General Information about Copyright and Ownership

1. Copyright and ownership of any original creative work remains with the artist.
2. Just because you pay for a design service does not mean you own the final result. Ownership should be addressed in the beginning of the process. Transfer of ownership must be initiated by that artist in the form of a written letter. If ownership is not addressed, you at least have the non-exclusive right to use the work for the intended purpose.
3. The artist does not actually have to register a copyright to assert ownership. Copyright law automatically protects the original work as soon as it’s created.
4. Ownership means retaining the exclusive right to reproduce or sell the work, change or create derivatives of the work, and publicly display the work. Anyone who does this to the artist’s work without permission is in violation of his or her copyright and can be penalized.
5. Copyright law in the work place is different. If you create an original work as part of your job under the employment of a company, your employer owns the rights to it. This may apply to internships as well.

Copyright law is complicated and if you do some investigating online you’ll find many conflicting opinions regarding ownership. Artists should know that their work has value that is protected by the law. Clients and those hiring artists should decide whether having exclusive or non-exclusive rights to the work is important. The best way to deal with ownership is to talk about it, and come to a solution that both the artist and the client is comfortable with.

Additional Copyright Resources:

http://www.copyright.gov/laws/
https://www.graphicartistsguild.org/

Your elevator speech can do more than communicate what you do; it can be a lead generation tool for your business.

Here’s How
Chances are your pitch is pretty broad. Making your pitch more specific depending on who you’re talking to will make it more memorable. When your pitch is more memorable, that person is more likely to refer business to you.

General Tips

• Be customer-centric. Instead of talking about what you do, reframe your pitch around what you do for your customer. Always put yourself in your customer’s shoes and say, “what’s in it for me?”
  

  Click to Download the Elevator Pitch Worksheet

• Play to their desires. Imagine your prospects’ end-game. What do they ultimately want? If you can intuit this you can explain how your product or service will help them get there.
• Soothe their fears. In the current economic climate, businesses are afraid of investing their money and are worried about whether new investments will pay off. People are also uncertain about the future and whether it’s a good time to invest. Address these fears initially and get them out of the way. Otherwise their doubts may linger and eventually prevent you from getting the “yes” you’re looking for.

Crafting an Elevator Pitch
Answer the questions then fill in your answers in the blanks below.

1. Who specifically is your target audience?
2. What does your target audience desire most of all?
3. What problem does your target audience have?
4. What product or service do you provide that fixes that problem?

Fill in The Blanks

I’m ____________________________ and I provide/help/serve ___________________(target audience)________________with
___________________(product or service)_____________________.
It helps/is a solution for_________________________(problem)____________________________ and allows them to achieve ________________________(desire)___________________.

The human population has worked very hard to sit. There was a time when physical work was common; farming, building, even hunting and gathering. At some point we became tired of the dirt under our fingernails and began the journey to the desk. Sitting at the computer is definitely easier, but at what cost?

The cost is approximately 4.8 years off your life. Though I love my job, I would  regret not doing something about it. Though changing the routine of sitting is a challenging process, here are some suggestions to get started.

Keeping healthy at work:

• Jump around. It sounds silly, I know, but one of the best ways to counteract sitting is to periodically trick your body into thinking it’s not. Start by taking four, 30 second breaks throughout the day to get your heart rate up. Whether it’s jumping jacks, or jogging in place doing this will keep your body and mind active throughout the day.
• Stretch. Sitting, though passive can cause your body to ache. Whenever you get up to go to the bathroom or take a break, make a point to do some stretching.
• Walk if you can. If you can walk to work you should. If not create opportunities that will allow you to walk. If you need to tell your coworker something, get up and find them rather than sending an email. Meet clients at a place you can walk to, or walk to lunch.
• Get everyone involved. A growing number of workplaces are promoting an active work environment. From on-site gyms, to morning yoga classes and treadmill desks, it’s easier to break the routine of sitting when everyone is involved. Encourage your coworkers to join in. New apps like the soon-to-be-released Hotseat create fun two-minute break activities that support a group mentality.
• Be active outside of work. As I hinted at earlier, humans are not meant to sit all day. Until the species evolves to endure our sedentary lifestyle, we can find inspiration in the physical lifestyle of our ancestors. Growing your own food or hiking in the summer are close approximations. In the winter try snowshoeing or skiing.

Do these claims matter to the consumer?
What makes green marketing successful?

In the 1970s green marketing began to target the ethical consumer, mostly affluent people considering the responsibility of their choices. Many companies believe their green claims appeal to the ethical consumer, but research tells us that greenwashing and misleading consumers will jeopardize the success of green marketing.

To be successful green marketing must be genuine. It should satisfy the consumer while demonstrating minimal impact on the environment and/or minimal social impact.

While green marketing isn’t easy, it is in many ways a necessary consideration. Resources are limited and more people are becoming aware of their responsibility in both social and environmental terms.

Guidelines for Green Marketing

• Information is the key. The more you can inform your audience about the environmental or social benefits without preaching the more likely they will be to justify using your product or service.
• Consider environmental concerns as well as social concerns, both are important to the ethical consumer.
• Ethical consumers are educated and will need guarantees and proof that green claims are legitimate. Think about getting certification or use video and your social media outlets to show first hand how your service or product is low impact.
• Build your brand around a lifestyle. Green consumption is a lifestyle decision, and ethical consumers use their purchasing power in creating their identities.
• Go local. Supporting your local economy and partnering with local businesses is a valuable feature to the ethical consumer.

Companies Using Green Marketing

• Patagonia – Retailer of outdoor clothing and products that supports many environmental groups and initiatives
• Seventh Generation – Based in Burlington, VT Seventh Generation sells and creates cleaning and paper products with a focus on sustainability
• Interface – Designer and manufacturer of environmentally-responsible carpet using sustainability and social responsibility as a guideline
• Healthy Living Market – An independent natural foods market based in Burlington, VT  (soon to be in the Wilton mall in Saratoga) that focuses on local, organic food and community outreach.
• Equal Exchange – A worker-owned cooperative that distributes fair trade coffee and other products made by farmer cooperatives all over the world

If you’re interested in comparing the environmental or social benefits of certain products check out GoodGuide, a website and app that rates products and helps consumers know what they’re buying.

We all want to be better this year. As we hear more positive forecasts for 2013, it’s worth considering what changes we can make to our businesses that will help us succeed this year.

Organizational change expert Tim Jaques co-founded Line of Sight to help organizations break through obstacles and achieve their goals. As a strategy and management consulting business, Line of Sight has a fresh, personal approach to helping government agencies, organizations and businesses be more effective and profitable.

I asked Tim advice on how to make the most of change in 2013.

There are a lot of positive forecasts for 2013, and organizations and businesses are reorganizing to make the most of this year. What are some things that can help businesses stay on track?

2013 is shaping up to be a great year for business in Albany. The economy is resilient, Congress appears to be inching forward on budget and spending talks, and international markets and economies appear to be more stable that they were 6-12 months ago. I think businesses in 2013 should be prepared to invest in growth strategies.

• Reassess your strategy – be prepared to grow! I believe that many companies have suffered from threeorfouryears of dour economic news. Now is the time to look at your goals, strategies, and systems. This tepid recovery is actually very good news for those who are willing to risk a bit with new products, new services and unconventional approaches. There is a lot of pent up demand for services. For example, many companies have held off on upgrading IT systems over the past few years. Yet this year, will be a year when many upgrades happen because of necessity. I would counsel many organizations in government, retail, healthcare and technology to establish innovation teams that seek new and more effective ways of doing business.
• Create an effective sales and marketing program. Did you know that B2B marketers use an average of 5 marketing channels today?  Or that LinkedIn is now the most popular business social media site, having overtaken Twitter from last year. For 2013, I recommend investing heavily in a robust marketing and sales program. Marketing has never been more accessible, and using tools like SalesForce to improve your sales activities will pay dividends.
• Balance investments with cash retention. We are not out of the woods yet, but there are many promising signs. The inventory of residential real estate is at a low point, which is driving prices higher. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, overall productivity has increased by 1.6% over the past four quarters, and in the last quester alone by 2.6%. In other words, businesses are producing more with the same staff. We recommend using this period of prosperity to build cash reserves while making modest investments into infrastructure. Moderate spending, coupled with increased productivity and stronger labor pool, will provide a strong foundation for success in 2013.

What do you think businesses and organizations should consider changing to make this year more successful?

Two items that we regularly see needing improvement:

• Improve management systems. We see many organizations that grow stale in their thinking. We see leaders and managers who fail to bring new ideas to the forefront.  In 2013, we recommend that organizations take a look at their managers and discover new management tools and performance measures that really put the managers into accountability for results. Look for outcome measures (number of cars sold) with managers rather than process measures (number of prospective contacts made).
• Innovate on delivery methods. Companies need to continuously renew their delivery methods. If you are a restaurant, consider specific ways your servers can delight customers, like giving out free chocolate chip cookies at the end. Your competitors are looking for new ways to get ahead. At Line of Sight, we are expanding our offerings and also providing business seminars that we feel will add a lot of value for our customers.

Learn more about Line of Sight: www.line-of-sight.com

LINE OF SIGHT, LLC

800-434-7126 / info@line-of-sight.com

Columbia, MD / Saratoga Springs, NY

There are a few simple ways to use Google’s tools to increase your visibility in search results and increase traffic to your website and business.

Google Plus Local

If you have a physical location for your business, you may have created a Google Places listing. Until recently, this was Google’s version of a yellowpages-style local business listing, complete with your business name, address, phone, website, and more. When people searched for keywords related to your business and location, you would appear near the top of the page with a map and your Google Places information.

Google Places has switched to Google Plus Local, which is more similar to a Facebook business page. So, what does this mean for your business? Basically it’s a new tool you can use to share content and information about your business, using a slightly different user interface. Customers can post reviews and comments on your Google Plus Local page, similar to a Yelp business listing or Facebook business page.

Read how to set up your Google Plus Local page here: http://support.google.com/plus/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=2623007

Using Authorship

Have you ever wondered how some websites have the author’s picture and extra information in the list of search results? This is a new feature in Google that provides author information in search results, and it can help you be more visible. As a business owner, you can link your company’s website to your Google Plus Local page, potentially increasing your website’s rank in Google search results. This can be done by linking your content to your Google Plus profile using a verified email address, or by adding links between your website and Google Plus page with the rel=author link attribute.

Learn how to use Authorship here: http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1408986

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Click the image above to download the Blog Better Planning Sheet

I love the first week in January; the holidays are over and I finally get a chance to catch my breath, step back and consider the big picture. I’m looking forward to another year contributing to the TU blogging community, and this week I’m in the process of planning how I’m going to make this year’s blog better. I’ve created a blog strategy planning sheet that you can download here to inspire your planning process.

Here are some things I’m considering in planning my blog strategy for 2013:

Consider your audience

While ‘everyone’ sounds great, there is no way you can speak to, inform and entertain everyone at once. Pick a specific group that you are most interested in and do some brainstorming. What would they like to know, and what will entertain them? The TU has great local coverage; think about how you can connect your audience to local events, people and businesses that will interest them.

Set goals

It’s easy to get caught up in this week’s post and to lose site of the big picture. If increasing traffic is on your horizon this year, set goals for unique visitors over monthly periods. This way you can tweak your strategy along the way by adjusting your content and adapting.

Clever content

Come up with some general concepts for topics, then delve deeper and come up with sub-topics. Go a little bit deeper and you’ll have specific ideas for posts. Find some blogger idols that you can rely on for inspiration. Here are some ideas I’m inspired by this year: infographics, comics, and giveaways.

Stay organized

Once you have some specific ideas for this year’s content, create a schedule that will help you get everything done. If you already use gmail, upload your planning sheet into your drive and use google calender to set a schedule.

Get your blog out there this year with these tips:

• Use social media to promote your posts
• Get people who read your blog to like you on Facebook or follow you on Twitter
• Engage with other bloggers by commenting thoughtfully
• Post thoughtful comments (and links) on forums that relate to your audience
• Giveaways!

Click here to download our Blog Better Planning Sheet

Estimating and evaluating CO2 emissions for a wide range of everyday actions is not hard science, but simply realizing that performing a Google search or sending a large email attachment has an impact on the environment can change the way we use the internet, making ourselves and our businesses more efficient in the process. Periodically cleaning out your inbox, deleting large attachments that you don’t need, and using cloud-based storage sparingly can have a real impact. The statistics below are rough estimates, and use CO2e or carbon dioxide equivalent, a unit of measurement used to account for both carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gasses, like methane and nitrous oxide.

A few things to consider while you’re at your computer at work:

• An average year of email in your inbox equals approximately 300 pounds of CO2e, which is the same as driving about 200 miles in the average car*.
• A large attachment can use 50g of CO2e or more for each recipient*, which is a good reason to avoid cc’ing people who don’t really need to see the message.
• As of 2010, data centers around the world accounted for 130 million tons of CO2e annually. Worldwide data center emissions are estimated to increase to 250-340 million tons of CO2e by 2020*.
• A typical Google search can generate 0.7g CO2e to 4.5g CO2e*, depending on your computer – every month, Google produces 260,000 kg of CO2 to process user searches. Avoid unnecessary searches and you can help Google reduce emissions.
• While Facebook still relies on coal power for the majority of its energy used to power its data centers, its annual carbon emissions are significantly less than Google.

*Source: How Bad Are Bananas?: The Carbon Footprint of Everything by Mike Berners-Lee

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Show Testimonials. Business is about communication. Showing how people have successfully used your product or service is the best way to communicate the value of your business to prospective customers. Spice up testimonials with visuals like icons or customer photos.

Ease Navigation. The experience your website provides should be the same as if a customer walked into your store. Put yourself in their shoes and make sure information is easy to get to. Have detailed photos and descriptions of your goods so people can get a clear idea of what you’re selling.

Take New Photos. A picture is worth a thousand words. If you’re marketing yourself and need your face to be recognizable, put some thought into how you want to represent yourself. Work with a professional photographer to create an image that customers will respond to. If you’re selling products online, make sure your product photography is high-quality.

What’s Your Philosophy? Share some insight about how your product or service is different, or why working with you is better. If prospective customers can see how you work and get a feel for your personality, you’ll eventually attract your target audience.

Entertain. Anyone who has witnessed a good sales pitch knows that performance is a driving factor. People like to be amused, and an amusing experience is always memorable. Create infographics that tell your story in an entertaining way. Create a fun contest that you can promote on your site.

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