Marketing Today

When It Comes to Twitter, It's MC Hammer Time!

The best way to learn about Twitter is to a) jump in, and b) follow a leader like MC Hammer, the rapper famous for his 1990 single “U Can’t Touch This.”   You have to admire someone who has reinvented himself successfully by communicting with his fans through interactive websites and on Twitter.

Engage Directly with People

At a recent stop at Harvard Business School, MC Hammer was quoted in the Harvard Crimson explained that "social media sites—such as micro-blogging service Twitter—can facilitate personal interaction in both business and music."  And he went on to say that "social media, more than any other form of communication, excels in “shortening the distance between creator and consumer.”

Get Yourself on Good Morning America

I first heard about MC Hammer on Twitter, when he appeared on Hubspot TV when he had 94K followers on Twitter.  After an appearance the next day on Good Morning America, he's now up in the Twitter stratosphere with 145K followers!  In the interview, reporter John Berman asked MC Hammer why people want to know what's he's doing all day, and he said that "in real life, we want to check in on what people are doing.  We want to know the latest fashion...best movie..best hair style" in real time.

Too Legit to Quit

MC Hammer is about a "50 Tweet a Day Guy" but he says that it's not about the numbers, it's about being interesting and cutting out the middle man to communicate directly with your fans.  As the Harvard Crimson reported from MC Hammer's talk at the Harvard Business School “At the end of the day, there are only so many notes, so many rhymes, so many keys on the keyboard.  The next thing is: who is the best marketer?” Can't touch that!

When Online Friends Meet Up Offline (And Vice Versa)

 Last night, I hauled my semi-Luddite friend, Nora, to the Hubspot "Celebrating Out 1,000th Customer" event in Cambridge, MA.  I forget sometimes what a tech party must look like to someone not familiar with one. 

One of the first people we bumped into at the party was a man wearing a black t-shirt that read @abinoor.  "What's that?"  Nora asked.  "It's his Twitter address," I answered.  "What's Twitter?"  she asked.  Long story short - I'm happy to report that by the end of the night, we geeks had not only opened a Twitter account for Webinora, but five of us were now following her.

Always Amazing to Meet Your Online Friends In Person

I remember last April when I got great pickup on a blog post I wrote about how I was getting ready to head down to Kentucky for the annual Throughbreads and Redheads event that Maker's Mark puts on.  I immediately heard from two representatives of Maker's Mark via comments on my blog post and I made a point of meeting them in Lexington.  One fellow was incredibly shy which is not his online personality at all.  I quickly realized that he's a writer and a bit of an introvert.

A couple of years ago when I was active on epinions.com as "caroleg" I used to write up product reviews on my home appliances and then the community would rate them.  It was one of my early experiences with an online community.  I got chosen as a "Home & Garden" expert by the epinions team and got some sort of special status.  It wasn't long before "bonies7" decided to have meet up in New York City for several of us writers who were curious to meet each other.  It was a fun night and we surprisingly had an interesting conversation for several hours mostly about this new website we'd discovered and how we'd been a part of getting the startup off the ground.  If we tried to get together today, I doubt we'd have much to talk about at all since we've all sort of drifted off to other online experiences.  Only one epinions friend is part of my Facebook network or is a Twitter follower of mine.

Thank you again, Hubspot!

It was great fun last night to see people's online personas collide with their real selves through Twitter as we celebrated Hubspot's success.  It's always interesting to watch someone who's not used to such a geek fest experience...and jump right in to the craziness with the rest of us.  To grasp our online/offline experience, check us out on Hubspot TV.

Marketing Yourself For Your Next Job in a Web 2.0 World

Lately I feel like Suze Orman giving advice to my friends who have gotten so  cozy in their current jobs that they've forgotten how to market themselves for the next one.  In this market, you have to market yourself in a new way.  The best way to do that is to take yourself above the clutter and make it easy for employers to instantly understand how you can help them be successful. 

Always Stay on Top of Your Field

The best advice I got coming out of college is that you always have to stay on top of your field.  If you hear about a new job, follow up on it even if you aren't looking for a change.  Sometimes you'll find something better than what you have.  And, sometimes you'll find something that makes you feel better about what you have.  At minimum, you'll know if the skills you have are keeping you competitive in today's economy.  If they aren't competitive, get yourself some training to get yourself where you need to be.  You'll also learn where you are salary-wise compared to your peers.

"A Brand Called You"

Remember the article "A Brand Called You" that Tom Peters published in Fast Company a few years ago?  Dan Schawbel has built a side business around the concept.  His new book, Me 2.0, "bridges the gap between the current business climate and the progressive best practices of the future".  The thinking behind both the article and the book is that you need to take a page out of the corporate branding playbook to market yourself in the way that you'd market a product in order to stand out from the crowd.

Get on the Social Networking Bus

Last Sunday, I was at NewBCamp in Providence, RI with my friend Sarah.  As part of this one-day seminar, we both sat in on a session about marketing yourself in a Web 2.0 world.  Before we got started, our instructor took a show of hands as to who was on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.  Since all but one of us were active with these social networking sites, he didn't spend a lot of time discussing them except to encourage us to keep our profiles up to date, to manage our online reputations, and to use the references section of LinkedIn both to provide references to others and to gather references for ourselves because this is what employers are looking for.  It's getting to be pretty rare for an employer not to "Google" a prospective candidate before an interview or an offer and you need to be aware of that.

Differentiate Yourself in 160 Characters or Less

Our NewBCamp instructor pointed out that in Twitter, you have about 160 characters (including spaces) to microblog with. He had us go around our circle and describe ourselves as if we were writing an entry for Twitter.  I said "A Boston-based marketer with a focus on high-tech" and I got that obnoxious game show "you lose" noise because I didn't really differentiate myself from hundreds of other people.  So, I took another couple of passes at it.  Now, my personal tagline is "Award-winning marketer who makes organizations successful in a Web 2.0 World" which I like a lot better.  And, hey, if it's not gaining any traction, it's not hard to change on the Internet with something that resonates better.

The Candidates Who Make It to the Top of the Hiring Pile

Our instructor mentioned that he was hiring for a finance position and that he had promoted the open position on Monster, Careerbuilder, and Craig's List.  Within a week, he had over 200 resumes, but only two made it to the top of his pile.  He said that most people are still writing chronological resumes that describe their corporate persona with a collection of job titles that don't mean anything to someone outside of their company. The resumes that made it to the top of the pile described the person who was looking for the job and had cover letters tailored to the open position that demonstrated that the candidate had taken the time to learn about the job, the company, and included some ideas on what they'd do in the role.

Adapt or....

The old ways of searching for a job don't cut it these days.  Keep up with your network whether you are looking for a new job or not because that's how you find out about the "hidden jobs" and get referrals which help put you on the top of the pile.  Network constantly, not just when you need a favor from someone.  And, take a look at my blog post "Survival Tips for the Laid Off or About To Be" for some additional ideas that help you market yourself in a Web 2.0 world.

I Love Blogging: It Got Me Back Into Writing

About a year ago, I read a book that really made me rethink my approach to marketing.  It's called "The New Rules of Marketing and PR" by David Meerman Scott.  This book is based on the viral success of a blog entry about how the old methods of PR aren't effective because people are getting their information directly through the Internet which requires a different way of marketing.  Since reading the book, I've met David and have heard him speak at the Inbound Marketing Summit and I've learned a lot about giving up control of the message in order to get your prospects and customers the information they need.

Blogging Changed My Life

While always interesting and provocative, I'll never forget one thing David Meerman Scott said which was "Blogging changed my life.. and it will change yours too."  It sounded like such a used car salesman thing to say.  But, I decided to give blogging a shot to help teach myself to be an effective social networker.  With the thinking that you write about what you know about, I chose to write about my observations on marketing today.  I'm having a blast.  There's no higher compliment any one can give me than "Hey, I read your blog the other day and I really enjoyed it."  And, I love checking my stats on my iPhone throughout the day to see how traffic is and which entries people are reading. 

Blogging Got Me Back Into Writing Again

Since second grade, people have been telling me that I'm a good writer.  To be honest, writing comes easily to me when I know that's it's a huge struggle for other people.  It's a skill that has served me well in my career.  I can take something that is hard for people to understand and through the process of writing about it make it understandable.  The questions that I ask as I'm pulling something together often provide an insight that makes it an interesting piece for others to read.  The discipline of creating a blog entry twice a week, has gotten me back into writing outside of the technical marketing wirting that I do in my day job and that's a good thing for me.

Nag me, I need it

So, if you've read this far, check out a web site for a book that I want to write on Lotus Development.  And, if you see me, nag me on how far I've gotten with that project, because I need the push.  Blogging has gotten me started.  Hopefully, some free time over this weekend, will allow me to at least get it outlined in order to move it to the next stage.  I've got a really cool idea!

[NOTE:  If you're on Typepad and want to take part in the "I love blogging" challenge, click on the I love blogging graphic above for directions.]

Ready to smile? Check out "Cute Things Laughing"

Need a little break from the gloom and doom news these days?  Take a look at Cute Things Laughing, a collection of babies and animals that are rated based on "cuteness" and "merriment."  The site was recently announced on The Bonnie Hunt Show.  It is the "sister site" to Cute Things Falling Asleep which was a viral video sensation which received over a million hits in few weeks after being featured on CNN and the Today Show.

Time waster?  Well, maybe.

Time Magazine says "Cute things Falling Asleep might be the most adorable time waster since Animal Planet began hosting puppy sporting events."  I wonder if that's such a bad thing.  After checking our declining 401Ks and watching Congress argue over a bail out plan which generations to follow ours will pay for, is it such a bad thing to tune into a website that is guaranteed to make you smile?  A couple of minutes spent there surely can't hurt.

What's All This Got to Do With Marketing?

Hey, when you've got a hit on your hands, run with it.  An extension of the Cute Things^TM brand is a smart thing to do.  The original site Cute Things Falling Asleep is linked to from so many other sites, it's a natural to link from it to the new site.  And, the sites are able to run ads through the Google ads network which generates revenue.  What's more, both sites publicize their creator, Nick Malis, who is a comedy writer for shows such as "Curb Your Enthusiasm".

Looking for a Good Book? Read "The Art of Possibility"

You know you've hit on a good book when years after you've read it, you're still thinking about something that it taught you.  So it is for "The Art of Possibility" by Rosamund and Benjamin Zander.  I had a unique experience of recieving this book as part of attending a one-day business seminar at  MIT where co-author Benjamin Zander, who is also the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, spoke to us about the thoughts in the book while taking a break to play the piano for us from time to time.

A How-To Book Of An Unusual Kind

Unlike many business books that advise you on how to move ahead in a competitive world, this book offers ways to rise above the day-to-day struggles of the competitive world so that you can move forward into new things.  The thinking is that many of the things that block us in our daily lives are based on a framework of assumptions that we carry with us.  When we look at our assumptions a different way, new possibilities come to life.  Think about it.  Rules and frameworks were all built on people's ideas which were modified over time.  When you can lift yourself above "the way things are" and look at things from a different angle, it can unlock creativity and new ideas can bloom.

My Favorite Chapter "Giving An A"

The chapter begins with a story about a leadership class taught at the University of Southern California to 50 handpicked students from a student body of 27,000 students.  At the end of the semester, the grader for the course was instructed to give a third of the sudents an "A", a third of the students a "B" and a third of the students a "C".  Getting less than an "A" for this group of high achievers distracts them from learning what they can from this prestigious course they were selected to be in and they spend more time fretting about grades than absorbing knowledge.

Contrast this to a course that Benjamin Zander teaches at the New England Conservatory where he declares at the beginning of the semester that everyone is going to get an "A".  Now, it's not just a gimme.  After 25 years of teaching, he decided to take away the anxiety of getting a top grade by telling each student that they were going to get an "A" from the start.  The requirement to get the "A" though is dependent on writing a letter within the first two weeks of class - dated at the end of the year - telling the professor why you will have deserved an "A".  By changing the rules, the students look at themselves in the future and report back on the milestones they will have attained as if their accomplishments are in the past.  And, then the idea is that they will achieve those milestones.  Clever - no?  Taking the pressure off the grade frees them up to learn more.

Are You Stuck Where You Are?

This interesting book written by a husband/wife team made up of a conductor and a family therapist that was published by the Harvard Business School Press.  Using interesting stories drawn from the authors' own lives along with stories from everyday heros, you will have an opportunity for personal and professional transformation if you sit back and think about what you are reading.  And, if you can't get your hands on this book, try to attend one of the Zanders' lectures.  Make sure to send me a comment when you've figured out "Rule Number 6"!

Tired of Having the Yellow Pages Dumped on Your Doorstep?

I love marketing, but when the techniques are outdated and wasteful, I'm all for putting a stop to it.  Phone books fall into this category!  When phone books are dropped off at my house, I drag them straight to the curb for trash pickup.  Now, I can stop having them delivered all together. 

An organization called Yellow Pages Goes Green, gives publishers a list of people who no longer want to receive telephone books.  Think of it like the National No Call Registry which was a boon to those of us tired of having telemarketers call us during dinner to sell us things we don't want.

This organization was founded by a college student who was renting a house in Liberty, Missouri who found the number of telephone books delivered to the house overwhelming.  When he spoke with his neighbors they all told him they (like me!) just threw them away. According to his web site:  Over 500 million of these directories are printed every year. That is nearly two books for every person in the country! To produce 500 million books:

• 19 million trees need to be harvested
• 1.6 billion pounds of paper are wasted
• 7.2 million barrels of oil are misspent in their processing (not including the wasted gas used for their delivery to your doorstep)
• 268,000 cubic yards of landfill are taken up
• 3.2 billion kilowatt hours of electricity are squandered

Take a look at his site and stop having phone books delivered to your house.  And, if you want to get rid of a few other annoying marketers in your life, check out the Yellow Pages Goes Green Resources page.  There's information there on how to get rid of unsolicited political calls and direct mail too.