For Yankee fans, the morning after the New York Yankees' 27th World Series win is a bit bleary-eyed but full of heart. The team, who had not won since 2000, battled back over the last nine years and had to find its soul again and its passion. Much of the credit of returning this amazing All-Star team back to its baseball loving roots, goes to manager Joe Giradi. As I read the NY Times recap of the game this morning, I'm struck by Alex Rodriguez's (A-Rod to fans) quote:
As Rodriguez stood on a platform holding the championship trophy over his head, he said:
“You have 25 guys who bought into Joe Girardi’s system,” he said. “I wish we could come out and play again tomorrow for no reason; that’s how much we love each other.
For complete coverage of the Yankees' win, visit the NY Times' fabulous sports site.
How does this transcend into business? Passion transcends into every area of life! How could it NOT transcend business?
When you have a natural passion and affinity, it fuels everything you do. Whether its the marketing, accounting or sales roles you fulfill in your business, passion is the energy that drives you.
We talk a lot about HOW to do things on this blog, how to market yourself, how to market your business, where to reach your audience. But we'll be spending some time on WHY, too.
Thanks, Yankees, for reminding us of that!
The key question now is this: How do you stay connected to the passion you have for your business? Click "Reply" and comment. We'd love to hear your thoughts!
Alison Woo, Chief Media Maven
Anyone who thinks that one of the side effects of the digital age is information fatigue is absolutely correct. For those who want to know more, be sure to read the wonderful article in this week's The Globe and Mail on the topic. Journalist Peter Nicholson discusses how and why we are now information-rich and attention poor.
For business owners, this again underlies the fact that in the midst of this "information flow' it is more important now than ever before to stand out from the crowd. There is only ONE lasting way to do that: be yourself.
Yes, it's true. The business to business and online success lies in the refrain of the Sting song, "Englishman in New York."
Be yourself, no matter what they say.
Here's why: the only thing that truly makes you unique is you. We are each like snowflakes. Just as no two people are alike, no two businesses are exactly alike. It's you who makes the difference. Even if two businesses may sell the same product or service. No one will have the same people working there, the same motivation or the same way to do something. That's what makes business so wonderful!
How to Showcase Your Uniqueness Online
To take a master series on blogging, visit here.
Alison Woo, Chief Media Maven
We talk a lot on this blog about the underlying premise of Web 2.0: which is founded in the root concepts of listening and sharing. But now let's talk about what benefit this can do for you, the business owner who is short on time and long on things to do.
Listening to your prospects, customers and clients can give you ideas for new ways to do business. As in new and PROFITABLE ways to do business. The best ideas can come from people using your service or product. Creatively speaking, even though you birthed the idea of your business, it's your customers who own a part of it now. That's why it can be a great idea to go to them and ask them what your next great invention should be.
This idea of going directly to the masses is a topic that was covered brilliantly in the book, "Crowdsourcing." I heard author Jeff Howe speak at this year's MediaBistro conference in NYC in June and he reinspired me to delve into this idea for business. If you haven't picked up his book, run, don't walk to get it.
Business owners who have reaped the rewards of tapping into their customer's brain have gone far. And they're using social media platforms such as Twitter andFacebook to do it. Now comes word from producer Ken Davenport's blog that the producers of the Broadway musical Next to Nothing are using Twitter to ask their followers for ideas for a new song for their show.
What all of this tapping into your customers does is increase their own buy in to your product or service. Everyone likes to feel like they had some part in creating something. You have to know that even the people who have shelled out $100 bucks a ticket for a Broadway show would come see it again if they knew "their song" was in the show.
While very few of us have the luck of joy of producing on Broadway, this is a concept that we can all apply. Ask yourself, "What part of my business can be crowdsourced?" You may be surprised by the answer.
Let us know your ideas by clicking on the "comment" tab below.
Alison Woo, Chief Media Maven
Mad Men, the brilliant AMC drama about Madison Avenue in the 60s has returned and none too soon. In "Love Among the Ruins" - the second episode in their third season. leading man Don Draper, Sterling Cooper's Creative Director, councils the leader of a new NYC project that aims to tear down Pennsylvania Station to put up what we now know as Madison Square Garden. Faced with angry cries from the citizenry, the project leaders want to find a way to minimize negative comments. Draper offers this: "If you don't like what is being said, change the conversation."
We've mentioned before in this blog and in our speeches around the nation that one of the biggest hangups that prevents business owners from delving into the world of new media is the fear of what people are saying about them online. The problem is if you are not actively participating in the digital space, you lose the opportunity to share what you have to say and more importantly, truly listen and understand what is being said and why. You also lose your ability to change the conversation, if that is what you need to do. Conversations fuel business intelligence and businesses who know how to harvest and use this raw data correctly are the ones that are most successful.
Despite all the new fancy technology this is just the simple idea of listening to your customers. You can use a tablet or Twitter, face-to-face conversations or Facebook. But the point is you have to share with and listen to them.
What makes Mad Men such a brilliant sketch in proper business relations is the whole idea of understanding your customer's behavior; their wants and needs; and knowing what conversations they are having. Any fans of the show out there will remember the first time this principle was played out so brilliantly in Season 1 when Don was wooing the Kodak clan about their new "wheel." He talked about their product not by focusing on its feautures: how many slides it can show, how fast, etc. He showed how their product played an essential part in their customer's lives.
That's what conversations do. And that's what new media/social media and Web 2.0 is all about. Conversations. Listening and sharing. There are 1000 ways to do that but that is the essential.
All you need to do to master marketing with new media is to keep that at the center of your focus. Each and every time to you share with or listen to your customers. And you need to make sure that whatever you are offering is valuable. And with all the information out there that you are sifting through it to listen for what's valuable, too.
We'll end where we began, with an immortal line from Don Draper himself. "Technology is a glittering lure," he tells the Kodak officials. "But there is a rare occasion when the public can be engaged beyond flash." For those of you who want to relive that amazing presentation, click here. And comment by clicking on the link below. We would love to hear your thoughts.
Alison Woo, Chief Media Maven
Recent news reports show that small businesses have flocked to Twitter in larger numbers than big businesses. What I'm amazed about is how this tool, that only a few people knew about last year this time, has become an marketing tool with amazing versatility.
Almost every day I find someone who is using Twitter in a number of ways:
From restaurant Crepe Cellar in Charlotte that's using it to offer unadvertised specials, to Kilwin's, an amazing fudge and ice cream place, that's using it to drive customers sample their WillyWonka-esque delights.
If you want to think bigger about your business communciations, it's time to get on board Twitter. What do you need to know if you want to use Twitter to market your business? Here are a few brief pointers:
For more free business marketing tips, tools and tweets from the book, "How to Say It: Marketing with New Media" follow us at www.twitter.com/newmediamavens.
Alison Woo is the Chief Media Maven at New Media Mavens, a digital marketing agency in New York City and Charlotte, NC.
Psst....here's some secret squirrel news!
Tomorrow Technorati, one of the world's largest search engine directories for blogs, will anounce they are launching a Twitter edition. Read more about it today's Tech Crunch.
What does this mean for you entrepreneurs out there? It means it time to up your game. Are you on Twitter? It not, it only takes a minute to get on board. And as we always say, it's not about the tools, it's about strategy.
Twitter is an amazing tool to talk to and listen to your customers. The latter is probably THE most important tool you can use for gathering business intelligence.
What's the one thing you want to know from your customers? Click "Comments" below and share!
Alison Woo, Chief Media Maven
The very unexpected passing of music legend Michael Jackson caused Google, Twitter and most of the Internet to come to a slow crawl when news broke Thursday afternoon. To see the extent of what happened and hear from one of Twitter's founders, click on the NY Times tech blog.
Interestingly enough, I think what happened underscores a basic human necessity and reaction to connect. We are social creatures, we humans. And when something shocking happens our first reaction is to reach out and tell someone. And share.
So much of what has been talked about in social media is about how technology is driving new behaviors. I disagree. I think technology is mimicking what we already do instinctively. And that's an amazing thing! In this way we can use technology to augment what we already do naturally. Technology should run our lives, it should help us.
What device did you run to first when you heard the news? Twitter? Text? Called someone? Click on the "Comment" link below and share. For me, it was text then phone.
Alison Woo, Chief Media Maven
