Create & Consume

Poster ads for the latest season of AMC’s Mad Men (which...

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:32:46 -0500

Poster ads for the latest season of AMC’s Mad Men (which has been some year and a half in the making) have been appearing all over New York City. And like any large, white space in the city, the posters have been promptly covered in tags and graffiti. But as you can see in the pictures, many of the street art additions have actually improved the ads.

I find it hard to believe that AMC execs purposely left the ads big and blank as an invitation for would-be Sterling Cooper Draper Price creatives, but I also think they had to know that people wouldn’t be able resist leaving a mark. Whether intentional or not, this ad campaign for a show about advertising has in itself become a commentary about the nature and effectiveness of advertising.

Genius. Meta. A little bit pretentious. Just like the show.

jaymug: Can you imagine logos telling the truth? The latest of...

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:47:00 -0500

Apple - Appearance Costs

Coca Cola - Enjoy Commercialism

Windows - Will work for a while

Marlboro - Moneywaster

Budweiser - Bellyexpander

Porsche - Penis Extender

L'Oreal - L'irreel

Crawling in the morning

jaymug:

Can you imagine logos telling the truth? The latest of the ‘Honest Logos’ series by Viktor Hertz

These are great. Give us some more!

From “Social Media Explained,” via the Forbes...

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:46:00 -0500

From “Social Media Explained,” via the Forbes Marketshare blog:

SOCIAL MEDIA EXPLAINED:

Twitter: I am eating a #hotdog

Facebook: I like hotdogs

Foursquare: Here is where I eat hotdogs

Hipstamatic: Here’s a vintage pic of my hotdog

YouTube: Here, I am eating a hotdog!

Linkedin: My skills include eating hotdogs

Spotify: Listening to Hotdog

Google+: I work at Google and eat hotdogs

I’ve been seeing this joke make the rounds for the past couple of weeks now, each time with a different main activity (“eating donuts,” “taking a pee,” etc.), but the idea still rings true. It’s a neat little package to help define and describe the “point” of social media that still somehow manages to elude so many. Plus, it good-naturedly mocks the inherent narcissism and self-promotion that goes along with so many of our digital portals… he said on his blog that was named after him.

But— I think we need to also take a look at how other, non-social forms of media might convey this same hot dog-eating idea:

TV: BUY THESE HOT DOGS! Attractive people eat them! HOT DOGS!

Radio: For your FREE hot dog, call 1-866-HOT-DOG. That’s 1-866-HOT-DOG. That number again is 1-866-HOT-DOG. Again, 1-866-HOT-DOG. Call now!

Yellow Pages: AAAA-Brand Hot Dog Sellers! “Look for the quintuple A!”

Spam: Incre@$e Y0ur H0+ D0g $ize in tw0 week$ FREE!

Telemarketer: Are you currently satisfied with your hot dog provider?

Billboard: Hot dogs.

See? These are a lot more annoying. That’s why I’ll take Instagram’s vintage hot dogs pics any day.

Ok Go - “Needing/Getting” Latest visionary video...

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 17:24:55 -0500

Ok Go - “Needing/Getting”

Latest visionary video from viral kings Ok Go, this time playing a drive-through song. I seriously think we’ll look back on all these videos years from now and marvel at how this band truly embraced and embodied the dawn of digital media. Rock on, guys.

WOOF. Triple word score. 30 points. Read it and weep.

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:39:19 -0500

WOOF. Triple word score. 30 points. Read it and weep.

How to Report the News in 2.5 Minutes Not only this completely...

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:57:36 -0500

How to Report the News in 2.5 Minutes

Not only this completely nail the various camera shots and visual illustrations (one cannot overstate the use of “fat people from the neck down” footage), but Charlie Booker delivers the entire thing in a pitch-perfect recreation of that newscaster tone.

Anyone else ever try to emulate that “up, then down” intonation that they always end with?

Does a 5-year-old understand your brandmark? This made the...

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:42:00 -0500

Does a 5-year-old understand your brandmark?

This made the rounds on the intertubes a few days ago, but it was too great not to post here. I love any kind of feedback from little kids regarding marketing and advertising, because they aren’t susceptible to the same traps of bizspeak and buzzwords that we are. Some notable moments:

How deeply-ingrained is Starbucks in our culture that even a 5-year-old can identify their logo as “the coffee place”? I literally couldn’t articulate what coffee even was at that age, let alone tell you where to get some. The fact that this little girl both knows what Starbucks is and what they sell speaks volumes about its ubiquity in our lives.

Even more impressive: correctly identifying the pretty-abstract BP logo. Wonder if the Gulf Coast spill coverage actually cemented BP into the minds of America’s youth, setting the stage for massive growth once they all start driving?

The Bank of America logo “looks like a flag.” Mission accomplished, gentlemen.

The McDonald’s logo looks like it’s made of french fries. This blew my mind. Have I been missing this connection the entire time? Again— the mind of a child providing clarity and connecting visuals in a way I never thought of myself.

All of those large cat logos really need to start differentiating themselves better.

I loved this, and would love to see more. Marketing folks with kids: can we make these videos the new “Shit ____ People Say”?

Samsung burns Apple & iPhone fanboys in a new ad for the...

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 23:47:48 -0500

Samsung burns Apple & iPhone fanboys in a new ad for the Galaxy S II.

“I could never get a Samsung, I’m creative.”

Well done, Samsung.

via.

New Old Spice ad - “Motorcycle” This is just a...

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 21:34:16 -0500

New Old Spice ad - “Motorcycle”

This is just a really entertaining ad, the latest in a seemingly never-ending string of hits for Old Spice (fresh-scented kudos to their agency of record Wieden + Kennedy). That bear is incredible.

I see these Old Spice ads as the burritos of the advertising world. Burritos are consistently delicious, not insanely earth-shattering, and still outside the food box enough to make you say, “Oh yeah, I forgot about burritos!” when deciding what to eat.

That being said, I can personally attest that Old Spice’s recent advertising resurgence has absolutely turned me into a proud customer. What can I say? I want to be the man your man could smell like.

30-Day Challenge #17

(daily posts may be brief this week due to me being back home in the great state of New Jersey, and my inability to balance lengthy blogging with GTL-ing)

“It’s a known fact in advertising circles that only idiots...

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 22:36:59 -0500

“It’s a known fact in advertising circles that only idiots click on ads — and yet advertisers still think that click-through rates mean something, and that a higher click-through rate means a better ad.”

- Wired’s Felix Salmon, “The Future of Online Advertising”

That picture above is how I’ve trained myself to see Google search results over the years, and I know I’m not alone. My selective visual filter carries over to most websites, too. The upper edges and right-side columns of content-heavy sites are almost always just piles of useless ads, moving or dancing or automatically playing audio meant to distract me from the real reason I’m on the site in the first place.

Classic paid online ads are at best unengaging and easily-ignored. They are at worst severely irritating and intrusive on my reading experience (you know those ones that start out normal sized then unexpectedly grow to engulf the entire page? Great strategy, guys). But as Felix Salmon’s excellent article above points out, they’re still the most-frequently used gadget in the online advertising toolbox. Why?

Okay, it’s true. They’re fast, easy, relatively cheap, and easily measured. Paid online ads are a great way for a brand to feel like its doing “something” online, without having to commit too much time or too many resources to the endeavor. But you reap what you sow. Like I mentioned before, consumers have trained their online eyes to ignore what they know to be of no use to them, and they’ve gotten really good at it. So what do brands do online now that paid ads are losing their luster? Simple.

Social media. Yes, the go-to. But there’s a reason for that. It’s not costly, it’s a direct pipeline to consumer feedback, and it’s still new enough that it can provide a real edge when done right. For more information on the uses of social media in marketing, see every blog online anywhere.

Third party content. In his article, Salmon mentions the ad he places for his site Counterparties. It’s not a moving picture, antiquated call to action, or dancing alien. It’s a simple widget that provides links to related content on other sites. He provides a useful service to the reader, manages to not annoy him or her, and still gets to make a good impression and track click-throughs for measurement. Example: You’re reading an article about some new feature in Photoshop. There’s a box with a Counterparties logo in the column, but it’s just displaying links to relevant creativity/software/photo-editing content elsewhere online.

Micropayments. Early in the internet’s existence, it was determined that most content would be free to access, but revenues would be derived from ads where possible. Hence the rise of the paid online ad. But we’ve since seen a different system of content support that could work: paying for good stuff in small, bite-size chunks. Look at the relatively new world off apps. It’s been proven that people are willing to pay a few dollars for something useful or fun, or download something for free and then pay to improve it (just ask Zynga). This method is beginning to leak onto the internet as a whole, with Hulu Plus and Netflix and periodical paywalls like that of the New York Times’. I think we’ll be seeing more of this in the future, as traditional online ads continue to lose effectiveness.

Online is still fairly new as an advertising medium, especially when compared to TV or print. But just as those channels have changed and evolved significantly over the years, the internet will evolve and grow and require new approaches. There’s no permanent, silver bullet, eternal solution to effective advertising. This is why branders and marketers need to constantly be driving, experimenting with, and exploring the latest innovations.

Wait, I remembered one silver bullet marketing solution: be damn good, all the time.

30-Day Challenge #17

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation - “The Virtuous...

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 21:16:12 -0500

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation - “The Virtuous Cycle”

Brief, well-designed, and very impactful short narrated by Bill Gates that was played at the recent G20 summit. It holds a number of important truths.

Innovation. Each individual person, the US as a nation, and the entire world at large really only has one long-term solution to global economic woes: We must innovate our way out. I would hazard a guess that we are already in the early stages of our next major age of innovation, spurred by the foundations and information networks provided by the rise of the internet. Now we need to create. Where is the next cotton gin, Model T, or television? For the first time ever, we can collaborate with our fellow Earthicans instantaneously. What are we making? More than sweat shop sneakers, I hope.

Good begets good. The Japan/Brazil/Mozambique example discussed in the short is a great story, and incredible support for those of the “expand the pie” mindset (rather than “take their slice”). The more information and opportunities flow through the economic channels of the world, the more we will see them grow and return in new ways. By helping developing nations with education, running small businesses, and establishing new industries, developed countries can forge important partnerships that are beneficial to all. Developed nations may even observe new innovations or ways of doing things that spring forth during these initial stages of economic development.

Keep moving forward. Things will never be what they’ve always been, and that’s been true every day since the beginning of time. We need to embrace the turns of the global tides that have already begun and figure out what’s next. But there is one important benefit in this era that humanity has never had before: the whole world is in this together.

30-Day Challenge #16

The Creative Agency as a Supplier (and what it means for Supply...

Sat, 19 Nov 2011 19:44:00 -0500

The Creative Agency as a Supplier (and what it means for Supply Chain Management)

In many large firms, the supply chain management function spends an enormous amount of time managing suppliers. This includes things like negotiating contracts for raw materials, maintaining inventory and order timelines, and measuring efficiency and costs. Keeping such a close on the supply side of the business is proven to pay big dividends.

For companies with manufactured products, the cost savings created by an efficient supply chain can often contribute more to the health of bottom line than increases in revenue yielded by marketing efforts.

These meticulously-designed supplier management processes have proven to be incredibly valuable to the firms that implement them, increasing efficiency while lowering total costs in essential areas of the business. But which department is most often labeled “inefficient,” frequently has its effectiveness called into question, and is first on the chopping block when it comes to cutting costs? Marketing. Which is why we need to start treating marketing providers like suppliers.

Manufacturing-heavy companies should take the same supplier management concepts applied to the back end of their supply chains and apply them forward to creative suppliers like internal marketing departments, creative consultants, and advertising agencies. Here’s why:

Supply chain as a marketable advantage. The sourcing function within a given supply chain management team can work with creative suppliers to highlight back-end benefits and supply chain advantages that are unfamiliar to the marketing functions.

Advertising campaigns are often based on a unique component of the production process that separates the product from its competition. This difference is then highlighted as a benefit or a “reason to believe” in marketing communications. Budweiser’s beer is “beachwood aged,” and other beers aren’t. Who knows what it means, but it’s a unique aspect of Budweiser’s production. Wendy’s burgers use ”fresh, never frozen beef patties.” This tagline emphasizes a success of the restaurant’s supply chain, while also implying that other restaurants do freeze their meat.

What gets measured, gets done. Supply chain management teams evaluate all suppliers using scorecards with standardized metrics for success, costs, efficiency, and more. Marketing suppliers can be evaluated on these same principles, which can help to alleviate the long-standing grievance that it’s almost impossible to ever tell if the marketing team is doing anything. The creative scorecard could include a number of relevant metrics:

•Number of staff members/hours/other resources devoted to account

•Awards won by agency / “creativity” metric

•Increases in revenue thanks to marketing efforts (difficult to measure, but becoming easier if promotions and sales are tracked online)

Applying supply chain management principles to creative suppliers can clearly help to better measure effectiveness and manage costs. There is one major problem, however: Marketing doesn’t like it.

Members of the marketing team, advertising agencies, and other creative suppliers will almost always resist being treated like another node in the supply chain. “You can’t rush the creative process, it’s about the work, etc.” These are valid complaints, but they are only self-defeating in the end.

Creating a good ad campaign is really different than providing raw wheat gluten for processing. But if creative suppliers want to stand up for themselves, demonstrate their value, and stay off the table the next time budget cuts come around, they need to be willing to join the supply chain and prove their worth.

30-Day Challenge #15

You, your product, and your brand are not at the center of the...

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 23:21:18 -0500

You, your product, and your brand are not at the center of the solar system.

When working in marketing or advertising, the brand is all-consuming. You think about it constantly— how to improve it, how it compares to competition, how and why people do or don’t choose it. This quickly becomes an involuntary process, kind of like the Tetris effect. (Definition: “When people devote sufficient time and attention to an activity that it begins to overshadow their thoughts, mental images, and dreams.”)

This is great for you. You’re passionate, you’re deeply ingrained in the work, and you’re devoted to achieving results. The only problem is that no one but you is thinking about the brand this way.

The product is the center of your universe. But for your customers, it might be more like Europa, ice-laden second of the four Galilean moons of Jupiter. As in, a very small celestial body in the grand solar system of their everyday lives. And that’s okay! People can’t live their lives in a constant state of admiration for their dish soap. But you need to know your brand’s place in the sky in order to effectively communicate with your target market.

Keep your brand in perspective. How is it used by consumers? Why do they like it? What are the everyday situations in which it is used? Figure out which corner of life your brand occupies and completely own that space. If your product is a simple solution to a common annoyance, accept it and own it with authority, evidence, and humor.

30-Day Challenge #14

Admitting that your brand sucks may be the only way to save...

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 20:29:00 -0500

Admitting that your brand sucks may be the only way to save it.

One of the hardest things to do in marketing is to look at your brand objectively and try to see the flaws in it. This is your baby, your DNA. You spend 23 hours a day thinking about it and obsessing over it to make sure that every hair is in place and its outfits are perfect and everything is up to par. Yet, the kids at school just might not like it. Maybe they’re just bullies.

If it keeps happening, you might have to take off your love blinders and see what everyone else sees: your brand sucks. And the only way to make it better is admitting that to yourself and, quite possibly, the entire student body.

Remember Domino’s Pizza Turnaround? After a huge PR scandal following a viral video with two disgruntled employees adding some “special bodily sauces” to pizzas in the kitchen, Domino’s seized the opportunity to launch a campaign based on one simple fact: You think our pizza is bad, and we hear you.

They highlighted scathing reviews on national commercials, featured heartbroken corporate chefs vowing to do better next time, and promised that change was coming to your friendly neighborhood cardboard pizza joint. After years of ignoring all the brand bashing that was happening, Domino’s finally listened (thanks in no small part to the enhanced consumer insights provided by social media feedback) and admitted they had a problem with their product.

What happened next was amazing. Domino’s went to great lengths to reboot their recipe from scratch and create something delicious, all the while keeping customers posted via Facebook updates, Tweets, YouTube videos, and TV commercials. Their honesty and transparent commitment to fixing what was broken paid off: the brand just reported same-store quarterly sales gains of 14%, one of the highest ever for a fast-food restaurant chain.

Bottom line— “Our pizza was bad, we fixed it, please give us another chance.” AND IT WORKED. Here’s how to do the same for your brand:

Swallow your pride. Be smart enough to realize when things are broken, and just admit it. there’s no shame in starting over.
Focus on the feedback. What are your customers saying? Be sure to incorporate their ideas and thoughts into your plan to un-suck your brand. It shows that you’re not only listening, but that you value their opinions.
Show, don’t tell. Talk is cheap. You can take out ads explaining your relaunch plan or write lengthy “vision statements,” but those hold zero interest to anyone looking to buy something. What exactly have you changed, and why is it better than before? Demonstrate.

Everyone loves a comeback, right?

30-Day Challenge #13

Small Business Saturday on November 26 (Presented by American...

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 11:33:00 -0500

Small Business Saturday on November 26 (Presented by American Express)

Growing up in New Jersey, I spent the school year in a fairly typical suburban area. Aside from the “3 Square Jersey Meals” combo of bagel shops/pizzerias/diners, most businesses were not of the local variety. We didn’t really have a “main street” with shops and restaurants and general stores. The smallest grocery store around was the Super Shop-Rite. Most towns in the area were the same way. You got a chain grocer, a chain restaurant (maybe two), a video store, and a big box. That’s just how suburban sprawl goes, I guess. For most the year, I was barely aware that small businesses even existed.

But each summer, I’d spend 3 months living at the Jersey shore. The little oceanfront hamlets crowded together at the Atlantic’s edge, some towns smaller than one square mile. The houses were closer to one another. The trees were taller, and sometimes they even made canopies over the street (something we didn’t see much back home). You could ride your bike everywhere. People had beautiful front porches, and actually sat on them and acknowledged their neighbors as they passed by.

Most importantly: there was a main street. With businesses! Local ones! Little shops and cafes occupying storefronts deemed too small for the national chains, serving as meeting spots and neighborhood destinations and pleasant distractions after a day at the beach. The small businesses at the center of each shore point are what pulled the towns together; they helped coalesce the throngs of tourists and locals alike into a true community, bonded around the goods, services, and experiences served up on Main Street.

Good on American Express for organizing and promoting Small Business Saturday. Black Friday has become a consumer gorge-fest of obscene proportions, in which big box stores like Best Buy and Walmart open at midnight to hundreds of rabid customers and people are literally trampled to death. Given my digital inclinations, I’m a big fan of Cyber Monday, but you can’t say it does anything to support your local economy (not that that’s a pre-requisite for shopping, but its nice to have). Beyond the political talking point-ness of the statement, small businesses really are an important part of our communities that deserve and need our support.

Through its OPEN Forum targeted at connecting entrepreneurs with one another and providing small business advice, American Express has recently positioned its brand as a best friend to business owners. By focusing on this important, growing, and beloved segment of the population, AmEx can implant itself into the DNA of these small businesses. As they grow and become more profitable, AmEx will continue to be seen as a trusted partner and adviser and reap the benefits of their success. “We’ve been with you all along,” is a powerful brand statement.

AmEx’s Small Business Saturday is a great example of a brand doing something that is both good for business and good for the world. I know I’ll be shopping local on the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend, and I hope you do the same.

30-Day Challenge #12

Consume of the Day: 7-11 Coffee (aka Energy Nectar of the...

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 23:26:00 -0500

Consume of the Day: 7-11 Coffee (aka Energy Nectar of the Gods).

I’ve always had a soft spot for 7-11. Sure, it doesn’t have the epileptic, flashy WALL-E style future motif of Sheetz. It doesn’t inspire the fervent hometown passion of Wawa (Fact: Wawa has provided out-of-state college students from Jersey with over 500,000 hours of first-week-of-the-semester bonding conversation). The staff isn’t forced to yell “See you next time!” when you leave like they do at Quiktrip.

BUT— I grew up with 7-11 as my regional convenience store of choice, and the affection has stayed with me. In recent years, though, I’ve come to discover that 7-11 truly has something the other chains don’t: the best roadside coffee known to man.

Things I love about 7-11 coffee:

Flavors that taste like flavors. You can actually taste the hazelnut in their hazelnut brew without adding in gross syrups or un-refrigerated mini-cups of flavored creamer. They have a chocolate raspberry brew that, even without milk or sugar, tastes better than any fancy mocha-full-whip-half-caf-machiccino Starbucks can make you for $5.89 a pop. Taste always wins, and 7-11 wins.
It’s cheap. At the 7-11 near my apartment an extra large coffee costs exactly $2, and will last you all morning. That’s a damn good deal, end of story.
“The brew is strong in this one.” 7-11 coffee is a force to be reckoned with. It’s not necessarily on the level of the jet fuel you might custom brew at home for an all-nighter (although they do have an “energy fusion” flavor that features the same herbal wakey-wakeys found in energy drinks), but it’s stronger than your average cup of watery convenience store sludge.
You can be a coffee chemist. You get to pour your own coffee from all the flavors 7-11 offers, so the possibilities for experimentation are endless. My personal go-to brew? Fill the cup 3/4 with the french vanilla roast, then top it off with a few hits from the automatic cappuccino dispenser. Add nothing else. It’s a little creamy and a little sweet with the same kick as a standard cup. Note: I have recently amended my current go-to to include the seasonal pumpkin spice flavors. My god are they good. It’s like Charlie Brown summoned the Great Pumpkin himself to come and personally infuse my beverage with his gourdy goodness each morning. Chuck, you glorious blockhead.

I can’t explain why 7-11’s coffee stirs such feelings within me. They don’t go overboard in advertising it, and when they do they pretty much just hype up the fact that it’s a good value. I’ve never seen the brand hold taste tests or make claims on how 7-11’s coffee stands up against competitors’. Surely brands can’t inspire passion in their people without a concerted effort, so why do I love it so much?

I sort of discovered 7-11 coffee on my own. Once I found out I liked it, I would get some whenever I had a chance. Eventually, I began making trips to 7-11 specifically for coffee. Then I started telling others about it, as my recently-indoctrinated friend Vibha can attest. Now I’m writing about it on here. And they never even asked me to!

My affinity for the brand grew completely organically, without 7-11 forcing it in any way. They provide me with a great product at a great value, every single time I go there. It takes hard work, commitment to quality, and flawless consistency in delivery… but that is truly how one inspires brand loyalty. It’s the oldest, ultimate, purest form of branding, and it will never be unseated or replaced.

Damn I want some coffee.

30-Day Challenge #11

Incredible reference infographic (via I’m Not Social) on...

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 10:43:00 -0500

Incredible reference infographic (via I’m Not Social) on which factors influence your page’s SEO ranking, and by how much. This should be taped to every digital marketer’s desk!

My one criticism is that some of the most important factors are a little bit nebulous— for example, I think everyone wants to produce quality content, but how do we really measure that? However, as a general guide of “things to keep in mind” when creating content online, this chart rocks.

You can see that content and sharing/linking are just about the most influential variables when it comes to SEO. More evidence that the internet rewards two things above all else: quality content and engagement. There’s no fast lane to success. Those two pieces of your overall online strategy are essential and they take time and dedication to build.

Here are a few other “elements” that I personally enjoy, and think deserve some more attention:

Hd (Description): The meta tags in your site’s HTML are one of the easiest and most effective ways to help ensure that your content gets found for the right reasons. Many content creators don’t know about much meta tags because it begins to get into the “code-y” part of digital marketing, and they’re missing out on tons of opportunities for improving search traffic. Including a meta tag on each of your pages helps search engines know what they’re looking at when they see your content. For example, “Online library of taco recipes, Mexican dishes, and meal ideas” would help your page be identified as a good match for searches like “taco meals” or “Mexican recipe library.” Meta tags aren’t a guaranteed ticket to the top of The Google, but they are way useful in tandem with other elements!
Lq (Quality): This element measures the quality of the incoming links to your site. Which pages are linking to your content, and how are they each ranked by search engines? If you’re getting linked to by high-quality, high-traffic outlets like CNN, Mashable, or other popular sites, you’re golden. The tough thing is getting those links. That can really only be done through the production AND promotion of high-quality content. Be good and be loud, and you’ll be found!
Vs (Stuffing): Don’t you dare do this in your digital marketing or branding content! This is when digital marketers “stuff” tons of desired branding keywords into their digital marketing and/or branding content in order to artificially inflate their search rankings! They think it’s a cheap and fast way to increase effectiveness of their digital marketing and branding efforts, but it really pisses off the digital marketing and branding communities! Digital marketing. Branding.

If you’re new to SEO and online content creation, check out the chart and get acquainted with a few of modern marketing’s closest friends. If SEO is your bread and butter, leave a tip or two and teach me the ways of the Force!

30-Day Challenge #10

Is Discipline the Key to Creativity?

Sun, 13 Nov 2011 18:22:00 -0500

I’ve been working on this 30-Day Challenge for just over a week now, and I’m very happy with the results so far. This little blog has gotten a lot more traffic than normal (hey, going from 3 to 15 hits per day is still a 500% increase!), I’ve gotten some really positive feedback from friends, classmates, and family, and I can definitely feel the benefits of just practicing writing on a daily basis.

All of this got me thinking: the increases in creativity, productivity, and positivity I felt this past week were all thanks to a simple self-imposed mandate to post here everyday. And by sticking to it, I’ve seen almost immediate returns. Discipline might just be the key to success.

Every successful person, company, entity, and brand I can think of practices some form of discipline in order to achieve their desired results. Zappos requires that all new employees go through 4 weeks of customer service training (i.e. working the call center) before they start their “real jobs,” ensuring that the brand’s commitment to service is embodied in every single representative, regardless of job title. In Microsoft’s first five years of operation, Bill Gates personally reviewed every line of code the company shipped out, often rewriting entire portions as he saw fit. Successful people and brands all make a conscious, specific effort to DO SOMETHING and do it relentlessly. Discipline yields results.

I’m by no means an expert at self-discipline, but this little 30-day experiment has already shown me that discipline is very closely correlated with routine and/or structure. Each day this week, I knew I would have to post at some point. This got my creative juices flowing, and I was more open to inspiration because of it.

Also, it makes sense that some sort of simple self-imposed structure would help spur productivity. Once that basic framework is established, it becomes much easier to imagine new offshoots or additions building off of it. You don’t have to start from the ground up each day, so you can hit the ground running. Instead of my usual thoughts of, ”Should I post today?,” I’ve been thinking, “What will I post today?” The structure precludes the idea of not writing something, which automatically vaults me over my biggest hurdle.

In business school, we’ve often been told about the importance of clearly-defined strategies, plans, SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-bound), and a multitude of other “formulas for success.” These kinds of things, aside from sounding like the typical motivational speaker-esque corporate BS, are a big jump for most people. All of a sudden, you’re going to start measuring every goal or decision you make? Not likely. BUT— a simple routine or element of self-discipline can be a much easier way to enter into that realm of “making good things happen for yourself.” If you want to write, make yourself write every day. If you want to make tons of money investing, set aside time to research trends and educate yourself.

Incorporating some kind of discipline or framework into your everyday life is the first step towards that sort of conscious decision-making I mentioned earlier. It starts you on a proactive path where you have influence and control over what happens to you, instead of the reactive path inhabited by many people who always seem to be just barely keeping up with their own lives.

A simple form of daily discipline will yield immediate, observable results. Try your own 30-day challenge. Promise yourself to actually take a step towards something you’ve wanted that you’ve been putting off. The key is that we have to consciously decide to begin this process. It will NEVER just happen on its own.

30-Day Challenge #9

Big Corporations: Y U No Use Social Media?

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 21:29:00 -0500

Apparently, social media use among major corporations is on the decline. According to a new study, only about 60% of Fortune 500 companies use Twitter and/or Facebook to further brand interaction… and even more surprising, only 25% of the Fortune 500 maintain a company blog. Why have big brands seemingly given up on social media?

Lack of immediate returns. It’s the question every social media enthusiast dreads: “What’s the ROI on this stuff?” What’s the ROI on your office phone, Chairman? Social media is a tool that brands can use to engage with their customers immediately, frequently, and meaningfully. It’s not a simple investment with a set end date that will magically make you rich. It’s an ongoing method of communication with the people who write your paychecks: the consumers.
They don’t want to associate with “bad” comments. Big companies take big risks when they expose their brands to the potential slings and arrows of the social media community. A few negative comments might pop up on your Facebook wall. You might even see a critical Tweet or two. But while you may feel like these “negative” interactions are hurting your brand, wouldn’t you rather be a part of the dialogue than not? At least you have the chance to respond, refute, and repent if you’re in the game. Discussion of your brand is going to happen whether you want it to or not. You may as well be in the fray.
It’s too hard to keep up. Do we need a Google+ profile? What’s foursquare and why does it matter? How do we engage our Facebook fans on a daily basis? This point is actually quite justified— it’s difficult to create and master a social media voice for brands. There are quite a few moving parts, and those parts are ever-changing. But one way that Big Brands can stay on top of things is by declaring and owning one or two different channels. If you want to be a Facebook/Twitter brand, then share and comment your heart out. If you want to own blogging and thought leadership, post regular high-quality updates and engage on similar industry blogs. Yes, it’s tough to keep up with the latest social media trends. But if you pick one outlet for your brand to master and completely own it, your customers will see that you’re serious.

While it may seem like the “social media for big brands” fad is waning, I think it’s just a reorganization of priorities. They’ve all seen how these tools work, and (hopefully) they have people on staff who know how to utilize them for maximum efficiency. Facebook isn’t right for every brand. Twitter can’t be a unilaterally helpful marketing application. It’s up to each individual brand to reflect and determine which aspects of social media are most useful to them. Once we reach this next plane of adoption, I think we’ll be seeing some of the most interesting and unique social media efforts that big brands have launched yet.

30-Day Challenge #8

Gen Y wants to be the next great wave of entrepreneurs. One...

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 17:16:00 -0500

Gen Y wants to be the next great wave of entrepreneurs. One problem: We don’t know anything.

I read this article today about a recent poll of over 800 of my fellow millenials, which revealed that 54% of us either want to start a business or already have. That’s a lot of aspiring entrepreneurs, but the reasoning is easy to understand:

We’ve watched our parents get laid off by the thousands. We know how quickly big corporations can turn on longtime employees in times of economic hardship. We don’t want to put our livelihoods in the hands of a global brand and a faceless board of directors.
We can’t find work. The current recession has made it extremely difficult to find solid, well-paying careers in our fields of interest or expertise. Solution? Make our own jobs. “Freelance cultural anthropologist for hire!”
Production is dead. Long live digital. Today’s successful businesses seem like they’d be easy to replicate. With the MyFaceTwiTubeSquares raking in billions without so much as a physical product, who needs to “make” anything anymore? I’m a social media digital brand consultant focused on user-end applications and value-driven content aggregation. Pay me now.
Success is (seemingly) everywhere. Stories of enterprising young people skyrocketing to business leadership —and Scrooge McDuck-esque swimming pools of money— have been hard-wired into our brains, and we use their products everyday. Mark Zuckerberg became an overnight success off of a few all-nighters and some lines of code, right? Not right. But we all think we can, and should, be next.

Who can blame Gen Y for wanting to embrace the entrepreneurial spirit? We’re having trouble getting hired by other people, stories of digital entrepreneurship success are all around us, and the tools to create are literally at our fingertips everyday. But the actual stuff it takes to build a real, live, successful company— relentless perseverance, managerial know-how, and capital SWEET LORD THE CAPITAL… these things evade us.

Gen Y has had it easy up until now. Everything was rec soccer, Fruit Roll-Ups, and MarioKart until it came time for us to get jobs. And as Occupy Wall Street can attest, that sucks. This recession is the first thing we’ve ever had to survive. We’re still learning the whole “never give up” thing, an essential part of any entrepreneur’s genetic makeup.
We don’t know how to manage people yet. Gen Y hasn’t had the practical business experience required to get a start-up off the ground. And while the entrepreneurial playground is a great place to experiment and learn and fail and try again, we can’t afford the luxury of messing up because—
We can’t get capital. Bottom line? Lenders aren’t lending these days. So aside from the three F’s (family, friends, and fools), we don’t have anyone to hit up for seed money to get these businesses off the ground. Not to mention the fact that most banks probably wouldn’t grant a small business loan to a 23-year-old whose strongest skill is “#IronicHashtagDesign.”

We’re still young. We’re looking for our unique path to success. I have no doubt that Gen Y’s sociability and penchant for technology will serve us well as we craft our collective economic future, but it’s a little early to call us a generation of entrepreneurs. As it stands right now, “aspiring entrepreneur” is kind of our only option other than “unemployed.” That’s a gross generalization, but you know what I mean.

The entrepreneurial spark is bright in Gen Y, but it will ultimately manifest itself not in the number of businesses we start, but in the way we eventually interact and work within our future companies. We value autonomy, transparency, and respect— and we’ve already seen these qualities manifest in the young start-ups that have found success with millenials. We may not all become entrepreneurs, but give us some time to ripen and we’ll be more entrepreneurial than any generation before us.

30-Day Challenge #7