Thursday, September 24, 2015

Kodak Presents Digital Hub with 2015 SONORA Plate Green Leaf Award at GRAPH EXPO 15

Award recognizes customers exhibiting extraordinary commitment to environmental practices

ROCHESTER, N.Y., Tuesday, September 15, 2015 --

Digital Hub, a digital graphics and printing company, is the 2015 SONORA Plate Green Leaf Award honoree for the United States and Canada. Sponsored by Kodak, this award recognizes customers at the forefront of the commercial printing industry’s efforts to achieve significant reductions in their environmental footprint. Digital Hub is being recognized as a user of KODAK SONORA Process Free Plates whose environmental practices extend beyond their plate applications and include production of printed projects using 100 percent wind power, responsibly harvested paper, vegetable based printing inks and ultra-low V.O.C. pressroom chemistry.

Beyond their use of SONORA Plates, Digital Hub has exemplified what it means to be a servant of the environment. All printed materials are produced “in-house,” which enables them to have complete control over the paper, inks and chemistry used to produce printed materials. Digital Hub has partnered with numerous green organizations to jointly promote sustainable environments, including American Forests to plant trees on behalf of clients and Renewable Choice Energy to offset 100 percent of energy used with renewable energy credits from American wind farms. Similarly, they work with Clean Air Counts, a northeastern Illinois regional initiative to reduce ozone-causing emissions, along with Carbonfund to offset more than 300 percent of their carbon dioxide emissions by investing in renewable energy, energy efficiency and reforestation projects. To date, Digital Hub has planted and saved approximately 3,800 trees and avoided releasing nearly 300,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere.

Significant growth in the demand for process free plates has coincided with the commercial print industry’s devotion to developing and integrating sustainable solutions. The award is named for KODAK SONORA Process Free Plates, renowned for yielding dramatic environmental and economic benefits for customers without sacrificing quality and output. SONORA Plates remove the need for the plate processor, which requires chemicals, water and energy while generating waste. Kodak is seeing rapid growth in SONORA Plate adoption, with plate volume increasing by 66 percent last quarter from that time last year, with an expected growth rate of more than 50 percent by the end of 2015. In August, Kodak opened a manufacturing line in Columbus, Ga. to drive a transformation that can help more printers take advantage of SONORA Plates’ capabilities. Kodak’s SONORA Process Free Plates will be on display at GRAPH EXPO 2015 at Kodak’s booth #823.

Executive Quote
"The enthusiasm of our customers to promote sustainable printing has been impressive and exciting," said Brad Kruchten, President, Print Systems Division, Eastman Kodak Company. "The quantity and quality of the submissions we received for this award are reflective of an industry committed to sustainable operation, with SONORA Process Free Plates at the foundation of this movement. As printers look to maintain green operations, process free plates represent the ideal present and future of offset plate technology."

About the SONORA Plate Green Leaf Award
The SONORA Plate Green Leaf Award, launched in 2014, is a program recognizing excellence among Kodak customers that are leaders in environmental initiatives. Award entrants are judged on a range of criteria, including management practices to improve energy and water efficiency, participation in local community sustainability initiatives and the use of eco-conscious materials and supplies. All submissions are reviewed with scores determined by a panel of Kodak judges.

For updates on Kodak’s activity during GRAPH EXPO 15, follow the @KodakPrint and #KodakGraphExpo on Twitter. For media inquiries and/or more information regarding Kodak’s presence at GRAPH EXPO 15, please contact nicholas.rangel@kodak.com orpaul_doyle@lpp.com.

About Kodak
Kodak is a technology company focused on imaging. We provide – directly and through partnerships with other innovative companies – hardware, software, consumables and services to customers in graphic arts, commercial print, publishing, packaging, electronic displays, entertainment and commercial films, and consumer products markets. With our world-class R&D capabilities, innovative solutions portfolio and highly trusted brand, Kodak is helping customers around the globe to sustainably grow their own businesses and enjoy their lives. For additional information on Kodak, visit us at kodak.com, follow us on Twitter @Kodak, or like us on Facebook at KodakNow.

(KODAK and SONORA are trademarks of Eastman Kodak Company.)

2015

Friday, August 8, 2014

14 Habits Of Exceptionally Likable People

RICHARD FELONI

MAY 22, 2014, 9:00 AM

The Great Gatsby Trailer

Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby in "The Great Gatsby."

Personal branding through social media may help you build your professional network, but there will never be a replacement for a charismatic personality.

Napoleon Hill, author of "Think and Grow Rich" — one of the top-selling books of all time — wrote about the habits of the most likable people in his essay "Develop A Pleasing Personality," published in the forthcoming collection "The Science of Success."

He introduced his steps to having a "million-dollar personality" by explaining it was steel magnate Charles M. Schwab's charming demeanor that in the late 19th century elevated him from day laborer to an executive with a $75,000 salary and a frequent million-dollar bonus (astronomical numbers for the time).

Schwab's boss, the legendary industrialist Andrew Carnegie said "the yearly salary was for the work Schwab performed, but the bonus was for what Schwab, with his pleasing personality, could get others to do," Hill writes.

Here are Hill's 14 habits of people who are so likable that others go out of their way to help them:

1. They develop a positive mental attitude and let it be seen and felt by others.

It's often easier to give into cynicism, but those who choose to be positive set themselves up for success and have better reputations.

2. They always speak in a carefully disciplined, friendly tone.

The best communicators speak deliberately and confidently, which gives their voice a pleasing sound.

3. They pay close attention to someone speaking to them.

Using a conversation as an opportunity to lecture someone "may feed the ego, but it never attracts people or makes friends," Hill says.

4. They are able to maintain their composure in all circumstances.

An overreaction to something either positive or negative can give people a poor impression. In the latter case, says Hill, "Remember that silence may be much more effective than your angry words."

5. They are patient.

"Remember that proper timing of your words and acts may give you a big advantage over impatient people," Hill writes.

6. They keep an open mind.

Those who close themselves off from certain ideas and associate only with like-minded people are missing out on not only personal growth but also opportunities for advancing their careers.

7. They smile when speaking with others.

Hill says that president Franklin D. Roosevelt's greatest asset was his "million-dollar smile," which allowed people to lower their guards during conversation.

8. They know that not all their thoughts need to be expressed.

The most likable people know that it's not worth offending people by expressing all their thoughts, even if they happen to be true.

9. They don't procrastinate.

Procrastination communicates to people that you're afraid of taking action, Hill says, and are therefore ineffective.

10. They engage in at least one good deed a day.

The best networkers help other people out without expecting anything in return.

11. They find a lesson in failure rather than brood over it.

People admire those who grow from failure rather than wallow in it. "Express your gratitude for having gained a measure of wisdom, which would not have come without defeat," Hill says.

12. They act as if the person they are speaking to is the most important person in the world.

The most likable people use conversations as an opportunity to learn about another person and give them time to talk.

13. They praise others in a genuine way without being excessive.

"Praise the good traits of others, but don't rub it on where it is not deserved or spread it too thickly," Hill says.

14. They have someone they trust point out their flaws.

Successful people don't pretend to be likable; they are likable because they care about their conduct and reputation. Having a confidant who can be completely honest with them allows them to continue growing.

Selling: It’s More Than Showing Up!

By Barb Pellow

Published: October 3, 2013

Woody Allen said, “80 per cent of success is just showing up.” With tools like the Internet, search engines such as Google, and social media networks like LinkedIn and Facebook, prospects expect sales people to show up PREPARED! In Jeffrey Gitomer’s “Little Red Book of Sales Answers” he says, “Everything you need to know about a customer has been written by them or about them. And it lives on the Internet. All you have to do is uncover it and use it.”

While it sounds easy, there are practical steps that every sales rep should be taking to do what I categorize as “pre-engaging” the customer. It means that you have to personally take the time to understand a prospect’s business before you try to meet with them. The insight you gather will help you understand how to connect with them efficiently and effectively. Assuming that you have identified a prospect, there are five fundamental steps every sales person needs to take by using the resources available in the “Internet Information Age”.

1. It starts with business acumen. Business acumen means that you have taken the time to understand the customer’s business, their challenges, and how their company makes money. It includes a thorough understanding of what drives a prospect’s profitability and an overall big picture understanding of their business, market, and key interrelationships. You need to take the time to “research” the industry. If you are calling on an educational institute start with Google and search for “Education industry trends 2013”. It will point you to critical trends as well as familiarize you with vocabulary, case studies, and subject matter experts. Sales people can also leverage active LinkedIn discussion groups to understand the issues confronting the market segment. As an example, there are active groups in the education market ranging from Higher Education Management to Technology in Education (Figure1).

Figure 1: Example of LinkedIn Search for Groups Focused on Education

2. Visit the prospective customer’s website. Review the “About” section of a prospective customer’s website to learn what the company or institution says about itself. Take the time to review the site for management biographies (this insures you are calling on the right decision maker), press releases, products and services, and sales distribution models. A thorough review of a prospect’s website should provide you with information about what they sell, who they sell to, how they sell, their value proposition, target markets, and how they communicate to their prospects.

3. Understand the company’s financials. Before making a sales call on a firm, you want to understand the prospect’s financial health. There are a number of resources available including Dun and Bradstreet Reports, Hoovers (www.hoovers.com), government financial filings (www.sec.gov), and Yahoo Finance (finance.yahoo.com). Understanding their financial health may point you to areas where you can help them. Your research will uncover if:

Sales are up, flat, or down
Sales are good, but not increasing
There are sales lost to lower priced competitors
Profit margins are down while revenues are up

4. Research the target executive. There has never been a better tool to understand your prospect base than LinkedIn. With more than 200 million members, there will be someone in your prospect account on LinkedIn. Reviewing a prospect’s LinkedIn profile will identify work history and experience, potential events that the executive participates in, business affiliations, and personal interests. You also have the ability to explore the prospect’s connections and see if there is a mutual colleague that could make an introduction. You should also “Google” the name of the person you are meeting with. Scan search results for articles that highlight areas of expertise, key programs, charities, and causes.

5. Prepare, prioritize, and plan. Armed with a thorough understanding of a prospective customer’s business, you should be able to align your solutions and services with the prospect’s pain points. Prepared sellers have a better chance of getting the information and commitments they need to create, qualify, and advance opportunities. Lay out clear objectives for the initial contact so that you can move the sales process forward.

The Bottom Line

That first sales call is a make-or-break moment that only happens once, so you need to give it your best. Showing up isn’t enough. If you take the “showing up” approach without preparation in most business development situations, you'll lose more than your share of sales that you should have won. Sales success today requires diving more deeply into company history and industry trends, so you can carry on a conversation that builds trust — and ultimately, new business.

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Climate Bonds Market Comes Of Age As Investors Buy In To Green Finance

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This may be the year that climate bonds come of age. It’s an asset class that has grown up fast. In just a few years, the market for debt instruments that finance projects that help to tackle climate change, also known as green bonds, has increased hugely.

According to a new report, Bonds and Climate Change, The State of the Market in 2014, the amount of “labelled” green bonds has jumped from less than $4 billion in 2012 to $11 billion in 2013. By June 10 this year, $18.35 billion had already been issued and the market is on track to reach $50 billion by the end of the year and $100 billion next year.

“The Green Bonds era has begun,” states the report, issued by the Climate Bonds Initiative, a London-based organisation dedicated to bringing the market into the mainstream because “mobilizing bond markets as a low-cost financing tool will be essential for the realization of a low carbon and climate resilient economy”.

Labelled green bonds, those bonds where the money raised is allocated specifically to low-carbon projects – and verified to have done so – are the most high-profile part of the market but according to Sean Kidney, chief executive of the Climate Bonds Initiative, they are just “the visible part of the iceberg”.

Labelled bonds only make up about 10% of the total market, he says. As for the other 90%, there is a whole tranche of issuance that is climate-friendly but not labelled as such. The report says there are more than $500 billion of climate-themed bonds outstanding. “Many of these are railway bonds, which investors might not think of as climate bonds – but with transport emissions making up 23% of global emissions, anything that encourages modal shifts is a really big part of the solution,” says Kidney.

Highlighting this hidden part of the market is important because many investors are looking to invest in climate solutions but don’t know where to look, Kidney says. Showing investors that there is liquidity and scale in the market is important in attracting more people to invest and it also makes it easier for institutions to exit their investments. “The broader climate-themed universe is an indicator of where future bonds might be labelled,” he adds.

The Initiative screens bonds across seven key themes – Transport,Energy, Climate Finance, Buildings & Industry, Agriculture & Forestry, Waste & Pollution Control and Water. The climate bond market’s origins lie in the multilateral development banks such as the World Bank, the European Investment Bank and the InternationalMonetary Fund. Indeed, one of the most recent issues comes from KfW, the German development bank, which has just issued a €1.5 billion AAA 5-year green bond to help finance renewable energy projects. Like most climate bonds, it was oversubscribed.

Most of the climate bonds that have been issued so far have come from the multilateral banks because this is a new market and investors needed the deep pockets and AAA ratings of these institutions to give them the confidence to invest. Another key factor in the growth of climate bonds’ popularity has been that investors are not asked to pay a premium for them. “If you can invest in two bonds that offer the same return over the same period, but one of them allows you to tackle climate change at the same time, then why would you not do that?” says Kidney. “The issuer benefits are coming from diversification, not pricing.”

As the market grows, it is starting to attract a wider range of issuers, Bridget Boulle, co-author of the report, says. “In the coming year we will see growth in labelled Green Bonds from municipalities, cities and corporate issuers. We expect increasing demand from investors signed up to the Principles for Responsible Investment and the GlobalInvestor Coalition on Climate Change.”

Notable corporate issuers include DC Water, which recently issued a 100-year bond, Italian utility Hera, carmaker Toyota, Unilever , French utility GDF Suez and solar panel installer SolarCity.

One area that will become more important is standards for the asset class, Kidney adds. Because the money raised is meant to be earmarked for environmental projects, it is important that investors have confidence that this is the case. Almost two thirds of bonds issued since the start of 2013 have been independently reviewed and it is important to get that figure up, Kidney says. “You need to get a second opinion to verify the environmental criteria. In the absence of clear and widely accepted guidelines around what is green there is a risk of “greenwashing”, where bond proceeds are allocated to assets that have little or doubtful environmental value. This would shake confidence in the nascent market.”

Nonetheless, the market is well-positioned, he says. “Investors are concerned about climate change. This report shows how they can invest in climate bonds without risk. The investment opportunities we find are safe and secure investment grade bonds. This is a Dull Green Market – just how pension funds and insurance funds like it.”

Mike Scott

Founder at Carbon Copy Communications

Why We Stopped Focusing on Direct Social Media ROI: A New Way of Viewing Conversions

Posted on Monday, June 30th, 2014

Written by Kevan Lee

Do you measure the return on your social media investment?

It seems blasphemous not to, yet that’s exactly the direction we’re experimenting with at Buffer.

We’ve recently shifted our focus toward email list building along with continued traffic growth. These metrics are common enough; it’s what we’ve stopped measuring in lieu of email that is most unique and notable.

We no longer focus on social media ROI. It’s strange but true. We’re a social media blog that does not emphasize social media ROI in our stats and strategy. What gives? Let’s take a closer look.

What is social media ROI? A complicated definition

Defining social media ROI can be a bit of a thorny problem.

Tools and services have come along to help shed light on the numbers behind one’s social impact. Yet, choosing which numbers are best—engagement, clicks, conversions, etc.—is still highly debatable and quite unique to the individual.

There’s also the higher-level view of entering social media ROI from the right perspective. Gary Vaynerchuk has some interesting ideas on this.He challenges the traditional, linear view of ROI as a universal benchmark by pointing out that ROI is incredibly dependent on the user.

His full slide deck includes a handful of examples of the ways that ROI for most anything will vary based on the “mechanic.” For instance,

What is the ROI of the keyboard in my closet? Rather zilch for me. Millions of dollars for someone like Herbie Hancock.

What is the ROI of baking cupcakes? A few smiles for me. A few dollars for a bakery.

There are so many factors that go into ROI, as Vaynerchuck argues, that so often the answer for “What’s the ROI of X, Y, and Z” resorts to “it depends.”

As you can imagine, it’s hard to measure “it depends.”

How we think of social media ROI at Buffer

Before we get into this post too deep, let me define what I mean when I’m talking about social media ROI.

1. We have stopped focusing on conversions as a key metric for the blog. (More on this below.)

2. Our blog content is a key component to our social media strategy. Ninety percent of our social media updates are based on content we’ve written on the blog.

3. Therefore, the ROI for our social media updates can be defined as conversions from the blog. These conversions are the Return on the Investment of sharing content. Since conversions are no longer our number one focus, social media ROI takes a back seat.

Through this rethinking of ROI and metrics, we’ve taken a bit of a new view of social media from a slightly different perspective. Social media, first and foremost, is branding—and it is increasingly difficult to measure branding as a direct, one-to-one conversion. In many ways, you can no longer expect direct ROI from content marketing or branding. Tom Tunguz created an interesting graphic that shows how conversions and effectiveness change the further you get away from direct marketing and into content and branding.

The simplest, shortest conversions happen with direct response. As you get deeper into content and branding, the conversion formulas change. They get more complicated.

We’re a team of 25—and a content team of two—so we find the scale of time, effectiveness, and conversion (as illustrated in the chart) to be a bit out of sync with our resources. Larger companies and agencies might be able to track this volume, but for us—and maybe for you—we’ve chosen to go a different route.

What makes measuring ROI for content so hard? Here’s our theory.

Where conversions and content diverge

It would seem that the most straightforward way to focus on social media ROI is to seek conversions. That is the mindset I took when I first started at Buffer and the one that I imagine most content creators and marketers ascribe to. Conversions are in our DNA, you might say.

Turns out, I wasn’t seeing the complete picture.

While conversions are tantamount to growth and revenue, the blog might not be the best place to measure them. There are other points along the journey from curious to customer that are better measured in terms of direct ROI. If you imagine this journey as a funnel, the blog is near the top, trying to collect as many eyeballs and as much interest as possible. Conversions tend to happen much later on in the process, further down the funnel, like in this example from Moz.

This was certainly my experience when I converted at Buffer. Here’s how it went:

I found the Buffer blog via Facebook when someone shared Leo’s article about The Origin of the 8-Hour Work Day. It was a neat story, so I bookmarked the blog, thinking I’d come back later.
I noticed Leo’s name at a couple other places online where he had guest blogged. Noticing this didn’t send me scurrying back to the Buffer blog; it just reinforced that Leo was an okay guy.
Feedly mentioned that it had an integration with Buffer. Cool. I didn’t have a need for social media scheduling at the time, so I browsed Buffer’s other add-ons, grabbed a few ideas, and left.
A couple weeks later, I was cleaning out my bookmarks and I found the Buffer blog bookmark. I stopped by for a visit and found a handful of more stories that sounded interesting to read. I loved them all.
Around this time, I started a new side project and wanted to promote it a bit on social media. I thought automation would be an ideal way to go. I went to IFTTT to see what was available, and I saw they had a Buffer integration. A lightbulb went off.
I googled “Buffer app.”
I clicked on the result for the Buffer landing page, I liked its clean design and simple CTA, and I signed up on the spot.

In summary, my path to conversion went Facebook > Blog > Guest Posts > Feedly > Bookmarks > Blog > IFTTT > Google > Buffer landing page > Conversion!

Was the blog to credit for my joining Buffer? You bet. Do you think my conversion was reflected in the blog stats? Eh, probably not.

Rand Fishkin of Moz explained this conversion conundrum in detail with his slide deck “Why Content Marketing Fails.” He lists five reasons why content marketing might fail, beginning right off the bat with the problem of thinking that content has an instantaneous impact on conversion.

In reality, the process, according to Rand, is more like this:

Kind of complicates measurement of ROI, wouldn’t you say? That’s the conclusion we came to on the Buffer blog. While it’s not impossible to track ROI and conversions through this multistep flow (some incredibly smart people and cool tools have figured it out), we found that our social media efforts to drive visitors to our content can be measured in other ways (see below). ROI is a tough nut to crack.

When it’s good to measure social media ROI

Last week, Unbounce published an article titled “Why Every Marketer Should Care About Conversion,” and seeing that headline made me stop in my tracks. I’m a marketer. Why don’t I care about conversion?

The answer is that I do care about conversions and ROI. It’s just that my conversions look a bit different than what most folks expect. In the Unbounce article, Three Deep Marketing’s Angie Schottmuller had this great quote:

“Marketing is a utility to facilitate action. Conversion is simply the completion of a presented action. Whether it’s buy now, call today, share socially or watch the video, all marketing content needs a purposeful call to action. If you’re not helping the user get to the next step in their decision-making process, what’s the point?

No marketing channels are exempt from being useful or actionable. Online or offline, from emails to print ads, a relevant, value-added call to action should always be included and optimized.”

By this definition, we are measuring conversions at the Buffer blog. We’re measuring how visitors convert to email subscribers.

I think it’s also good to point out that there are other ways of looking at social media ROI beyond an impact to the blog. Your social strategy might not be as content-heavy as ours. You may be promoting products or events, and these would fit a more traditional measure ROI and conversions. It might be best to track ROI when you’re sharing some of the following:

Landing pages
Event registration
New product announcements
Direct CTAs (like Twitter cards, for instance)

Ideas on what you might measure instead

At the Buffer blog, we’ve chosen to measure email signups as our key metric. Email signups give us an awesome opportunity to communicate directly with those who ask to hear from us. It’s quite the privilege! (While we’re at it, you can sign up here!) We feel that creating content that is of the utmost quality that folks are eager to see it arrive in their inbox is an awesome goal to shoot for.

With email signups as our number one goal, we’ve also taken a new look at a handful of other stats that might be worth tracking, too. There’s probably no escaping the measurement of blog traffic; in our case, as we grow traffic to the blog, we will also grow opportunities to collect more emails. Social shares remain important as well; we often cite the social proof of a well-performing article when we send out stories for blog syndication.

Here are a few other ideas that we’ve mulled over:

Time on site
Engagement with content
New visitors vs. returning visitors
Bounce rate
Pages per visit

Over to you: What do you measure?

Social media measurement is one of those topics that makes for endless points of view and fascinating discussions.

We’ve found that the traditional view of conversions doesn’t quite fit with our blog’s place in the conversion journey. Right now, we feel good focusing on retention through email signups and continued growth of traffic and shares. You may have a totally different strategy!

I’d love to hear your thoughts and strategy in the comments. What do you measure when it comes to social media and content marketing metrics, and how? How important is social media ROI?

P.S. If you liked this post, you might enjoy our Buffer Blog newsletter. Receive each new post delivered right to your inbox, plus our can’t-miss weekly email of the Internet’s best reads. Sign up here.

Image credits: pasukaru76, Smart Insights, Moz, SlideShare

About the Author

Kevan Lee

Content crafter at Buffer. You can find me online, tweeting about my writing process, or at home, second-guessing football coaches. Live simply, give generously, beat cancer.

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