Facebook fan page
Twitter streamThanks Jas at http://www.bitterbalcony.com for the heads up. This is a very creative video with some great special effects. This is a great example of buzz marketing. The key part here wasn’t so much the way they spliced the film but their choice in films. Each one being a cult movement of its own. A sort of cult mashup if you will.
Category Archives: Marketing Online Business Ideas
Do you know its been 10 years since Seth wrote the hit book Permission Marketing that has laid a foundation to countless companies and practices? Well I think it is still interesting that with a great book there are still people who are confused about what SPAM actually is and is not.
The funniest thing is to get a SPAM comment from someone who signs up to your email list. I mean an actual person who confirmed via their email inbox to receive your emails. But when they decided they don’t want the emails any longer they call you the spammer (laughing).
That’s like inviting someone over to your house and giving them a beer, the remote, and your favorite chair. And suddenly calling the police to report them for breaking and entering.
The reason I brought this up was that the person that accused me of this wa a so called “marketer”. I sent him a copy immediately (laughing).
When tactics drown out strategy
New media creates a blizzard of tactical opportunities for marketers, and many of them cost nothing but time, which means you don’t need as much approval and support to launch them.
As a result, marketers are like kids at Rita’s candy shoppe, gazing at all the pretty opportunities.
Most of us are afraid of strategy, because we don’t feel confident outlining one unless we’re sure it’s going to work. And the ‘work’ part is all tactical, so we focus on that. (Tactics are easy to outline, because we say, “I’m going to post this.” If we post it, we succeed. Strategy is scary to outline, because we describe results, not actions, and that means opportunity for failure.)
“Building a permission asset so we can grow our influence with our best customers over time” is a strategy. Using email, twitter or RSS along with newsletters, contests and a human voice are all tactics. In my experience, people get obsessed about tactical detail before they embrace a strategy… and as a result, when a tactic fails, they begin to question the strategy that they never really embraced in the first place.
The next time you find yourself spending 8 hours on tactics and five minutes refining your strategy, you’ll understand what’s going on.
For the last almost two weeks I have been talking with colleges about the Death Spiral! We live in a wonderfully amazing time. A time where anyone can start a business but unfortunately not everyone can start a business. And not everyone will agree with that thinking.
Welcome to Island Marketing
If you run a business on a small island, every interaction matters and every customer is precious.
There’s a finite number of people you’re going to be able to sell to, and every person you interact with knows everyone else, so you always have to be on your best behavior. You can’t say, “tough” and then go on to the next person. You can’t run ads that churn and burn through an endless supply of naive prospects. You only get one chance to make a first impression, and on the island, that impression matters.
Consider an airline in Chicago that can bully and bluster and greedify its way through an endless supply of business travelers, and compare them to a short hop carrier on Martha’s Vineyard. The Vineyard airline knows that people can always switch to the other short hop airline or the ferry, and they also know that the folks they serve have power, because there aren’t an endless supply.
As you’ve probably guessed, like most things in our ever shrinking world, all marketers are now on an island.
The island perspective is the Zappos model. Every interaction is both precious and an opportunity to delight. Marketers no longer have the money or the platform to harass and promote their way to success by burning through the market. Instead, we have to act like we’re on an island earn and the nurture a permission asset.
Through this lens, banner ads and various pop ups make even less sense than they used to. So does the insane act of outsourcing the random dialing of businesses to do telemarketing spam. We used up those resources a long time ago.
For some time I have been watching YouTube thinking: “Hmmm wonder if they will make money with that model since the big purchase years ago?” Well they are seriously making efforts to step up their advertising.
YouTube is testing with their partners that now allow you to put ad’s anywhere you want. “Today we’re announcing a trial with FreeWheel that will allow some partners who sell their own ads to serve those ads directly into their videos on YouTube. (Previously, ads sold by these partners were still served by YouTube.)” says
I apologize for the late posting. I have been working a TON of projects lately. Please oh mighty Seth in all of your Godin goodness forgive me LOL!
I think Death Spiral really touched bases with me. I did a article called 5 Ways Corporate America Caused a Recession which I think really was in sync with the tone of Seths article.
In times of challenge you build not deconstruct your growth.
As I announced last week. Seth has been kind enough to let me create/ sell items to sell from his best selling book Tribes.
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He’s doing his best
In fact, everyone is always doing their best under the circumstances. As my friend Al says, there’s no such thing as irrational behavior. That’s because in this moment, given the perceptions someone is holding, the way they behave is in fact the only way they can behave.
Consumers don’t make choices as much as they react and respond to the inputs and assumptions they have about the marketplace, their life and your brand.
If you don’t like the way someone is acting, understand you can’t change his behavior, you can only change his circumstances.
This makes it really difficult to vilify the recalcitrant consumer. It’s not that they’re stupid, it’s that you didn’t explain it very well. As Zig has said, “I can understand why you’re not interested. Other people who believed [insert belief here] weren’t interested either. But once they discovered [insert new fact here] they were eager to try it.”
Sure, people are willing to lie, break promises, willfully misunderstand, avoid responsibility and blame others. But why? They’re doing it because under the circumstances, it seems like the right thing to do. As marketers, we can often change the circumstances.
There’s an infamous scene in the Godfather where a movie producer turns down a ‘reasonable’ request from the Don. The Godfather is stunned. How could someone turn him down?
After the family kills the producer’s prize racehorse (and puts it in his bed), the producer changes his mind.
What changed? Before the intervention, the producer didn’t understand, didn’t believe, didn’t fear the Godfather. So he made what he believed was the best possible decision. Afterward, his worldview was forcibly changed and he made a different decision based on different facts.
Probably not a good idea to run around beheading horses, but it’s a useful lesson in changing perception.
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My favorite Seth Quote of the week
““Most of your competition spend their days looking forward to those rare moments when everything goes right. Imagine how much leverage you have if you spend your time maximizing those common moments when it doesn’t.“ -Seth Godin
““Change is a bear, but it’s better than death.“ -Seth Godin
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A few of Seth Godin Posts of the Week
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Death spiral!
You’ve probably seen it. The fish monger sees a decline in business, so they have less money to spend on upkeep and inventory, so they keep the fish a bit longer and don’t clean up as often, so of course, business declines and then they have even less money… Eventually, you have an empty, smelly fish store that’s out of business.
The doctor has fewer patients so he doesn’t invest as much in training or staff and so some other patients choose to leave which means that there are even fewer patients…
The newspaper has fewer advertisers, so they can’t invest as much in running stories, so people stop reading it, which means advertisers have less reason to advertise which leaves less money for stories…
As Tom Peters says, “You can’t shrink your way to greatness,” and yet that’s what so many dying businesses try to do. They hunker down and wait for things to get better, but they don’t. This isn’t a dip, it’s a cul de sac. It’s over.
Right this minute, you still have some cash, some customers, some momentum… Instead of squandering it in a long, slow, death spiral, do something else. Buy a new platform. Move. Find new products for the customers that still trust you.
Change is a bear, but it’s better than death.
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Definition of SPAM: E-mail spam, also known as junk e-mail, is a subset of spam that involves nearly identical messages sent to numerous recipients by e-mail. A common synonym for spam is unsolicited bulk e-mail (UBE). Definitions of spam usually include the aspects that email is unsolicited and sent in bulk. Whether in emails like gmail or in social media SPAM is SPAM.
What is NOT SPAM?
Tweets (as long as they are NOT 20 times in a row the same tweet) via twitter.If you don’t like someones tweets then unfollow them. But don’t incorrectly call them a spammer when YOU chose to follow them.
Messages sent out to groups you have started on social media (Facebook, linkedin). Think of it like this when you join a group you gave them permission to communicate with you.
Answering a specific question about an exact subject by sending links to that solution. You asked so it makes sense others answer.
CLASSIC Monty Python SPAM
In 1162 a child, called Temujin, was born in Mongolia clutching a blood clot – a sign that he was destined to be a great warrior. Signs like these encouraged Temujin to believe in his own ability despite early defeats. We, too, need to believe in our own ability, power and destiny.
Temujin came to rule the largest land empire ever known. It was four times the size of the empire of Alexander the Great and twice the size of the Roman Empire. But success only came after failure.
Temujin, who later became known as Genghis Khan, was the son of a tribal warrior chief in Mongolia. When he was nine his father was poisoned by a rival tribe. Temujin commented: “From that day I would never be a child again.”
His tribe was little more than an extended family They were at risk unless they forged links with other tribes. Temujin wisely enlarged his tribe through marriage with Borte.
However, even an alliance with Borte’s clan did not make him safe. The tribes of Mongolia were locked in a spiral of vendettas. There was only one law on the steppes: “Take what you want.”
The Merkit tribe had once feuded with Temujin’s father. Now Temujin was in danger and his new wife was especially vulnerable. The scene was set for his first failure.
The Merkit’s stole Temujin’s wife on a raid. Temujin failed to defend his wife and prevent her capture. He was faced with accepting defeat and escaping or staying and dying. Temujin escaped:
“They had taken my wife. I knew what I had to do. Only a fool fights a battle he knows he cannot win.”
His wife too had to submit to her captor or die. She submitted. Temujin may have been beaten in a skirmish by the Merkit but he was not defeated. He made plans to get his wife back and take his revenge.
He could rely on his blood brother, Jamuka: “I had just one friend I could trust.” But he needed even more support. He and Jamuka sought the help of a khan who was once the blood brother of Temujin’s father: “I told him he was as a father to me. A man who seeks power needs friends who have power.”
He was accepted by the khan. Temujin was delighted: “My power had been increased by heaven and earth.” The man who later conquered the world knew the importance of support from the powerful.
He now went looking for his wife at the Merkit camp, rescued her and took his revenge: “We made the Merkits pay for their deed. We destroyed their families and emptied their breasts.”
Temujin was barely 20 and he had already eliminated one of Mongolia’s great tribes, rescued his wife and had turned his first failure into victory. He had also begun to build his power base.
Nine months later Borta gave birth to his son. There was some doubt as to who was the father but Temujin again turned defeat into victory by treating him as his own son. His pragmatic, practical approach helped him throughout his life.
However, there was tension between Temujin and Jamuka who in the early days shared the leadership of the tribe. They disagreed over how you value a man’s worth. Both were sons of aristocrats. But only Temujin had really suffered adversity.
After his father was murdered Temujin experienced betrayal by his own people: “Our tribe deserted us. Men are loyal only to a strong leader. They left us with nothing. We had no friends but our own shadows. Like the wolf, we endured and from hardship I grew strong. Now I cared only for the strength in a man’s heart. A warrior does not win a battle by virtue of his birth.”
Temujin rewarded ability and loyalty alone. One of his most promising warriors, Subuday, was the son of humble herdsman. Jamuka, however, believed high rank should only be reserved for aristocrats. His blood brother was throwing out the old ways. The gulf widened between them.
A shaman said that Temujin and his sons would rule the whole surface of the world. This was a decisive moment for Jamuka who now wished to move away from their homeland. Temujin realized that disunity would follow and it did.
Two years later Jamuka’s men ambushed Temujin’s tribe. It was a huge defeat. Again the future world conqueror had failed.
“My army was unprepared, outnumbered and outwitted; the earth was soaked with the blood of my warriors.” Temujin knew how to face reality and admit his own responsibility but the worst was to come.
Jamuka lined up the generals of his blood brother and had them thrown alive into a cauldron of boiling water.
When Temujin heard of the atrocity he swore a vow: “By the power of heaven, I swore to gain my vengeance. Never again would I be defeated nor my loyal warriors so dishonored.”
He told his warriors: “They say the Mongols are descended from the wolf. Like the wolf we are famous for our ferocity and courage but to win a battle we have to fight fiercely not as individual warriors but as parts of a whole.”
Temujin trained his warriors to a high standard and in 1204 rode west in search of his blood brother and his army.
Jamuka was the first to face an army that eventually conquered much of the surface of the earth. Temujin’s men advanced in silence saving their battle cries till the last. He used discipline, teamwork and controlled tactics to defeat Jamuka.
Arrows were released and then “my cavalry attacked without mercy.” Each tactic was meticulously planned. One squadron fled luring Jamuka’s men into a trap.
Jamuka saw his army destroyed and ran. His men lay like “felled logs in the forest.” He hid through winter of 1204. In spring, he reappeared escorted by two of his generals who expected a reward.
Temujin rewarded the two generals with death for their disloyalty to their khan and gave Jamuka the chance to rejoin him. But Jamuka knew there could only be one ruler so he simply asked for a noble death in which none of his blood would be shed. Temujin granted his blood brother’s final wish. Two warriors bent him backwards over some logs breaking his back. Both early failures had been revenged. Defeat had been turned into victory.
Temujin was declared universal ruler In 1206 at the age of 44. A new title was created to honor him which meant “Ruler of all men” i.e. Genghis Khan. It was declared that: “All who hear him shall obey him.”
What Genghis Khan Teaches us About Online Marketing
- To Successful people failure is the thing that happened before you won
- Wealth is not a birthright it’s an ability that must be trained
- Failure like success is a possibility but not a definite. Most of us accept this about success. You need to begin to accept this about failure.
- You’re never too smart to make a mistake and never too tall to falter. Also you’re never too weak to rise.
- Your destiny awaits you don’t be tardy!
Watch Hammerdance videos and dance lessons at DanceJam.com
Clearly he is doing this more for the camera than his mom or aunt sitting down. But the question is how many marketers are on Twitter adding thousands of followers without any focus on a niche market?
Your doing everything in the world that would seem to deem attention but there is one problem. You don’t have the right market. Like this little lady in the video your thousands of followers could care less.
The amazing part is that they (advertising) still don’t get what went wrong. Thanks to Chris Brogan for featuring this on his site.
Well Twitter is really getting interesting. We have a major problem. SPAM is everywhere and I understand that but the issue on Twitter is the @replies. You ever receive repeated @replies promoting something? Well they are not only trying to promote to you but promote to your following without your permission! So even if you don’t retweet these nuts they are banking on reaching your following. Here is how it works.
Under Twitter Search on your profile you can search under any name. If you search for instance darrenmonroe. All of the people replying to me and my tweets show up. This is also true with the people that use tweetdeck and favor certain people to follow.
The scummy part about this is that it is one thing to tweet your promotions on YOUR twitter account which I don’t have a problem with as long as its not the same message 20 times in a row.
But to tweet @ME or anyone else with the hopes of reaching our audience is like placing a billboard on my front yard. That’s a BIG no no! This loser below I have been working with @spam to remove for weeks!
These guys are so desperate for a sale they don’t care about who they spam. They will sell their souls for $2 discounts. Because they have no idea about value.
What you can do
- Reply to @spam and let them know ASAP
- Block them
- Ask anyone you know receiving the same replies to @spam also. there is strength in numbers.
This week on Seth Godin Sunday I noticed that Seth kind of related on a saying I have when he wrote “The law of the little shove”.
You may not always see it but I do some specific things. Outside people think I am everywhere. There is a finely tuned method to the storm. It is not about doing 5000 things but 5 things 1000 times.
As I announced last week. Seth has been kind enough to let me create/ sell items to sell from his best selling book Tribes.
of his I liked this week and a video. I am also going to do something interesting this week so keep your eyes on this site!
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Facts always win, right?
If you’re selling a business to business service and you can prove that it’s better, that it delivers more value, that it’s cheaper or more durable or more efficient, shouldn’t that mean you will close every sale?
Even hard-headed business people end up buying the thing they want, not the thing they necessarily need.
The real danger of relying on facts to make your sale, though, is that when the facts are no longer on your side, you’re toast. The low-cost supplier gets hooked on the easy sales that come from acting like a commodity, and if that changes, you’ve got little room to maneuver.
Great brands and projects are built on real value and a real advantage, but great marketers use this as a supporting column, not the entire foundation. Instead, they build a story on top of their head start. They focus on relationships and worldviews and interactions, and use the boost from their initial head start to build competitive insulation.
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My favorite Seth Quote of the week
““Go, make something happen.” -Seth Godin
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A few of Seth Godin Posts of the Week
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Graduation day
True confession: I didn’t attend graduation from Stanford Business School. They mailed me my MBA instead. I hadn’t been on campus in months, I was already busy running a brand in Boston, learning more than I could have in school. A generous teacher made sure I got the diploma (and of course, they got the tuition, so it was probably a fair trade).
Today, though, I attended final graduation for my informal free MBA program. You can read some of the student recaps right here. The photo was taken just before I fell in the Hudson River.
I’m thrilled at the new friends I’ve made (for life, probably) and thrilled at how much they learned, how smart they are and what a difference they’ll make in the world. But most of all I’m thrilled that every single one of the nine realized that I had nothing much to do with their transformation, they did. Which means the opportunity is available to everyone, whether or not you get a cross country skiing lesson from me.
We didn’t have a fancy commencement with speeches (actually, we had pizza). What we ended with was the idea, “Go, make something happen.”
Four words. That’s not a lot, but all you might need.
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The law of the little shovel
If you want to dig a big hole, you need to stay in one place.
If you walk around town with a little shovel, you’ll just end up digging thousands of little holes, not one big one.
Call on one person ten times and you might make the sale. Call on ten people once each and you will likely get ten rejections.
The important thing to remember is that separate events are often separate. If you use the same ineffective approach on one thousand people, it’s not going to start working better just because you use it more often.
This week on Seth Godin Sunday in addition to the posts I am saying a happy birthday to Seth from his birthday July 10th. His request was for people to do a launch so I have launched a merchandise store that I know will grow.
Seth has been kind enough to let me create/ sell items to sell from his best selling book Tribes.
of his I liked this week and a video. I am also going to do something interesting this week so keep your eyes on this site!
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Busking at the airport
I have no patience for bureaucracies that proclaim that they are unable to innovate. It’s not that they are unable to do so, it’s that they don’t want to do so.
The other day as I walked through SFO, I heard live music. Live! Looking over, there was Bart Davenport and his band, playing real good for free. Probably not for free, actually, but collecting plenty of tips in the box out front. They sold a lot of CDs too.
What a great venue. What a service (for Bart, for me, for the airport).
Go ahead, do something impossible.
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My favorite Seth Quote of the week
““On my birthday, it would make me really happy if people started a project, launched an idea or engaged in a difficult interaction that made something good happen. Make a difference day.”” -Seth Godin
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A few of Seth Godin Posts of the Week
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What should I do on your birthday?
On July 4, birthday of the USA, we’re supposed to blow off fireworks, eat hot dogs and buy a Chevrolet.
On Columbus Day, birthday of an early imperialist, we’re supposed to shop and march in a parade.
On Martin Luther King Jr. day, marvelously, we’re supposed to participate in a national day of service.
So, what should we do on your birthday?
With all due respect to Hallmark, the idea of sending people cards and presents on their birthday seems both selfish and small-minded. It seems to me that we could think bigger.
On the birthday of your company or brand, what would you like your customers to do?
On your birthday, what should your friends do? Let’s say you have a shoe buying fetish. Perhaps on your birthday, your friends could buy shoes–for themselves, not for you. Share the joy, right? Or perhaps buy shoes for their friends?
“On my birthday, it would make me really happy if people started a project, launched an idea or engaged in a difficult interaction that made something good happen. Make a difference day.”
What’s your story?
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The fan chasm
How big is the gap between customer and die-hard fan? In other words, between engaging and loving, between attending and craving?
For World of Warcraft, it’s huge. It’s very difficult to spend just an hour or two. There’s a chasm between encounter and enjoyable experience. Tetris was oriented in precisely the other way–everyone who tried it instantly became almost as smart as an expert.
If you want to be an insider at the Four Seasons restaurant, you might have to go thirty times and spend $3,000 over time. There’s a barrier to becoming an insider.
For Star Trek, not so much. After one TV episode, you might not know a Tribble from a Romulan, but you’ve probably figured out the whole Vulcan thing. Much more approachable, much easier to fake your fanhood.
There are very few products, services or organizations that are simultaneously easily approachable and quite deep. That’s an opportunity for you if you can figure out how to be both, but choosing just one is a more likely scenario. So, which are you?
Seth ‘s birthday is today! So instead of our weekly Seth Godin Sundays it will be a Seth Godin Weekend! Happy Birthday Seth! All weekend I will be posting Seth quotes, thoughts, writings, and other surprise goodies.
Seth said several days ago that in celebration to his birthday he wanted people to do a launch of something. So in honor of that wish I am going to launch something simple yet………………..different.
Why live life in a conventional fashion? I especially ask here because of the nature of this site. Sure it has my name on it but the truth is that short of the quotes I seldom actually write about ME. This site is not about me. It’s about entrepreneurship online which is ANYTHING but conventional!
Starbucks is trying a somewhat controversial technique . Its not new to Facebook but it is becoming more of a pain than profit. You get an email from them saying to share with your friends and you get a FREE pint. Why can’t that be an option? Reminds me of how their shops are forcing people to PAY FOR WIFI (thus the reason they have lost business and closed shops).
The issue with Starbucks that every entrepreneur can learn from is that they lose when they consistently refuse to create more value. The answer and cause of a recession comes down to one word VALUE. Want to create more value for your customers? Don’t give them FREE ice cream give them Free ice cream and FREE WIFI. Offer free job listings on your site. Create a newsletter with advice for recession times. Sponsor job fairs at colleges.
This quick Facebook gimmick is cute but will it get them more customers? I doubt that. Buzz? A little but FREE always does that.
Forced viral marketing is not viral marketing. Remember the element in viral marketing is choice. They are not promoting Starbucks because they like the brand. They are promoting Starbucks because they want FREE ice cream. The promotion becomes a glorified chain letter for social media.
Has Starbucks become the pimp and Facebook the whore?
I don’t know but don’t be surprised if they call you “John” (unless thats your name) if you buy into their ice cream campaign. Hmmm I wonder if they will make us retweet for ice cream on twitter?
Entrepreneurs Don’t
Attempt to force people to promote your campaigns.
Entrepreneurs Do
Create choice and let the chips fall where they may.
Great buzz campaign! What Buzz campaigns are you creating? And how are you converting them to sales? Evian has such a dominant market their distribution allows them the sales. What sales funnel is setup for your sales?
What are you doing to get the attention of your BUYERS?
What are you doing to gain attention other than saying “pay attention to me” with a call to action phrase?
What connected to the character wasn’t a ad or store but some very simple.
Idea hmmm : Print materials to market offline people
This week on Seth Godin Sunday in addition to the posts of his I liked this week and a video. I am also going to do something interesting this week so keep your eyes on this site!
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My favorite Seth Quote of the week
“If a lens makes a penny or a nickel or a dime a day, it doesn’t seem like much until there’s a million of them.” -Seth Godin
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A few of Seth Godin Posts of the Week
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What should I do on your birthday?
On July 4, birthday of the USA, we’re supposed to blow off fireworks, eat hot dogs and buy a Chevrolet.
On Columbus Day, birthday of an early imperialist, we’re supposed to shop and march in a parade.
On Martin Luther King Jr. day, marvelously, we’re supposed to participate in a national day of service.
So, what should we do on your birthday?
With all due respect to Hallmark, the idea of sending people cards and presents on their birthday seems both selfish and small-minded. It seems to me that we could think bigger.
On the birthday of your company or brand, what would you like your customers to do?
On your birthday, what should your friends do? Let’s say you have a shoe buying fetish. Perhaps on your birthday, your friends could buy shoes–for themselves, not for you. Share the joy, right? Or perhaps buy shoes for their friends?
On my birthday, it would make me really happy if people started a project, launched an idea or engaged in a difficult interaction that made something good happen. Make a difference day.
What’s your story?
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There’s always room for Jello
This is one of the great cultural touchstone slogans of our era. A culture where there’s so much to eat we need to try to find a food that we can eat even if we’re stuffed.
Often, we’ll decide that something is full, stuffed, untouchable but then some Jello shows up, and suddenly there’s room.
Think about your schedule… is there room for an emergency, an SEC investigation, a server crash? If you took a day off because of the flu, is your business going to go bankrupt? Probably not.
So, if there’s time for an emergency (Jello), why isn’t there time for brilliance, generosity or learning?
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The risk/reward confusion
It’s easy to to adopt the policy of avoiding risk at all costs, that whenever possible, the products you launch or the engagements you have should be flawless and without downside.
Here’s the problem: in most endeavors, a small increase in risk can double the reward. It’s the second doubling of reward that brings serious risk with it. But the first leap is relatively painless.
In the chart above, notice that going from point A to point B brings almost no incremental risk. It might feel scary, but rationally, it’s not. Doubling reward again from B to C, though, brings significant incremental risk. It’s this second doubling that gets you through the Dip, that leads to a breakthrough, that makes you remarkable.
But I’m not even talking about that. I’m just hoping you’ll warm up by making the tiny leap of avoiding all risk. Riskless is hardly worth your effort.
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Read more on his blog and SUBSCRIBE to it!
PS did you get my favorite book of the year TRIBES??
Technorati Profile
Well we are into the fourth Seth Godin Sunday yay! This is weekly Sunday post that I dedicated to Seth Godin because he is one of my most favorite bloggers and mentors on the face of the earth. So again each Sunday I am discussing something that will be equally as creative! Also make sure you follow me on twitter today because I am tweeting a lot of Seths quotes and links to many of his articles.
My favorite Seth Quote of the week
“The only way your organization is going to make an impact is to market in the way only you can. Not by following some expert’s rules or following the herd, but by doing it in the way that works. For you” -Seth Godin
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A few of Seth Godin Posts of the Week
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Find your voice
Marketing (in all its forms) is unlike everything else an organization does, because it’s always different. There’s no manual because everyone does it differently, and what successful marketers have in common is that they are successful.
The only way your organization is going to make an impact is to market in the way only you can. Not by following some expert’s rules or following the herd, but by doing it in the way that works. For you. Don’t worry about someone else’s invented standards for new media, invent your own. Avoid obvious mistakes, don’t follow obvious successes.
Find your voice, don’t copy someone else’s.
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Circling the big domino
Clay taught me a good lesson about making things happen with your brand.
Envision the events that might happen to a brand (shelf space at Walmart, an appearance on Oprah, a bestseller, worldwide recognition, a new edition, worldwide rights, chosen by the Queen, whatever) as a series of dominos.
It turns out that if you start with all of them at once, you’ll fail.
And if you start with the big one, you’ll fail.
But if you line up all the dominos one by one, in the right order, you may just have enough energy to push over the first one. That one, of course, adds momentum so that when you crash into the second one, that one goes too. All the way to the Queen.
Wait! cont.
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Learning from Singer
At one point, the Singer Corporation had more than 12,000 people working in a single plant. They were selling more than a million sewing machines a year and had hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. By any measure, it was one of the most important manufacturers in America. It was fun while it lasted.
Back then, it was easy to believe that Singer represented everything that was right with our economy, and that our future was intrinsically attached to the company’s.
When as the last time you even thought about Singer (or a sewing machine for that matter)?
The cycles are far shorter now than they were during the century that Singer was a shining light for corporate success. More now than ever, success today is no guarantee of success tomorrow. Cont.
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The difference between strangers and friends
Strangers are justifiably suspicious.
Friends give you the benefit of the doubt.
“Friend” is more broadly defined as someone you have a beer with or meet up with to go on a hike. A friend is someone who has interacted with you, or who knows your parents or reads your blog—someone with history. If you’ve made a promise to someone and then kept it, you’re a friend. If you’ve changed someone for the better, you’re a friend as well.
We market to friends very differently than we market to strangers. We do business differently as well.
Thanks to social networks and the amplification of stories online, we have far more friends per person than at any other time in human history. Nurturing your friends—protecting them and watching out for them—Cont.
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Magicians, sausage makers and transparency
Does everything have to become completely transparent?
One of the ideas du jour online is the rush to make things transparent. To tear down the barriers and raise the blinds on the way organizations do business and to expose as much as possible.
Does Apple become a more exciting or profitable company if they share their sketches, their plans, open source their new designs and engage the company fully? Does Steve Jobs have an obligation to tell his fanboys in advance that he’s fighting to stay healthy? One journalist says he does because it will help raise money for research, another says he does because it’s a public company, while many of his fans say he does because they demand to know.
What about the Star Trek sequel? Should we be able to read the script now, a year before they start filming? Cont.
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Read more on his blog and SUBSCRIBE to it!
PS did you get my favorite book of the year TRIBES??
Technorati Profile
Please know that I am not referring to anyone in particular or directly. But if this seems like you then I strongly suggest you reconsider your thoughts.
Have you met this person before?
I have 20,000 friends / followers so I MUST be important
Once upon a time there was a fool. Foolish in a nice funny humorous way but little more in the form of substance than a fool. The fool that thought that if he had 20,000 or more people on a social network it could make them look like less than a fool. In fact that it could make him look important. That that number equated success and business. And they thought that number which out numbered lesser so called media professionals that it would make them look important. And possibly make them money.
So the fool moves aimlessly through out social medias. This is the guy with 50 social media accounts their website and mastery in NONE. This is the guy who has the fancy quotes and criticisms for others but cane barely afford web access to communicate. This is the guy who has NO PRODUCTS or product line to sell but every intention on making one.
Where’s the BEEF? Value?
I have come across some interesting characters. People who like to compete with their followings (OH look at me I got 70,000 followers I am so important) or like to boast their coolness to their “friends” on social medias. But in actuality with the exception of a decent quote here and there they are NOT providing any value. Sure it’s cool to be at social media as if its a party. In fact I highly suggest you approach it in that manner. But no one wants to be with a party guy ALL the time.
Identify the fools in your networks and decided to NEVER compete with them only create, market, and over deliver value for yourself. Like the Jerry Springer TV Show. Entertaining, yet lacks the substantial value. IN time time the hype dies, the drama is gone and all that is left…. is the fool and their foolishness.
How do you CHANGE from being a fool if I have identified you in this article?
- Began to post sustaining contributions instead of short quick quotes.
- Create products beyond the affiliate world.
- Realize and analyze your network. You are who you attract. It’s not about the network it’s about the relationships and your brand that is built.
The greatest fool is the one that doesn’t change!
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Well we are into the third Seth Godin Sunday yay! This is the Sunday post that I dedicated to Seth Godin because he is one of my most favorite bloggers and mentors on the face of the earth. So again each Sunday I am discussing something that will be equally as creative! Also make sure you follow me on twitter today because I am tweeting a lot of Seths quotes and links to many of his articles.
My favorite Seth Quote of the week “The problem is that convenient approaches rarely break through or generate extraordinary returns.”
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A few of Seth Godin Posts of the Week
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How big is your farm?
If you own a lot of acres but just have a few bags of seed, you might be tempted to spread out what you’ve got and cover as much territory as you can. Farmers tell me that this is wasteful and time consuming. You end up with less yield and more work.
Marketers face the same dilemma………..cont.
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Ruby slippers
If you could make one thing come true that would change everything for your project, do you know what the one thing would be?
One breakthrough client, one technical advance, one testimonial? One achievable change in the world?
For Google, the one thing was a big thing, “we need to be the place people come to search.” But for many sites, many companies, there isn’t a thing. They can’t articulate it. They have no wish. If you have no wish, how can it possibly come true?
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You matter
When you love the work you do and the people you do it with, you matter.
When you are so gracious and generous and aware that you think of other people before yourself, you matter.
When you leave the world a better place than you found it, you matter.
When you continue to raise the bar on what you do and how you do it, you matter.
When you teach and forgive and teach more before you rush to judge and demean, you matter.
When you touch the people in your life through your actions (and your words), you matter.
When kids grow up wanting to be you, you matter.
When you see the world as it is, but insist on making it more like it could be, you matter.
When you inspire a Nobel prize winner or a slum dweller, you matter.
When the room brightens when you walk in, you matter.
And when the legacy you leave behind lasts for hours, days or a lifetime, you matter.
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Circles of Convenience
Allan points out that Warren Buffet and Benjamin Graham invested in Circles of Competence. The idea is to buy what you know.
Too often, organizations confuse this with circles of convenience. They stick to the tactics, products, people and channels that they are comfortable with, instead of rethinking what the market demands.
When Amazon offered the New York Times millions of dollars in affiliate revenue a decade ago, the paper turned them down because they feared losing Barnes and Noble as an advertiser. This is a convenient decision, but clearly not a smart one. cont.
Read more on his blog and SUBSCRIBE to it!
PS did you get my favorite book of the year TRIBES??
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Get Paid 1 Million Dollars to Scratch Your Butt and Sniff
I know it sounds ridiculous right? But aren’t those other ads equally ridiculous?
Its not about getting rich quick but building wealth by providing tremendous value! Build a blog that can help you build your business online. I have another one of my quotes about this “instant wealth comes in a second, but infinite wealth lasts a lifetime.”
Stop worrying about getting paid and focus on getting wealthy by providing tremendous value. This iste is here to give you online business ideas that work. The wealthiest thing you can do is provide wealth to others. Don’t get me wrong! Don’t be afraid to have an asking price for your value. But focusing on your pocket will not make much money and is not a great long term strategy.
Ever signup your email to get a free report telling you how you are going to get a free report? LOL! Some of you are scratching your head right now. Others are laughing. My point here is that the report is pure bull. They just wanted your email. So in their report they talk about generalized info. That is probably why I have such a hard time with private label products. I would have to edit and add more info.
The title may sound ridiculous but not nearly as ridiculous as the people who ignorantly (and some on purpose) that promote this stuff.
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Lets focus on the source that genuinely wants to help you.
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Lets focus on creating, marketing and over delivering value.
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Lets focus great headlines AND great results instead of piss poor promises.
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Lets deliver unique opportunities to take your online presence to the next level.
This is the Sunday post that I dedicated to Seth Godin because he is one of my most favorite bloggers and mentors on the face of the earth. So each Sunday I am discussing something that will be equally as creative! Also make sure you follow me on twitter today because I am tweeting a lot of Seths quotes and links to many of his articles.
Seth Godin Posts of the Week
Harvesting
“Why am I here?”
Tough!
Guy #3
Direct and useful project feedback
Should Hugh swear so much?
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“Why am I here?”
This is a simple mantra that is going to change the way you attend every meeting and every conference for the rest of your life.
You probably don’t have to be there. No gun held to your head, after all. So, why are you spending the time?
Do you have an agenda? It might be to change the agenda, or meet someone who will become a client or to learn something that will help you at work tomorrow.
Well, if that’s why you’re here, tell me again why you’re just sitting there? If the only reason you came was to avoid the office, you need a new office. Quick, before the boss decides that for you.
Surely you have a question you can ask the speaker. Surely you have something interesting to say to the person sitting next to you. Surely you can do more than just sheepishly hand someone a business card they have no reason to save or remember or use.
If there isn’t a good reason, go home. If there is, then do something. Loud, now and memorable. Productive too, please.
Read more on his blog and SUBSCRIBE to it!
PS did you get my favorite book of the year TRIBES??
Technorati Profile
This is the Sunday post that I dedicated to Seth Godin because he is one of my most favorite blogger and mentors on the face of the earth. So each Sunday I am discussing something that will be equally as creative!
TED tribes video
Saying ‘no’
If you’ve got talent, people want more of you. They ask you for this or that or the other thing. They ask nicely. They will benefit from the insight you can give them.
The choice: You can dissipate your gift by making the people with the loudest requests temporarily happy, or you can change the world by saying ‘no’ often.
You can say no with respect, you can say no promptly and you can say no with a lead to someone who might say yes. But just saying yes because you can’t bear the short-term pain of saying no is not going to help you do the work.
Saying no to loud people gives you the resources to say yes to important opportunities.
Read more on his blog and SUBSCRIBE to it!
This is the Sunday post that I dedicated to Seth Godin because he is one of my most favorite blogger and mentors on the face of the earth. So each Sunday I am discussing something that will be equally as creative!
A Kreative Seth Godin Sentence
Once upon a time I discovered the panhandler’s secret to opening acts and rock star. I found out that there was a myth of big salaries (it’s all marketing). All the hype turned out to be nothing. You see I don’t fall for national hype week. Because I know the difference between PR and publicity and the business rules of thumb.
Challenging convention
The smart guys at Contrast came by the office to talk about their thesis of abandoning conventions. It’s the intent of changing what we expect when we use something. Obvious things like the design of a cell phone or subtle things like the design of a door knob. There are terrific benefits to successfully coming up with a solution that invents and leverages a new convention.
I’d argue that there are four things to keep in mind when deciding to challenge a convention. You should incur the costs and hassles of inventing a new way to do things when you can are prepared to deal with all four. The costs can be huge, because a new user convention can slow people down or turn them away. A new financing convention makes it harder to raise money. A new hiring convention causes some people to avoid you…
- Notice it. When you make a new way to do something, people are going to notice it. We’ll notice it when the volume knob on the radio doesn’t work the way all the other ones do, or when the navigation on your website isn’t where it ‘should’ be. Is your creativity about the convention? For example, if you make a stereo that sounds better, it’s not clear you should also change the way the volume control works. Noticing the shift in interface doesn’t help sell your concept of better sound.
- Talk about it. Often, a new convention leads to conversations. People need to teach other about the ideas in your product or service, or complain about it or debate it. Again, no point changing the convention unless what you want is people to talk about your new convention.
- Leverage it. Does the success of the new convention in the marketplace actually help you? Sure, you could invent a new kind of handshake or a new pricing structure. But if it catches on, do you win? Is it at the core of your business model? Which leads to the last one…
- Protect it. Once the convention catches on, does the new way of doing things reinforce your position in the marketplace and lead to long-term benefits?
Read more on his blog and SUBSCRIBE to it!
I explained in another article that the wealthiest people leverage their resources to create more wealth. One of the many ways the wealthy leverage their resources is by using the 4 pillars of value correctly. The most common way to do this is through their business. The purpose of any for-profit business is the maximization of shareholder wealth. Thus the purpose of any company is to increase wealth by increasing its value. The most obvious way is by creating a profit from sales. Online entrepreneurs create sales by converting their visitors into customers.
How do you do that? How do you insure that you will always have a sea of customers?
Create, Market, and Over Deliver Value
No matter what marketing systems, tactics, and strategies (GURUs?) used to sell. It’s all about value. Value is the essence and foundation of any sale. No value no maximization of shareholder wealth. Simply put no value no business.
The 4 Pillars of Value
The 4 pillars of value will help a potential customer do any or all of the following:
1. Solve a problem
2. Help them either grow, save, and/or enhance their (11+) resources
3. Helps them increase productivity with their time.
4. Peaks their Interest (curiosity, emotional, holistic, concern)
The Perception of value is more viral than actual value
However actual value is more sustaining.
Thomas Edison
A movie about Thomas Edison may be a hit and become viral. But it will never outlast the value of several of Edison’s inventions i.e. the light bulb. Why? The movie offers one pillar (peaks peoples interest). Where as the light bulb offers all 4 pillars.
Stock Market
The price of a stock is determined by a price that someone is willing to buy and sell it. Therefore it has a higher perceived value that drives stock. The actual value involves a company’s ability to sell based on the 4 pillars of value. Now I know some of you may be arguing that earning announcements determine stock value.
However how many times have we seen a stock drop due to a poor communication with the press vs. earning? I saw one stock drop from 43 to 12 inside of 20 minutes. A Chief Financial Officer made one slip of the tongue in their verbiage to the press. And the next thing you know stockholders shares at this company became essential toilet paper for the next 2 weeks.
Sure the stock bounced back and even posted record profits. But that was because of the actual value vs. the short term viral spiral the stock took weeks earlier.
Fashion
The same two T Shirts made in China are on a rack. One cost $15 the other cost $49.99. The difference in price is because one is plain and the other has Sean John, DKNY or any other internationally popular brand. There is no actual value only a perceived difference because of the brand.
CNN
They used to provide all 4 pillars of value now they only provide one. Before CNN there was no other station that covered news 24 hours. They solved the problem of news delivered immediately. They helped us enhance our resources by providing us with easy access to world info. They also helped us become more productive with our time with the information they provided. And naturally they knew how to create interest via suspense.
The internet however has now decimated 3 of the 4 pillars they provided. We can get up to second news without CNN from millions of sources online. No cable no CNN but DSL and public WIFI access to the net is everywhere. And waiting for the results right after these messages is no longer productive vs a quick Google new search.
The last remaining pillar (interest) CNN has mastered. They are excellent with headliners and 30 second on air commercials. In fact have you noticed that many entrepreneurs have mastered this pillar? Unfortunately one pillar neither builds or sustains a business (or building). Does that mean that CNN is in danger? Possibly.
Conclusion: Value = Sales
Focus on building a business not traffic. Concentrate on building a following (customers) not followers (visitors). The only way you and your business will earn money in the long or short term will be to create value, market it properly and over deliver. Ask yourselves as you create your products and services do you provide at least one of the following benefits?
1. Solve a problem?
2. Help them either grow, save and/or enhance their (11+) resources?
3. Helps them increase productivity with their time?
4. Peaks their Interest (curiosity, emotional, holistic, concern)?
The more value you provide the more valuable you become. Thus solidifying your foundational branding.
Create, Market, and Over Deliver Value and its (4) pillars!