Welcome to the Future

As I start my 3rd week of employment as Marketing Manager at LUCRUM, I am happy to report that things are going extremely well. The drive from Dayton to Cincinnati is actually enjoyable. I hit the road pretty early, so it’s just me, my coffee, my thoughts, my music and the news for 45 minutes. When I arrive at work, things are quiet and I have a few hours of uninterrupted time to be productive. Not a bad way to start the day.

That is all good and well, but not the reason for this post. The real reason for the post is that I want to let people know the LUCRUM weblog is up and running. It can be found at http://TheFutureValueofBusiness.com. The url was inspired by one of the many mantras found on the back of our business cards at LUCRUM. A couple bucks and the url was ours. The site is built in Wordpress, so that it is easy to update, easy to manage and easy to use. We have not rolled out the site “officially” within the confines of LUCRUM, but people are already asking when they will be able to post. I am working on setting up a little training on blogging and wordpress so that we can get everyone here contributing content. Even I am surprised at the level of enthusiasm that people here have regarding the project. It will be fun to watch the site grow and the web stats follow.

I was asked today “what are we supposed to write about on the blog?” I said “whatever you want to write about.” I then stopped and made the following list of forbidden topics:

• No profanity
• No private information (other people’s personal business or Client info)
• No pornography
• No politics (plenty of that to go around)

Beyond that, I am instructing people to post away. Basically, just use common sense and good judgment. I will also be giving a lecture on the 4 way Test for ethics as they apply to blogging as well, as I feel it has a lot of merit.

The site also has a list of links, an events calendar, a contact form, and more. The list of features will continue to grow as the site evolves and will likely include forums, wikis, and private discussion areas soon too.

Suffice it to say that I am having way too much fun. Please visit the site and let me know what you think.

The Future Value of Business

Kuler: Adobe’s Killer Color Application

Color choice is a critical part of design, especially on the web. The right color scheme can go a long way in making a site appealing and ultimately drawing new and repeat visitors. For those, like me, who can be color challenged check out kuler. This site from Adobe makes picking a color scheme easy. On the web you can choose your base color, the type of color scheme you are looking for such as monochromatic, triad, analogous, complimentary, shades, or custom, and kuler creates a color scheme for you on the spot. From there you can tweak and play around to your heart’s content. Kuler then provides you with all the specific color information you need to put your color scheme to work - HSV, RGB, CMYK, LAB, and HEX settings that represent your color choices. It is an amazingly easy and extremely powerful design tool that has already been added to my list of favorite sites. Another favorite is Seth Godin’s blog, where I learned about kuler. Thanks Seth. You still have the best site on the web.

So why would you care about kuler? I was thinking about how I might use it. The first thing that came to mind was to decorate my home. My wife and I are looking to repaint a large part of the interior of our home. We also have a number of rooms that just are not “there” yet. Kuler is the perfect tool for helping us get it right. Sure, we will probably resort to the good old fashioned paint swatch for the paint color we put on the wall, but then what. For us, the hard part is not the color of the wall, but rather the accent colors to go along with it. By entering the room color in as a base in kuler, I can then begin to put together numerous color schemes to fit the feel of each room until I get something I like- without having to piece together swatches or blindly guess as to “will this look good with that?”

Professionally, I can think of endless uses for this tool. Every brochure, presentation, web site, mailer, and marketing piece I design can benefit from using kuler. Again I can start with a base color, like the green we use at LUCRUM, and then quickly mock up multiple color schemes to create different feelings for pieces. This takes much of the guesswork out of the equation, and really streamlines the creative process.

I am interested to hear your thoughts on kuler (or color as a design element). Will you use this tool? How?

kuler

I blog for a living…

Ask me on Monday what I do, and I will answer “I blog for a living.” Starting next week, I will be in charge of Marketing for Lucrum, a Cincinnati based Information Technology consulting firm. I am leaving Hafenbrack Marketing with a head full knowledge, and countless fond memories. Hafenbrack is truly the best place I have ever worked. Everyone, and I mean everyone, at Hafenbrack is wonderful. It is not easy to leave, but the opportunity with Lucrum is one that I just could not pass up. I will be tasked with numerous traditional marketing objectives, AND more importantly with utilizing blogs, wikis, podcasts, and social media to take the company’s marketing in an entirely new direction. More on the new opportunity soon. For now, I would like to publicly thank Dave Hafenbrack, and everyone at Hafenbrack Marketing for making every day I was there great. I will miss you all. Luckily, you will be able to keep up with me here and elsewhere in cyberspace. Not to mention that I will still make my presence known regularly in Dayton. Wish me luck.

LÛCRUM Inc