If you haven’t already you should check out Alexis Ohanian‘s (he’s the guy behind Reddit, Hipmunk & Breadpig) new book released by Hyperink. It’s a quick and easy read about how to create a product and company that customers love and includes a bunch of real-life examples culled from his personal experience as well as the broader startup community. Beyond building something people want, it’s important you use available tools with care including user experience design, social media, and swag to further delight potential customers. He takes the time to stress that treating your first 100 fans well can go a long way (but don’t think that means you can stop at 100). The point is to build a passionate group of users (as about 80% of the use of your product will come from only 20% of users). For obvious reasons, we particularly enjoyed his take on the benefits of using swag to make folks swoon:

“Swag: so very useful, but so often trivialized—something I personally find very frustrating. What is swag? Well, it’s asking someone, some random person who is already doing you the favor of being one of your users, to wear your logo, to wear advertising on their torso all day long. If you could put a value on that, it would far exceed the cost of making that t-shirt. So yes, pony up for the good quality t-shirt, because people don’t want to wear uncomfortable clothing. Make your swag attractive and give a damn—make it pleasant for your users to help you.

Whether it’s a sticker, a t-shirt (the standard startup swag), or a luggage tag (see the benefit of starting a travel startup with a cute mascot?), make the process of giving someone swag something special. No one is going to show off a sticker, or anything else, unless they feel an attachment to the brand. Even something as simple as giving someone a chance to ‘earn’ the item makes a difference (e.g, “Show me how much you love hipmunk by doing an impression of the chipmunk ‘flying’ with its arms”).”

Yep, he summed it up- swag rocks and can go a long way in helping to promote your company if used the right way, and that’s why we’re here. We can totally help you delight your customers! Do us a favor and if you’re thinking about working merchandise into your repertoire drop us a line (realperson@printfection.com) or check out our giveaway campaigns, which make giving merch to your fans super simple. Oh and for real, check out his book you won’t regret it.

You’re always trying to increase the number of customers your company works with. And as a marketer you know there are a ton of ways to begin working prospects through your funnel. To save you some time, we wanted to throw a few new ideas at you:

1. How about offering your awesome t-shirts as a reward for completing a desired action?  For example, if a user creates an account in your system, reward them with a giveaway code.
2. Tweaking your website copy and layout consistently can make a positive impact. Even something as small as changing the color or verbiage on the sign-up button could make a difference. And keep in mind, you don’t really know anything, until you test it. Beyond just shooting from yer gut, you should always be A/B testing to see what works best.
3. Google and Bing would tell you this too: make sure your SEO is optimized! Be sure to use relevant content keywords (in blog posts for example) and make sure your programmers are adding the right meta-tags to your pages. Google’s keywords tool is great for seeing what types of words you should be including.
4. How about placing re-marketing banner ads? If someone visits your site, follow them around with ads including an option to redeem your swag. That way you know if they’re paying attention, and increase their likelihood of remembering your company.
5. And finally, think about offering a giveaway code to any customer that invites another customer via email. Word-of-mouth and referrals by people you know are some of the strongest marketing tools out there!

Have any additional ideas you’d like to share? Comment here!

The Company: Safe Shepherd is a venture-backed technology startup based in San Francisco, founded by Robert Leshner and Geoff Hayes in 2011.  The company offers a service to help consumers remove their personal information from companies selling it.  Safe Shepherd also devotes significant time and resources to lobby for anti-stalking and pro-privacy policy.

The Philosophy: Their team of 7 believes in constant collaboration, direct communication, transparency, and a loud and open culture.  The focus of the space is a long communal deskspace, inspired by a trading floor.  Private spaces such as the conference room are semi-public, and doors are left open, in the belief that there should be no secrets within the company.  A central music system, controlled by all members of the company, plays throughout the entire space, and encourages individual expression.

The Space:

The Features:

What We Love:

• The whiteboards: beyond the beautiful spontaneous featured art, they’re a great way to lead a discussion and foster brainstorming
• The brick which adds character and lends a feel of blending the old with the new- building on history to inspire the future
• Open environment inspiring collaboration
• Inward facing desks making for easy and accidental conversation
• Super comfy chairs- there’s nothing like sitting in style

What’s your favorite part of their space?

(If you’d like to submit your company to be featured, feel free to drop us a line at realperson@printfection.com.)

Since we’re highlighting other companies’ work spaces on Wednesdays, it only seems right that we spend some time reflecting on our own. As perhaps you already know, the Printfection team works remotely as we like to buck the status quo. So what type of company culture does that help build?

The Pros:

• Increased communication: When we worked together every day in an office we didn’t communicate as much, or as well, as we do now. Moving virtually really brought out our failures in communication and forced us to work at improving; whereas when we worked together every day, while it felt like we were communicating, we really weren’t.
• Builds trust and respect:  We’re all relying on each other to block out distractions and get the work done, without someone peering over our shoulders.
• Everyone is equally valued: There’s no “special” treatment for CEOs with large flashy rooms, so it’s a culture where everyone’s encouraged to participate and give their input.
• Less group-think: It fosters independence and original thinking because you’re not all in the same space.
• Increased productivity: The flexibility provided by working remotely has allowed everyone to place themselves in the surroundings that inspire them and has cut down on time wasted commuting.

The Cons:

• Distracting working environments: At home it can be hard to concentrate if things are too noisy.
• Can feel stifling: If you don’t get out of the house enough you might go a bit stir crazy.
• Collaboration takes a hit: You don’t get as many impromptu discussions and conversations.
• Hard on the newbs: It can be hard for new employees to really bond with everybody. Sometimes putting a real human face to a name and shaking a hand can go a long way.

As a result, the ideal set up is perhaps a mix between working virtually several days a week as well as working from an office (or shared space) the other days. What’s your take?

Creativity (and the resulting innovation) is a key ingredient in many businesses. And while you probably understand what creativity is, you might not know how to make it happen (other than with a magic wand). Based on Jonah Lehrer’s IMAGINE, here are a couple ideas for fostering creativity within your company:

Develop a flexible attention policy: At 3M instead of insisting upon constant concentration, employees are encouraged to make time for activities that at first glance might seem unproductive. For example taking a walk, napping in the sun, or playing a game of pong. Beyond that, researchers are also encouraged to spend 15 percent of their work day pursuing speculative new ideas (bet you thought Google invented that idea– nope!).

Insist upon sharing across departments: It’s easy to let employees get trapped into their silos, but horizontal interactions (people sharing knowledge across fields) encourages conceptual blending, which is an extremely important part of the insight process. 3M insists on sharing among scientists which eventually led to a Tech Form (an event sort of like a middle-school science fair where each scientist introduces their findings and experiments). Keep in mind that the act of invention is in many cases a compounding and transposing. For example Larry Page and Sergey Brian developed the search algorithm behind Google by applying the ranking method used for academic articles to the sprawl of the World Wide Web.

Encourage persistence: Don’t let employees give up too easily. Even Bethoven the cliche of artistic genius needed to constantly refine his ideas, to struggle with his music until beauty shone through. The ability to stick with it (grit) is one of the most important predictors of success. While the right idea may not arrive on your doorstep on your first try, keep at it.

Locate (or move) your office within a city: Cities are crowded spaces for us to interact. As a result they lead us to explore ideas we wouldn’t explore on our own, and converse with strangers we’d otherwise ignore. Interestingly the per capita creativity of cities rapidly increases with size, but companies exhibit the opposite trend.

Now you’re fully armed to create creativity! Anything else you’d add?

These tech and startup blogs offer awesome advice and consistent insight, and should make the cut for your RSS reader:

1.) Both Sides of the Table: Mark Suster is a 2x entrepreneur who has gone to the Dark Side of Venture Capital and focused on both sides of the table for Los Angeles and Silicon Valley. He joined GRP Partners in 2007 as a General Partner after selling his company to Salesforce.com. He focuses on early-stage technology companies and as such blogs about what it takes to be an entrepreneur, how to negotiate successfully, investing, and marketing.

2.) Techcrunch: A group-edited blog about technology start-ups, particularly the Web 2.0 sector. It offers technology news and analysis, as well as profiles of startup companies, products, and websites. It was founded by Michael Arrington in 2005, and was first published on June 11, 2005.

3.) Signal vs Noise: Weblog by the guys behind 37Signals about usability and good design, with a technology focus. 37signals is a privately held web application company based in Chicago co-founded in 1999 by Jason Fried, Carlos Segura, and Ernest Kim. Its first commercial application was Basecamp; this was followed by Backpack, Campfire, and Highrise. The blog is known for its outspoken voice and strong stances.

4.) Read Write Web: A popular weblog launched in 2003 by Richard MacManus, that provides Web Technology news, reviews and analysis, covering web apps, web technology trends, and social networking.

5.) Wired: A news site covering current and future trends in technology, and how they are shaping business, entertainment, communications, science, and politics. It is known for coining new terms, such as “the Long Tail”and “crowdsourcing.” It is also well known for its annual tradition of handing out Vaporware Awards which recognize “products, videogames and other nerdy tidbits pitched, promised and hyped, but never delivered.”

6.) Fast Company Design: Inspiring stories about innovation and business, seen through the lens of design.

7.) Betashop: Betashop is the blog of Jason Goldberg, founder & Chief Executive Officer at Fab.com. Jason reveals and behind the scenes peak at Fab including customer acquisition, design, metrics, etc and touches on other technology related topics.

8.) Startup Lessons Learned: This blog includes lots of ideas and learnings every startup can benefit from. It’s authored by Eric Ries, creator of the Lean Startup methodology. He previously co-founded and served as Chief Technology Officer of IMVU.

9.) OnStartups: Written by Dharmesh Shah this blog covers software startups in depth, sharing pain and passion points from his own experience.

10.) VentureHacks: Written by Nivi and Naval, founders (AngelList, Epinions), investors (Twitter), students (life), and advisors (billions), this site shares the best startup advice they can find from others and their own experiences.

Bonus: AVC: The musings of a VC in NYC: Fred Wilson is a VC and principal of Union Square Ventures blogs about helping people start and build technology companies.

Have other favorites? Please share them in the comments below!

When you work for a tech company, by the end of the (60+ hour) week you can use a good laugh. So kick back, relax, and enjoy this collection of the best marketing and start-up reaction gifs:

1.) WHEN I WANT TO TWEET ABOUT TWITTER BEING DOWN, BUT CAN’T.

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2.) WHEN SOMEONE ASKS ME TO EDIT OUT THE F WORD.

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3.) WHEN NO ONE CLICKS ON A PIECE I THINK IS REALLY, REALLY GOOD.

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4.) WHEN SOMEONE HAS A YAHOO OR HOTMAIL EMAIL ADDRESS.

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5.) WHEN OUR MEDIA STRATEGY EXCEEDS ALL PROJECTED GOALS.

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6.) WHEN THE CLIENT INSISTS THAT QR CODES ARE THE NEXT BIG THING.

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7.) WHEN APPLE ANNOUNCES A NEW PRODUCT LAUNCH OR IOS UPDATE.

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8.) WHEN I FINALLY GET USER FEEDBACK THAT’S POSITIVE, I’M LIKE:

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9.) WHEN SOMEONE CANCELS A MEETING AT THE LAST MINUTE AND I FIND MYSELF WITH AN UNALLOCATED HOUR, I’M LIKE:

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10.) WHEN SOMEONE UNSUBSCRIBES FROM AN EMAIL DRIP I SPENT DAYS CRAFTING

Have you seen any others you love? Share them with us below!

Recently acquired by Facebook, Instagram is a photo sharing app that now boasts more than 50 million users and is continuing to rapidly grow. A shocking 58 photos are uploaded per second!  Because of this, it’s important that you assess whether your company should have a presence on the app.

While it’s an obvious fit for fashion, beauty, and photography companies it can also be beneficial to those in tech, like start-ups. Basically, customers like to take a peek behind the curtain and see what’s going on within their favorite companies. And visually appealing updates can help you reach new audiences. So Instagram is a great way to share your company’s happenings and connect on another level. (Tip: You don’t necessarily have to set up an account using your company’s name, although that will help spread your brand further because people will be seeing its name within their feed on a regular basis. If you prefer the more personal approach, just encourage an individual like your CEO or a marketer to jump on board.)

(photo credit: @keeganwaslike)

It’s fairly simple to get started:

1. Download the app and create an account.
2. Once you’re logged in click on the icon on the far right to update your profile information including your photo and blurb. Then search for relevant folks and companies to follow using keywords or their names. (If you’re in tech, check out folks like New Relic, Code Academy, Foursquare, Zen Desk, Kevin Rose, Malbonster, and UberSocial.)
3. Then click on the icon on the far left (the home button). This will show you a feed of the pictures from the accounts your following, as well as your own.
4. Click on the camera icon in the middle to snap a picture, apply a filter, type in a caption including #hashtags (keywords that describe your photo so that it’s searchable) and publish.

Beyond the basics:

• Remember to be active within the community. Pay attention to your home feed and interact with key consumers there. Like their photos by clicking on the heart or comment on them.
• In terms of your own feed, it’s about what you are seeing more than what you are doing, so the more visually engaging your updates, the better. Try snapping photos from fresh angles and break out beyond the confines of your office space. Experiment with what grabs your attention.
• Don’t forget to occasionally share your Instagram photos on Twitter and Facebook as well. If you’re creating great content, putting it out on a new platform can potentially bring over more viewers.

I know what you’re thinking. OK that all sounds great, but it feels like there aren’t many exciting things to take pictures around during my 8-5 grind. Don’t fret, it’ll be easier than you think. Here are a couple ideas ripe for snapping:

• Your employees: at events, working, chatting with each other, out on the town
• Signs: funny, vintage or cool signs around your office and town
• Grub: your morning coffee or the plate of donuts someone brought in
• Your city: beautiful sunsets, nature, and street art
• Design: typography you find, cool patterns, interesting shadows
• Swag: your tshirts, mugs, banners with your logo
• Office space: the computers, the ridiculous number of wires, new posters, rooms

So now you’re ready to rock Instagram! Oh and hey, be sure to check us (@printfection) out on there. Feel free to drop us a note in the comments if your company is active too, so that we can follow you.

The right kind of building and work space can do great things for a company’s culture. As Steve Jobs said, “Creativity comes from spontaneous meetings, from random discussions. You run into someone, you ask what they’re doing, you say “Wow,” and soon you’re cooking up all sorts of ideas.” Because your digs can have such a profound impact, we’ll be trying to regularly expose you to new company’s space for inspiration (we’ve coined this effort “Workplace Wednesdays”). If you’d like to submit your company to be featured, feel free to drop us a line at realperson@printfection.com. And now onto the good stuff…..

This week’s featured workspace is 37signals.

The Company:
37signals is a privately held web application company based in Chicago co-founded in 1999 by Jason Fried, Carlos Segura, and Ernest Kim. Its first commercial application was Basecamp; this was followed by Backpack, Campfire, and Highrise. And Ruby on Rails was initially created for internal use at 37signals, before being publicly released in 2004.

The Philosophy:
For their work space they wanted to be sure to follow their general principles: Open in general, quiet when needed, and easy group collaboration without interrupting other people. They also wanted to set up dedicated spaces for private phone calls, recording audio/video/screencasts, and room for expansion.

The Space:

For more pictures head on over to 37signals here.

The Features:

• 12 desks lined up against a North facing wall of windows
• 5 team rooms designs to keep sound inside
• 3 small private rooms (built in phone booths)
• A large room for expansion on the south side
• 37 seat theater to hold workshops and master classes (37, get it?!)
• A large kitchen and lounge area

What We Love:

• Beautiful job of incorporating the overall company philosophy into their space
• The open feel, perfect for accidental collaboration
• The streamlined, organized look as it will save time when things are in the right place and reduce stress
• Mixed array of mediums like wood, glass, cloth and lots of sunlight makes for a creative inspired feel
• Great to see a large comfortable kitchen as it will save employees time and make entertaining guests easier

What’s your favorite part of their space?

If you’re interested in the cause of the recent financial crisis, both in the US and abroad, you should check out Michael Lewis’ Boomerang. In many ways the book also relates to topics beyond finance. While reading, a particular sentence caught my eye as I think it has a lot to offer about the importance of fostering a company culture carefully and with integrity.

It’s become a cultural trait,” he said. “The Greek people never learned to pay their taxes. And they never did because no one is punished. No one has ever been punished. It’s a cavalier offense- like a gentleman not opening a door for a lady…In the apparently not-so-rare cases where the tax cheat gets caught, he can simply bribe the tax collector and be done with it. There are, of course, laws against tax collectors accepting bribes, but if you get caught it can take 7 or 8 years to get prosecuted. So in practice no one bothers.”

Basically over the years by not meticulously enforcing their tax rules and allowing a culture of evaders to thrive, Greece has found themselves with $1.2 trillion in debts. This lesson holds some truth for every entrepreneur and manager. It’s not just important to create and record rules, they actually have to be adhered to, to make a difference. If not, your company could appear to be OK from the outside, but end up spiraling downward within, as each thing you let slip by continues to compound your culture. Here are a couple areas within your company you should examine:

• Values: Everything must stem from your company values. Once you know what you stand for, it’ll be easier to try help foster those qualities in your employees and office environment.
• Talent: Are you hiring only A players? The minute you hire a B player, and they put forth B work and you let it pass– you’ve set a new lower standard. In addition seeing someone scoot by like this becomes very demotivating to your A players.
• Work Hours: Make sure you’re rewarding folks who put in the correct number of hours and/or show up on time. If someone shows up late, it’s easy to just let it slide by- but make it a point to spend 5 minutes chatting with them, about what the cause might have been and explaining why it can’t continue going forward.
• Tone: Is it OK for one of your employees to bash a customer within your office? Even if they’re just venting, you might want to think about nipping it in the bud- as others might become more inclined to express their feelings whenever they’re disgruntled creating a more negative environment.
• Spending: If you’re wining and dining customers and/or your staff you should make clear the appropriate budgets and stick to them yourself, so that everyone’s on the same page.
• Communication: What’s the best way to communicate within your office? Do you prefer an environment with open casual dialogue and random encounters? If so, you should limit your use of Skype and instant messenger programs, and stick to stopping by employees’ desks. Each time you ping someone virtually, you’ll be reinforcing the wrong message.

This is not to say that you should spend all your time policing people. Rather you should be aware of the example everyone’s actions and responses set every day– including your own. Since your company policies exist to protect the company and employees, there’s no harm carrying them through as best you can to develop a culture that will help you thrive!

And as it turns out, I’m not the only one stomping my feet about the importance of company culture, catch the founder of TaskRabbit’s take on it here.