Rob Felber’s article in the Crain’s Cleveland Business Akron Edition

Photos are a critical element in content marketing for manufacturers. Whether your story is strictly online, being used for a media article or your own collateral, a picture does tell a thousand words.

But what if the words are wrong? The following are key factors to consider when staging, using or choosing just the right photo.

The first and often most important factor in photo use is resolution. Most print publications require at least a minimum of 300 dpi. Not sure how to get the highest resolution on your digital camera? Simply set your camera to capture the highest resolution, or put it on a “raw” setting. This will ensure you have the depth, pixels and, ultimately, the resolution publications require. Just because it looks good on a website or on Facebook does not mean the photo file is large enough to be used in print or even with your trade show booth display

When taking a photo, it is important to feature what you want to show, but also what you do not want to show. Often, we might see great photos of workers getting the job done. What is often overlooked is safety.

Are the workers on a roof tied off properly and wearing Occupational Safety and Health Administration and industry-standard safety equipment? Your photo runs the risk of being rejected if your facility and workers are not up to industry standards. Even worse, if the photo gets published and others notice your workers, with logo-emblazoned helmets, prominently displaying an obvious safety violation, you could greatly tarnish your brand and reputation.

During the photo-selection process, ask yourself, “Are we giving too much away?” Look carefully at not only the subject of your photo, but the background. Here are some key points to consider:

• Is there proprietary equipment in the background?
• Are secret processes able to be seen in photo?
• Is the environment messy?
• Are there people in the scene who are distracting?
• Are customers featured, and do you have their permission? Be cautious about tipping off your competition.
  

  Buckeye Fasteners photo showcases American-made values and unique boot hanging ceremony for retiring employee-owners.

When pre-planning your photo shoot (please tell us you just didn’t charge your iPhone and wing it), make sure to review your company’s branding and messaging guidelines. Try to capture photos that support your brand.

Are you proud to be union and American-made? Look for opportunities to take photos that support that image. Do you profess to have associates who roll up their sleeves and get the job done? Choose a scene and personnel that show just that.

With these tips in mind, you’re ready to capture and use the perfect photo.

Read the full article here.

Today’s blog is written by Rebecca Morgan, President and CEO of Fulcrum ConsultingWorks LLC.

As the authoritarian “command and control” organizational structure has fallen out of favor, some believe that consensus is the replacement leadership model.

It is not.

In fact, finding consensus is best limited to innocuous situations. Working to build consensus can be helpful after a significant decision is made, but not before.

Do we really want to vote on strategy? On which bank to use? On pricing? On which markets to penetrate next?

Asking for input is one thing; waiting for consensus to build is just wasting time.

Come to think of it, what sense does it make to elect leaders? Can you think of an exemplar profitable business that schedules campaigns and debates, followed by an election for CEO?

Totalitarian governments have leaders. Unfortunately, their followers are often without free will. Legitimate leaders have followers that do so voluntarily. They may not always agree, but they are not being held against their will.

With common vision, mission and core values, supported by mutual respect regardless of position, leaders and followers can accomplish amazing things together. Leaders that listen, and that respect decisions made by followers. Followers that listen, and respect decisions made by leaders.

Sharing logic is valuable to learning. But voting? Getting everyone to agree before taking action?

Leadership is not a popularity contest. It is based on the confidence and support of followers. Spend your time building that, not consensus.

About The Author

Rebecca A. Morgan, President of Fulcrum ConsultingWorks Inc., is a manufacturing strategy consultant skilled at clarifying complex ideas, finding creative solutions to problems, and developing and leveraging operational strengths. She works with manufacturers to better position their operations to deliver their espoused competitive advantage repeatedly, reliably, and profitably.

Her ability to work as effectively with off-shift workers as with owners and C-level executives and her 30+ years professional experience combine to support both strategic vision and daily execution.

Sometimes the Picture Has 1,000 Words You Do Not Want

Photos are a critical element in content marketing. Whether your story is strictly online, being used for a media article or your own collateral, a picture does tell a thousand words. But, what if the words are wrong?

The following are key factors to consider when staging, using or choosing just the right photo.

• The first and often most important factor in photo use is resolution. Most print publications require at least a minimum 300 dpi. Not sure how to get the highest resolution on your digital camera? Simply set your digital camera to capture the highest resolution, or put it on a “raw” setting. This will ensure you have the depth, pixels and ultimately the resolution publications require. Just because it looks good on a website or on Facebook, does not mean it is large enough to be used in print or even with your very large trade show booth display

• When taking a photo, it is important to not only feature what you want to show, but also what you do not want to show. Often we might see great photos of workers getting the job done. What is often overlooked is safety. Are the workers on a roof tied off properly and wearing OSHA and industry standard safety equipment? Your photo runs the risk of being rejected if your facility and workers are not up to industry standards. Even worse, if the photo gets published and others notice your workers, with logo-emblazoned helmets, prominently displaying an obvious safety violation, you could greatly tarnish your brand and reputation.

• During the photo selection process, ask yourself “Are we giving too much away?” Look carefully at not only the subject of your photo, but the background. Here are some key points to consider:

1. Is there proprietary equipment in the background?
2. Are secret processes able to be seen in photo?
3. Is the environment messy?
4. Are there people in the scene that are distracting?
5. Are customers featured and do you have their permission? Be cautious about tipping off your competition.

• When pre-planning your photo shoot (please tell us you just didn’t charge your iPhone and wing it), make sure to review your company’s branding and messaging guidelines. Endeavor to capture photos that support your brand. Are you proud to be union and American made? Look for opportunities to take photos that support that image. Do you profess to have associates that roll up their sleeves and get the job done? Choose a scene and personnel that shows just that.

With these tips in mind, you’re ready to capture and utilize the perfect photo. Now, the big decision is can you take the photos yourself or should you invest in a professional? This topic will be addressed in a future post.

Manufacturing Day falls on October 7th, 2016. While it may seem light-years away, it’ll be here before you know it. Manufacturing Day provides manufacturers with the ability to connect with colleagues around the country,  create buzz for their company, and provide an inside view into some of the region’s best careers. In 2015, Ohio was ranked the top state for Manufacturing Day events in 2015 (see chart). Now is the time to plan or your competition will outshine you during this great opportunity to showcase your products and services!

Founded in 2012, Manufacturing Day is an annual national event that “has been designed to expand knowledge about, and improve public perceptions of manufacturing careers and manufacturing’s value to the U.S. economy.” Participants of Manufacturing Day use the hashtag #MfgDay to join the movement and support US manufacturing as a whole, with people and businesses around the country. Popular Manufacturing Day events include plant tours, job fairs, manufacturing community events, expos and celebrations.Don’t forget to register your event on the website.

Plant tours

Are you looking to showcase your plant to prospective clients,  students, and the community? Now is the time to start send out invites. Schools will be out of session in four months. School administrators and teachers are now beginning to plan their first few months of the 2016-2017 school year. It is important to start the discussion now so they can coordinate with you and get students at your tour.

Job fairs

Job fairs create a great platform to recruit the next generation of manufacturers. Often job fairs can happen at a manufacturing business. However, if you are looking to get a larger pool of candidates, partnering with other manufacturing employers, or perhaps, a staffing firm is an excellent option.

Manufacturing Day Celebrations

Manufacturing Day events are extremely popular and are held the week of Manufacturing Day or even the entire month of October (deemed Manufacturing Month.) Celebrations can be organized by local or regional manufacturing associations, chambers of commerce, or business development groups. Also banks, accounting firms and other businesses that do a significant portion of their business with manufacturers may want to partner with you for a Manufacturing Day event. These can be simple events such as breakfast, lunch, and dinners, followed by tours, Q & A’s and even the occasional political dignitary appearance.

Manufacturing Day is a great way to showcase your company and what makes you special. Ohio had the top Manufacturing Day events last year. There are many ways your company can stand out during this celebration of manufacturing including plant tours, job fairs, and manufacturing celebration events. For more information on Manufacturing Day visit www.mfgday.com or to discuss event ideas, call or email Felber PR at 330.963.3664 x2 or AllisonMiller@felberpr.com

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You are a manufacturer, which means you are ‘head down’ most days. Your days are jam-packed between responding to customers, managing inventory, solving a technical issue and the list goes on, and on and on. Now’s its 6 pm and your ‘pesky’ PR agency is asking about content. Yes, content!? Your company is having great success, for many customers, all at once. You are knowledgeable about your processes and your market.  Perhaps you even know of or follow the trade publications that report on your industry. Industry trade publications call once in a while to speak with you but you never really had time during your week to gather the data that would be the meat of the article.

You’ve heard it before – Content is King! Whether you are developing your sales literature, creating social media to attract engineers (that seems younger than your oldest daughter), or preparing to tell your story to the media. You need to have content. Content is the fuel by which your business can grow. You will use it on your website and  blog, as well as in your trade show graphics and email newsletters, .

We get your world and can help. Relationships with media need to be fostered, just like relationships with your best customers. Your PR person needs to know the publication’s editorial direction, engage with editors on social media and arrange interviews and tours. Your job? Open the content vault and let the magic happen. And, once you have industry media interest and trust, you may soon find your manufacturing firm, your staff and yourself elevated to “expert” status. Reporters will continue to call you to discuss industry trends. Instead of lamenting on how your competitors are always interviewed, your competitors can now look at your company with the same envy.

So, you’re an engineer, a scientist and entrepreneur – but NOT a writer. No problem, that’s what we do. We Get Manufacturing. We connect people, processes, and ideas together. We turn this raw material into content utilized in multiple marketing and publicity tools. Want to see more? Check out our success stories here or call us at 330.963.3664.

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