So I noticed an article earlier this week, about eBay, changing their logo to reflect with the direction they are going in. So it got me thinking and asking questions. What am I doing to stay relevant(when I say relevant I mean First of Mind), better yet what do I have to do stay relevant! Some of my thoughts are below.
I started with asking a few questions;
- What services/products am I providing?
- Which ones are still needed today?
- Which ones will be needed in the future, and
- What am i not providing that is needed now or in the future?
The last question is obviously the toughest question, since most of i do not own a crystal ball. The way I am doing this today, is using a lot of different channels, some of these channels were not available 5 years ago. I use Social Media(Facebook, Twitter,Google+) to watch trends, observe conversations and simply ask what people want and expect today! To ask these questions I use online tools that will create surveys and gather the results for me! Here are 2 of my favorites!
- Google Drive(previously known as Google Docs)- in the spreadsheet tool you can create a free survey(known as form) and share that URL with anyone you want its free with your Google account
- Survey Monkey- does a lot more, and has some very attractive forms for your surveys. It is also free if you only want 10 questions and only send to 100 people. If you want more, it will cost you.
The next thing I have noticed is several companies, locally and internationally, have bee doing simple visual changes, they have changed their colors, changed their logo, or in ebays case, simplified their logo! At first I was thinking, I do not want to change or create a logo, that is too expensive, and something I do not want to do for the price and unknown results. Well in efforts of this getting done i had to think outside the box. How was I going to get this done well and for cheap. So I started talking to friends and colleagues. had a few solutions, that was reasonably cheap. I was just about ready to hire, then i remembered a website it will create a lot of things for $5, and one of them is logos;
- Fiverr.com– I like this site for two simple reasons
- Its a cheap solution to get something created, especially useful if you do not exactly what you are looking for. Nothing says change has to be expensive to be successful.
- Great place to go and see what people are doing. It has helped me tremendously get creative ideas to help me keep first of mind.
The last thing I have noticed is some people are teasing you for whats about to come. Apple is great at building this suspense. Apple wont tell me anything, they just keep telling me “Its Coming”. I rely on other bloggers, friends, facebook, or just about anything to get a hint or a taste of what is coming. I have noticed other business do it much simpler. One person just put a question mark on a bulletin board, saying coming soon! I have seen others do the same with a postcard. Secrecacy works, we all want to be the first to be in the “in crowd!” Special invites to openings always works!
So try some of these and see how they work for you!!!!