. Although any keyword with a # in front could be considered a hashtag, there are many commonly used hashtags. Aside from not using hashtags for spam purposes, there are no formal rules for hashtag usage. A few simple best practices we recommend include only using hashtags on tweets relevant to the topic, and not over-tagging a single tweet.

Using the #TomatoFest hashtagFor any tweet related to the Killer Tomato Festival just add #TomatoFest to the end of your post. Your tweet will be visible to anyone that searches for the #TomatoFest hashtag.

Follow the Twitter listWith Mandy’s help over at Melissa Libby & Associates we put together a Twitter list of all the chefs, restaurants, and more (that have accounts) that will be participating in the event for you to use: TomatoFest 2010 Twitter List

FoursquareI have setup a Foursquare venue for the event named Attack of the Killer Tomato Festival. Make sure and check in when you get there!

Wondering what Foursquare is all about? Watch this video How To Unlock Your World With Foursquare to find out.

Photos and VideosAlso, don’t forget to share all your photos and videos from the event on Twitter, Facebook, etc. If you have the ability to tag them please use TomatoFest as one so we can find them.

See you there!

Event Flyer

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Building Community in the Field

Just wanted to take a few minutes and tell you a little about one of the projects I have become involved with over the last few weeks and why I am so excited about it.

Crop Mob Atlanta was started in response to a New York Times article about the original Crop Mob based in North Carolina. Crop Mob is primarily a group of young, landless, and wannabe farmers who come together to work and build an interconnected agrarian community. Crop Mob is also a group of experienced farmers and gardeners sharing knowledge with their peers and the next generation of agrarians.

In brief, here are the basic operating principles of Crop Mob:

No money is ever exchangedWork is done on small-scale, sustainable farms and gardensA meal is shared, often provided by the hostThis is not a charity. We crop mob for crop mobbersFuture crop mob events are suggested at a crop mob eventMedia interviews are conducted at a crop mob event

I didn’t start Crop Mob ATL but jumped in quickly and pulled together a website, setup Facebook and Twitter accounts, designed a flyer, created an email list, and have many other ideas in the works. A blog, Facebook, Twitter and email are the main forms of communication because we felt that the people using these tools were already accustomed to working with others to complete tasks and enjoyed being a part of a larger community.

The reasons that I am so excited about Crop Mob ATL extend beyond my passions for sustainability, local food, and community mindset. I feel that Crop Mob ATL will also fill in the last remaining gap between people and their food. You just don’t truly appreciate the food you eat until you have a hand in growing it.

Crop Mob ATL also fits perfectly into my efforts to create a more networked local food movement here in Georgia. I have been a huge proponent of using social media to build community both online and off for some time now and am starting to see the momentum pick up with the Georgia Organics Conference and now Crop Mob ATL.

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Social Media Use at the Georgia Organics Conference

Just over two weeks ago I attended the 13th Annual Georgia Organics Conference and Expo in Athens Georgia. More than 1,300 people showed up for two days of sustainable local farm tours, panel discussions, and in-depth workshops on subjects ranging from the science of composting to food systems’ relationship to the built environment.

My responsibilities for the conference were two-fold. First, I was an heirloom sponsor and was at the conference to work. Second, I couldn’t just sit by and miss out on all the wonderful farm tours and educational sessions so I was also there as an attendee.

Local organic food is something that I have been passionate about for the last 3+ years as I have tried to find ways to promote a sustainable community (local business, environmental stewardship, and social responsibility). My work with Georgia Organics started almost 2 years ago with the then Communications and Outreach Director, Suzanne Welander. At the time, Georgia Organics (GO) was just getting started on Facebook and I offered to help them out.

Since then, GO has built a sizable, active online community and as of writing this post has close to 3,500 fans on Facebook and just over 2,250 followers on Twitter (as of 12/1/2010: 5,847 likes of Facebook and 3,587 followers on Twitter). I am proud to say that my efforts have helped get GO to this point and will hopefully help them continue to grow their online presence.

My contribution to the conference was the #GOconf Event Social Media Hub and to help promote the use of social media for the event by those attending in person or following along online. Overall, I feel that the efforts were rather successful with a handful of very active participants and many people that posted several updates. Of course it didn’t live up to my expectations (as I usually set them ridiculously high) but it was a significant step in the right direction for Georgia Organics and the local food movement.

Using an Event Social Media HubThere is a lot of talk about using social media to promote events. While promotion is important, it is not everything. More often than not, there will be a larger number of people wanting to take part in your event but are unable to make it for whatever reason than those that actually attend. Events

serve as excellent opportunities to foster community both offline and on; not including these interested populations in the event eliminates many potential relationships for you, your sponsors, and your exhibitors.

Most small businesses and non-profits cannot afford to put together a virtual event (Unisfair) to extend their event into the online world. Luckily, there are more affordable options out there; one fine example being the Georgia Organics Conference Social Media Hub. I created this site so of course I like it, but let me explain its merits a little bit.

The Georgia Organics Conference site is an attempt to pull together all of the conversations taking place online about the Annual Georgia Organics Conference and Expo and presenting them in one place. On the site people will be able to view what others are saying on Twitter and add to the conversation, join in a live chat on Facebook, show off their conference photos posted on Flickr, and view videos about/from the conference and submit their own videos to YouTube.

Not only will this site make it easier for those that attend the conference to join in the online conversation before, during and after the event but it will also provide those unable to attend with the ability to participate as well. For those that haven’t taken the plunge into the world of social media yet, a How To Participate Online page has been created for a little social media 101.

Georgia Organics Conference Site

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Adapting Printed Marketing Materials to the Web

As a sustainable business (or one trying to increase their sustainability cred.), reducing the amount of printed marketing materials is an ongoing battle. The thought of getting rid of all your printed materials may be tempting but sometimes it is just nice to have a tangible representation of your business to hand to someone. Also, if you just output the same artworks used for your printed materials as PDFs and post them to your website; you miss out on a lot of added functionality that the web has to offer. Your current printed materials have to be adapted to the web.

The goal is to print out the bare minimum of information about your company and get people to seek out additional information if interested. This strategy provides a person that is just meeting your company for the first time with a small bit of focused information that is easy to digest and evaluate. If they are interested they will check out your website, send you an email, call you, stop by your store, etc. (providing many methods to follow up allows people to use their preferred means of contact).

What you will create is a web of different contact points with corresponding levels of information and interest. The printed pieces that you have will be a business card and a few small flyers targeted at the different buyer personae for your company. These pieces will lead potential customers to different areas online or off where they can learn increasingly more about your company.

Business CardsAt a start-up or small company, a business card is your most important piece of printed marketing material. It is generally the first representation of your company (besides yourself) that a person sees. The main exception to this would be if a person finds your website before meeting you.

Your business card influences a prospect’s first impressions of your company and may have a lasting effect on them as well. Even to this day, a lot of business cards still wind up in a rolodex or business card binder for later reference. Because of this, it is crucial that you put a lot of effort into your business cards up front, as it will be more than worth it in the long run. Here are a few pointers to help you along the way:

Don’t Skimp on QualityFree or cheap business cards are usually not the bargain that they seem to be. People will notice the time and effort

expended on a good business card and it will usually have a positive effect on their impressions of you and your company. Conversely, they will also notice a lack of quality and it will only have a negative effect on their impressions. Working with a local designer and print shop are usually your best bets at ending up with a business card that you can be proud of and people will complement you on.

Working with local companies allows you to have a more direct influence in the process and will ensure that everyone is on the same page. Try and think about the long term benefits of good design when looking at the price (don’t go overboard though…good design shouldn’t cost a fortune).

Also, as a sustainable company, it is important that you try and use recycled (and recyclable) or FSC-Certified papers and inks with the least environmental impact. Here is my idea of a sustainable business card.

Include Only the Most Important InformationYour business card (and other pieces of marketing materials) shouldn’t be thought of as the only thing linking a person to a sale. Your business card is the first link in a chain (or web) of marketing materials that will lead a person along the path to a sale. As the person grows increasingly interested, they move on to the next piece with more information about your company and product/service offering.

Your business card should only include enough information so people can make the next step to find out more about your company. Some examples of next steps are going to your website, sending you an email, following you on Twitter, etc. It is tempting to fill the card with all kinds of information but make sure to keep it clean and simple and don’t forget to utilize the back of the card as well.

The information that I recommend are your logo, name, website URL, email address, Twitter ID (if you have one), and a few words that remind the person of what your company does. In my opinion, address, phone number and fax are all optional on your business card since they should be easy to find on your website.

Only Use Electronic Business Cards in an EmergencyElectronic business cards seem like a nice sustainable option for business cards as they do not waste any paper. Unfortunately they cannot replace the standard printed

Adapting Printed Marketing Materials to the Web cont.business card at this time due to a low adoption rate. You should still create a card on a few different platforms (twitbizcard, SnapDat, Bump to name a few) in case you meet someone who prefers them or run out of printed cards.

Sustainable Business Card Design

FlyersThe next step up in marketing materials (in terms of information quantity) is what I am going to call the flyer group; small single-sheet documents that include flyers, postcards, pamphlets, multi-fold brochures and small posters. For the purpose of this post I will focus on the flyer, as the same content can usually be repurposed into the other forms listed above.

Why use a flyer?In general, I advise against using printed multi-page marketing documents (including folded brochures). The more pages that a document has, the more information people try to include on them and the faster they become obsolete. Remember that the purpose of your printed marketing material is to provide the bare minimum of information about your product/service to get people to take the next step; visiting a targeted webpage with all the necessary details, sending an email, or stopping by your store.

Use whatever dimensions work for your application. If you are looking for a convenient size, an 8.5” x 3.5” flyer is perfect. This size easily fits into a pocket, can be placed in a standard brochure stand, and fits into a letter-sized envelope for mailings. I have also used a “rack card” which is the same size but contains a perforation on the bottom, creating a removable business card-sized section.

Keeping the costs downThe best ways to keep your costs down are to hire some professional help, use a standard size/shape/paper and find a local company that can print only the quantity that you need.

Unless you are comfortable writing marketing copy and have experience with graphic design, it will be much easier (and cheaper) to get a high-quality piece that you can use for a long time by hiring a professional.

Custom sizes, shapes, and materials used for printed collateral can be very tempting when you are looking at design examples. Make sure to remember your budget however, a good designer can create a fantastic looking marketing piece that still fits your budget.

Printing only the amount of copies that you need will keep you from wasting money and paper. If you need fewer than 1000 copies, look for digital printing capability.

Type and quantity of information to includeEmploy restraint…lots of restraint. Provide just enough information to get the reader interested in finding out more. Make sure to guide them directly to a targeted website or clearly state another action for them to take. Your website is a nearly limitless repository for all the details about your product/service.

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A Digital Advocacy Strategy for the Local Foods Movement

Last week over at the Farm to Table blog, Zach Cohen wrote a post titled “A Social Media Strategy for the Local Foods Movement” in which he explores the next steps that the growing local food movement needs to take in order to maintain its current trajectory.

Cohen does an excellent job detailing the makeup of the growing online community of local food fans (farmers, artisanal food producers, policy wonks, journalists, nutritionists, advocates, foodpreneurs, and bloggers) and the roles that various social media (blogs, twitter, facebook, friendfeed, and social bookmarking sites) are playing.

I am going to attempt to build a little on Cohen’s post and dive a little deeper into the local food movement and digital communications (ex. social media). My goal is to provide the basics of a Digital Advocacy Strategy for the Local Foods Movement. Depending on the level of interest I would love to get other people involved to help develop this idea further.

Social media (SM) has provided a tremendous variety of free (out-of-pocket expense, still takes a lot of time and effort) tools to share and promote information/causes. The local food movement is already doing some wonderful things online via social media but is lacking a few key things that could keep the movement from becoming a revolution:

A Coordinated Plan for Strategic ResultsA Structured MethodologyEffective Solutions

Strategic Results for the Local Food MovementIt seems like the majority of people in the local food movement are heading in the same direction, they are just choosing different media and strategies to get there. To increase the effectiveness of this movement and speed its growth, common strategic results need to be determined and efforts need to be coordinated. Here are my quick ideas for improvement:

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Determine the ultimate goals of the movement and key milestones along the wayLink all the different groups of advocates togetherEnable others to take over tasks through better collaborationDesign more user-friendly tools and processesEnable stronger relationships between all those involved in the movementBuild knowledge capital and thought leadership

Structured MethodologyBased on five Social Paradigms: Content, Conversations, Collaboration, Community, and Collective Intelligence.Build around three types of Social Objects: Lifestyles, Causes and Passions.Designed to integrate three elements of the Social Graph: Profiles, Relationships, Interactions.Enabled by three types of Social Intelligence Systems: Reputations Systems, Recommendation Systems, and Reward Systems.Measured by combining three types of metrics: Social Analytics, Web Analytics and Business Analytics.

Effective SolutionsCommunity Platforms for building relationships and driving advocacySocial Applications for organizing events, enabling innovations and sharing expertiseSocial CRM Programs for listening, profiling and engagingSocial Cause Marketplaces for converting, supporting and cross-selling. Here the products being sold are causes and ideas instead of a physical product or service.

Next StepsNow it is time to take the next step, we need to start coordinating and focusing our efforts. How can we possibly get this done? Well, lucky for us, as Cohen pointed out, this movement is made up of all different types of people. A few more types that I would like to add to his list are thinkers, organizers, planners, connectors, mavens, persuaders, and educators. We have all the people and resources needed to take the next step, we just need to identify those people and empower them.

Inspired by the work of Gaurav Mishra of 20:20 Social

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Links

Attack of the Killer Tomato FestivalBuilding Community in the FieldSocial Media Use at the Georgia Organics Conference

Using an Event Social Media HubAdapting Printer Marketing Materials to the Web

Business CardsFlyers

A Digital Advocacy Strategy for the Local Foods MovementPortfolio

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