My Internship Experience

You all know the theory that interns at some companies don’t truly get a ‘hands-on’ or a resume building experience, right? That couldn’t be farther from the truth at Imagination. My experiences have already led me to include Imagination on my resume as well as have the ability to show future employers the work I was doing here through my clips.

I have a friend who interned over the summer for a newspaper publication. He had one piece of work to show for it at the end of the program. I had one piece of work to show within the first two weeks of my internship at Imagination. Although I’m a journalism person at heart, my writing here has not only helped Imagination, but it furthered the knowledge I need to succeed in any writing industry.

The Imagination Difference

It truly is a great place to work and if you are even remotely thinking of entering in the field of custom media publishing, give Imagination a chance. I’m extremely thankful for the experience I’ve gotten here thus far and only look forward to the new projects that are in store for me.

To get a better idea of how the internship is from someone besides me, watch our video on the program. We, as interns, put it together to give all those interested a better idea of what work we actually do here and what kind of place Imagination is. After watching, feel free to apply, you may find it as rewarding as I did…

by Michael Van Der Harst, Editoral Intern

Imagination Interns Video

Check it out: http://tinyurl.com/7t85nx

The Business Insight Series contains more than 60 videos providing advice and expertise to Wells Fargo small business customers. Some of the videos are one-on-one episodes with an interviewer and a small business expert; others are case studies/profiles of Wells Fargo customers who share their success stories. The library also includes short clips from the longer 40-minute webcasts Imagination produces for Wells Fargo.

The “Business Insight Series” video library is a unique offering Wells Fargo provides to customers — a valuable resource for small business owners.

I had dinner last week with President of leading global trade association for business professionals. For nearly two hours, we debated the changing role of editors in today’s digital world and whether in the future, editors will be replaced by user-generated content?

Let me start by saying that years ago, before I started my custom media company, I was a senior executive for a major daily newspaper. Many things troubled me about the newspaper business at that time. One was the dismissive attitude of editors toward this new newspaper start-up called USA Today. Who would ever read this “Mac-lite” newspaper filled with short stories, colorful graphics and reader commentary, and never ending surveys and polls? Surely, it would never last! Yet today, twenty years later, nearly every daily and business newspaper has copied their tactics.

However the most disturbing comment I ever heard at the newspaper was the editor-in-chief ranting on in a meeting that readers didn’t know what they wanted or needed to read, that was the job of the editor, to tell them what they needed to read. It seemed arrogant at the time and today it seems like an absolute indictment of what’s wrong with many newspapers and magazines today. Too much of that attitude is still ingrained in editors today even as a digital tidal wave of user-generated content, opinions and community is sweeping over the world.

The role of editors is changing rapidly and forever, but I’m convinced that editors can still be the heart and soul of any print or digital publication. The difference in the future is that editors must be aggregators of information balancing reader-generated content with expert editorial and providing context and space for both. Reaching out to readers, and more importantly to potential readers, through all available media channels will be a critical skill that every editor will need to master. Listening to readers and participating in online communities will provide insight and content ideas that yesterday’s editors never could have imagined.

I applaud journalism schools like Northwestern and Missouri who have taken bold steps to integrate print, digital and business courses as a mandatory requirement for their degrees in the face of angry traditionalists. The world is changing at incomprehensible speed and the lines of journalism, communication and business are blurring, but editors can and will remain as essential navigators of content in this increasingly digital world.

I’ve spent the last week poring over everything I can find about what marketers should do in the midst of an economic recession and the overwhelming sentiment and evidence is that the best marketers are looking at today’s economy as a real opportunity to expand market share versus weak competitors.

Since the end of World War II there have been eleven economic recessions or slowdowns in the United States that have provided plenty of opportunity to study how marketers have reacted and which companies have benefited and which have failed. Most recently, a 2005 study by the Smeal College of Business at Penn State University found that companies who have an ongoing strategic emphasis on the importance of marketing, who have nimble, entrepreneurial-type cultures and who have the resources to take advantage of marketing opportunities during a recession not only fair better during the recession but also come out of the recession quicker and significantly accelerate their growth much faster than their competitors when the economy begins to recover.

It’s not surprising that marketers who are positioned to see opportunities while those around them are cutting back marketing, costs, staffing and quality receive the double benefit of being aggressive at a time when their competition is pulling back. It’s truly an opportunity for the strongest to survive and flourish. World class athletes know that under times of great stress, their ability to focus, summon up resources and perform at a high level will nearly always results in victory against weaker opponents. They sense the weakness in their opponents, their fear, their inability to rise to the occasion and they take advantage of it. Think of Tiger Woods. Does he slack off or lose focus when he’s ahead or in dangerous waters? No, that’s the time when he goes in for the kill.

Advertising Age recently said that “recessions offer unprecedented opportunities to market in an environment of relatively less noise as others around you are cutting back”.

The November 10th issue of Business Week reported that Wal-Mart is enjoying double-digit profit growth while retailers all around them are reporting declines. Some retailers, such as Linens ‘N Things and Circuit City are filing for bankruptcy or closing stores. Clearly, Wal-Mart’s longtime emphasis on low pricing plays well in today’s economic environment. But did you know that Wal-Mart’s Every Day Low Prices slogan started during the last economic slowdown? And it’s not just about low prices, otherwise K-Mart and Sears would be reporting similar results. It’s about value, brand and staying focused in your communications.

After much reading and research, it seems the key to economic success during an economic downturn is maintaining a clear and constant focus on five critical areas: Competition, Brand, Customers, Communications and Staff.

Competition: Audit everything about your competitors. Their products, their website, their pricing, their sales force, everything! It’s critical that you know their every move not only to anticipate their tactics against you but to find their weaknesses that you might be able to exploit during a time when they are already looking over their shoulder. Take advantage of the economic uncertainty and risk to leave your competition far behind just as that world class athlete would.

Build Your Brand: Focus on those things that got you where you are today. Support and build your brand proposition. Reinforce the core values of your brand to make sure that your existing customers don’t see any deterioration in the products or services that they expect. If you have multiple products or services, make sure that you protect and nourish your core brands first particularly during poor economic times. They are your bread and butter. Never reduce quality to cut costs.

Customers: It’s common to avoid your customers during tough times in an attempt to “fly under the radar” of their economic troubles. But that’s exactly the opposite of what you should be doing. Now is the time to be listening to your customers, understanding their needs and fears, offering solutions to help. Be visible, be a partner, be a resource to them. Exceeding their expectations during tough times will pay off now and even more so when the economy improves.

Communications: Cutting back on communications and marketing during tough economic times moves you back into the pack of other companies who are running scared. It’s likely that just not reducing spending will put you ahead of your competitors. But, don’t be foolish, be smart. Adjust your spending to be more targeted, more frequent and more measurable. Economic recessions call for a focus on marketing that minimizes waste, engages customers and results in a return on investment that can be measured. Marketers move away from mass media during tough economic times in favor of more targeted, measurable media such as websites, custom publishing and community-building. Custom media continues to be proven way for companies to solidify their customer relationships, drive engagement and increase revenues.

Staff: Probably one of the most overlooked and neglected areas of focus during tough economic times is your staff. Don’t forget that they have a lot less information than you do, that they are being bombarded by bad news from the media and that they’re concerned or scared for their own jobs and their financial well-being. Now’s the time for increased communication with them that will keep them informed, engaged and with a feeling of purpose and value.

Recessions offer a time for opportunity. When everyone else around you is running for cover because the sky is falling, you have the opportunity to move your brand forward. But it takes focus, courage and commitment to be successful. That’s why small businesses generally do better than big companies during tough times because these are the type that first drove entrepreneurs to be successful. After all, entrepreneurs are used to flying in the face of advertisity, finding success when others predict failure and staying focused every day on achieving their dreams. We all need to exhibit a little more entrepreneurial spirit in these tough times, take risks and stay focused on success rather than failure.

I had approached traditional publishers, business associates and friends about investing in my new company but each of them chose not to after expressing varying degrees of skepticism and doubt. But as a successful marketer for nearly 20 years, I rarely listened to what others around me had to say because marketing is about having a vision and a focus on doing whatever is necessary to make that vision a reality. If you listen to the naysayers, you’ll never accomplish anything.

For years I had plaque on my wall with the Albert Einstein quote, “Imagination is more Important than Knowledge”. I always believed passionately that Einstein was right and that belief that served me well for so many years in the corporate world is still right on target today. You see it’s not about what you know, or what you’ve done. Success comes from having the imagination, the passion, the curiosity and the focus to make your dreams real. So it seemed only natural to name my company Imagination Publishing.

But now the stakes were different. I was playing with my own money, my home, my family’s livelihood! And often during those early years I’d lie awake at night with the “monster over my bed”. I’m sure that every small business owner knows that same monster.

Small Business Monster

After working six and seven days a week with 12-14 hour days that monster would always being there reminding me of everything that could go wrong. Learning to live with that monster by beating it down with an even stronger sense of confidence and purpose is part of the secret to building a successful small business.

Luckily, I had two other things going for me. A great wife and family who supported my crazy dream through all the tough times, never once questioning my resolution to succeed. And my first two hires who set up their folding tables a week after me. Rebecca Rolfes and Doug Kelly shared my dream and passion and have been huge part of the success of Imagination Publishing. Without Rebecca’s endless sense of optimism and Doug’s rock-solid work ethic and stability, we would never have reached the success that we now enjoy.

Today, fourteen years later, Imagination Publishing has more than 50 full time Imagineers and more than 20 fantastic clients. Many of our clients are Fortune 100 companies and leading trade associations who all have found custom publishing to be an effective means of communicating and engaging with their customers. Print custom publishing is still more than 60% of our business but the explosion of digital continues to grow at a breakneck pace even in the current economic recession. Today, we’ve become experts in rich media, community management, SEO and analytics, and strategic integration as well as custom magazines in order to meet all of the custom media needs of our clients. Custom content continues to grow while traditional media continues to decline because it works.

It’s been a fabulous ride but I have a vision that the next fourteen years will be even better. While some only see risk and peril in today’s economy, I see nothing but opportunity. I have to, it’s all I know.

In this instance, it was more like brain candy, but it was interesting to see how people define innovation.  I gravitate towards innovation that applies commonly understood principles in new and different ways, or innovation that takes something I use/see/experience every day and flips it upside-down.

In the case of the NextFest, it was all about Innovation-Capital-I.  Things you’ve never seen before and likely will not be able to afford for a long time, if ever.

They had the WOW factor going, though!  Check out this ‘personal transportation vehicle’.  I want one.  Of course, I’m also the chick that would have sold my dog into servitude for a Segway.

Xerox had reusable paper in their exhibit, complete with disappearing ink.  We riffed many ways to use it…some of them highly illegal.  Made of Awesome!

What feeds YOUR brain?

Laura driving (and riding) a Personal Transport Vehicle

I heard a story on the radio last week about a small business in Chicago with more than ten years of profitable financial operations who now can’t get a $30,000 line of credit to fulfill in-hand orders for the holiday season. According to the Wall Street Journal, it’s not that the banks don’t have money, it’s just that they’re afraid to lend it. The old adage that banks only want to lend you money when you really don’t need it is once again proving true. Thankfully, my bank, Harris, is not one of those banks who has stuck their head in the sand! They understand that small business is the backbone of business and that killing small business will only lead to much greater economic problems. This is a time for stronger customer relationships. Forging stronger customer relationships now, will insure that customers stay loyal for years to come.

Story after story, case study after case study, and research upon research has shown that companies who invest more on marketing during tough economic times not only do better during tough times than companies who don’t but also that these companies come out of times quicker and accelerate faster as growth returns. That’s because forging and reinforcing customer relationships is the best insurance any business has against economic downturns.

At Imagination Publishing, we have been successful in showing our clients how to use content to connect, engage and strengthen their customer relationships. In tough economic times, your customers need information, help and reassurance more than ever before. Content delivered through custom media marketing will help you strengthen your customer relationships now and into the future because it shows your customers that you care about them, that you understand their needs and that you’re there to help.

To learn more about Imagination, visit www.imaginepub.com