Print Management 101

Posted on February 14, 2012 by Bobby Deraco, Founder & CEO

I recently sat down with the Marketing Manager of a company that uses a slew of different print materials to promote their products: catalogs and brochures, trade show booths, in-store signage, direct mail, gift cards and apparel. When I asked her how she selected a printer for a print job, she explained it the same way I’ve heard it many times before:

“I have two printers that I like to work with.  One is really great at big projects, like my catalog. The other is good at small projects, like business cards. I pick which one I think is best suited for the job I have, get a quote, and then let them run with the job”.

Sound familiar? I have no statistics to back this up, but sixteen years of experience tell me that, oh, about 75% of all companies use this same method. The problem is, how do you know you are getting enough value out of the relationships you have with your printers?


What is Print Management?
While some companies tackle print jobs the same way the Marketing Manager described, others take a more strategic approach to managing, producing and distributing print materials. Big marketing departments often have employees that work continuously to reduce the costs of printed materials while maintaining brand quality and managing tight production schedules. These companies follow a strategic plan with goals, measurements and standard procedures that are designed to consistently reduce costs while improving performance.

A Managed Print Program has the same goals as that dedicated employee, except it is administered by a company who has expertise in managing print projects (like Synapse). This approach is ideal for companies that can’t dedicate resources to internally manage their print programs. And some companies find that even with dedicated resources, it takes an experienced partner to help them truly maximize cost savings and efficiencies.


Is a Managed Print Program right for me?
If your strategy includes hiring and managing a mix of printers, mailing houses, fulfillment vendors, promotional products distributors, product suppliers, packaging vendors and list brokers, you should at least sit down with a Print Management firm and discuss their Managed Print Program.

If you’ve ever made any of the following five statements, a Managed Print Program could be right for you:

“I want to save money on my print materials.”

This is at the top of everyone’s list. Printing can be an expensive, time-consuming process and it helps to have someone on your side to help you navigate the industry and understand how to reduce costs. There is more to cost reduction than just beating up vendors for the lowest price. Saving money on printing is a byproduct of proper vendor selection, understanding printing terminology and materials, and leveraging the total spend that is controlled by a Print Management firm. A well-structured Print Management program will save you 10-50% on annual print costs.

“I need better quality and faster schedules.”

Saving money is good, unless you have to wait an extra week for your materials or if they arrive looking like last week’s newspaper. Since Print Management firms work with dozens or even hundreds of reputable printers, they offer plenty of options and ‘Plan Bs’ when it comes to meeting tight deadlines. Better yet, these firms can also command better schedules and quality than a typical customer can due to the volume of work they can potentially give (and the money they spend with) each printer in their line-up.

“Dealing with print projects can be a nightmare. I want to get more done from my marketing department without risking costly mistakes.”

Many print projects end up on the desk of a designer, a marketing assistant, or worse yet – yours! If you were hired to buy print, then go for it. But if you’re too busy to meet with print sales reps, decipher a slew of quotes or try to keep a project on track when all hell is breaking loose, then you may want to seek out a pro to help you.

Another major benefit of a managed print program is risk aversion. When a printer screws up, it’s you who is typically left holding the bag. Respectable Print Management firms put guarantees in place that remove the risk of costly errors.  They have the experience to avoid problems in the first place, and quickly fix things when they get off track.

“My print projects need to freshen up. I’d love to see what’s new in the print world.”

New print products come out every day. The printer you currently use cannot produce every type of printing possible. Print Management companies can give you options, because they focus on the industry as a whole, not in a niche.  These companies literally have all sorts of niche print products and techniques in their arsenal, and the best Print Management firms will show you these options during the planning stage of a project.  The major benefit is that the right print product can certainly boost the success of a marketing campaign, just like the wrong approach can work against you.

“Print materials are just one part of my communications plan but they need to work with my website, internet marketing and other advertising initiatives.”

If you have to manage a brand across print, web and other channels, it pays to have a partner that can make sure every piece of your brand works well independently and together. This is an advantage that a Managed Print Program has over working with multiple vendors: because your Print Management partner understands your overall marketing and brand goals, they can make adjustments between various print pieces to keep your brand looking consistent – even across different channels.


How does it work?
The Print Management process typically  works in four phases:

Analysis
The Print Management firm analyzes your past (and planned) print projects in order to assess the cost savings and other benefits you’ll gain from a Managed Print Program. During this meeting, you should also have an opportunity to outline the goals you’d like to achieve with your program.

Proposal
A solid Print Management proposal outlines the benefits you will get from the program, all costs that are involved in the program, who’s responsible for what and how the results of the program will be measured.

Program Implementation
Once you’ve committed to a Print Management program, it’s time to do the work. A successful program offers training for your team and plenty of ongoing support to your company.

Reporting & Analysis
This is a regular, often quarterly, review of your managed print program and the results that you are gaining from the program. You should expect to leave this meeting understanding the savings, value and performance you are achieving from your program – along with goals to improve the program between now and the next review meeting.


How do I get started?
With a conversation. The best Print Management firms will spend more time listening than talking in this initial meeting.  This process is necessary in order to understand your needs, answer your questions and develop a solution that aligns with your goals. If additional research is needed, your potential partner will coordinate that process. These meetings should lead to one deliverable: a thorough Print Management plan that outlines program goals, benefits, workflow and costs associated with it.

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Nearly every company can benefit from a Managed Print Program. Sure, it’ll take some different thinking and a little bit of work to make it happen – but the results could mean a healthier bottom line, more marketing dollars to invest and a better night’s sleep.

Synapse proudly provides Managed Print Programs that saved our clients nearly $14 million in 2011. For a free Print Management consultation, email us at marketing@synapseresults.com.

Posted in Print | Leave a comment

Dissecting Your Landing Page

Posted on January 31, 2012 by Jared Hippensteel, Sr. Web Designer

This past Holiday season, I think my inbox and mailbox hit an all-time max with emails and advertisements from large brands and consumer-based companies pushing this season’s “hot product.” Though the showcased product varies, all of the ads contain one similar thing – how to take the next step as a consumer. Of course the goal of the advertiser is to sell, but as a consumer, unless I know exactly what this product is I’m probably going to do a little research before I buy.

With the majority of these advertisers, they don’t want me to find my way into a Google search to learn more, because I will have a better chance of finding that same product for sale from their competitors. So, if they were smart enough to think about this, within that advertisement they educated me enough to feel comfortable about purchasing this product. Or I was directed to a website or landing page based around this product that will eventually take me deeper into the sales funnel as my interest grows.

So let’s take a step back, obviously the initial advertisement had to really stand out for me to take the next step and learn more. Once I finally took the next step, as a consumer I’m now looking to find information about this product in a unique way – very informatively, very quickly and hassle-free – or I’m hitting the back button! This is why they’ve developed a landing page, a page completely dedicated to this product with something to attract every type of consumer. Whether it’s to learn, purchase, share it with a friend, compare it to another product and so on. As a business, you’re really putting a lot on the line with this landing page, considering the average time spent on a page is under 30 seconds. With that being said, here are a few things to consider before building yours, not just for sales conversions, but for pushing your pay-per-click campaign performance on a page that’s only around for a few weeks!

Landing Page Dissection1. A Nice Looking, Relevant Headline
Make your headline stand out. Make sure it’s clear to your visitors what you’re promoting. Remember, not everyone that is coming to your site is coming from your original advertisement.

Keeping the headline related can also affect your PPC Campaign ranking, because your AdWords score allows a site to discover the cost-per-click. This score can be improved by having consistent content between the ad message and landing page text.

2. Elementary School Students Aren’t Proofreaders
Want to lose the trust of your users in a matter of seconds? Try surprising them with some typos! If you’re an online retailer, throwing some typos in the billing process will make a consumer take a step back before they pull out the credit card, every time.

3. Build Some Trust
Before purchasing something online, I always check reviews, not only on the product, but also the individual or company I am getting ready to buy from; positive reviews, customer testimonials, guarantee seals, security certification, VeriSign, Better Business Bureau, etc.

4. Strong Call to Action
Don’t make the visitor guess what to do next. Keep the call to action presence strong and easy to find. After a visitor reads the headline, it’s crucial they know what to do next.

5. Buttons and Calls to Action Should Pop
Identify keywords people are interested in like “free”, “new”, “buy”, “guaranteed”, “trial”, “download now” or “purchase”.

6. Don’t Scare Them Away
Throwing too many links onto the landing page that connects them to other sites won’t benefit you at all. It distracts users and raises your bounce rate. On a homepage of a regular website, that’s fine, you want to pull them deeper into a site; on a micro-site or landing page, you want to keep it brief, easy and to the point!

7. Keep It Above the Fold
Scrolling isn’t a problem, but you’re advertising one thing. The space a visitor sees without having to scroll is where the most important parts of the webpage should be.

8. Never Stop Testing
No one has ever hit a landing page right the first time, those who think they did, never tested it against another design. Whether it’s A/B testing or trying one layout for some time then another for another set of time, always test for better results.

9. Spread the Word
Social media is something everyone trusts, if your friends like it, you feel comfortable liking it. Add social media sharing capabilities so consumers can share with their friends.

10. Mobilize It
You’re sending advertisements during busy times, times consumers probably aren’t in front of a computer. Smart phones are the big thing right now, make sure your site is amazing on a computer but is also easy to use on a mobile device.

Posted in Interactive, Marketing | Leave a comment

Direct Mail Still Works!

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Bobby Deraco, Founder & CEO

Several months ago, two of our clients – one, a major HVAC company and the other, one of the largest providers of natural gas in the US – teamed up to promote natural gas to oil heating customers in the region. Their goal was seemingly simple: get households that use heating oil to convert their system to natural gas heat, which is efficient, cleaner and more economical.

Our assignment was to create a direct mail campaign to introduce this promotion to a select group of prospects. Our client was willing to offer $1000 to help offset the cost of switching to natural gas. The kicker: a conversion could cost up to $9000, we were mailing before the Christmas holiday, and the heating season had been unusually warm so far. Talk about the odds stacking up against us!

Fast forward three months and you’d find two very happy clients. A test mailing of 500 pieces yielded 47 in-person sales appointments and a dozen installation agreements. The second wave of several thousand mail pieces is delivering the same type of results. So how does a direct mail campaign – one costing less than $15,000 – create hundreds of thousands of dollars of immediate revenue and even more long-term recurring revenue?

We targeted the right prospects. Not only did our prospects currently use oil to heat their homes, they also had an unused natural gas connection on their property. This made it profitable for our clients to connect their house to natural gas, and convenient for the prospect to have that done. We even referenced their property’s connection location on the mail piece. Building a high-value mail list was key to the success of this campaign.

The package was eye-catching. If you want your mail to get noticed, then make it noticeable. Sure, the creative was top-notch: compelling, witty, attention-getting. In fact, more than 90% of the prospects remembered receiving our mail piece. But the packaging took it over the top. The mailer, which took the form of a booklet, was printed to look like a diary. We mailed it in a clear plastic envelope (how often do you get those in your mailbox?). There was a personalized savings certificate paper-clipped to the booklet, which creating a bulge in the envelope. And the piece was big…measuring 11” wide x 6” tall. Long story short, you can create a beautiful mailer, but if your prospect doesn’t open it, all is lost. Make it stand out!

Always be selling. I mentioned above that the creative was compelling. It was fun, light-hearted, witty, tongue-in-cheek. A prospect reading it would actually enjoy going through the pages of the booklet, even though the topic of the booklet was educating the prospect on the advantages of natural gas over heating with oil. Not exactly the most exciting stuff, right? Yet, people read it, took notice, and then took action. Why? Because we wrote a strong call-to-action on every page. Each page was created to get the prospect to move to the next page, until they got to the last page and found a personalized $1000 savings certificate. We instructed them clearly on what to do next: call for a consultation. And it worked…nearly 20% of our prospects responded to our mailer.

We followed up. It’s easy for a prospect to get excited about a direct mail offer, then procrastinate and forget about it. That’s why proactive follow-up is critical. Since our database included the prospects’ phone numbers, our client was able to create a script for their sales team to use to follow up with prospects after the mailing reached their mailboxes. This technique—marrying direct mail with telephone follow-ups—is an extremely effective tactic. Not only did this give the prospect an opportunity to ask questions prior to scheduling a sales call, but it also allowed the sales people to address objections from prospects on the phone and then move on to the next step of the sales process—the appointment.

It’s clear that in this case, direct mail worked beautifully. I often hear similar stories from other clients about the effectiveness of direct mail, even when some marketers disregard good old direct mail as an afterthought to email, internet marketing, social media and the Web in general. Sure, it takes time and effort to plan an effective direct mail campaign. Some marketers, especially those that grew up in the Digital Age, see it as ‘old school’ – expensive, unreliable, ineffective, a waste of money. From my view, those misconceptions exist because doing direct mail is easy, but doing it well is difficult. It takes experience and practice to get it right. And unlike email, with direct mail you only get one chance. Make a mistake with a campaign, and you just lost a month of work.

Still, there’s something about the tangible qualities about a beautifully executed mail piece that drives prospects to take action. The same thing can’t be said about marketing that shows up on a computer screen. Direct mail deserves a place in your marketing mix if it’s done right. Direct mail still works if it’s done right; the results speak for themselves.

 

 

 

Posted in Business Growth, Marketing, Print, Solutions | Leave a comment

Building a Customer Service Model That Works!

Posted on January 4, 2012 by Aimée Urban, President & COO

In the face of growing competition, scarce resources, and more demanding customers, smart business leaders are striving to increase profitability by becoming more customer service oriented. But few companies—even those with a deep understanding of their customers—really know how to achieve this.

Attaining true customer service excellence requires a fundamental, company-wide shift in thinking and re-training of your internal team. At the same time, your company must realign itself around the customer—moving away from a business organized around functions or products.

Building a customer service model can offer a proven path to growth and profitability. By examining the strategies and resources needed to create a customer-driven organization, you will give your company a blueprint for building capacity and capabilities to drive innovation, profit, and growth in any environment. Let’s explore what changes your organization needs to incorporate to follow a good customer service model.

The process must be efficient. For a customer to feel satisfied, you must have information immediately available that is complete and correct. The person within your organization that is working directly with the customer can easily refer them to the website, spec sheets, literature, ingredients—or whatever other information is relevant.

The features and benefits of your product or service must be presented convincingly, but honestly. The terms of the purchase are clear and defined and the payment process takes place in the least amount of time possible. If the product or service requires manufacturing or modification, provide accurate estimates about the time required.

The process is fair. The customer service process must be transparent. If an organization can practice full disclosure in an obvious way in their product information or their contracts, they are on the way to creating customer loyalty. If the customer experiences your organization as one where they were never surprised and never felt deceived, the organization will create a competitive edge in a world where many consumers have lost confidence in the customer service process.

The product or service is cost-efficient. The product or service is competitively priced for the value it brings. People want to know what they are getting and how much they are getting it for. The worst mistake a company can make is surprising customers with hidden charges or discrepancies at the time of billing.

Products shouldn’t seem to look like they are of better quality than they really are. Say you take home a CD player for a present to one of your children that looks chrome-plated and is really cool. In a couple of weeks you discover the “chrome” is really cheap plastic and it has peeled away. If they manufacturer had just used sturdy gray plastic that stayed intact you wouldn’t feel ripped off by having a new CD player that looks used and worn out. Don’t create expectations that will be a disappointment.

Make buying an enjoyable experience. I buy Starbucks coffee even when I don’t want coffee. Why? Because visiting the store is always an enjoyable experience. The drink I get is always consistent in taste and I feel it’s a great value based on how much I enjoy it. I guess I could say that Starbucks appeals to my emotions. Romancing the customer is important in order to make the act of buying pleasurable at every level. The pleasure of the buying experience is as important as the product itself. Innovation in creating an amazing buying experience is a key component of successful organizations today.

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Simply put, deliver your product or services in the most humanly satisfying manner as possible and your customers will view your business as a place they want to do business for the long haul. And happy, satisfied customers are more profitable, refer more business and are the cornerstone of your company’s future.

Posted in Business Growth | Leave a comment

Cashing in on Customer Service

Posted on December 1, 2011 by Aimée Urban, President & COO

I’m sure I speak for more than myself when I say that in my lifetime I have experienced some of the best – and some of the worst – customer service that business has to offer. When it comes to the bad, I always walk away thinking how damaging that person is to the company where they work and it astounds me that they keep employees like that on their front line. Excellent customer service sometimes seems to be a dying art. People are busy, stressed about their personal lives or just hate their jobs – which projects a poor attitude to the customer every time.

So what is excellent customer service? I like this definition:

The process by which your organization delivers its services or products
in a way that allows the customer to access them in the most efficient, fair, cost-effective,
and humanly satisfying and pleasurable manner possible.

How would you define good customer service? Try it…it’s not as easy as you’d think.

Customer service has often been done poorly because it’s been defined poorly. Businesses need a customer service model upon which you they can build a strategy, so that everyone within the organization has a clear expectation of how they should treat each and every customer. It will look different to every business.

For our organization, our team knows that we have a ‘Whatever it Takes” attitude. Our clients know that we will put their needs first and always strive to exceed their expectations. Some will say that exceeding the customer’s expectations is a good definition of customer service, but unfortunately it doesn’t define it properly. The problem with that definition is simple; it doesn’t say much of anything, and unfortunately it’s what often is evangelized in customer service seminars and in the self-help book of the moment. “Exceeding expectations” won’t guide the blind through heavy traffic. We need something much more eye opening.

Here is a good point to remember: customer service is a process, not a set of actions like greeting the customer, smiling, asking if you can help, etc. Customer service is a sellable commodity, but most companies are not cashing in on it. That’s right; you can sell customer service. But in today’s rollercoaster economy, many companies are so focused on sales and cost-cutting that they don’t see service as a commodity when it’s right in front of them.

When you build and implement a customer service model, you will start to see your sales grow, your employees engaged and your customers very happy.  And happy customers are more profitable, refer more business and are the cornerstone of your company’s future.  Stay tuned for my next blog to see how to build your own customer service model – and start cashing in on customer service!

Posted in Business Growth | Leave a comment

Meeting Mobile Users Needs

Posted on November 17, 2011 by webtech

For over a decade, we have turned to the Internet for news, entertainment and communication. Now the Internet travels with us, wherever we go. With the recent explosion of smart phones such as the iPhone, Android devices and others, we’re no longer satisfied with a poor browsing experience on the go. At this point, we expect to be able to do everything on our phones just as we would on our computers at home. For some this is their primary method of accessing the web.

There are over 350 million active users who access Facebook through their mobile devices. In fact, Facebook says these users are twice as active than those who only use Facebook on non-mobile devices like a home computer. Do you think either of these statistics would be true if users only could see the full Facebook website on their small-screen mobile phones? Not a chance.

In Facebook’s case, they did two things. They created apps for the popular phones (iPhone and Android) and a mobile version of their website which gives the users of those devices access to selective (the most important) parts of Facebook. This allows them to quickly use the most common features of the site such as browse your timeline, write on someone’s wall, and view a friend’s photos. That’s it. It’s not necessarily a limited version, but it is a unique version because the circumstances demand it. If it’s good for your users it’s good for you.

At Synapse, we’re starting to look to building mobile versions of the sites we develop because we see it as a market of people that previously couldn’t or wouldn’t go to your site. If a mobile version of the site has not been developed, a user only sees the full site which on a 3″ or 4″ screen is usually darn near impossible to work with. Most sites are not as complex as Facebook’s and developing a mobile version does not need to be a difficult process.

To begin, it’s important to look at your current site and understand what the most important content is. Ask yourself: if you could only choose a handful of items that you would want a visitor to be able to see or do, what would they be? You have to put yourself in the position of the user and gain an understanding of what they might be looking for. They probably won’t be interested in reading several paragraphs about your company’s history but they would like two lines that explains what you do. They don’t want to fill out an entire contact form but they will be interested in seeing an address and phone number. They are out and about and want to quickly know how to get a hold of you.

Mobile users have a different mindset and different purpose than your traditional users. You must remember that they have limited time to view your site and when you provide a site that is tailored to their needs, you’ll win every time.

Posted in Mobile | Leave a comment

Building Business with Google Business

Posted on November 15, 2011 by Jared Hippensteel, Sr. Web Designer

Over the last few years, Google has single-handedly changed the way users browse through the internet dramatically. Years ago, search engine results would appear more like a guessing game for the search engine algorithm. Brand names, large corporations and high-traffic websites dominated results for the majority of search terms while the smaller and local businesses were lost in the race and sent to the depths of Davey Jones’ search engine locker.

Sure enough, Google realized that though the large companies are benefiting from this, Google could benefit from having the opposite happen; display the local businesses and probably more relevant search results. Not only is this helpful for Google in the search engine war, but they can also make money from the advertising in paid searches for these small businesses and corporate monsters: hello, Google Adwords.

Another item Google added that has benefited many businesses is what is known as a Google Business Listing – a free way to promote your business in local search results and generally at the top of the first page!

With a Business listing you have the ability to add photos, videos, special offers, generate keywords, business information, hours of operation, a link to your website, gain valuable analytics and most of all – bring more attention to your business via the web on a local basis.

So now that you’ve signed up for a Google Business Listing, how do you improve your rank on that? Well, unfortunately there isn’t much of a science to this. For the time being, rankings in these listings are based on the street address for the listed business, the closer to the center of the city you are, the higher your ranking.

Another way to improve your ranking is to apply a keyword in your business name. So let’s say you’re a real estate agent, but only go by your first name, “Joe Smith,” some might consider it spam. However, placing your business name listing in as “Joe Smith, Real Estate” might not be a terrible idea.

And, as it’s been said before, user-generated content is some of the most valuable content you can have! At the very bottom of a Place Page, Google shows the user-generated content associated with a business. Users can add reviews, geo-tagged photos and other information about your business. Positive reviews are definitely a good thing to boost your Business listing as well.

Statistics show that 97% of consumers search for local businesses online. Though it might be a struggle to rank your website in organic listings for your services or brand, taking advantage of a free business listing and maintaining positive user-generated content could surely help you bring some local revenue to your business.

Posted in Business Growth, Interactive | 1 Comment

Do you make a great first impression?

Posted on November 11, 2011 by Amanda Robinson, Director of Client Services

After a recent encounter with a vendor, I’ve been pondering this. I mean, we always hear that you only get one chance to make a great first impression, and as cliché as it is, I can say that it’s absolutely true.

While making our rounds at a business expo, Kathy Oostdam and I approached a company. We asked them if they would be interested in coming to our office to provide their services to the Synapse Team. It would be in recognition of their hard work and dedication to our ‘Clients First’ attitude.

There we were, enthusiastic about the prospect of working with a local business. We would pay them to perform services for nearly 30 employees. However, the company representative seemed less than enthused. In fact, she seemed disinterested, but she did take the time to mention that they were the leading local company in their industry. Hmmm, you claim to be an industry leader, but don’t seem passionate about what your business has to offer?  That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

She wasn’t rude. She just didn’t make us feel special or important. Odd considering her business had a booth at an expo, an effort to drum up new business. Not a great first impression, but one that I won’t forget.

Later I told Kathy that I couldn’t imagine us actually using that company’s services. If they weren’t excited about what they do, how could we be? The purpose of having them come to the office was to reward the Synapse Team. How rewarding is it when you are dealing with people who just seem to be going through the motions, seeming almost disinterested. Our team works very hard at putting our clients first. We want them to feel like they come first and are important every time we work with them.

Her company is in the service industry. Their job is to make people feel relaxed and pampered. That is what we want for our staff, and this company, although they advertise it, they are not reinforcing it with their attitude.

We would have exposed nearly 30 employees to their business, not to mention the families, friends, significant others, and business contacts that could have used them in the future. But their lackluster approach cost them this opportunity.

One of the great things about Synapse is that our team really cares about Synapse and its’ clients. Everyone is excited to come to work each day. It’s evident in their attitudes and in the way they speak of our business.

This experience really made me cognizant of the fact that you’re almost always making a first impression with someone, so you should watch what you do, what you say and how you say it. You never know who is listening. So when representing your company, remember to smile, be happy and interested. The person you speak to today could be a game changer for your business tomorrow.

Posted in Business Growth, Networking | Leave a comment

Time Management as an Art Form

Posted on November 8, 2011 by Jess Dubbs, Director of Production

Your desk is piled high with paperwork. You don’t even know where to begin…you think, “How am I going to get all of this done?!”. Then the phone rings, you see your inbox has 20 unread messages and yet another person stops at your desk to ask a question. Seriously?

We have all had days like this. Some of us even live in chaos. You need to put it all into perspective. Bring order to your chaos. Time Management is a buzz phrase that’s thrown around all the time, but who has time for that? Have you ever really taken time to look at your day and evaluate all you need to accomplish?

I am a very organized person, even called persnickety (paying careful attention to the details, a perfectionist). Synapse is a fast-paced company requiring perfection. My team and our clients need me to be an organized, efficient perfectionist. So I organize and schedule my day, focus my attention on the task at hand, and get through a lot of work. However, not even Ms. Persnickety can prevent interruptions. So you have to plan for them.

When your day starts, take a deep breath and think to yourself, “I have a lot to do today, but I am ready for it!” Sounds pretty cheesy, but starting your day with a positive thought can change how the whole day progresses and even how you deal with stress.

Next, look at your workload, see what has to get done and prioritize. By dividing your day into a few categories, you will alleviate pressure. I like to complete the quick tasks first, as they take the least amount of time and get your day going in a positive direction. I plan for the difficult items in the middle of the day. They take the most time and require a great deal of focus. This leaves the end of the day for anything leftover, things that have popped up, and maybe even things you couldn’t get done yesterday.

Most of us use email as the primary tool for communicating, but don’t let your inbox rule you! You know that as soon as you open your emails you have to reply. So, only check every 10 or 20 minutes instead of every 2 or 3. If you consider email a task, you can schedule time for it like any other task. I leave open time throughout the day for the unpredictable: computer crashes, last-minute projects, helping my team and so on. You cannot fill up every minute of your day or you will never accomplish anything.

Time Management really is an art form, one that everyone can master. Take a step back and schedule some time to create order. Once you figure out the best pattern, you will become your own organizational king or queen, maybe even my sibling, Ms. or Mr. Methodical.

Posted in Synapse | 2 Comments

The Importance of Using a Development Library

Posted on November 4, 2011 by Jonathan Fleckenstein, Web Developer

At Synapse, we pride ourselves on building every website according to best practices. One of these best practices includes the utilization of development libraries, a pre-written foundation of code that a web developer or designer can build from. A good library has many advantages, including frequent updates and improvements, good documentation and strong structure. It can also be easily updated without affecting site functionality.

A good library is important to an Interactive Team like ours. With several members involved with each site, it improves efficiency. We don’t have to scramble to figure out how a site works or delve into back-end code to see how things are setup. Anyone of us can jump right in and get started.

Frequent updates are important for security concerns as well as keeping up-to-date with the newest ways of accomplishing tasks. Using a well-designed library can make updating seamless. It also helps ensure that applications are secure.

Another advantage of using a library is documentation. Libraries such as jQuery have excellent, up-to-date documentation. Good documentation makes coding much faster as the developer can read how new features are supposed to work in plain English without having to dig into the heart of the code to see how to properly use them.

A huge benefit of using a library is that it’s kept up-to-date by 3rd parties. This allows our developers more time to work on the core features of a project instead of worrying about how to setup database access or the ins and outs of creating interactive elements in the browser.

Another bonus is that often contributors to these libraries are top developers from some of the biggest companies in the tech industry. For example, developers from Twitter, Google and Netflix regularly contribute to the jQuery library. It’s like having developers from those companies working for you (for free). The use of popular libraries by large companies also aids with bug testing. When a site the size of Twitter pushes out a new jQuery library it’s immediately subjected to real world tests by tens of millions of users.

In the end, there always needs to be custom code, every website or business application has different needs. But for functions that are used across projects it’s always best to stick with a well-maintained library for your development as much as you can. Just another thing to consider when selecting a company to build your website. Everyone can say they use best practices, but as the consumer, it’s good to know what exactly that means.

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