Passed an important marketing test…

Helped my 3rd grade son get elected to class representative.

I was nervous, but fortunately he came through.

Truly team effort as NFO and his sisters did the bulk of the work.

Still, I felt my rep was on the line!

The Day I Discovered My Marketing Calling

I write this on a flight back from London, which provides ample opportunity for reflection.

I’ve been thinking about my career path and chosen field and why I got into it.

Certainly, hearing Todd Newfield speak when I lived in Japan was a seminal moment. One that was further catalyzed when he instructed me to read my first marketing book, Peppers and Rodgers’ The One-to-One Future.

Intellectually, I was hooked.

But, there was a moment a few years later when I was working at Snickelways and we had a client called Quantum Cycles (I’m still in touch with one of the clients from that assignment) and they instructed us to come down to Florida to observe Daytona Bike Week. They wanted us to understand the mentality of the customer to whom they were selling.

At one point, we entered a drugstore. Not a chain, kind of a five-and-dime variety.

As I walked the aisle, I found myself behind a man who fit every stereotype there was about a redneck/biker.

Dirty jeans, long, greasy hair, worn boots and a mesh baseball cap.

He also had a jean jacket where the sleeves had been cut off, showing his arms.

On his left and right triceps were tattooed-in kind of a gothic/old English style, the words “Harley” and “Davidson,” respectively.

I was mesmerized and I felt an emotional jolt that lit up the intellectual wood which had been gathering.

I distinctly remember thinking to myself, “I don’t know what it is that motivates someone to tattoo the name of a company on their body, but that’s what I want to figure out.”

So, while the tangible goal might be to have someone so passionate about Sprinklr or Never Stop Marketing or whatever company, product, service I am marketing at the time, that they will tattoo it on their bodies, the real goal is to understand the human condition on such a deep level as to understand the Why.

It’s a long run and I’m not there yet, but that’s just how I seek to make sense of Life.

This Commercial Made Me Cry….

and that’s why I am telling you about the video.

What I love about it is that they realized, “we’re not in the gum business, we’re in the storytelling business.”

If you get people to connect emotionally with your brand, no matter what you sell, it’s going to help.

Interesting Way to Market Funerals

Jewish organizations will often send out calendars because the Jewish calendar differs from the secular calendar.

It’s helpful for planning holidays, etc.

It’s also typical for the organization to choose Jewish or Israel-themed pictures for the calendar.

I was particularly struck by the choice that Danzansky-Goldberg Memorial Chapels made this year when their theme was “The Dead Sea.”

Not sure this would have been my first choice, but there’s no doubt that it’s probably the strongest Israel-themed idea which directly connects to their brand and core business.

The Power of Branding…as taught by my 7 year old

I’ve managed to successfully turn my 7 year old son into a rabid football fan.

Now, I get to watch the games with him and the “father-son” bonding air cover is all I need when my wife says “too much football.”

While I do my best to mute commercials, I am starting to see the power of marketing make its impact on the young boy’s mind.

Here’s but one example (we’ll leave out the fact that he now says ‘hey, there’s a Chevy Silverado!” while we are driving-something he only knows because of football games or that he and his friends now sing “Every Kiss begins with Kay!”):

Let’s talk about the halftime show…

“Hey, let’s see the halftime show,” I’ll say.

“You mean, the ‘VISA halftime show,” he will correct me.

“Son, it’s actually a halftime show. Visa just pays to have their name there.”

“I don’t care, I like the ‘Visa Halftime Show.”

He’ll repeat this for the Toyota and Verizon halftime shows.

Interestingly enough, he is developing brand preference because of the quality of the programming/highlights associated with it.

So, in his mind, Visa is the best. Toyota is the 2nd best. Verizon is the 3rd best.

Lesson: When you attach your brand to a partner, makes sure it’s a high quality partner. Otherwise, even a 7 year old can tell that your brand is not the best.

The Value of Compounded Time…

Image by acnatta via Flickr

If you get the idea of Compounded Interest, this post makes a ton of sense to you.

I was mildly aggravated by one comment I saw on Chris Brogan’s recent post “Selling Information” where he sought to (completely unnecessarily in my mind) defend his position to sell access to a 2 hour webinar on Google Plus for 1,000 people at $47 a pop.

One guy wrote:

were you aware that the webinar seats 1,000 people? yes, Mr Brogans haul off of this stands to be $47,000 for an hour or two of his time (fyi)....lots of personal attention you are gonna get on this puppy!

Actually, I was more than mildly aggravated, I was severely ticked off.

Mostly because it demonstrates what I consider to be the mindset of far too many (“how much time did you spend actually doing the work?”)

In his mind, Chris Brogan (whom I had the privilege of meeting a few years ago and is one of the few ‘social media gurus’ I actually think is an innovative thinker) is going to “work” for 2 hours and get paid $47,000.

But, that’s the mindset of someone who thinks he is working in a factory.

It’s not the mindset of someone who thinks in terms of “how much value is he creating for those attending AND how did he get to a point where he can even create that value?”

And that’s where the value of Compounded Time Fits in…

Chris is a “time person”. He values his time and makes the most of every single moment (takes one to know one).

So, here’s how he gets to the point where he can make $47,000 in 2 hours.

Let’s say you have 2 people of similar talent and intelligence.

Each night, after a full day of work, doing some exercise, and spending some time with their kids, that person has 2 hours to do whatever.

Person 1 spends 1 hours paying bills, managing the house stuff, etc. and then an hour watching Law and Order:SVU re-runs (no offense, it’s a good show).

Person 2 previously invested 4 hours over 4 nights to get to the point where house maintenance tasks only take 20 minutes (bills are automated, etc.) and now has 1 hour and 40 minutes left.

During that time, he may kick back on his couch with his iPad and scan/read 100 blog posts, watch some videos of thought leaders in his industry, comment on a few blogs of those he respects and, if he is trying to formulate some new ideas or new understanding, writes a blog post of his own (mostly for himself, just to grapple with the ideas).

Now, let’s say that Person 1 and Person 2 do this every weeknight for an entire year.

When the year is over, Person 2 has spent 100 minutes x 5 nights x 52 weeks= 433.33 hours on gaining mastery on his craft. That’s an extra 18 days!

Basically a FULL month over Person 1.

Do that for a few years and, pretty soon, a HUGE gulf opens up between the two of them.

Nobody sees that part….

By investing in himself, his blog, his community, he gets to a point where he can offer all this stored compounded time to people in 2 hours and he deserves to get paid for it.

(In fact, if you factor in all of that time, it’s like getting paid garment factory worker wages, right?)

It’s all of the work he did, day in and day out that mattered.

It gets compounded, like interest.

When you do that…no matter what industry you are in, you’ll have “pay days” that will make others say “hey, that’s not fair!”

Of course, they were watching SVU while you were working.

Kind of like the modern day Grasshopper and the Ant, only this time the commodity isn’t food for the winter, it’s information and knowledge for the globalized attention economy.

Related articles

• Is Chris Brogan a Google+ Expert or Just Stealing Your Money? (blogworld.com)

Begun the Color Wars Have…

I can’t decide what I think of this…

On the one way, each brand has invested in its own color.

On the other, this is a clever way to get people to try. Is it dishonest?

I know I fell for it though.

Never Stop Marketing Award #13…one of America’s top real estate agents

Reprinted from the NSM blog.

Let’s get the obvious conflict of interest out of the way first.

This month’s Never Stop Marketing Award Winner is my sister, Kira Epstein.

Yes, I’ll admit that I’m emotionally invested in her career.

• When she initially came up with the idea of getting her real estate license, I enthusiastically supported her.
• Also, I eagerly put forth marketing advice.

However, she was named one of the top 30 real estate agents under the age of 30 in the ENTIRE USA on her own merit…and then some.

• In 2010, she sold $18 million dollars worth of real estate.
• She is ranked in the top 5% nationally among ALL agents in her firm (Long and Foster).

What’s even more impressive is if you look at the other “30 under 30” winners, both in terms of sales (lower) and the fact that many of them were part of teams, not solo practitioners like Kira.

So, for THOSE reasons; for her results and her approach, she gets this month’s NSM award.

“It’s All Time Management”

If you ask Kira what has made her successful, she’ll talk about her work ethic, her commitment to the “Never Stop Marketing” mantra, and her savvy use of all types of technology, but when all is said and done, she says it comes down to: Time Management.

First of all, she decides what is most important.

Then, she is relentless in her focus on doing activities which are related to those key goals.

I couldn’t agree with her more.

Along with attention, time is our most valuable commodity and asking yourself “what is the BEST use of my time AT THIS VERY MOMENT to drive my goals?” is something we should all practice.

Kira does and you’ve seen the results.

Congratulations to Kira.

She joins this all-star group of previous award winners.

1. JackBe
2. Dave Sobel
3. Microsoft LET team
4. Global 360
5. Jay McBain and the SMB Lenovo Team
6. Pinstripe
7. Tim Wood of OBA Bank
8. Matthew Lesko
9. Derek Coburn
10. Jeremy Lustman
11. Chad MacDonald
12. Jeff Wasserstein and Kurt Karst

The Never Stop Marketing Recommended Reading List

I’m asked at least 2-3 times per week, “can you recommend some books for me to read to get started in understanding marketing and social media?” so…

Here’s is the “Intro to Never Stop Marketing” Reading List for Marketing 101.

First, of course, you need to read my stuff

• Dandelion Marketing 
• 10 Ways to Cultivate Your Fans

Then, MUCH more importantly

Book Title (Amazon link)	Review	Why?
The Cluetrain Manifesto	Review	Foundational to understanding the implication of networks
Here Comes Everybody	Review	How social software changes everything
The Anatomy of Buzz	Review	How to trigger word-of-mouth
Different	Review	Competitive strategy (on steroids)…one of the best I’ve ever read
Purple Cow		A classic on creative thinking
All Marketers are Liars		Redefining the role of marketers
Permission Marketing		Understanding relationships
Made to Stick	Review	How to create memorable stories
Switch	Review	How to create and sustain meaningful organization change
Influence	Review	Understanding mass social psychology
Drive	Review	What really motivates people?
Citizen Marketers	Review	The Power of evangelists/Raving Fans

There were more than a few that were really close calls, but at some point, you say “the list is long enough.”

For reviews to pretty much every book I’ve read in the past few years, see here.

When Good Deeds Pay Off….

BWI is my preferred airport. It’s convenient, relatively fast, and the parking lot tells you how many spots are on each level (and where they are.)
It’s a great airport.
Except if you arrive after 11pm and you have parked in the Daily Garage.
For some reason, shuttles are VERY few and far between at this time.
I arrived one night (morning, actually) at 2am and because my bag had been sent to BMI (Bloomington, Indiana) instead of BWI (Baltimore-Washington), I was outside with only a shirt and not the fleece and hat I had packed when leaving Florida (82) for Baltimore (29 degrees).
The shuttle just wasn’t coming, so I walked over to the cab drivers and offered to pay them to drive me to the parking lot. I was shocked by how long it took me to convince the cabbie (particuarly since we were the LAST flight of the night and no fares-bigger or smaller-were coming out).
Finally, I did it, but on the way, I instructed him to pull over so I could offer all of the other people waiting for the shuttle a free ride to the lot.
To my surprise, 2 of them said “no.”
But one of them, said yes.
Kelly Grammes is the marketing manager for 180s in the Baltimore area, an innovative company that designs unique outdoorwear.
She didn’t have any cash on her at the moment and I was prepared to pay anyway.
I said, “you know, just write something nice on my Facebook Fan Page wall,” which she did.
Then, she said, “I’ll send you some of our products so you can check them out as a ‘thank you.’”
To which I said, “ok, if they are good enough, I will blog about them.”
And they are.
The gloves and ear warmers she sent me are not only comfortable and functional, but they have a really unique twist to them. Here’s my video review (and below as well)
The gloves are made in such a way that you can use your touchscreen device w/o taking them off in the winter.
And the ear warmers?
Well, you can plug you mp3/iPhone into them. Very cool stuff.
See?
Sometimes, it pays to be nice. Thanks, Kelly!

What I don’t get about taxi drivers…

Now I have had some good taxi drivers and some bad ones in my day, but I’m wondering if I am alone in tipping at different levels for good versus bad.
My dad is worried about being embarrassed at giving a small tip, so he tends to tip the same.
Not I.
When I hire a taxi, I am looking for a few basic things.

1. Be punctual (if I’ve made a reservation)
2. Get me there efficiently
3. Have a relatively clean car
4. Make the experience pleasant

On my recent trip to Argentina, I had two cab experiences that just baffled me.
I made a reservation for a cab from Barwood Taxi to take me from my house to National Airport.
Now, they participate in a new service called “Taxi Magic” (no link, since I’m in the back of Cab #2 at the moment) where you download an app onto your phone and you can make a reservation as well as pay (since your credit card is already in the system).
So, being the technophile I am, that’s what I did.
I made a reservation for 2pm.
At 1.40pm, I get a text saying “taxi #203 dispatched. ETA is 1.53pm”
By 2.10, no cab
2.20, no cab.
I call the cab company. The operator says to me, “he’s pulling up right now.”
Now, I was standing outside so I know that wasn’t the case.
Finally, at 2.30, he shows up.
I then used the app on my phone to pay directly. And I didn’t tip him at all. Not one cent.
Call me a jerk, if you want, but 30 minutes when you are flying internationally can be make or break. I was counting on them and they failed me.
I made the flight, but that’s besides the point.
Buenos Aires Cab
When I landed in Buenos Aires (which may have the most inefficient immigration/customs system I have ever seen), I hired a car from an overpriced service.
I get in the car and there is music BLARING.
Notwithstanding the fact that I had just flown overnight and was a bit groggy and wanted to relax, I think that this would have been jarring normally.
I asked the driver to turn it off.
He turned it down.
I asked again (since it was right in my ear).
He said he’d make it lower.
What?!
So, now, I’m in the back of his car, listening to his annoying music which, frankly, I don’t think I should have to do.
Tip coming his way?
Nope.
Sorry, if I reward service with which I am unsatisfied, I am sending the wrong message.
As a marketer who seeks to great customer experiences, I have chosen to fight this battle.

Updated: How Barwood responded brilliantly!

Which do you “like” better?

I’m going to put a “reveal tab” on the Never Stop Marketing Facebook Fan Page (become a fan, if you aren’t already).

Here’s how you can create one for yourself, if you want.

Now, vote in this poll and let me know which one you “like” better?

Version 1

 

Version 2

 

Never Stop Marketing TV

Just a public service announcement. If you are  YouTube user, you can subscribe to the Never Stop Marketing channel.

Some self-promotional stuff, but trying to put augment with good, solid interviews up there as well.

Not all of them make the blog, but they are there.

As with everything. Feedback welcome.

Just click on Subscribe.

The Self-Promotion:Arrogance Line

Image by TCOYD via Flickr

This is a tough one.

On the one hand, if you don’t tell people about what you can do and have done (we’ll leave out the HOW you do that for the moment), well, no one will ever want to hire you, buy from you, etc.?

On the other hand, if ALL you do is talk about how bleepin’ great you are…well, then no one will want to work with you because you are so damn arrogant.

It’s a fine line and, like many things, I am sure it differs for many people.

After my post, LinkedIn Recommendations as Art, Kelly Close of Close Concerns, a Raving Fan (dare I say?) sent me this note:

This is good.

I'm amazed at all the self-promotion you do and it always just stops short of arrogance and is nice and teaches us all something!

That meant a lot to me and I started to wonder:

What is the difference?

I may be oversimplifying, but perhaps it is embedded in Kelly’s note.

Does the self-promotion also teach and share?

Or is it JUST self-promotion?

If you talk about what you’ve done AND help others see a new opportunity, that may be the balance.

Now, take a look at this “Am I a guru?” post and let me know which side of the line I’m on.

How To Increase Your Odds of ‘Going Viral’

Read my new e-Book (PDF) Dandelion Marketing: How to Increase Your Odds of ‘Going Viral’
This will give you an idea of where I think marketing is headed.
Read, enjoy, share.

Dandelion Marketing: How to Increase Your Odds of 'Going Viral'

First Corporate Sponsorship…

Welcome Nicole Tate to the Never Stop Marketing team.

Nicole is Miss Black Nevada 2009 and will be a contestant in the Miss Black USA pageant on Monday night in Washington, DC.

Nicole (who obviously never stops marketing herself since she was wearing a sash in the Las Vegas airport) graciously agreed to have her picture taken with me (I had to ask.)

Her talent is singing and dancing and hopes to wow the judges with her rendition of Lee Ann Womack’s “I hope you dance.”

Nicole, a nursing student at UNLV, is committed to changing the abysmal 67% drop-out rate among Nevada high school students.

This change the world attitude is what we look for in all of our relationships, so Never Stop Marketing is excited and proud to officially be one of her corporate sponsors.

You’ll be seeing more of her over the course of the year (just not sure how yet ;-)

Wish her luck!

FB Fan Page: What’s In It For You?

I have been harsh in the past on people who seemingly invite their friends at random to a Facebook fan page or group.

That’s because it is usually done without much context or one of the key elements of community building within the Community Driven Marketing framework, namely:

“as a fan, what can you expect to get out of it?”

So, with that, it’s time to see if I can practice what I preach.

I’ve set up a Never Stop Marketing Facebook Fan Page and you are welcome/invited to join.

If you decide to join, what you will get out of it is:

1. Updates about innovative ways I’m discovering to use Fan Pages for marketing purposes/benefit
2. The opportunity to be a part of cutting-edge Facebook Fan Page marketing tests (would rather test it out with you than have you test it out on your customers/clients, right?)
3. The chance to connect with other, like-minded individuals who share a passion for marketing and discovering how to thrive in a billion-channel, socially networked, attention economy where permission is the key asset (obligatory consultant buzzword quota is now met).

It’s very much a perpetual beta approach and would love to have you join me in the voyage.

Never Stop Marketing

Promote Your Page Too

Seeing only what you want to see...

My friend, Debbie Weil, put out a tweet regarding the an Op-ed in the NY Times.



Notwithstanding the fact that she read all of the comments (an amazing accomplishment), my impression (and I haven't asked her about this), is that her interpretation is that this proves there is mass dissatisfaction with GOP.

Seth Godin offers up the idea that, as consumers, we look for stories that resonate with our worldview. We tell these stories to ourselves so we feel justified in our outlook.

We all do this, so this isn't a personal thing vis a vis Debbie, it's just that her tweet made me realize it.

Her worldview is that America would be better off with Obama. As a result, she looks for 'stories' that reinforce her worldview.

Seeing 743 comments on an Op-Ed in the NY Times that support her worldview only serves to reinforce it.

Which is what we all want, right?

None of us want to think we're wrong all of the time.

However, it could be that a few of her underlying assumptions are incorrect and she is ignoring them because it doesn't support her 'worldview.'

For example, she may be assuming that the NY Times reader base is actually a representative cross-sampling of America.

Once upon a time, this may have been true.

Instead, the NY Times just may be a liberal "echo chamber" where conservatives don't even bother to go anymore. It's not a place for debate. It's a rally.

If that's the case, then it's really not that surprising that everyone is anti-GOP, is it?

I just finished reading an excellent book, Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations, which talks about the epochal changes that arise from the social tools available via the Internet.

He pointed to the Howard Dean 2004 campaign as an example of where people misinterpreted an event.

In 2004, Dean followers organized "meet-ups" early on during his campaign.  The number of 'meet-ups' was quite high. This led the "mainstream" press to interpret the event as a huge groundswell of support for Dean.
Image via WikipediaImage via Wikipedia

Shirky, the author of Here Comes Everybody: , argued that what in fact was happening was that the social tools of the Internet (i.e. Meetup.com) just made it easier and cheaper for the natural supporters to find each other.

So, the number of events didn't actually reflect the number of supporters, it reflected the technological shift that occurred to make it easier for the really small base to find each other...that's what we all missed.

Now, I'm not saying that Debbie is wrong. She may be right, but she may also be misinterpreting the data based on

1. her worldview (though we're all susceptible to this)
2. technology (where it's easier -and feels better-to just pile on saying 'me too' than to argue the counter-point where you will only get shouted down by the crowd)

Of course, my 'worldview' is that people look for stories that support their worldview (and thus aren't objective), so perhaps I'm just telling myself a story of my own ;-)

Related articles by Zemanta

• NYT: GOP concern after McCain's rough week
• Liberals, Remember you live in a Center Right Country!!!! Act Right!!!

Marketing ROI for Jehovah’s Witnesses…

The doorbell rings and two gentlemen greet me with a question.

“Do you believe we will eventually live in a world without war?” one of them asks.

(A good teaser, indeed, I am thinking.)

“Eventually?” I say. “Yes.”

“Well, you are pretty optimistic,” the man says.

At this point, I'm thinking ‘you did say ‘eventually’'”

He shows me a booklet called “A world without war.”

“Gentlemen, are you with a church or something?”

“We’re Jehovah’s Witnesses,” he replies.

“Ah, I see.”

I’m wearing a Microsoft shirt and the man asks “are you in IT?”

“I used to work for Microsoft, but now I’m a marketing consultant.”

The tone is VERY friendly, so I say to them, “you know, as a marketing consultant, I feel like I need to give you some advice. You can do with it as you please, but I am compelled to share it."

This is an area that is quite heavily populated by religiously observant Jews. From an ROI perspective, I think you are probably going to have a significantly lower than average success rate.

I love passion and commitment. That sells, so I am all in favor of you going out to sell your beliefs. More power to you. It’s just that I think you may be better off deploying your most valuable resource-your time-elsewhere in order to maximize your results.”

Yes, I said that to them exactly.

“Well, we are willing to talk to anyone."

(Not good marketing allocation, I am thinking. Poor targeting, but I can only do so much.)

"Can we leave this brochure with you?” he asks.

“You can, but odds are I will put it directly into the trash, so I think it would be a poor investment of your sales collateral.”

I don't know what the guy is thinking at this point, but my hunch is that it's not a typical interaction.

“Well, then, I will keep it with us.”

“Yes, I would agree with that conclusion."

We part ways amicably with a smile. Another client served.

>

The “Chiron” Rule…

It’s sales 101.

The executive assistant is just as important as the executive.

Whoops! I forgot that one.

Have a wonderful opportunity with a highly respected company. The assistant is fantastic. She was funny, greeted me with a hug when I met her the first time, and seriously asked me to bring my kids while I met with her boss.

After meeting with Chiron’s boss, I was given permission to submit a proposal. GREAT!

Then, I promptly ‘disappeared’ only to re-emerge in Chiron’s life when her boss wasn’t answering my calls.

Chiron called me on it. In a BIG way.

“I don’t hear anything from you for two weeks. You don’t say hi. You don’t drop me an email saying ‘what’s up?” and now when you need something, you come calling?”

She was partly joking, partly serious.

And she was right.

I deserved it. I forgot that ‘power’ doesn’t lie only with the title.

I’m not afraid to make mistakes. Make ‘em all the time. I’m afraid when I don’t learn from them.

I’ve learned from this one. Calling it the “Chiron Rule.”