Art has an amazing quality to transport you to somewhere new, to dampen as well as to inspire. What you’re into is a distraction. Not art.

Without doing the mandatory, everyday, and obligatory tasks you’ll never get anywhere.  In recent weeks the “double-dip” was sworn in and it is becoming more and more apparent as a small business you can’t leave anything to chance or any stone unturned. From back of house spring cleans to marketing yourself at every possible turn. Over the last month or so I’ve been working on sales strategies, re-brands and comms positioning. For the most important client of all, ourselves, me, myself and I. 

A daunting prospect, however no longer can you rely on word of mouth, past glory and you have to shout about what you’re doing and be a bit audacious.  Being the “cool” go to guys no longer suffices, you have to do all the other elements of brand development, as along with good work you need to keep up with the major place and also as much as anything hold face. 

You have to clean up your contacts, build the databases and implement the relevant tools for the job. The laborious tasks you’ve put off while concentrating on clients and projects. Line up the ducks, pick the easy fruit, it’s the unglamorous tasks that take a while which will make all the diference.  From utilising Google apps, Mail Chimp and Wordpress we’ve began this process.  As we’ve defined a new position for our Agency and have begun the task of developing our own opinion and point of difference. And most importantly began showing people, what we’re truly about.  

London is an over saturated market of “creatives”, PRs, marketeers and agencies are endemic to London’s false economy. Too many agencies, not enough clients. 

To not only stand out but also to be considered industry practitioners, competent at looking after large brands. It’s imperative that we look after our own brand in the same way we would anyone else’s and for this consistency is pivotal.  Making sure the same messages across the board are being brought to life through newsletters, blogs, LinkedIn updates and Twitter.

The visibility will be small at first and it takes a sheer bloody mindedness to ensure that you see growth across networks and databases increase. Above all, regardless of the reach is engagement with the right type of people.

Will the above result in sales? Along with joining these dots the aforementioned are now obligatory and the boxes must be ticked. These forms of marketing are important, they’re industry standard and no matter how small your agency, Google Apps and Mail Chimp alongside the 2.0 platforms have created a level playing field with the larger agencies. The only challenge is time.

Along with strong visibility online with targeted growth of your own platforms, a good set of creds and a persistent new business team targeting potential clients, you will be able to yield positive results. 

Having defined these comms pieces and made a conscious effort to begin this move towards a strong online perception, I’ve completed my first mailer, my own “thought leadership” pieces, tweets are flowing and now the task of developing LinkedIn properties commences. Oh and the odd cold call here and there to get the right people taking note. 

As the tattoo which adorns my brother’s arm states; Start Today.  Don’t put off the laborious, line up the ducks, begin the process and get the message out. I’d strongly recommend anyone else that is working towards building their own brand, organisation and company to read; ‘ReWork: Change the Way You Work Forever’ by Jason Fried. 

Decided to do nothing, because I can.

Timing seems to be everything.  Often I’ve pondered what it would have been like to be a part of another movement, another time and place.  A period where DIY ruled the roost, where events organically rose into full on cultural milestones of the most fruition - their relevance lasting far beyond their own epoch.  

What happens to the Tumblrs, the Tweets, the Instagrams after us?  Will we scatter an eBay equivalent looking for servers holding the sheer weight of our era?  The crux of all of this is whether web 2.0 really means anything at all. 

Of course the truly great, courageous civilians of the Arab Spring will recount a different story.  2.0 platforms gave them hope, empowered rebellion and most importantly provided a place for the cold truth to be spread, shared and exposed.  In the western world, a “creative” 2.0 space is driven by the sheer volume of commerce.  Be it Twitter followers, reblogs, likes - viral charts.  The accountability of success resides in cliques, scenes and fads all to be harnessed and made accountable by the value attached to a following.  The litany of wasted words on Twitter, benign pictures on Instagram and the street styled fashion shots on Tumblr really don’t mean anything at all.  But they can be monitized.  

I once thought that the clothes, items, products, books, magazines and music that people surrounded themselves with mattered. That quote from High Fidelity rings out pretty loudly but many people who are in fact into similar brands, products and stuff couldn’t be more deplorable. I blame instagram.