25 Reasons Why Your Company is Boring

(This was sparked from a Seth Godin post called You’re Boring. It was brilliant. I had to write about it.)

You know you a boring business if..

1. You have a tri-fold brochure with little business cards that you hand out to everyone you see… and I do mean EVERYONE.

2. You designed the tri-fold in Publisher.

3. You are using a type-font called Arial, Times New Roman, or Courier for your logo… and you made the logo in Microsoft Word.

4. You decide not to blog because “I just don’t have the time.” Your potential customers don’t have the time to read it anyway.

5. You use your initials for your company name. (This is a give or take depending on your initials)

6. Yellow Pages is the only marketing for your business because you have been doing it for a decade. Why change a good thing? (ha)

7. You attend networking events and take as many business cards as possible but never help another business professional.

8. If your website says “Copyright 2002″ or anytime before 2007.

9. All your collateral material looks different… different colors… old logos… better yet… no logo.

10. You refuse to think outside the box and go out on a limb (marketing or anything else).

11. You get up after 9am.

12. If you photo-copy a flier and hand it out. Spend the extra money and get full color. Better yet, don’t use a flier. Doesn’t everyone?

13. You have an individual answering your phone that sounds like they just woke up from a nap or smoked a bowl.

14. YOU USE AN EMAIL THAT Ends with a phone or cable company: AOL, SBCGLOBAL, or the like.

15. You refuse to act on ideas until they are safe or your competitor does it. Ready, Fire, Aim. Fail.

16. You do not attend networking events because you have “better ways to spend your time.” You will be spending your time closing your business account at the bank.

17. You never have a new idea. You just copy others.

18. Social Media is scary to you. So you do the next best thing… you ignore it.

19. You hard sell EVERYONE. Nobody cares. Put away your product or service. Can I get to know you first? I don’t give a crap if you can save me 20%.

20. You have goals. Wait. Well, you HAD goals but you didn’t write them down so…

21. You look down your nose at everyone who is younger or less experienced. You never pay them but want to share services.

22. You actually cut your marketing budget because sales are down.

23. Your Twitter account has no interaction… just a broadcast message.

24. You send an Auto-DM on Twitter. Period.

25. You cut your business cards yourself and left the tattered edges.

The best things about having a boring business is that you can change. You can turn into the vibrant and growing company that will be the pride and joy of your life. Well, other than your children or significant other.

Is Outsourcing Social Media Okay?

I have been debating for many moons on the topic of outsourcing your use of social media. I will be completely honest with you… I have not come to a conclusion. We have been through the process of completing projects for clients where we supported all the content creation and “fed” all of the social networks. The goal was to create a mass interest in a specific topic. There were some that worked but the majority of them failed. It was hard to look at a failing project that used the tools I loved so much.

What went wrong?

In the majority of the failed projects it was the issue of emotional empowerment behind a message. It was hard for an outsourced contractor to take the view of the actually company. It was hard for us to replicate the ideas and aspirations of another company without being intimately involved in the daily routine. This ultimately led to the creation of education and training materials to be used internally by corporations.

Implementing a successful social media strategy is inherently connected to the daily routine. Take Zappos for example: by empowering employees to tweet about their daily routine and add in information about the company… they found extreme success by creating a HUMAN identity (more about that later).

I am not going to sit here and condemn the act of ghost blogging. I can look at numerous examples where ghost blogging has worked to some extent. If you can find a company that intimately understands your emotional tie between your company, products, message, and services it may be an easy fit.  I do, however, condemn the act of ghost Twittering (more on that later).

In reality, the best social media communication is done by owners and employees. If you love what you do it shouldn’t be hard to scream to the heavens about your daily routine.

It is all tied to education. Educate yourself and your team on how to use the tools effectively and productively. If education and training are done the right way (with a great strategy)… you will see an increase in brand awareness and customer support without having to spend thousands of marketing dollars on outsourced implementation.

Although, it doesn’t hurt to have support it is important that YOU have a vested interest in the promotion.

What do you think? Is social media outsourcing a viable strategy?

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3 Steps to Being Productive in Social Media

Everyone loves social media. That is not the issue. There is really one huge issue that keeps individuals from using social media and that is time. Time can be an ugly thing if you are not productive with the tools and time given to you. How are you productive and manage your time effectively? I use the four-touch point model.

Step 1: Use the 4-Points Model

When using social media you should keep in mind the 4-points model. There are 4 points social media applications should touch in regards to your daily life: Business, Local Business Networking, Social, and Information. Choose four main networks where you spend the most of your time.

I use LinkedIn for business applications, Smaller Indiana for local business networking, Facebook for social application, and Twitter for information. LinkedIn can be described as my connection Rolodex. Facebook is to keep me updated on my friends and acquaintances from college and high school. Twitter is a wonderful information aggregation tool where you can follow influential people and the information they share. Smaller Indiana is a great place to connect to local professionals and share ideas on how to make Indiana a better place.

Step 2: Commit Yourself

You get what you put in. How many times have we heard that? When using social media commit to a set amount of time a week to using your applications. You will find yourself spending to much time on your applications if you fail to designate a certain amount during the week.

I try to designate an hour of each day to information sharing (writing blogs, commenting on blogs, perusing my Google Reader) and an hour a day to using my other networks (Facebook, LinkedIn, and Smaller Indiana).

Step 3: Be Authentic

I get numerous e-newsletter in my inbox everyday, most of them vary from mundane to outright boring. When posting on your social media applications, try to add some authenticity and personality to the information you are sharing. When I am reading blogs and posts on social applications the last thing I want to read is an impersonal e-newsletter. I want to know that the keystrokes behind the information is an actual person. Be personal. Be Authentic.

There are the three steps I use to get the most out of Social Media. Cheers!

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I Do Not Use Correct Punctuation. So What?

I have had a couple of conversations over the past week or so pertaining to my use of correct (or lack of) punctuation in my blog posts. There are many that have lectured me over the correct use of punctuation and grammar when writing my blog… (there it goes) simply because of my so-called lack of professionalism.

To that I say… (there it is again) So what?

There is a method to my madness and I have felt the sudden urge to try and explain myself to the masses that may not appreciate my writing technique. I would like to call this technique: the pause affect.  Notice… look closely… I used the word affect instead of effect. There is reasoning behind the use of the word that we will discuss later.

I write as though I am speaking to a group or an individual. I tend to use three periods to show a pause in my mode of speaking or an influx of emotion pertaining to a specific topic or thought. The three periods exemplify the art of a pause when speaking… because it shows a pause in a person’s thought process.

I may not use correct puntuation but isn’t the value in the overall content provided? Did the post or article help you in your quest to alleviate a certain pain in your business? We try not to judge a book by the cover and the same concept applies to blog writing. Is the content valuable?

I use the pause affect to show emotion in my posts. If you were to talk to me on the street… I pretty much speak the same way as I write.

Remember…

Content is king and if the point is being portrayed with pause and affect… isn’t there still substance?

What do you think?

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The Brains Behind Social Influence Marketing

If you are running a social media company or  thinking about implementing some type of social media strategy into your business… there is no better company to track than Razorfish. They recently released a report called Fluent which examines the possibilites of using social media influencers (like Chris Brogan and Douglas Karr) to market a product or service. The definition of social influence marketing is as follows:

Social influence marketing is about employing social media as part of the entire lifecycle of a marketing campaign, even beyond the campaign.

There is also a deeper understanding to the concept of social influence marketing (SIM). The idea that marketing has turned away from the company and now is in control of the customer (or at least soon will be) is the basis of SIM. How do you create a market when in reality… in the not-to-distant future… marketing campaigns may not exist. How do you empower certain evangelists to spread the word about your product or service and seem absolutely genuine at the same time?

Razorfish is leading the way in deciding the right form to tackle social media as part of a marketing process. I would encourage you to read the report and experience the world of social influence marketing.

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All That Matters Is Your Story

We are experiencing a change in the world of customer communication. It is no longer the company that is controlling the brand management but the consumer. Forget the concept of social media… we have been witnessing this transition for the past decade… and since the inception of the Internet as a worthwhile tool for communication.

Customers are now talking about you at a staggering pace using sites like Twitter, Facebook, Myspace and LinkedIN… and the list goes on. I was watching TV today and taking note of the increasinly terrible advertising that is taking place on the cable networks. I began to realize that I (along with millions of others) are no longer making buying decisions based on traditional advertising. You can take the definition of traditional advertising any way you want but in my terms it means old ways of doing business.

A great book to read from the Heath brothers is Made to Stick which talks about the concept of creating a story to push your company into the next decade of communication. I have read, reread, and read again the excellent points made throughout the book and began to realize one thing… if you do not create a story that your customers can retell you will lose market share steadily over the next couple of years.

We might not be seeing a steady decline because social media and the Internet is still bleeding edge when it comes to market penetration in a global sense. My question is simply this: What happens when we do reach the peak of market penetration for social media? What happens when your customers ARE using the tool and using it effectively? What do you do when you reach the point? Are you ready for the onslaught? Is your communications department familiarizing themselves with the tools?

All that matters is your story. You are going to be creating a story based on a marketing process but we might come to the point where it doesn’t matter what you want your story to be… your customers are going to create a story anyway. Experience is the key to the future of marketing and customer communication. They (your customer) are going to be talking NOT about your sales or PR release but how they personally experienced your product or service.

Are you preparing yourself for the new age of communication?

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Should You Use Social Media? Ask Your Customers.

There is one common thread that holds  the worlds of customer management and marketing together. There is one common practice that drives every live event, direct mail campaign, email marketing push, and billboard ad. It is pretty simple in the world of business communication… you go where your customer goes… you (try) to speak how you customer speaks… you live where you customer lives… you are on their turf.. you want to be in their living rooms… you want to be in their thoughts.. you want to be first thing they think of when the pain point arises.

How do you decide which avenue to use when you are developing a strategy campaign to reach your customers? Chances are… you are going to decide based on market reach and campaign costs… Your organization is going to ask itself: How do I reach the largest amount of people for the least amount of dollars? Period.

Is social media right for every business? No. However, you need to ask yourself… Are my customers on social media? Do not take advice from your own personal experiences. You may be a baby boomer business owner who has never used social media tools but you are in the minority. Baby boomers are the fastest growing demographic using social media.

The best way to find out? Ask you customer. Engage in a conversation. Do they think it would be helpful to communicate one-on-one with your employees or maybe even you?

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Iggy Pintado’s Connection Generation Review

Many of you may be connected to Iggy Pintado on Twitter: @iggypintado. He is a brilliant marketer, genius at generational marketing, and ex-IBM executive out of Australia. If you are not following him… take a second and do it. You will not regret the decision.

Iggy was kind enough to send me his book, Connection Generation, to read and contemplate. I must admit… I have had the book for a couple of months and just had the time to sit down and read it from front to back. It is awesome. I really did enjoy reading about the different levels of communication from a generational standpoint. There is going (it is happening now) a huge shift in the way people communicate over the next decade. Iggy’s book helps break down the ideas and trends that may be hurting/helping the way WE communicate in the future.

I love how Iggy breaks a part the idea of the Passive Connector.

“Passives have an understanding of communication and connection applications but choose not to prioritize them in practice as part of their day-to-day regiments. They possess a very theoretical view of the word “connection,” manifested in their frame of reference as being more CONCEPTUAL interpretation. They visualize connection as a puzzle… a connect the dots.”

The book help me pinpoint some of the ways I am communicate my overall marketing message to different individuals in the professional environment. I didn’t quite realize (to my fault) that each person has a different level of understanding when it comes to the idea of connecting.

That is just a small snippet of what I found valuable in the book. I am already starting to apply some of the ideas from the book to the way we sell, talk, and promote social media to potential clients.

Go to the website and read about the book. You will not regret it and I recommend it.

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Who Are You Targeting on Social Media?

This is an old post but has been adjusted based on conversations over the past 6 months.

Jason Baer has a great post over at Convince and Convert called the 7 Critical Elements of Your Social Media Strategy. The post is brilliant for the small business owner wanting to get more involved in social media.

Why is his post brilliant?

It talks more about the internal business development than what TOOLS you should be using.

I am all for using Twitter, Plaxo, Myspace, Facebook, and LinkedIN but if you don’t have the traditional elements of your company connected… you are going to fail.

In the post he lists the third step in the seven step process as: Where is the Audience Cyclically? This explains that there are four different relationship patterns inherent in the promotion of your company.

Awareness: Maybe heard of you. (The-Lost)

Interest: Heard of you. Visited your Site. No Purchases (Stumbler)

Action: Made a single purchase (One-Time Charm)

Advocacy: Raving Brand Lunatics. (Jackpot) (Lunatic)

I decided to re-name them and go over how they fit into the overall social media marketing strategy.

Jason suggested that you should only pick two of the 4 Customer Profiles listed above when you are planning your social media strategy. I can agree with the fact that two is more than enough but I would suggest picking only one for your social media marketing strategy.

Why Pick Only One?

If you have planned your SM strategy correctly it is a part of your overall marketing strategy. You only have a limited amount of time and resources to fully promote your business. If you can use SM marketing to only target ONE of the groups… the strategy will be stronger and more effective.

This is especially true for beginners in the world of social media. One is enough for now.

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Are You Vomiting Ideas Through Social Media?

I know. I know. This is probably not the best title to read early in the morning. For that matter, it is probably not the best post title to read any time of the day.

When writing your blog, participating in social media, or just communicating (period) it is important to remember that your readers and participants are consuming your data. There is plenty of regurgitation happening on the Internet… an idea is started on one end of the world and re-written hundreds of times. Where does the original content come from? Is there really such a thing as original content? Yes, there is and it happens from the personal realm.

Many would argue that there is no such thing as a new idea. We all write and read marketing, accounting, financing, and business content that has been hacked a part and repurposed countless times… so where does original content come from? Your personal experience.

Remember to write about what you learn on a daily basis in your business. How do YOU help your clients and customers? How did “Mary” feel about your product? How did an individual experience your thought leadership? How are you building trust?

We are all trying to produce content that people will read and share. The most original content you can create is through your personal experience. Write about what you learn, know, and experience and we will love you for it.

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