The rush to join sites like Twitter and Facebook just to say they are part of the social media community sometimes makes companies seem too….Me Too.  And often they join first and then figure out how to effectively leverage this new toy. 

What happens with this strategy leaves too many companies looking awkward with their too-few-and-far between-tweets and stilted attempts at conversation.  If you don’t have a strategy going in, you’re going to be floundering around without a life vest, son.

Another thing I’ve noticed is that if they can just get in the game they think they’re set.  Not so.  If you jump in saying “please play with me” you really are doing a disservice to your brand. 

Think about it this way.  You started your company with a business plan.  You went over who your competition is, what the market looks like, but most importantly, who your market is.  You were very specific here because we all know that marketing to everyone and hoping something sticks doesn’t work.  It’s kinda like saying, I don’t care what he looks like, what he does for a living, or where he lives; I just want a man.

Nobody does that. In fact, I have girlfriends that are specific down to the height and weight.

Instead of jumping into social media just to make new friends, why not stay out of social media (or be very selecting which channels you use) and make it cool to be different?  Set up a community forum on your own site—branded by you, all about you and everyone signed up on the site is all about you.  And here you have your own private playground surrounded by your own little cult of faithful followers.  You don’t need Twitter to do that. You can manipulate this anyway you want to suit your culture and your brand.

If the masses are all piling onto Twitter and you still want to use Twitter to communicate with your core following why not use Twitter differently than other brands? Monitor who follows you and then ask them what it is about you that they like?  What do they not like?  They don’t use your products???  Then why are they following?  Call them out!  That’s different.  Put them on the spot and start that conversation.  Sure—you might lose a follower here and there but isn’t the point of social media to interact with your following?  

Twitter and Facebook are the new kids on the block, but they are certainly not the only ones.  Scout out something that works with your brand and not something you need to change about your brand or culture in order to use.

Like what they like.

Agree with everything they say.

Agree with their politics, their religion, their general world view.

Never have your own opinion.

How to make good friends:

Be yourself.

I have a friend who has the challenge (and, I think, the enviable task) of developing a sales team that will take her company’s brand to that next level.  I was really excited to hear this because here is her chance to create a dynamic team that will not just go out and sling stuff, but really shape an industry.  She wants young, passionate men and women who are open to new ideas and new ways of thinking.

And then she said, “I need really great salespeople.”

Of course she needs great salespeople.  But what bothers me about her statement is that she’s thinking in linear terms.  A “salesman” is an outdated idea, I think, and shouldn’t be used to describe someone you need in order to change a culture, or create connections, or provide a customer with a new way of thinking about his dilemma.  In any industry, salespeople hop from company to company; today they’re selling WidgetA’s widgets and tomorrow they’re selling WidgetB’s widgets.

What value do you place on a salesman when in one meeting they’re telling you that WidgetA’s widget will change your life but the next time he sees you he’s representing WidgetB company and now he’s telling you that WidgetA’s products are crap.

Huh??

I get it, people’s circumstances change and now they have to put their loyalty behind a different company and the products they produce, but…really??  How can we trust anything you say?  How do I take what you say today and forget what you were telling me a year ago??

By not being a salesman.

What I told my friend she needs to do is write down everything she needs from her team.  Don’t think in terms of revenue, marketshare blah blah.  What is her idea of a really dynamic team?  Who would this team consist of?  She wants young, hungry, passionate reps.  Great.  What else?

What about a rep who is passionate about technology?  Or marketing?  Or making connections within their field of expertise so that they are always the one that others think of when they need the product that he now represents?  How bout someone who is constantly reading?  Reading books on sales, books on self-improvement? Books on marketing, trends, tech, politics, world news.  How bout someone who knows what the consumer wants because he’s not above sitting down at a bar next to someone that may not be in the corporate circles he inhabits and asks him his opinion on 3D tvs and and the movie Avatar? C’mon, you’ve seen those CEOs who are too good to talk to Joe the Plumber and yet that’s who they sell to.

I read this great article in Fast Company a couple months ago about Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO at Dreamworks Studios. What I loved about it is that here is a man who was not happy with just making animated movies.  He wanted to make animated movies better.  And he worked tirelessly to surround himself with people who were as passionate about it as he is.  Not only does Dreamworks make fab movies, but they create technology that makes better movies and a better movie experience.  Same thing with James Cameron.  He isn’t just a writer and director.  He’s a scientist, an inventor, an artist.  He doesn’t limit his role to director just because he happens to be directing that movie. He takes his role beyond what others believe that role should be.

That’s what you want when you are looking to build a team to bring your brand to that next level.  You don’t want salespeople.  You want someone who can come to you and say, “hey, I was speaking with John Doe over at XYZ; he’s got a great idea for a new kind of thingie and I think that we should look into working with him on designing a widget that will complement his idea.”  You want someone who can see that something’s not working and be able (and willing!!) to change it.  You want someone not satisfied with meeting a goal but finding unique ways to blow that goal up. You want change agents, innovators, evangelists, connectors.

You don’t want salesmen.

By now you may have seen/read Paul Shirley’s blog post regarding Haiti and his thoughts on helping disaster victims.  I read it last night while half-listening to the State of the Union (is it just me, or are those getting way longer??) And I knew while reading it this guy was destroying his career. 

Because to have an opinion today is to put yourself on the guillotine of communal morality. Think of shouting out your thoughts in the middle of the Colosseum and having Caesar give you the thumbs down.  That’s seriously where we’re at today! Pretty soon we’re all going to just sit down and shut up for fear of ostracism. 

As soon as I read that post I hopped on twitter to see what the twits were saying about it.  And then I read that he’d already been fired from his ESPN freelance gig. 

I am not here to weigh in either way on Paul Shirley’s opinions.  I am here to say—and it’s been said before—be very careful what you share and where you share it.  It’s sad that in today’s society we have to be super PC about nearly everything we say and do because we might offend someone.  That being said: we are human—there’s no way around offending someone.  There are so many things that I don’t care at all about but that are completely, obsessively important to someone else.  The same is true for stuff I do value.  Someone, somewhere, couldn’t give a shit about it. 

The difference is I understand that.  And I don’t get angry about it. I would never impose my opinions on someone else (I would debate the hell out of it, but that’s what makes it so fun!). 

Paul Shirley’s post didn’t bother me in the least because I know for every one of him there are fifty people out there doing everything they can for Haiti.  Why, then, are they so bothered by someone like Paul??  Isn’t that basic difference what makes us, humans, great?  And awful?

If you are comfortable sharing your ideas freely and socially, be ready to face the polarizing effects of your opinions.  And if you’re trying to get paid for your thoughts or generate awareness for your brand, never ever say you won’t help disaster victims.

At least, not on any social network.

For more information and to rsvp for this free event, click here.

5pm-8pm at Emmett’s Ale House in Downers Grove.

Meet and network with other Chicago area professionals.  Bring plenty of business cards and get don’t be shy!!

I am an amateur developer, at best, and I only do it when I have no money to have someone else do it.  So, of course, this is one of those times.  But I do enjoy how things are done so I wanted to get an idea of how an iphone app is actually made so I decided to do some research.

Right now, the big thing is of course iphone apps.  Go to itunes and you’ll see them all over the place.  If  you have an iphone or ipod touch you can download directly from them and often they’ll be some really cool apps that are free.  And a lot of companies are having some really great apps developed for them to create buzz or coincide with a marketing campaign. 

Besides being a great idea, I’ve also discovered this is also inexpensive and not terribly difficult to do (by that I mean, my iphone app is not really complex. If yours is and you are not a developer, go seek one).  Since I don’t mind doing my own coding, I found this post on Popular Science helpful.  But if you don’t want to take the time to figure it out here’s a post on Guy Kawasaki’s site that talks about creating an app at appmakr.com.

And finally, Mashable has a great post on how PhotoKast, a mobile app by Ten23 Software was built in a month.  Photos and everything.  Really interesting read.

I hear this all the time.  From my girlfriends to my clients, everyone hates being “sold”. 

Don’t kid yourself.

You’re being sold all the time, every minute of everyday, everywhere you look. 

I take my son to school in the morning.  It’s two minutes from my home and yet I am sold at least twenty times before I get there.  From the homes I pass to the cars parked in front, the assisted living center with it’s soothing taupe and eco-green sign or the golf course, now snow covered and gorgeous with its icicle-laden trees. 

We are sold everywhere.

The difference is how we are sold. 

Once upon a time salesmen were the super-arrogant, super pushy, don’t-take-no-for-an-answer alpha types that forced you to buy something you absolutely didn’t need but were scared to decline.  In this new millenium, with the advent of the internet and the facelessness of our new shopping habits, selling has had to change. 

Enter relationship-selling.

I have never thought of myself as a salesman.  But I sell people everyday.  You do, too.  You sell them on a movie you like, or hate.  You sell them on why you prefer Dunkin Donuts to Starbucks.  You sell them on why you only buy American cars.  And in the way you sell, you are using dialogue.  You’re not forcing anyone to do anything.  They listen to you because they are your friend, your family, someone they trust.

Selling today is about building a relationship.  You can’t call someone up and ask them to buy from you.  They don’t know you and have already been buying something from someone else for years.  You need a reason to have them start doing business with you and you can’t use the crutch “we have the lowest prices” anymore.  Because one day, someone else will come along and have lower prices. 

What’s your value now? 

Build rapport and you will start to build a relationship.  With that relationship will come trust.  And with trust comes sales. 

Cultivate patience along with new friendships and your sales will pour in.

So I stayed up late working last night and I caught Scott Brown’s victory speech.  I’ll be honest–before the whole Senate race for Ted’s old seat, I’d never heard of Scott Brown.  Never heard of Martha Coakley, either.  But I do know Twitter and I am familiar with other social media networks that Scott Brown used to get his message out to those of us who didn’t know him or what he stood for.

Martha Coakley had the PRESIDENT campaigning for her, and that didn’t help out as much as social media helped an underdog like Scott Brown upset the Democrats’ lock on that seat.  That was THEIRS!!  Massachussetts is a liberal state–how could they lose that??

The power of the social network.  It’s funny how it was Obama who had a year ago used it to his advantage and yet Martha’s people couldn’t keep up with Scott. 

The lesson?  Anyone can get their message out if they go where people are.  And a lot of them are free! 

Think about how social media has helped people get jobs, countries get aid, charities get funding, marketing campaigns gain legs, messages get viral. 

In your business today, if you’re spinning your wheels and getting nowhere, try putting yourself out there.  Social media is about community and guess what? 

You’re a part of a community. 

No one knows who you are?  Listen–that won’t change if you don’t let anyone know who you are.  Making cold calls and advertising in the yellow pages is the old regime.  The New World Order is social media.  If you participate, even a little, you will see a shift in how you do business, in how you’re perceived. 

Scott Brown didn’t exist to me before the primary.  But because of his social media blitz I got to find out more about him.  Because of YouTube I saw his image and heard his message.  Because of Twitter he became a person.  And that’s who people buy from.

When they buy into you they will buy from you.

Maybe you’ve done some reading and realize the importance of branding in today’s market.  But how do you go about branding your business?
You.
You are your brand.  Your job now is to tak e that brand and package it in everything you do: advertising, sales, your office, collateral (brochures, business cards, flyers, etc), tradeshows, network events.  Everything that sells your brand: you.
In the wedding planning industry you are selling yourself.  People are coming to you as an expert and assurance that you can do what you say you can do.
But what draws them to you?

Your brand.
You.
Think about every way you can touch a potential client (not literally, please).  Write them down.  Every time you come up with a new promotion, a new service, a  blog post, whatever, think about how to make it fit within your brand.  Always think about your brand is and then package your message within your brand.
*Are you consistent with your colors? Your font?
*Is your voice the same in your blog posts as in your copy on your website?

*Does your business card accurately convey your brand (logo, font, colors, tagline, etc) as you have depicted on your website?  Your blog? Your articles?
*Do you dress the part?  Is your brand image that of the romantic, traditional, pastels and flowers wedding planner a la Jennifer Lopez? Then why is your haircut Victoria Beckham, your sunglasses Prada and your outfit a contemporary woman’s suit complete with short skirt that Glamour magazine said was recently seen on Kate Moss?
An effective exercise in fleshing out your brand is to make a Top 5 List.  I do this for tons of stuff and did this when figuring out my own brand.

Top 5 List of Favorite Movies
Top 5 List of Favorite Songs
Top 5 List of Favorite Books
Top 5 List of Favorite Colors
Top 5 List of Clothes You wish you had in your closet
Top 5 List of Places you’d like to visit before you die
Top 5 List of Shoes you wished you owned.

Are you getting the idea?  These are all designed to get you thinking about your favorite person: YOU! Thinking this way will steer you to the image you want to cultivate and the bride you want to attract as your client.  Yes, think like your client, but think in terms of what kind of client would be most attracted to your style, to your tastes, to YOU!
This makes your life so much easier than creating a false brand based on the idea of what you think a bride wants and then trying to fit that mold.  You and your new client will have creative differences, your communication will be off and you will both generally have a very bad experience.  This not only hurts you and your fledgling business, it hurts the planning industry.
One bad experience is like the butterfly effect.  Work on your brand.  All the time.

Think about how you shop.
Do you look at the labels of food items to see their nutritional value?  Do you instinctively pick up the brightest, shiniest package?  Do you choose the object closest to you because you need eye drops and that was at the checkout counter?

How do you shop?

Business owners forget that they, too, are consumers.  When I hear other planners commiserate about how difficult it is getting a bride’s attention or how to make themselves different from the competition.

Huh?

Think about it.  You don’t need focus groups and you don’t need surveys for this.  (You will for other things, but I’ll blog about that later.)  What you need is to think like a bride.  If you have never been, just think like a consumer.
*What websites make you say “wow”?
*What products do you buy and why?
*Do you buy something based on a review you saw in InStyle or a commercial you saw during American Idol?
Companies spend tons of money on this stuff and it’s really all within your own grasp.  Differentiate yourself based on what attracts you.
If you like boldly packaged products then create a website that is packaged with bright colors and vivid imagery.  Make your logo dynamic and eye-catching.

In their book, Differentiate or Die, Jack Trout and Steve Rivkin talk about four different types of consumers.  The “Intuitives” are big-picture types that focus on possibilities rather than details.  This is me.  “Sensors” are people who rely very heavily on facts.  “Feelers” are people who need to hear what others think about something.  These people rely heavily on the endorsements of experts or others who’ve had experience with a product.  Finally, “Thinkers” are exactly what you’d think: they are logical, they are analytical and they want all the facts and figures you can give them.  They are the anti-me.
Armed with this knowledge, you can then figure how to differentiate yourself and your services by creating messages that appeal to these types of consumers.  Of course, being that we are human beings, you cannot be all things to everyone.  This is very important.  Do not try to be everything to everyone.  This is not differentiation.

This is desperation.
Trout and Rivkin do give examples of how you can differentiate by appealing to a couple of these at a time, because, let’s face it, we are not all just “feelers” or all just “thinkers”.  Some of us are blessed with the ability to think and feel.  (joke.)
Again, think about how you shop.  What makes Revlon better than L’Oreal to you?  A good exercise to help you with differentiation is by examining your consumer choices.  Why did you buy that Cosmopolitan magazine?  What makes it different, to you, than Glamour magazine?  They write about the same stuff, don’t they?  Their market is women, isn’t it?  Wrong.  These magazines are very different. Think about why.
Now, go be different.