thesemidnightlights.tumblr.com is my new home

In my opinion it’s pretty freakin’ important to have a one. if you’re not a huge company that tons of people already know about and you don’t have a ton of money to throw around its perfect marketing. let’s face it, advertising costs a lot and it doesn’t always give potential customers or clients a good idea of what you’re about and what services you offer.

The best example i have for this that i’ve seen it first hand is my mom. she’s in real estate and she spends a stupid amount of money each month of advertising, all of which comes out of her pocket. whether is be signage, newspaper ads, magazine, etc. the cost is unreal. and for what? most times a business card sized ad with information on one house or one open house that will run once. most people won’t read it, end up throwing the paper out or burning. Having a website where she can write as much as she wants, thus giving her clients as much information as possible for just the cost of hosting (yearly fees are about the same and what she spends monthly on advertising) is a pretty sweet deal. She also gets to know her clients and has gained some create connections through it. Add in free advertising by being on twitter and facebook and she’s set.

There will always be people who will cling to the old way of doing things but the younger generations who are now and will be looking for services won’t check the local paper or phonebook for them. They will google. This isn’t something thats going to go away. companies need to open up to this new way of thinking or lose business to those companies that have embraced it.

well my first thought is that i dislike the term personal branding. it comes across as conceded and almost like you’re trying to sell yourself, which to a certain extent is what you are trying to do. i guess the trick is to do it without making it look like your ego is blow way out of proportion. personal branding can be very important if you’re going to be working for yourself. you need to create an identity that your potential clients can recognize and feel comfortable with.

it’s not so much creating a completely separate persona. to me, its more about being yourself but censoring things that people may find offensive. if i take myself, for example. if i presented myself to clients the way i do to my friends than i’m pretty sure i would never find work. Not everyone will accept my piercings or tattoos or the fact that i can swear like a trucker. its unprofessional, plain and simple. We all get judged as much as we may not like to be and in the working world i would much rather be judged by my ability then my appearance. when i deal with potential clients or employers i take my piercings out, cover up my tattoos and make sure i watch my language.

in short i feel your brand needs to be you but a more approachable, professional version of you.

make sure you have reply turned on so people can comment on your posts

go into Customize (on the right hand side)
under community theres an option to allow replys
turn that sh*t on and your good to go

Personally I’m finding more and more that social media is coming up in the world as an avenue to pursue when looking for a job. I’m not sure if you can call Linked In a social media site or tool but it’s one of the top sites when employers look for potential new talent.
Twitter also seems to be another big one in my opinion. If you market yourself the right was and tweet relevant things it will help you out greatly. For example, yesterday in class Tom was telling me about how he got a twitter account and tweeted that he was working on a “Client Project”. Nobody needs to know he was working on a client project for school. To the world its a legitimate project and makes him look like he’s the real deal (which he is, not trying to imply he’s not).
I feel the same goes for sites like this. I post screen caps of things I’m working on and get feed back from those who follow me all the time. An example of this would be last week I posted a layout for my portfolio for Tanya’s class. I got feedback from one of my followers… an art director from California.
It’s all in who you know and social media makes it so much easier to know the right people.

Option 01

Option 02

Option 03

Which one do you like best? or which elements best? be critical. i wont cry

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my favorite blog would have to be Defgrip. it started off as a small website and now its pretty big.

The main part of the site is the blog on the home page. they post videos, photo galleries, covers from magazines, articles, etc. it mainly focuses on bmx but they also post alot about technology, art, design, music, fashion and culture.

There always seems to be something interesting to read/look at/watch. I also really like checking out one of the creators design work. Its a good place to go for inspiration

go check it outblog.defgrip.net & defgripstudio.net