Talking Management with Jason Fried, 37signals

If you aren't familiar yet with 37signals, and its founder, Jason Fried, do yourself a favor and check out this video from Crain's Chicago Business.

Founded in 1999, the company designs web-based software for individuals and businesses. 37signals estimates that more than 1 million people use its products. To date, Jeff Bezos of Amazon is its only outside investor.

Their products are simple and affordable, and as their Web site says, "they do everything you need and nothing you don't."

Here are a few outtakes from the Crain's video, Talking Management: Leadership Lessons from Jason Fried. He offers an interesting perspective as the leader of a high-growth technology company that has become a media darling, and is sought after by investors:

• "We're not big into increasing our headcount. We're big on increasing our influence."
• "Interruption is the biggest enemy of productivity that there is."
• "We have free versions of all of our products. And that's actually the best way to get someone to pay for something."
• "We're focused on building things that provide way more value than they cost."
• "People are always willing to pay for something they find valuable."
• "I love the idea of building simple tools that work really well."
• "I don't think you need to be a big company anymore to do big things."

Screenshot from Basecamp, 37signals' project management and collaboration platform.

Logo Design Trends

Logo design can be both invigorating and infuriating for clients and agencies. Logos have the power to stir debate, create emotional connections and increase brand value. However, by its very nature, logo design is a subjective process.

While graphic designers take great pride in their ability to interpret and capture the essence of an organization through colors, fonts, icons and effects; clients, consumers, family and friends all have their opinions too. Sometimes designers are spot-on in their interpretation, and other times clients have something else in mind.

But, in the end, logos are the visual representation of a brand and an essential component of every organization.

Check out the LogoLounge.com 2007 logo design trends report for some excellent insight on what's hot in logo design, including: dos helix, rubber bands, radiance, eco smart, lit, pseudo crest, urban vinyl, hubs, descending dots, flora, half, overlap, 3D, opticaLine and ribbons.

Blog Bought by NY Times

The convergence of social media and traditional media took another leap forward today as the New York Times acquired the popular Freakanomics blog.

"This will be the first blog that the New York Times acquires and adds to its larger media family, but there’s word that the newspaper plans to acquire even more blogs in the not-too-distant future. . . ." Visit Mashable.com to read more.

Corporate Blog Creative Brief

Thinking about launching a corporate blog? Here are some basics we've compiled at PR 20/20 to help clients establish a blog strategy before taking the leap:

1. Audiences: Whom do you plan to reach and influence with your blog?

• Community Leaders
• Customers
• Employees
• Media
• Prospects
• Suppliers/Vendors
• Other

2. Objectives: What do you intend to achieve with your blog?

• Augment Web site traffic.
• Boost brand awareness and visibility.
• Build relationships.
• Change, enhance or revitalize brand image.
• Educate and inform audiences.
• Enhance/establish positioning as an innovator and industry leader.
• Generate leads.
• Improve brand loyalty (i.e. customer retention and repeat purchasing).
• Increase brand comprehension (i.e. understanding of products/services and benefits).
• Motivate employees.
• Penetrate new markets.
• Other

3. Content Outline: What relevant, timely topics do you plan to publish?

• Company news
• Industry trends
• White papers
• Tools & resources

4. Frequency: How often do you plan to post?

• Daily
• Weekly
• Monthly
• Other

5. Comment Policy: Will the corporation allow, block and/or screen comments?

6. Controversial Issues: What is the policy for addressing controversial issues?

7. Links: What sites, blogs and forums will the corporate blog link to?

8. Promotion: How will the blog be promoted?

For additional insight on corporate blogs, check out Debbie Weil's blog. Debbie is author of The Corporate Blogging Book.

Corporate Blogging Resource

Corporate blogging is changing the public relations industry, and the business world, at an astonishing pace. Odds are that blogging is already impacting your business whether you know it or not.

Technorati, a leading blog search engine widely known for its quarterly State of the Blogosphere reports, is now tracking more than 70 million weblogs, and is seeing about 120,000 new weblogs being created worldwide each day. That's about 1.4 blogs created every second of every day.

This is the first of many posts to come about corporate blogging. At PR 20/20, we are constantly adapting our model and service offering to meet the growing demand from clients for blog consultation, services and resources.

Check out this excellent posting from blogger Robert Scoble for organizations looking to launch corporate blogs: The Corporate Weblog Manifesto

If you haven't considered how blogs are impacting your business, now is as good a time as any to get started!