How Do You Stay At The Top Of Your Game?

Where do you get your ideas? What is the best way for you to be creative? Sometimes, creative professionals live in a world that competes directly with their best interests.

Necessity forces me to spend between 10 to 12 hours in front of a computer some days. Don’t get me wrong, I love what I do, and feel privileged to do it. Spending long amounts of time in front of the computer can drain your creativity, however. Business ideas, creative ideas can suffer.

Sometimes, my best ideas for work come in regenerating. I try to find time to spend with friends and family. I try to spend as much time as possible enjoying the summer weather. Maybe take a nice day trip, or short get away.

Bikerides, walks, runs, working out. You’d be surprised how many ideas come when you have a little time to think. An elevated heart rate due to exercise can work miracles.

Sometimes I need to take more constant breaks when I work. Get up, walk away from the computer and come back.

I’m curious what other people do. What do you do in your off time? How do you regenerate?

TYE Offers a New Way For Doing Business

When we think social media, we think the wave of the future. We think of the interconnectivity that it will provide over the years to come.
Ironically, one lasting effect is that it returns us to the small-town atmosphere that was common in the 50s and 60s. Social media creates one giant, small town, where people talk. Everybody knows what everybody is doing. In a way, the future is like Mayberry.
This concept is the main idea behind Gary Vaynerchuck’s newest book, The Thank You Economy. The way the world does business is changing. Instead of pumping marketing dollars into the tried and true mediums of radio and television, companies will do better to invest in a personal platform.
One person can influence thousands in their social network simply by tweeting or posting about their favorite brands, Vaynerchuck writes. Companies can provide a broader, more personal approach by taking advantage of this.
Vaynerchuck uses the example of a theme park. Instead of dumping thousands into a traditional television and radio campaign, they would get more out of providing a “Willy-Wonka” like experience for a handful of customers. There’s a lot of potential for a small group of people with all access to the park, a few cameras and the instruction to post their exploits in their online communities.
The buzz created by this act of good will would resonate deeper than the traditional ad campaign, he argued.
Social media has made consumers more accustomed to this personal level of interaction from businesses. Instead of talking at customers through the traditional “megaphones,” they’ll do better to talk with people on a one-on-one basis. Social media gives consumers leverage in the process again, making customer service hugely important.
Like Crush It, the TYE is also filled with wonderful insight and ideas from someone who is on the forefront of social media. He discusses some current campaigns that have worked well, and some not so well. He discusses several ideas that he has had for businesses and how they can leverage the power of social media.
This book provides an excellent glimpse at the culture social media creates. It’s written for a wider audience than his first book, Crush It, which is more of an entrepreneurial how-to.
I highly recommend this for anyone looking to make sense of the business community moving on in the future.

Preliminary Thoughts on Google Plus

I’ve been playing around with Google+ for about 24 hours now, and have a few preliminary thoughts. First, Google’s invitation system is arbitrary and frustrating. I managed to squeeze in at some point Thursday evening but I’m still not quite sure how.

I signed in with my Gmail address and it allowed me to sign up for G+. If I sign out, it appears that anyone can always sign in in this manner. So I post to Facebook, and I inevitably frustrate friends who are not allowed in. Very strange, very frustrating. After a few days of being left out, I got lucky. Hopefully Google takes advantage of the early buzz generated by the nerds (myself included) and opens G+ to a wider platform soon.

The Platform

The interface itself is a lot like Facebook. You have the very visible bar up top for notifications. You have the option to see a stream, or your profile where all of your posts and comments reside.

The big difference is in the circles, which is probably the concept that has been written about the most, involving G+. The circles allow you to organize your friend list categorically and send messages just to them. You could do a circle of strictly coworkers. The advantage to this is they don’t have to see when you went out for drinks last Friday night, or all the pictures of little Suzie in the bath tub. I know Facebook has lists, but they always felt a little convoluted.

Even though you organized this stuff on Facebook, there was a little uncertainty. G+ asks you every time you post something what circle you want it to go to. It will show you who the post is visible to. You do not have to wonder.

It doesn’t seem that there is a wall right now, which is a little strange. If you want to communicate directly with someone, there is an email option. When you are viewing someone else’s page, you no longer have the ability to write anything. There is also a voice and video chat, which I suspect has a lot to do with Facebook’s sudden desire to integrate Skype.

They also have something called Sparks, which offers the ability for you to find internet items that interest you, to feed them into your stream. I don’t think this does a lot that Google Reader doesn’t do, and it doesn’t seem like the most beneficial feature.

Everything feels a little cleaner and more organized than Facebook. The biggest difference is that there’s not 700 million people. Yet. It’s a little premature to know how this will play out. This is a cleaner, more organized social network that has generated a heck of a lot of buzz. When it publicly launches, I think it will fill up, and there will be more people at the party.

The Future

I’ve seen predictions that there will be 100 million on the network by Christmas. They’ll need a large number of people to make a social network like this relevant. Google’s strength will rest in tying it in with the other programs and features that it offers.

What does G+ mean for businesses? Right now, there’s no business pages, so there’s no strong branding advantage to G+ yet. That will come in time as well. One advantage for businesses could be in the practical, however. Is it tough to get everyone in one room at the same time for meetings? You could always build a company circle, and use the video chat for meetings. The advantage this has over using just a video client, is that you can stay in contact, sending messages within your circle after the meeting.

This is Google’s strongest foray into the social ever, though. Facebook has met its match. We’ve all heard the phrase that Social media is here to stay, even if the platforms change. I don’t think this will kill Facebook, but they are no longer the only dog in the fight.

This is a strong platform that builds on perceived weaknesses of Facebook. Hopefully it launches soon.

Look at Me, I'm On a Horse: A Little Creativity In Your Marketing Copy Helps A Lot

It’s no longer enough to just tell your customers how great your product is and expect results. There’s hundreds of distractions competing for your customer’s time. Without something to grab their attention, you’re inviting them to leave.
What are your favorite recent ad campaigns and why? Chances are there was something funny about them, or at least stimulating. Something that grabbed your attention, and made you remember long after the spot was over.
When my dad and I watch any sporting event together, he has a favorite line during the commercial breaks. I should have gone into advertising. This line gets uttered for any commercial that just falls flat. It is said at least a few times a game, and the commercials that solicit this comment share one common trait—they’re bad.
As I write this blog, I’m sitting in a Starbucks across the lot from a Buffalo Wild Wings. I’m remembering the commercial that involved restaurant patrons putting in a request with a football ref for overtime, to stave off real life for that much longer. This spot works because it’s a creative and different way show just how much fun is possible while watching the big game in their restaurants.
Another that comes to mind is Dos Equis, with the most interesting man in the world. Not all of these commercials are equally interesting and outrageous, but some of them are pretty funny. Heck, sometimes the guy bowls overhand, and his bird bath has been known to attract Bald Eagles. That’s somebody anybody would want to know.
Another one that comes to mind for me is the Old Spice man your man could smell like. These commercials are just beautifully delivered, and memorable for their highly juxtaposed imagery. He’s on a boat. He’s on a horse. He’s on a beach. He’s also not your man, but he is the man your man could smell like. It’s so highly original that it is something bound to be remembered.
In the written world, Groupon has done a great job of providing some of this captivating copy. They go out of their way to captivate you with a funny or outrageous message before offering their deal.
Sure the beer and deodorants listed above are Fortune 500 caliber. Any business would benefit from a creative, strong message, though. Accountants, attorneys, restaurants, retail—it doesn’t matter. All businesses can benefit from a strong message.
It’s up to you to develop the message that works for your business. Don’t be afraid to outsource the marketing copy, and ask for something creative. Your business will benefit.

Do You Have "Stealth" Accounts?

Stealth may be good for military purposes, but for social media, it just means that your profile can't be seen. It's not really a desirable trait.

Maybe it’s a Facebook business page that hasn’t seen any love or attention over the last six months. Maybe it’s a LinkedIn profile that hasn’t been updated since you quit your last job. Or are you neglecting your tweeple?

It takes ten minutes and a fleeting whim to create a social media account. Very little effort is involved. If you are using social media for business reasons, accounts that are created and neglected may be doing you more harm than good.

I recently read an interesting Biznik.com article on this subject referring to these as “stealth” profiles. You find them, they may pique your interest for one reason or another, and the person behind the profile is nowhere to be found.

The reaction of the person potentially interested in your service is not a favorable one. They are more likely to move on to your competitor’s page or profile than to contact you for your services. Customer lost.

So, be thorough. Don’t post information you are not comfortable with, but make sure you are aren’t leaving pertinent information blank. Try to keep up with your tweets. Maintain your presence. It will only help in the long run.

Most of us have been on the flip side of this at some point or another. We get excited, thinking “there’s a bookstore in my town I didn’t know about,” or something to that effect.

You didn’t know about it because maybe the business has been closed for years, and they dropped their social media midstream. Worse, maybe the business is still open and they just didn’t see the value in the social media experiment. Again, customer lost.

So, don’t go into social media half hearted. Stay vigilant, stay active, and hopefully see the results. Neglected accounts detract from your business’s goals.

Your Business Needs A Copywriter

Remember when consumers checked the phone book when they wanted to know about a business? Remember when they checked newspapers for the ads? Remember direct mail?

Time marches on. At times these components may make sense for a percentage of your advertising budget, but you need to reach customers where they are—and for 99 percent of businesses in today’s day and age, that means finding them online.

Businesses are starting to recognize the importance in their web site, and set aside money for an advertising budget. Now, you have web sites beautifully designed with a message that begins with “Welcome to my new web site!!!” or something to that effect. If you don’t see anything wrong with this, or have done it yourself, you need to hire a copywriter to help with commercial writing.

As a business owner, you may love to write. You may think you’re good at it, and you may see doing it yourself as a way to cut costs. This is such a crucial part of bringing business in, that you don’t want to leave it to yourself anymore.

When someone wants to know about a type of business they don’t reach for a huge thick book. They take their phone out, or go to their tablet or laptop. They Google it, and receive the information they need to make an informed purchasing decision. If they don’t find information about your business in this process, you lose.

An experienced copywriter will make sure that all the pieces are in place for your business to rank well in the search engines. This is the equivalent of a big expensive ad buy. It’s the way that mom and pops can compete with big boxes.

Ranking in the search engines alone is no longer enough, either. People can’t go to your web site and see grammatical or spelling mistakes. They can’t see a whole bunch of half-cooked thoughts. They need a story. They need a message.

While “Welcome to my new web site!!!” may get you an “A” for manners, it does little to pull people in. You have only a few seconds to grab someone’s attention. You need to tell them why they need what you sell, and you need to do it in a way that’s not overtly pushy. It’s a tall task, and a copywriter can help.

A good copywriter should know how to make sure your copy will help the site rank higher in the search engine. They should be able to recommend keywords, and why they will help you. They should be able to dance along the line between writing for readers and writing for the search engines, landing on the appropriate side at the appropriate times.

A good copywriter can make suggestions for your web site that will make it better. Say you sell cheese. A good copywriter may suggest a page on your web site devoted to cheese and wine pairings. Bonus points if he suggests QR codes on the bottle so that people may find those pairings from the dinner table.

Simply put, a good copywriter will help you reach your audience, and bring you business—something as a small business owner you can no longer afford to overlook.

If You Love Something, Give It Away

On Monday, I plan on attending a free concert in Chicago from a band more than established enough to play a big show in one of the city’s music clubs.

The band Iron and Wine has staked their claim in the indie rock world, and could probably fill any of the popular clubs in the city. So why play for free? The simple answer is people talk. When people are hooked into social media networks, their conversations reach a lot further.

By playing this show, they will increase their fan base by playing to a crowd larger than the one that would pay to see them in the clubs. Those who hear them for the first time Monday may buy their latest album on Tuesday.

It’s a smart business move. A high profile give away can do as much for you as traditional advertising. When people talk (positively, of course) the word of mouth can become an effective advertising tool.

You may take an immediate loss on the giveaway, like Iron and Wine will on ticket sales. Think of all the pictures that will pop up around Facebook from those at the show.

Now chances are, your business may be a little more low profile. But if you are in the restaurant business, a drink every once in a while to make one of your regulars feel at home should be nothing.

I regularly work out of a neighborhood Starbucks. There’s a manager there who occasionally gives me a drink or bakery item without charging me. I always tip, and it gives me a cozy, intimate feeling from a big-time chain. Translation—I keep coming back. The money I spend there next month will far outweigh the handful of breaks they give, so we both win.

What can your business do to reign people in? Social networking adds a new and interesting dimension to this. It allows thousands to find out about one small act of kindness. So try something creative and let me know how it works.