There is a poster boldly displayed on one wall of Dynamic Digital Advertising’s new digs that proclaims, “Don’t be afraid to be different.” I think that is the common thread that binds all who work here; we are each very different. Not weird different, but creatively, healthy, believe-in-ourselves different. 

A specific example would be our Programmers. David says our Lead Programmer,  Amy, can solve any problem to do with code.  She is also a whiz with an electric drill.  Tyler is our “Go To” guy for everything from small changes to clients’ websites to installing a complex phone system, while Reggie has become an expert at building gargantuan retail shopping carts, and Vinnie does a lot of action script work and helps with Coldfusion code issues and other language problems. If you put the four of them together, you would never mistake one for the other, and yet they are linked by this strange gene Programmers have for speaking little and spending hours solving problems. It is like there is a mind meld between them and their computers.  

Dynamic Digital, as an entity, is unusual too. There is no model we followed when David and I first started a decade+ ago. We grew organically, and David’s business instinct and vision helps shape what is our very complex organization today. But from those early days, we never lost the goal of providing marketing, promotional, and advertising services to businesses. Our old self-promotion brochures push digital photography, cd-rom development, graphic design, and print production among other things. We still do all that, but we just keep adding services. So many services that our Lead Designer, Carrie, wonders how she is going to showcase the new service. (P.S.-She always figures it out.)  Check out our website, the timeline graphically shows our growth, the changes, and the new services. And today, May 15th, 2008, I can promise you, there is real excitement planned for the coming year. Stay tuned. 

As a Project Coordinator at Dynamic Digital Advertising (DDA), I work closely with clients and all members of our team - from graphic designers and programmers to copywriters and animators - that are involved in a given project. In my experience, I have come to realize how important it is to take the necessary time and word correspondences correctly to convey a clear and straightforward message. While some of our clients consist of well-established companies with extensive experience in all forms of advertising, others are innovative start-up organizations that lack the knowledge on the best way to proceed in a project, whether it is a website design or a video production.

Bottom line, it is not our clients’ job to automatically understand, it is our job to provide all pertinent and relevant information in an easy-to-understand format so they, in turn, can make wise and educated decisions. That said, it is critical that every form of communication be well thought out and that important points, issues, or potential problems are discussed internally beforehand in order to ensure that everyone is on the same page and there are no discrepancies. Anticipating complications and misunderstandings prior to initiating a response and doing our best to avoid them helps things flow from one stage to the next as smoothly as possible.

“More important than the quest for certainty is the quest for clarity.” ~ Francois Gautier

Today is one of those days when you find yourself grasping for every minute. One moment you glance at the clock and it’s 9am, the next it’s 3pm and your left pondering where did the time go? These days happen more often than not here at Dynamic Digital Advertising. As a full-service advertising agency that handles all things digital, a single staffer may be juggling multiple projects, client correspondences, and a plethora of other tasks at a single time. To an outside observer, the magnitude of work may seem overwhelming, but to a DDA staffer, the careful balance of projects and the workload comes second nature.

Effective organization is key. Each day we compile our Daily Task list, ensuring no projects have fallen to the way-side and all client concerns have been resolved. To further ensure productivity and thoroughness, a Project Coordinator oversees each project.  With this system of checks and balances we do our best to carry out every project in a timely an efficient manner. 

The programmers, graphic designers, creative and online copywriters, videogrpahers, and Project Coordinators are extremely time conscious. In fact, we track every minute of every day with our very own programming application. This way clients know how time was spent and where it was spent. When you are dealing with tight deadlines and budgets, efficiency is paramount and we continually work to improve our already streamlined production process.

DDA does a great job at interweaving the various internal departments with each other. The advertising copywriters, website designers, programmers, search engine optimization specialists, and graphic design artists all collaborate throughout the project(s) so as to make sure that each portion correctly fits into place and to not displace other portions of the project. Communication as well as collaboration are what this advertising company does well. In my opinion, this is why more prospects choose DDA over its competitors.

May Mondays should be clear and vibrant, and we should all be recharged from a long weekend celebrating Mother’s Day, and weddings, and birthdays. But in terms of weather, this Monday is raw and the forecast is for rain nonstop. Most of us have stashed our winter clothes, so we have all the portable heaters whirling under our desks, and as l watch the wind whipping the tree branches outside my window, I think, indeed, it’s not a clear day.

Yet, right now there is a  clarity at Dynamic Digital Advertising that bodes well for the week. Only one person has reported sick, and the rest of us are going about the business at hand. The main Conference Room has been busy hour after hour with conference calls from companies interested in our many advertising and marketing services.  The Business Development team has its hands extra full for the day. After the initial calls, they now have to develop quotes for the interested parties on top of follow-up work from all the projects from last week.  The Video and Photography Studio has projects lined up to complete, plus a video shoot in New York City later this week.

Our graphic designers are equally busy with trade show graphics and web design. The copywriters and programmers are deep in thought as they wrestle with content development writing, and ColdFusion and broken code on a client’s site or “something’s wrong with my email” questions. As I write, Monday is almost half over, and again,  I realize as I do every Monday, that the DDA  staff will see clearly, and rain or shine the quality work we produce at DDA will make us all proud!  Whoever said the following was a wise person, “Most people don’t recognize opportunity because it is usually disguised as hard work.” Unknown Author  

Working with clients from project inception to completion as a Project Coordinator helps me establish an overall understanding of the needs of particular clients, their direction, and their intentions for the outcome of the projects at hand and those of the future. It is my hope that every project ends on a positive note for the client and DDA. I work closely with staff members, such as programmers, search engine optimization (SEO) specialists, graphic designers, copywriters, photographers, videographers, animators, and the AR/AP department to ensure that every “i” gets dotted and “t” crossed. Working in this manner also helps me to understand the intricacies, responsibilities, and tasts involved with every DDA employee.

In the past few weeks, we’ve managed to complete and close a variety of different projects from copywriting services to logo design, and much more. I’m pleased to say that we were able to meet each project’s deadline and every client was satisfied with a job well done. But with the completion of one project means the inception of another and the same goal… to meet and exceed client expectations so that he or she returns to our full-service advertising agency for any and all of their advertising and marketing needs.

Last night I watched Top Chef, a cooking competition show in which I’ve recently developed an unhealthy addiction. During each episode the chefs compete in challenges with hopes of impressing the judges, winning immunity, and passing through to the next round, inching one step closer to the grand prize. The reason I enjoy the show so much, and reserve an hour of TV watching every Wednesday, is because I love the creativity. The challenges are universal to all participants, but the way each chef approaches their meal varies drastically. Even more, the end results are always quite impressive given the amount of time they have to finalize their dish. There may be moments of panic, but inevitably the chefs find their inspiration and work vigorously to meet there specified deadline.

This atmosphere of creativity is not unlike the environment here at DDA. The graphic designers, creative and online copywriters, corporate and medical video production specialists, and programmers all have to work under a certain conceptual umbrella determined by the client’s needs. However, each individual has their own approach and style, imprinting their signature on the end product.  

This is what makes our staff here at DDA so great. If we only produced cookie cutter websites, brochures, and corporate and medical training programs, our business would not be thriving as it is now. Clients turn to us for our creativity and tendency to reach for the innovative. And with a staff comprised of creative individuals possessing various strengths, exciting websites, graphic designs, custom programming, and exceptional video development are guaranteed.

It’s a Thursday, which for me means wrap-up day. All of the tasks that we have been working on for the week, or proposals that need to be sent out, inquiry e-mails that have follow-up questions, or any other general loose ends that need some tying have to be complete, addressed, or otherwise handled.

As a writer at DDA, a large portion of my job is in communicating with clients, prospective or existing, as I know I have mentioned so many times before. This holds true in project coordination, New Business Development, or in my writing tasks. What this ultimately means is that it is my responsibility, as it is for the three other degreed writers on-staff, to make sure that each client is fully aware of what’s going with his or her project or inquiry at all times.

We take this very seriously. We try not to have too much time lapse between an e-mail or phone call sent and our response. This often means running (in my case sometimes literally) around to get the answers I need from those assigned to the project — animators, videographers, graphic designers, programmers, etc. That’s one of the coolest things about this company — the fact that we are full service and do offer everything needed for a marketing and advertising campaign under roof, so oftentimes there are multiple people involved one project, bridging the gap between departments — programming, design, video, websites, search engine marketing and optimization.

It’s not always keeping track of everyone and everything. People make fun of my handwritten list which I tape to my monitor. It might look a little archaic in this age of spreadsheets, software to keep you organized, and Blackberrys. But it works for me.

Like right now I am looking at the list of nearly 20 items, with only four crossed out, and I am thinking it’s time to get a move on on wrapping it all up.

At DDA, we have a staff of degreed writers, a video production crew, graphic designers, photographers, programmers, a search engine marketing team, and more to help make your product amazing. However, we also encourage plenty of client feedback along the way so that we can provide you with something you’re happy with. For example, during video production, we will send you a draft of the script, allow you to respond with any feedback, and update the script as often as necessary to ensure we are giving the right, effective message. At the same time, the video team will provide you with design concepts, video clips, and anything else to receive some feedback and improve. So while we can manage any project from start to finish, a large part of the process involves you, the client.

The reason we encourage our clients to provide as much feedback as possible is so that all the appropriate changes can be made in the early stages of the project. Because video or custom programming can take a good amount of time, it is essential for everyone to properly plan before time is spent on the bulk of the project so that we do not run into issues that will further complicate matters. If, for instance, the scope of a programming project is changed after the original has been created, it will take additional time for our programmers to go back to make the necessary changes. This will obviously push the budgets and delay the final product, which is what we do not want to do. With the proper planning and client approval at different stages of development, we can eliminate these last minute changes to meet your deadlines in a timely and cost-effective manner.

My 3-year old is in the throws of the “why?” stage. He’s also going through some other stages as well, but I’ll save those for another time. “Why do we have tears?” Why do I have a mommy?” “Why is he a giant?”(said to a rather tall McDonald’s customer). We should all be so curious and observant. 

Graphic Designers need to be especially observant and ask many “Why’s” before, during, and after a project. In fact, it’s a great habit to ask Who, What, and Where as well. For example: Who is my target audience? What type of paper is this brochure being printed on? What resolution and color mode should I set up for this trade show graphic? Where is your literature being distributed? Where will people be viewing your website? Why am I using this font, these colors, and why will this layout be most effective for the client?

While it can be draining to answer rapid fire ”Why’s” throughout the day, I know that my 3-year old’s curiosity is something that we should all, as artists, graphic designers, videographers, programmers, animators, illustrators, and writers adopt on a daily basis.