Area 224

‘Sanitize Nothing’ – Chris Brogan

Dave — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 02:50:20 +0000

Folks: Dave from Area 224 has been working on a book with Jim Alexander, from Socially Mediated. We’ve conducted interviews, written chapters, re-written chapters. It’s coming along…but not as quickly as either of us would like.

Last month, we did a Q&A with Chris Brogan. Yes, that Chris Brogan. Found him to be an extremely accommodating gentleman.

Rather than make y’all wait for the book, we thought it would be nice to let you see what he said now.

Nichification:
We love the concept of the niche within the niche – but, as we’ve been talking to business owners and marketers, it sounds like the “niche within the niche within the niche” or a combination of niches is really where it’s at. (Like Kogi – Korean food, Street food, gourmet.) Are there any examples of this type of business that you really like?

Chris: My friend Doug Quint (we went to school together back in 8th grade in Maine) is a professional bassoonist for the NY Philharmonic, but decided to take his free time in the summer and launch the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck. He sells gourmet ice cream, things like olive oil and salt ice cream (I’m not kidding), and gets quite a great turnout by using social media tools like Twitter and Facebook and a blog and lots of photos of his customers to keep it moving forward. He even has merchandise for sale, because people love the concept and how Doug presents it.

Nichification: Dave has a theory – one that Jim isn’t arguing with yet – that the dirtier or less sexy the niche, the more money that’s in it. Recycling, pool cleaning franchises, landscaping, etc. What do you think of this concept?

Chris: Dave’s not wrong. Waste removal is a huge business. Huge. If I had a few hundred thousand laying around, I’d buy up a franchise opportunity in that space, because guess what: we’re making more and more trash, not less and less. Back in high school, this guy we all knew worked as a trash collector. He got teased about it. At the end of the summer, he bought a Mercedes. Cash. Everyone stopped laughing.

Nichification: You work with big businesses and big brands — ones that are not often thought of as niche marketers. BUT…one man’s “niche” is another’s “market segmentation.” Any good examples of niche businesses within bigger companies that you’ve come to really like?

Chris: Take a brand like Pepsico. What I like about them is that they have soda pop. But they have Gatorade, which is being retooled to really appeal to sports athletes. They have Quaker Oats, which is great for the health conscious. They have Sobe Lifewater, which puts them in that flavored water category. I love it, because the storytelling can be totally different for each one. Heck, even talking within a soda pop vertical, Mountain Dew is marketed to the extreme sports crowd where Pepsi is the everyman drink.

Nichification: One theory that is playing out in the book – niche franchises can be the way to go, as buying into someone else’s concept that has already been proven could lead to, in effect, buying a blueprint for success. Do you agree?

Chris: There are two ways to make business work for you: run someone else’s system, or create your own system. Starting a franchise is great, if you are someone who wants to just learn a system and execute it as it’s laid out. There’s not a lot of creativity permitted in most franchising systems. Depending on the size of the company, you’ll find that they’ll want to rigorously control everything (if they’re big) or you might have some wiggle room in marketing (if they’re smaller). Sam Walton started Wal-Mart because Ben Franklin stores got mad at his methods.

Nichification: How valuable is the “personal brand” in niche marketing? You’ve got a solid personal brand – how can niche marketers learn from you to make sure they keep their brand first and foremost in people’s minds (within their niche, of course)?

Chris: Personal brand definitely matters. If I think of soap, I by Glynne Soaps because Gayle & Jenn have spent lots of time building their brand. My favorite hamburgers are in Milwaukee at AJ Bombers, not the least bit because Joe Sorge makes the place a wonderful place to be. If I stay at a hotel in New York City, you can bet it’ll be the Roger Smith Hotel, because Brian Simpson and Adam Wallace make it a very personable place to be.

Nichification: You’ve been at this business thing for awhile — are there examples you can point to of great niche ideas that just didn’t take off? Why? What would you have advised them to do differently?

Chris: I think that most niches that fail usually fail because they’ve misjudged the prospective buyer’s interest in needing their product or service. Someone selling iPod accessories that doesn’t adapt into iPhone and iPad accessories is doomed, for instance, to pick a very simple product set. People selling into the bicycling community will have trouble unless they’re selling something that stands out.

Nichification: Oh, and do we have your permission to attribute these quotes to you in the book? (If there are any examples that we should “sanitize,” let us know.)

Chris: By all means. You have permission. Sanitize nothing. : )

Editor’s note: we are still working on the book. Promise. There’s more gold like this to come.

18 Steps to ‘Socialize’ your B2B Marketing

Dave — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 23:46:00 +0000

Area 224 is hosting another webinar, but this one is specifically for B2B Marketers.

Friendly Faceless LinkedIn Logo Guy

Lots of you aren’t in the B2B space – and if you’re not, that’s okay.

Webinar is August 12, 2 ET/1 CT/12 MT/11 PT.

But B2B marketers ask us one question all the time:

Has anyone figured out B2B Social Media Marketing?

Answer: yes, sorta, kinda, but it ain’t easy.

If you’re looking for a silver bullet, hunt down another webinar.

But if you’re looking to find the way to set the strategy and ask the right questions…to navigate through the politics of any organization…and to talk the executive teams on and off the ledge…

Well, we hope you’ll join us.

Lame Marketing is So Lame

Dave — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 02:26:15 +0000

So, we’re hosting a webinar…

Not just any webinar, though, a chance to help you the marketer become less lame.

Through Holistic Social Media Marketing.

Learn more at the registration page…and join Area 224 on Thursday, July 22!

10 for 10K – Or Thanking 10 (Groups Of) People For Helping Us Get to 10,000

Dave — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 01:47:54 +0000

We finally did it – after 2 plus years on Twitter, interacting, engaging, talking, getting into arguments, making friends, we are at the 10,000 follower threshold.

Twitter is about engagement, about conversations. And we’ve had such a great time with so many of you…so we want to single out 10 – people or groups of people – who have helped us along the way. In No Particular Order:

1. @unmarketing – I single out Scott Stratten for a couple reasons. Other than being uber-cool and all that, he happens to be the first person ever to send me a direct message on Twitter. It was an actual message, asking me how I was liking Twitter so far.

He’s worth a follow. He’s the real deal. And I get the feeling that, after he sells a zillion copies of his book, he’ll still be the real deal.

2. @ginidietrich. Whip-smart, opinionated, charming as heck. We’ve had some killer conversations on Twitter and elsewhere. She’s the CEO of Arment Dietrich.

3. @tweetmaker. Meet Jim Alexander. Solid citizen – solid enough that we’re working on a book together. Called Nichification. One of those people that, after you meet him IRL, you like him even more than you did on Twitter.

4. @garyunger. Creative Genius. Really.

5. @hgtv. We had the pleasure of being the “Tweet of the Week” on the Cable Channel HGTV earlier this year. So much fun – and they made a video of it. Learn more here: Tweet of the Week.

6. Some Real People: Like @LindsayMAllen, @ChicagoDiane, @mattplanet, @marksherrick, @harrisonpainter, @tmjackso @coffeyjulie, @chrisbrogan, @gilrogers, @mattdollinger, @rosshair, @rondavies, @waynemansfield, @ryanwynia,@toyotaequipment, @ceslsu, @ryan_manno. And a real dog, like @doggedpursuit.

7. Some Real Brands. Like @ms_elli, @liquorlandNZ, @SierraNevadaCA. I hope to visit y’all someday.

8. Wine people: @chwine (the folks at Cameron Hughes do some great work) and @rickbakas (we’ll meet IRL one of these days…). @cinderellawine is pretty darn cool, too. Oh, and that @garyvee guy – yes, he does all his own stunts.

9. Some dynamite women entrepreneurs. @barefoot_exec. @annevanston and @alexisneely. And don’t forget @jennifervides and @kellyolexa. Always smiling…Thanks for inspiring us all – and keeping us motivated.

10. @karioca – my lovely wife, Kari. You’re the best!

This Twitter thing is pretty cool – and if I’ve forgotten you, I apologize. Do let me know…and thanks for all the conversations!

Perfect is good. Done is better.

Dave — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 01:55:13 +0000

Remember that idea you’ve been sitting on?

I’m here with the swift kick in the pants.

While you’re waiting for the absolute right time to launch that business of yours, someone else is coming up with the same exact idea.

Except they are implementing on it.

Ideas are like water, folks. Really. My first startup, U Sphere, was really not anything new — a portal for college-bound students to connect with colleges.

In my case, the right time presented itself and I launched and didn’t look back.

It wasn’t wildly successful, but that’s okay — I learned a ton. Including what not to do next time. How to test and learn. What type of people to avoid working with — and who to gravitate toward.

Groupon? Nothing new, right? People buy stuff at a discount. One deal a day. Part Woot, part coupon site.

Oh yeah, and they probably hit a couple bumps in the road when they launched. But they were — are — first to market. HUGE advantage. Category killer — even though, again, not really a completely original idea. Beside the point.

You. Have. An. Idea.

Implement. Execute.

Perfect is good. Done is better.

5 Tips for BP PR – How to avoid more loss of brand equity

Dave — Mon, 31 May 2010 16:43:03 +0000

Like everyone else, we’re watching BP and wondering if the oil spill will ever stop.

It may not. In the event that we’re still having this discussion in July 2011, here are three moves that BP can make right now to minimize loss of brand equity.

1. Cut prices at every one of your service stations by 25% effective immediately.

Why? You’re going to lose tons of business anyway.

For instance, heading out of town this weekend, I filled up on gas. I bypassed your station in Evanston, IL. Better to support the Marathon guy down the road. I made this decision simply because I didn’t want to give you more money than I already had to.

Then, on the Indiana Toll Road, my hands were tied. BP or nothing. Darnit. So I filled up at a BP station.

But there’s more to this, right? I mean, local dealers who sell BP have franchises and buy gas from you and all that stuff I don’t understand.

So it’s these guys that are gonna lose business. And lots of business.

Thus the 25% cut in prices. That will make me think twice. Right?

2. Buy an acre of Louisiana swamp land for every hour that the spill continues.

Pay market prices. Donate the land to the State of Louisiana. Call it a day.

3. Accept any Louisiana fishing claims without batting an eye.

If I have a shrimp boat in Louisiana, and I’m toast, I probably don’t have Environmental Insurance. Business Interruption Insurance. ANY INSURANCE. I’m not saying people can make crazy claims, but if a 40 year-old guy in the Bayou says he makes $75K a year fishing and will lose everything, cut him a check.

4. Know all that “Beyond Petroleum” stuff you have been doing? Do it again. And again. And again.

I want to see wind farms. I want to see soy biodiesel. I want you to revisit all those ads from a few years ago where you talk to people on the streets and they tell you what they want out of an oil company.

I want to see those ads and I want to see them now.

5. Get a YouTube Channel NOW.

See the ad up here? It has 200,000 hits.

Search for “BP” on YouTube and stuff like this comes up.

Not press conferences, updates from your executives, video of your own.

Get a channel and get it NOW.

It’s a party, but you can’t come

Dave — Tue, 25 May 2010 01:43:12 +0000

Something’s bothering us at Area 224 HQ. Maybe you can help…

A few months ago, Steve Johnson in the Chicago Tribune profiled Eric and Kathy, the highly successful WTMX-FM morning show hosts. (If you’re not in Chicago, keep reading…there’s something in this for you.)

Very very early on, Eric implemented a rule: no fraternizing outside the office. Why? He didn’t want it to seem like a private party that the listeners couldn’t attend.

It works.

So, what’s bothering us?

The party. The one that everyone seems to attend, except you. This party takes a few shapes:

The “I’m better than you” Party

No one has all the answers, people. No one. In Social Media, in Marketing, in whatever industry. There’s a fine line between idea-sharing and aggrandizing. Please don’t cross it.

We’ve stopped engaging with some people who don’t engage back because they’re too good. They want to tell you how great they are, but when you question them, you get a blank stare.

The “Hidden Agenda” Party

We spend a ton of time on Twitter – and cannot stand the hidden agenda. The agenda that says we’re just creating a presence so we can sell you stuff. The agenda that wants to talk with you, but really wants to broadcast TO you.

The “All About Me” Party

I have made friends in social media. People who I would call up at the drop of a hat because they are just genuinely good people.

But there are others who refuse to engage in the give-and-take that NETWORKING requires. (Remember “networking?” The precursor to “social networking,” which spawned “social media?”)

We unfriended and completely removed from our life one such person in early 2010. Lots of reasons, but they all were part of a pattern of behavior that was, sadly, one-way.

We’re off our soap box now. Come join the party…

How to Make LinkedIn Work for You in 20 Minutes or Less

Dave — Thu, 20 May 2010 02:51:12 +0000

I have a long-standing love-hate relationship with LinkedIn.

Friendly Faceless LinkedIn Logo Guy

There are days when I think it’s the most awesome thing ever. Those days are rare, though: most often, I find it to be the 5th Beatle. An afterthought in my social media marketing time. It doesn’t have to be that way – and, for you, here are the 20 minutes you should invest to make it suck less.

Set the Egg Timer to 20 Minutes. And…

5 Minutes: Answers. Go there, now. (You will have to go where it says “More” on the navigation bar.) Look for something interesting that has been asked and answer it with your expertise. Seriously: you don’t have to be right. You just have to be there.

Be sure to “Browse” the categories on the right hand side to see if anything strikes your fancy — imagine your ideal prospect and think about what they want to know about. Niche, baby, niche.

5 Minutes: Check your contacts. Pick a couple, reach back out to them to say hi. No reason, other than checking in and saying hi.

What is currently wrong with LinkedIn? It’s not SOCIAL. It’s networking, but it’s not SOCIAL NETWORKING. And, other than craptastic “hey recommend me” lame-ohs who do this for SEO purposes, it’s not really SOCIAL MEDIA.

1 Minute: Get off your soap box.

8 Minutes: Prune. That’s right, get rid of those who you cannot see a reason for having connected with. I’m serious: if you don’t know why you connected with them, and you cannot help them, exit stage left and don’t look back.

Their name should spark a memory. “Hey, it’s that guy in Melbourne who does tech recruiting.” Or, “it’s that woman who graduated from my alma mater and was looking for a job last year.” Keep ‘em.

1 Minute: Recommend someone. Look at your list of contacts. Don’t over-recommend. But do the unsolicited recommendation.

Beep Beep. Timer’s Up.

BTW, have we connected yet?

Dave on LinkedIn.

Top 3 Grammar Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Dave — Mon, 10 May 2010 13:29:25 +0000

This is a guest post from Jody Calkins, from Emery Road Writing Services.

Of all the possible grammar mistakes, there are three types that are, by far, the most common, ones that we see every day. Most, if not all, of us have made these mistakes at one time or another, whether or not they actually “made it to print.” But the fact that they are so common in print and online advertisements, company websites, and social media tools means that businesses are leaving serious money on the table.

Customers want to do business with professionals and companies that are serious about getting it right. When errors litter your marketing materials, prospects lose confidence in your company and current customers have a difficult time recommending your company to someone else.

Avoid these common grammar mistakes like the plague. Avoidance will do wonders for your business.

Contractions or Possessives?

A contraction is basically a shortcut; it’s formed by combining two (or more) words into one and adding an apostrophe. A lot of people use it incorrectly, often mistaking a contraction for a possessive (e.g., â€œitâ€™sâ€ for â€œitsâ€ or â€œtheyâ€™reâ€ for â€œtheirâ€) or vice versa.

Here are a few examples of contractions:

It’s = It is

They’re = They are

There’s = There is

The Fix: The easiest way to remember which one is which is thinking of contractions as â€œshortcutsâ€ and understanding that a contraction requires an apostrophe. It’s far easier to understand the difference between a contraction and a possessive when you think of contractions as shortcuts.

A similar grammar mistake is using a singular contraction when the plural form should be used. â€œThereâ€™sâ€, which is formed from â€œthere isâ€, is the most commonly misused contraction, and has become the default for referring to the presence of things, like in â€œThereâ€™s dishes in the sink.â€

Since â€œdishesâ€ is plural, a plural contraction is necessary for the sentence to be grammatically correct, so the following is true:

â€œThereâ€™s dishes in the sink.â€ (Incorrect)

â€œThereâ€™re dishes in the sink.â€ (Correct) (It is important to note, however, that the contraction, â€œthereâ€™reâ€, is usually avoided because it sounds awkward.)

Sound-A-Likes

â€œSound-a-likesâ€ are words that sound the same but are spelled differently, and the correct usage has eluded people for years.

Examples of Sound-A-Likes:

There vs. their

Hear vs. here

The Fix: How do you remember the difference? You need to see these words like you do a friend or a neighbor. When you see your friend’s face, you know exactly who it is. When your favorite waiter serves you at dinner, you know it is your favorite waiter. You can do the same with words. Start paying attention to how the words look and it will eventually stick.

Mistaken Identities

Words that kind of look and sound the same have also caused widespread confusion. They look and sound so similar that it is hard to remember which is which.

Examples of Mistaken Identities:

Farther vs. further

Later vs. latter

Allude vs. elude

Affect vs. effect

Lie vs. lay

The Fix: So, how do you remember which one to use? My suggestion for mistaken identities is the same for â€œsound-a-likesâ€. There really isnâ€™t any quick fix that will help you understand or remember the difference. Studying the languages from which the words derived would be extremely beneficial, but very time consuming. It’s best to keep a grammar or style book handy until the proper use of these words has sunk in.

So, have you made these common mistakes? What other grammar troubles have you had?

About the Author: Jody Calkins is a freelance business writer who writes about business development, risk management, security protection, and business standards. Visit www.emeryroad.com for more information and samples.

3 Statistics That Will Change How You Think About Marketing

Dave — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 02:11:56 +0000

Just 3 stats – from 3 different corners of the marketing world. Our goal: help you learn more about the customer experience – or something we call “Empathy Marketing.” Enjoy.

Stat #1: “2 Million Plus Uniques on Foursquare.com in March.”

This means: Foursquare is “four real” – but has a ways to go. Evidence: these greater than 2 million unique visitors in the month of March represent exponential growth since October of last year, when Foursquare launched.

For the Empathy Marketer: How is location-based marketing changing the way you think? That depends – are you a B2B brand, or a restaurant looking to micro-target? Put your brand in the shoes of a customer or prospect. Will folks care if someone unlocks a badge when they visit your location. THEN figure out if it makes sense.

Stat #2: 75 Million Mexicans are Unbanked.

If you think the online world is the one to play in 24/7, the above estimate comes from a March article in Institutional Investor.

For the Empathy Marketer: Online bells and whistles are great IF you rely on online traffic. Foot traffic is probably much more important to Mexican businesses. Think Western Union focuses its efforts on online marketing – or on making sure that they reach Mexicans living in the US who need to wire money back home?

Oh, and Western Union might not ask much about Social Media Marketing. Social Media Marketing cannot sell your product to someone without a computer.

Stat #3: 65+3>96

The NCAA announced it was expanding its Men’s Basketball Tournament by just three teams, going from 65 to 68 teams.

This is better than the alternative – a rumored expansion to a 96 team format that would have been a disaster.

But I’m not alone in editorializing – and the NCAA scores points for (a) floating the trial balloon about this expansion, (b) listening to the hue and cry from fans about how lame it would be to expand to 96 and (c) backing down.

For the Empathy Marketer: Test and learn. Test and learn.

So, just three little stats; and from three random places. Empathy Marketers: don’t forget to put yourselves in the shoes of prospects, customers, fans. Listen to what they’re saying – to your face and behind your back.