When we started Publictivity, it was originally an application for the Public Relations industry.

It’s always boggled my mind, literally perplexed me, why companies don’t give the customers what they want. It’s almost like they go out of the way to make a product as bad as possible. These are companies worth billions of dollars with tons of resources. Is it stubborn executives who think “they get it”? Is it just the desire to be mediocre? There are three recent examples that come to mind in regards to this topic.

YouTube/ Verizon

So this deal was announced today and is what prompted me to write this article. You’re telling me, I’d have to pay 15 dollars more on top of my data plan to get this. If I was that out of my mind, drunk, or brainwashed, I’d then only be able to watch a select few videos. This is ten steps backward. User Generated Content, or as the cool kids like to call it (UGC), is all about choice, freedom, and the luxury of consuming what you want. I hate to sound like a broken record, but walled gardens don’t work. Did youtube or verizon talk with anyone about this? bottom line: No one wants this. You messed up a big hit.  Don’t limit me, and make it cheaper/ included with my data plan. Maybe the other carriers will do this.
Amazon Unboxed

I love Amazon. I think they’re an amazing service and company. The Amazon Unboxed service is just a failure. Why didn’t they just use common knowledge, or at least look at what people dislike? No one wants layers of DRM, and tons of new software to install. Windows only, blah. Worst of all, it has some privacy issues to the software. Do they remember that whole RootKit thing, or? They COULD redeem themselves with the Tivo partnership. I would get a Tivo just for that. Know what that would require….? giving the customer what they want.

Zune, um yeah. WTF

Where do I begin? MSFT created some decent buzz. They had people listening. Do you know how many other people would kill for that attention? SanDisk or Creative would love for that hype- they come out with a million players a year, that are actually pretty damn cool. So Zune releases and what happens

• Doesn’t work with your new multibillion dollar operatinf system that is dropping in a month or so
• Install crashes and takes forever
• The sharing music capability is cool, except for that whole thing for usability called critical mass.
• Requiring everyone who used your play4sure format and spent lots of money on the media to purchase everything all over. You know what I do at that point? Fire up LimeWire Hardcore.
• No podcasting. Not a major problem, but just a little tweak that is needed to play in the space.

Maybe I’m over-reacting? Maybe I’m just too optimistic? Or maybe I’m just an entrepreneur and potential customer that doesn’t get it? Companies like Apple innovate and give the user what they want. I’m not playing fanboy here. It’s just true and the first thought that comes to mind. Please let me know your thoughts and comment who gives customers what they want and who doesnt give customers what they want.

[tags] zune, microsoft, amazon, unboxed, youtube, verizon, verizon youtube, web 2.0, publictivity, customer experience [/tags]

Ahh, so everyone is curious what exactly happened to theWeblogWire. Let me give you the background story. In early June, Frank and I, had decided that we wanted to start developing technology for the Public Relations industry. We stumbled upon the opportunity, just due to interest at looking at the market opportunity. Frank and I had been spending the past 9 or so months evaluating opportunities and startup ideas. Some were built, some were just conceptualized,etc. We figured, hey why not at least look at the PR Software Market, and Frank had a PR firm contact. Well, it turns out, the PR industry was ripe for some great software, especially on-demand software. It really just hit us the right way. Know when you see that beautiful girl for the first time? This was her, in a business form. Boy was she looking good. At the same time, Brian Breslin, who designed theWeblogWire, was interested in doing a startup for 500 dollars in under 1-2 weeks. We said, hell why not? Let’s break into the PR industry by creating some initial buzz, and generate some leads for our main focus: Publictivity (at the time, StartPR and originally: Software Services). At worst, we’d gain some credibility, insight, and buzz, and at best, a real money maker. Fast forward a two months into it… we realized theWeblogWire would be a startup itself, requiring tons of time. We were so involved with Publictivity, that we just couldn’t handle a side project. So Frank and I made a decision (Brian stayed working for his design firm Infinimedia) to be focused. theWeblogWire was near and dear to our hearts, but personal emotions cannot get in the way of a business… it just can’t. So we decided we were going to let theWeblogWire be, and stay focused 110% on Publictivity. It was a valuable lesson for us: Stay Focused and Keep Your Eye on the Prize. If I can give ANY piece of advice to an entrepreneur, it is to just stay focused. This whole entrepreneur thing takes time. When you’re underfunded, understaffed, underexposed, and underdogged you need EVERY ounce of energy you can get. I hope this clears any questions up that some of you might have. If you used the service, Thank You!

[tags] theweblogwire, publictivity, web 2.0, startups, pr, startpr, public relations, software on demand, sas [/tags]

We had internally called Publictivity, StartPR for the better part of five months. We officially decided upon a launch name for the project about a month ago. Frank gets the credit on this one. Publictivity, if you couldn’t tell is a combination of Productivity and Public Relations. So what are the steps towards getting the right logo for your startup? There’s quite a few, and I’ll guide you through what we went through in the past few weeks:

Overall Feel-Overall feel of a logo is the huge first step. It should coincide with what your product defines. In our case, we’re business software. We had to go with a more professional and straight forward logo. If you’re a consumer app, or possibly a brick and mortar business, there are other feels. Consumer apps tend to be more bold, “fun looking”,etc. Brick and Mortar businesses tend to have a feel that can easily translate into a physical logo to place above the store.

The Colors-Most likely, you will have started some of the design for your application. If so, pick colors that match the application or compliment the scheme. You’re also going to want to have “alternate colors” developed, that will present alternate options. This is pretty straight forward. If you haven’t picked the colors for the design of your app, then you should do that first.

The “StandOut”-What is going to be noticeable about the logo? Sometimes it is a graphically designed letter, an accompanying icon, or something very clever. Look at FedEX’s logo. Inbetween The E and the X, it forms an arrow. Very cool, right? In our logo, we have the P designed graphically. In MySpace’s logo, there are the group of people. Basically, pick something that makes the logo distinguish itself. Make it a talking point, or something that if a person was only able to see that part of the logo, they would know it was your company.

The Slogan-This is sometimes very easy or very hard. We had to play around with words. At first, we had it as: Making Public Relations Productive. Well, that was kind of arrogant. We made it seem like PR practitioners did nothing all day long, which is far from true. Then we had Making Public Relations More Productive…. whoops. We’re a combination of productivity and public relations, not productive and public relations. Finally it came down to: Increasing Productivity in Public Relations. Not arrogant, and had productivity. The slogan should be your ethos, the one sentence that defines your product. For example, Sales Force is “Success On Demand”. It defines that their product is on-demand, and gives you the feel that it increases your productivity. Very short and very simple. Perfect.

Picking a Design Company-First rule of thumb… DONT CHEAP OUT. You will pay for it in the long run. The extra 75 dollars you save, will bite you in the ass. It will cost you more time, energy, and give you a logo you don’t want. Also be sure to check that you retain the IP rights to the logo. Also look up some past reviews on the company. In our case we went with LogoJeez. Reason being? NOTHING TO PAY UP FRONT. That’s right, they do all the work, and if you don’t like it, you don’t pay. We got 5 different options, and from those 5 different options we could revise one logo upto four times. Hands down, go with LogoJeez. We were able to receive a discount that made the bottomline price 208 dollars. Well worth it.

Revising It-This depends which company you go with. At the end of the day, you need to be picky. Revise it, and add what you really want… you’re paying for it! We used all four rounds of revisions we were allowed. Also, modify the version you get in photoshop, and send back detailed instructions to the artist. Trust me, this helps. No one can see what you see, but it helps them get closer to it.

So thats about all. Your logo is important, and take your time with it. This is the logo, slogan, and branding that will *hopefully* be seen by millions of people, and most importantly YOUR CUSTOMERS.

[tags] web 2.0, logos, logo design, logojeez, corporate branding, publictivity, myspace, web 2.0 logo design, tutorial, startup logos, startups, fedex [/tags]

If we linked to you, don’t worry, this blog will be up this week. Just testing

[tags] web 2.0, public relations [/tags]