What are you doing differently than everyone else?

Image via Wikipedia

Lately, I have started to see many people using the same tired tactics as part of their marketing strategy.

They go to events and live tweet the whole thing.  Then, they go home and write up a summary blog post of the event.  Then they proceed to tweet the blog post four times a day for the next three days.

Retails that run through a series of percentage discounts and frivolous add-ons in order to create the appearance of value in an offer.

Instead of going back to the same old tactics, I would spend a few minutes thinking about:

• Is there an alternative way to promote this that I haven't done before?
• Is there an interesting new form of content I could develop to make myself stand out?

I think that marketers (and I might also be included here) go back to the same old stuff in the hopes of getting a new and better result.  In the end, we never get any better and instead just move sideways.

There is no place for brands in social media

Image via Wikipedia

Everyone loves to talk about how brands can use social media to engage with potential and/or current customers.  Consultants, agencies and outsourcing firms earn thousands (if not millions) of dollars helping brands achieve some level of engagement through social media.

I think any brand looking to engage an audience social media is wasting their time because there is no place for brands in or on social media.  

I firmly believe there is a place for PEOPLE, and so I believe the focus of any brand wanting to get into social media should be:

1. Finding the right people to represent your brand
2. Creating a culture and processes that allow them to be themselves 
3. Developing mechanisms to capture, retain and nurture relationships
4. Being consistent in your approach

My advice for William and Kate

Had another post in the can for today but an interview on CBC with Diana's royal photographer had me thinking about a few things that I thought would apply to William and Kate.



Much of the discussion was about physical touch.  In case you didn't know, you're not supposed to touch a member of the Royal family, unless they reach out to you.  Back in 1987, it was a big deal when Diana touched the hand of an AIDS patient.  There was also a big discussion back in 2009 when Michelle Obama touched the Queen. 


My advice: Reach out and touch the people.

I believe that in a world where people are becoming closer than they ever have, I would hope that William and Kate harness the power of human touch to create intimacy.  I worry that the Royals are completely out of touch normal people and I happen to think that touch can go along way.

At the same time, I worry that Royals are completely behind the times in terms of new media and social media.  They have a Twitter account but follow NOT ONE PERSON and generally just spew messages into the void.  

My advice: Embrace new media and social media

If you want to communicate with people, real people, get out there and engage with them using all of the new media and social platforms available.  I can only imagine what an impact it would have if they were to produce short Youtube videos messages after their wedding.

Personally, it is hard for me to feel any connection to the Royal family.  I am more concerned with how I might pay for my own wedding someday. 

Planting thorny shrubs to deter burglars... or the declining value of a "tip"

Image via Wikipedia

I'm not really sure what a "tip" really is anymore.  

Take this amazingly impractical nugget of home security wisdom:  Plant thorny bushes or cacti around your house to deter burglars. 

I read this on Discovery's Channel's site.   

However it must be a popular tip because the BBC reported on it. 


Given the number of blogs I see turning out the classic "X tips" posts, I  have to wonder.

What is a tip anymore?  A useless and trite piece of info written by a link baiter?

Why is it so hard to measure activity/influence on Twitter?

Being able to measure influence or activity on Twitter is a really big problem. 

Brands spend lots of money, in form of hours, interacting with people on Twitter.  Of course, they like to have something to show for that investment so there is a need to measure that activity and determine some type of ROI.

I'm not going to get into the whole ROI of social media debate but I'm going to say this right now:

Measuring activity and influence on Twitter is hard because it's just like trying to measure how somebody works a room at a networking event.  

I believe that it is best to use a combination of quantitative and qualitative data. 

Here's why:

Looking at number of followers and or following can be misleading. 

Klout score can be misleading. 

Reach-type numbers can be misleading. 

Why you need to support your local library

Image by George Eastman House via Flickr

If you read this blog with any regularity, you know that I'm a frequent visitor to and supporter of public libraries.

In 2011, I hear people talking about books more than I can ever remember.  Books in the iPad, audio books on Audible, books in the Kindle, but what I don't hear people talking about is the public library.

The reality is that your public library is much more than books but here are some reasons why you need to visit and support your public libraries.

It's convenient: Most libraries have a system that lets you reserve books online and have them delivered to your local branch.  You get an email when the book is ready and all you have to do is go in and pick it up.  At the library nearest to my apartment, I can even check books out without waiting in line.  It takes only a few minutes.

It's cheap: Given the number of books that I read each year, if I was to buy them all, I'd probably be out close to $500.   My library lets me read as many books as I can handle - for free.

It's digital: That's right, it's not just physical materials anymore.  Chances are your local library has a digital collection of movies, ebooks and music that you can download. 

I would also like to mention that your local library might also carry software.  Computers for Communities, I non-profit that I volunteer with, recently donated 10 copies of Ubuntu to the Ottawa Public Library.

Visit your library and let me know what you think...

Related articles

• Love your library (lizfountain.wordpress.com)
• The Future Of Libraries In The E-Book Age : NPR (npr.org)
• 10 Reasons Why You Should Go to Your Public Library (couponshoebox.com)

What I've been reading

Here's a few quick reviews of what I've been reading lately:

Gary Vaynerchuk "Crush It"




Scott Stratten's "UnMarketing"

I had to wait on this book at the library for about six months, so it was certainly a book I was looking forward to reading it once it came in. 

Cover via Amazon

If the title didn't give it away, this book is really all about relationship management.  Like Joe Jaffe,Stratten is a firm believe that "retention is the new acquisition" and that your business needs to find a way to connect with consumers in a human way and then turn them into customers.

What's really great about this book is that Scott shares his own experiences, including the mistakes, and what he's learned.  The book has lots of short chapters and is written a really no-nonsense way that I really enjoyed.

Worth your time, for sure. 

Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson's "Rework"

Imagine a workplace where you don't have meetings, you don't waste your time writing documents that nobody ever reads and you are able to leave at 5pm.  Welcome to the world of 37Signals and "Rework", and much of the book can be read at that link. 

Cover of Rework

37Signals is known primarily for its work on Basecamp, a simple and easy to use project management program.  Based on the experience with that product and many others, Jason and David have cataloged everything they have learned into this short, but awesome, book.

I am not entirely sure that everyone is ready for the knowledge that is contained in this book because many of the recommendations are fairly radical but it will certainly get you thinking about how you and your office works and ways you could be more productive. 

Related articles

• Gary Vaynerchuk - The Thank You Economy (owengreaves.com)
• UnMarketing, by Scott Stratten - FIR book review (translucid.ca)
• In Conversation With Gary Vaynerchuk (twistimage.com)
• Scott Stratten Put the Bliss in Blissdom (planetpookie.com)
• UnMarketing. Stop marketing. Start engaging. Scott Stratten (regnordman.com)

Why everybody needs to see stand up comedy at least once

A few days ago, I finally made it out to a comedy night at Yuk Yuk's in Ottawa. I was with a few other friends to see Brian Alkerton and a bunch of other stand up comedians as part of "locals night".

I have always wanted to see a live stand up comedy show and I was really excited.  Oddly enough, I found that I learned a few things that led me to realize that everyone needs to go to see a comedy night at least once.  Here's why:

1) Everyone needs to laugh
Forget about the health benefits of laughing for a moment and realize that we often take ourselves way to seriously.  Also, it's been a fairly heavy week with the earthquake in Japan and nuclear aftermath.  It really felt good to get out and put everything else aside for a while and be swept up in the contagious laughter of a room full of people that have come together to have a good time.  Laughing makes you feel like you're alive, and during times like theses, that's something to celebrate.

2)  Getting over your fears
I can only imagine the courage it takes a comedian to get up on stage.  In many cases, they are speaking about their own lives and letting us take a peak into their inner thoughts and anxieties.  The act of exposing your inner-most self is never easy to do and I couldn't help but tell myself "If they muster the courage to do that, then you can surely summon the courage to tackle a few things that you are scared of".   Watching comedians helps you realize that in order to push yourself forward, you need to take risks.

3) Always look on the bright side
There were a number of comics that spoke very openly (and often in an extremely humorous way) about their problems and/or shortcomings.  In some cases, the source of their material was extremely heartbreaking.  What was amazing was that these comics were able to see enough humor in the situation that they seemed to be able to turn it into something positive. We could all learn from this and stop letting the bad things in our lives hold us down or hold us back.  Instead why not try to see the bright side and turn something negative into something positive.

4) Do something new
I believe that most people have a very narrow list of things to do in their spare time.  They go to dinner, go for a walk, go to a movie and then go home.  Everyone once and a while, find your local even listings and randomly pick something you wouldn't normally do and see what happens.  You might learn something new, meet some cool people or have your thoughts expanded.  Going to a comedy night certainly did this for me!

Have you ever been surprised by what you've learned from attending a random event?

Related articles

• Stand-Up Comedians to Receive Free Psychological Treatment at Hollywood's Laugh Factory (foxnews.com)
• Hecklers and the Comedians Who Shut Them Up (splitsider.com)

I'm bored and I'm getting tired

Image via CrunchBase

I'm sorry.

This post is going to sound really negative but I'm finding myself really bored and I'm tired of seeing some things over and over.

I'd say that I see them in social media or marketing but the truth is that everything is just one big pile these days and so I'd like to just call it life.

I'm tired of seeing:

People who claim to be "into" social media:  If you have to make this claim, you're probably lying.  I see people all the time who to try to sell themselves to others as bloggers who never blog.   I can tell you never blog because I went to your blog and can see that you blog once in a blue moon.  I ended up on your blog not because I googled you but because you linked to it somewhere next to where you claimed to be a blogger.  Same goes for people who claim to be "into" Twitter who never tweet or who joined in the last six months.  It's like saying I'm an expert sushi chef after I make my first dragon roll.  Just because you say something, doesn't mean it's true.  If you're really into something and really good at it, we can tell and we know it just by looking at you.

Blogging/tweeting recaps of events:  I know that this is a great way to get visibility and that people who aren't at events can still learn but every single time there is an event, I have to see hundreds of tweets about the event and then hundreds of tweets that promote posts summarizing the event.  Why not try to bring something different to the table and talk about something different.  Riff on the topics or speakers.  Tell me something I couldn't have learned from being there or something different from what other people are doing -which to be honest is just reporting.  I know there are people who will argue me on this one but I just see the same "tactics" over and over again and the execution is starting to bore me. 

101 Discussions:  I can't stand going to events, reading content or listening to events that give you 101 level advice about a topic.  Often we see the X things you need to know or the X reasons why you need to do Y type topics and they are driving me up the wall.  It's 2011 and if you aren't doing some things in social media, marketing or communications, then you need to get your head checked, get a new job, retire or step aside because here's a little nugget for you "the pace of change is quickening and if you're still working on a Web2.0 strategy you're going to be miss Web3.0".  I'll send you a postcard from Web 4.0, send me your address.

Anyways, sorry for the rant.  I owe you a beer if we ever meet.

Marketers suck at marketing marketing

Great discussion between Mullen's Edward Boches and Twist Image's Mitch Joel on this week's Six Pixels podcast.  If you aren't following Edward or reading his blog, you really should.

There's a great line where Mitch says "Marketers are really terrible at marketing marketing" and it's totally something that I agree with.  (it's just after the 21 minute mark).

It's such a shame because marketing is such a dynamic field that can be both creative and analytical.  

Here's why I think marketers suck at marketing marketing:

1) Because marketing is everything.
Marketing is such a wide field that it's hard to describe to people.  It's not one specific thing, it's many things and each of those elements are so different that they have little in common.  Looking at just online marketing, you have social, search, email, web, inbound and how many other tactics and each one in itself is meaty enough to sustain a whole ecosystem.  While there are certain things that apply to all of them, each requires a fairly different set of skills and this makes it difficult describe to people.

2) Because it has a bad reputation.
Years of cold calls, link baiting, spam and crappy execution has given the field a bad name.  Who grows up wanting to be a telemarketer anyway?

3) Because most marketers suck at it.
Marketers can't market the field of marketing because they are just shitty marketers, which is often why most marketers can't sell themselves.  It always kills me to see marketing people who can't sell the most important product - themselves.  You often find people in marketing (and this is mentioned in the podcast) who have no background or training in marketing.  Sure it was a course they took in their MBA but then they fall into a marketing role and all of a sudden they are a "marketer".

4) Because it's hard
Marketing is hard stuff to do right.  It's easy to do terribly but really hard to do right.  The world around us moves so fast that if describe marketing as trying to hit a target in the middle of hurricane.  Anyone can buy ad space and put up an ad but very few can make it convert.  You have to be able to formulate a strategy based on research, experience and gut instinct and go for it.  So when it comes to marketing marketing, we don't do a good job as marketers because frankly, it's hard to marketing marketing.

5) Because most people have no idea what it is
This relates to my first point but people can't sell marketing because they have no idea what it is (it's everything).  I'm still convinced that most people confuse advertising and marketing.  I once saw a group of students in an advertising class do a final presentation of a marketing strategy for TSN instead of doing an advertising strategy. They almost failed.  That's a true story and you should ask me about it sometime because it's pretty funny.

Why do you think most marketers suck at marketing marketing?  And how many times do you think you can use marketing is a sentence?

Related articles

• The Future Of Marketing Innovation (twistimage.com)
• Edward Boches Inteview on SteveGarfield.tv (offonatangent.blogspot.com)
• Book Review: Six Pixels of Separation: Everyone Is Connected. Connect Your Business to Everyone. 9780446548229: Mitch Joel: Books (chimac.net)