In through the outfield

Learn the basics of copyright in less than 7 minutes

This is the enticing title of a recent email video campaign aimed at information professionals.

Given the level of confusion around copyright, and the fact that librarians and information specialists are often in the front line, I was pleased to be able to increase my awareness.

In fact even though the legal aspects cover US law and includes the their concept of Fair Dealing, it covers a very complicated topic in surprising detail in a short space of time. I like the way they include sources of content that are not covered by copyright, such as ideas, facts, data,  and publications created by the US Government.

Needless to say, given the source of the video (the Copyright Clearance Center) the information tends towards compliance and the reasons why.

Sadly, they don’t make any reference to Creative Commons and the choice of licences available there.

Corporate workers share information every day, but what percentage get copyright permission?

Most people don’t knowingly violate copyright law, they are simply unaware of their copyright responsibilities. To help increase awareness, CCC has created a FREE video that provides the basics of copyright in a fun and informative way.

In less than 7 minutes, Jim T. Librarian explains why copyright is important, what is and isn’t covered
under U.S. copyright law, and why attribution isn’t always enough.
Copyright Basics – The Video
Thank you for your interest in CCC’s
Copyright Basics

This Program is made available for your use by the rights licensing experts at Copyright Clearance Center. We welcome you to view the video here and/or download it for non-commercial use in your organization (terms and conditions apply).

How good is your Escalator Pitch?

I often ask my business advice clients if they have an elevator pitch. Quite a few have not heard this expression before which surprises me.

The basic idea is that in the fortunate event you find yourself in a lift with a potential backer for your business (think Richard Branson), could you convey the essentials of your idea or invention before he got out on the 20th floor?

In practice this means between 30 seconds and two minutes to express all the salient (selling) points without any waffle, which for some of my clients is a challenge to say the least.

To see examples of this in an even more demanding environment head over to Techfluff.tv to watch one of their many escalator pitches. Just be aware that practicing this on the London Underground might get you arrested.

Another inspiring place to visit for when you get a little bit longer to get your idea across (in this case 6 minutes), is Demo.com. In particular have a look at some of the Demo Gods in action to see how it should be done by the best of the best.

About DEMO
The feel you get when you enter the ballroom at DEMO is unlike any other conference. Each company is given just six minutes on the DEMO stage to truly demonstrate how their product will change the world. No PowerPoint or flashy corporate presentations allowed. Just the founders and the technologies many are staking their careers on… it doesn’t get any more straightforward and fast paced than that.

Vote for your favourite marketing hero

As if compiling votes on the favourite brand of the last 50 years wasn’t enough, the Marketing Society also wants to see who is your marketing hero.

There is quite a long list to choose from, but I was disappointed they only managed to find two women; Anita Roddick of The Body Shop fame, and Dianne Thompson the CEO of Camelot Group who run the UK National Lottery. I have added a few others to see who you recognise.

Vote for your ‘most loved’ brand

To celebrate their 50th Anniversary the Marketing Society has selected 50 brands from last 50 years, and asked visitors to vote for their favourite.

Although some of my favourites such as Apple and The Body Shop do appear on the list, they have missed some truly iconic names such as Walkers Crisps, Marmite and my personal favourite Alessi.

In true social media style the site allows comments, and I was amused to see “No Marmite No vote” from Michele.

1959 was the year The Marketing Society was founded and the birth of modern marketing. Today, The Marketing Society is the most influential network of senior marketers dedicated to championing marketing in the UK. Fifty Golden Brands is our exploration of the changing role of brands since our foundation.

Selecting a brand for each of the past 50 years was not easy. Our shortlist was assembled using a variety of different criteria. Which brands were launched, relaunched or revamped? Who was winning awards? Who were the top spenders and the top sellers? And which brands encapsulated the zeitgeist of the year?

Pick a brand 1959 – 2008

This is not a definitive list. It’s a work in progress, a platform for discussion and now we need you to get involved. Who have we missed? Where were you? Which brands shone more brightly? Share your memories and insights of the last 50 years. Your involvement will enable us to finalise the definitive 50 Golden Brands in time for our anniversary in 2009.

Follow the risers and fallers on the FairTrade 100

Having spent much of my working life working in the investment world of the City of London, the various share indices were bread and butter to me. My key one was actually the FTSE All Share, but the FTSE 100 was a regular feature in my working day.

So I was pleasantly surprised to see that the good people at World Fair Trade Day have developed their own take on the indices by introducing the FT100 for organisations that are “100% committed to Fair Trade”.

You may recognize some familiar names on the list such as Oxfam, Traidcraft, and one of our recent Inspiring Entrepreneurs speakers – People Tree.

However, the nicest surprise, was to see the only company I have ever directly bought shares in sitting in the list. I bought 1,000 shares in Cafédirect over five years ago, and since then the company has gone from strength to strength.

Cafédirect is the UK’s largest Fairtrade hot drinks company. Our brands, Cafédirect, Teadirect and Cocodirect are sold through most of the major supermarkets. We buy from 39 producer organisations in 13 countries, ensuring that over a quarter of a million growers receive a decent income from trade. We are proud to be working with farmers who have the expertise to provide the exceptional quality we require. This ensures that you enjoy the finest selection of coffees, teas and chocolate drinks. As part of our Gold Standard Fairtrade policy, over the past three years we have invested on average 60% of our profits in the businesses and communities of our grower partners.

Build your own snazzy website with Squarespace

As a non-techie who has dabbled with building websites for many years, I have constantly been in search of the holy grail of easy build web software.

This is also a big issue for many business start-ups who feel under pressure to have a website, but are worried about the cost or time it would take to build a professional looking one.

Having graduated through Hot Dog (from Sausage Sofware), Microsoft FrontPage and various versions of Adobe  Dreamweaver, I have come to conclusion that building even small simple websites is hard work.

However thanks to a mention on net@night with Amber and Leo I have discovered Squarespace. Using some very clever programmers they have produced a web based service which enables you to produce really quite snazzy websites about as easily as one could imagine for a relatively low cost.

According to their blurb their service has the following advantages:

Know Your Visitors
Learn where they’re coming from, and what keywords they’re using to find you. Our powerful analytics tools help you view the traffic and behavior of your visitors in real time.
Templates That Aren’t Templated
Dozens of professionally designed style variants from name-brand designers. All Squarespace styles allow point and click control over every design element.
Beautiful Photo Galleries
Customizable photo galleries let you choose how you want to present your work. Lightbox integration, hover effects, and automatic image resizing are just a few of the perks.
Intuitive Editing
Want to add content? Perhaps edit something you already wrote? Want to trash something all together? No problem. Our rapid on-site content editing tool will assist you every step of the way. All elements of your text can be manipulated here.
Form Building & Data Collection Squarespace Business packages come equipped with an industrial strength visual form builder. Our form builder contains over 14 field types, and can collect data concurrently via email and a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet
Moving In? Moving Out?
Do you have a blog or website you want to switch over to Squarespace? Moving over to another platform? We make it easy! Regardless of your direction, we can help.

They also give you a month to try it out for free to see how you get on.

Top 10 things that can kill your business from PRIME

PRIME (The Prince’s Initiative for Mature Enterprise) has produced a neat little handout covering the Top 10 things that can kill your business.

I was surprised that ‘Not watching the cash position’, had been demoted to number two, as this is usually considered to be the main reason for business failure. Instead they have ‘Failure to sell’ at number one.

1. Failure to sell New businesses should concentrate on winning their critical early customers before anything else. If you are uncomfortable with selling, try another approach. Selling doesn’t have to be the traditional hard sell, but it does need to be done. Even if you are busy now, set time aside for thinking about where your next customers are going to come from.
Feel bad about selling?
Basics of selling explained
Free club course on marketing (audio podcast and workbook)
Understanding customer needs

The electronic version of the document has added value with these links to explore the topic in more detail.

The remaining topics are:
3. Failure to chase for payment
4. Underpricing
5. Failure to do a reality check on your basic business idea
6. Ignoring seasonality
7. Forgetting about the competition
8. Ignoring legalities
9. Getting involved with scams and con artists
10. Getting trapped in long-term arrangements

PRIME helps people over the age of fifty set up in business for themselves. PRIME was founded by HRH The Prince of Wales in response to letters he was receiving from people desperate to work but unable to find anyone to employ them - because of their age.

Desk Space Genie for vacant desk space in London

A common request from visitors to the Business & IP Centre is for us to recommend cheap local office space.

Thanks to Desk Space Genie, a new website that advertises vacant desk space, we can now help people find space right down to an individual desk.

According to Springwise:

The service helps businesses make a bit of money from their unused office space and enables cash-strapped freelancers or other small businesses to become more established.

Desk Space Genie lets space-seeking ‘deskers’ search for a space by postal code or town, contacting the advertisers directly. The site lists vacancies in most major cities around the UK, covering ‘all inclusive’ desk packages with wifi and other utilities, or more basic ‘pay for what you use’ services.