My Morning WalkNew day, uninterrupted thoughts

How many people look at their smartphone screens and sigh when they open their inboxes? All of the stores that have asked for your e-mail address so they can opt you “in” for their newsletters and all of the online purchases you’ve made and had your receipts sent to your inbox are now catching up to you. You’re in “online interruption overload status”. Do you really need to get a newsletter to tell you that Kohl’s is having a sale this weekend or that the energy company says you need to insulate your attic to save heating costs? I don’t know about you, but when I want to buy something, I seek it out and when I have the money, I’ll work on home improvements. I really don’t need someone else telling me to do it. I’m motivated, but thanks anyway.

It seems like just last year everyone was jumping on the social media bandwagon. Signing up for this site and that site, this tool and that tool. They opted in to so many things because they couldn’t say “No”. Then came 2011 and the year started over. Not only was it time to drop body weight, it also became time to drop the excess baggage called “crap in my inbox that NOBODY reads”. I took it upon myself to jettison every bit of unnecessary luggage out of my inbox yesterday. What about you?

Getting everyone to connect to your e-newsletter was a cool idea in the beginning, but I’ve gotta tell you it gets old pretty fast if you don’t generate content that makes me wake up at 5 AM to read what you’ve got to say. Look for 2011 to be the year of “Content is King”, or “Content is Currency”. Company marketers: Learn to write in an entertaining, informative, or thought-provoking way or we’re out of here.

Thank you, Mark Zuckerberg, for Facebook. What a concept. Finally now we can get through the multiple personalities dilemma—you know the one—being one person at work, then someone totally different at home, and even someone else in social settings and networking events. The idea that started out as a way for college students to connect without leaving their dorm rooms has quickly become the glass door on closets previously filled with skeletons. Wow.

Progress can be a scary thing, but after listening to Eddie Money’s “I Wanna Go Back”: “I can’t go back…I know.” Springsteen’s “Glory Days” are in the past and today we face, or “Facebook” the future. The industrial age changed the world with the introduction of mass production, economies of scale, assembly-lines and factory workers. The primary goal was to increase profits by cutting costs and improving operational efficiencies. All well and good. Until the information age.

At that point consumers began researching what actually went into the products they were purchasing AND what the margins were on those products. Never again would an automobile dealer get a significant margin over invoice for a new car…the buyer KNEW what invoice was. KBB.com told them! Edmunds.com coached them about how to negotiate. Consumer Reports provided feedback from actual buyer experiences about the product and J.D. Power and Associates validated the dealership they were purchasing from. Only one thing was missing: The personal characteristics of the salesperson completing the transaction were relatively insignificant to the decision to purchase. Admittedly customers did relate to some reps better than others, but historically, the salespeople were not researched prior to the purchase decisions themselves. There was really no way to do that without building a long-term relationship over many years of repeat purchases…UNTIL NOW.

Welcome to the Transparency Age. Like it or not, it’s here to stay. And if you want to thrive in this environment, you’re going to have to participate in order to be trusted. Opening yourself up to the rest of the world will become the norm. Privacy is a factor, and issues with privacy have been well-documented relative to Facebook, but overall we will be influenced by others to provide information we are EXPECTED to share. Even though this is is not the final phase of this revolution (a future post will outline at least one more), it is certainly time to clean out the closets.

It seems like it’s going to take forever, doesn’t it? For the world to adopt the strategies that so many companies and people push aside as a “fad” is going to take an eternity. Not necessarily. There really is a better life in this for everyone. We just haven’t figured it out yet. And the climb is getting tougher. We’re climbing through snowstorms, clouds, avalanches, and the blustery winds of resistance. Why don’t we just abandon the climb right now and stay comfortable in front of our nice, warm fire?

This is why:

A life of freedom with no interruptions is on the other side of this mountain. Imagine a life, as Chris Brogan says, that can be lived “at the kitchen table”. “Work” can be done anywhere. You’ll never miss another meal with your family. You’ll never miss another one of your kids’ plays, piano lessons, or baseball games. You’ll enjoy the freedom of setting your own schedule because YOU are in control of it, and whether you work for a company or for yourself, everyone respects this freedom.

What was YOUR resolution this New Year’s? Are things going SO WELL for you that you don’t want anything to change, or are there a few things you could work on, learn about, or incorporate into your daily lives that would allow you to enjoy the green, green grass on the other side of the mountain?

How many people out there are DOING social media, but perhaps aren’t building on a solid foundation? How many are, instead, “going with the flow” as if building on water or sand? Professional architects of the web are advising them to amend their plans—specifically to create and leverage a blog instead of a static website or Facebook page—in order to maintain an online presence that can stand the test of time.

If we’re into construction metaphors, perhaps an applicable one would be to envision building your business on a blog (concrete) instead of an arrangement of “Lincoln logs on top of a Jenga tower”…(Thank you, Marjorie). When concrete is first mixed, it’s placed in forms that are the shape of the structure you’re going to create. The thing is, the concrete is initially somewhat fluid and can be moved during the pouring process. Even though it takes a long time to harden, it creates a structure that remains intact for many, many years.

Compare this to who you are at the core—Not much can change who you eventually become, but how you got that way has been shaped by many experiences. Even though most of us are set in concrete today, a blog’s history serves as a consistent, documented proof source using stories from the heart supporting who we are and the values we represent.

What do you think? Time to go back to the drawing board, or are you ready to start construction on the penthouse suite? Whatever the case, please remember one very important point: Rome wasn’t built in a day. Your empire won’t be, either.

Just heard a radio ad promoting “60 days to social media success” and HAD to post. Although this may be possible in some markets and with some prospects, the promise of immediate gratification in social media is usually about as valid as the promise of finding a spouse in one night out at the bars. Do the organizations making these promises actually believe they have a “perfect formula” for accelerated relationship-building that will enable the client seeking answers to find them in 60 days? Sorry folks, it takes a lot longer than that to build a meaningful relationship…That IS what you’re looking for, right? If not, should it then be assumed that you don’t CARE about the people you serve or get involved with?

Who is this ad targeting? Simple: It’s a B2B ad looking for panicked business owners who suddenly realize they are behind and want to catch up with this trend by YESTERDAY. Everything is fast and easy, right? Everything except relationships.

Advertising has always been about the “easy solution”. Who has the time for anything else? Just throw out a hundred and two will stick. I’m not concerned about the two that bite and get frustrated after 6 months, not 60 days, that their plans are not working like this organization has promised. I’m concerned about the 98 who are skeptical about the opportunity that is in front of them because someone is making a traditional promise that is just too good to be true. Those 98 don’t know who to trust because they’ve been burned before. Please, 98, don’t give up. There are realistic people out there who value relationships and will treat you right. You just can’t find them in a radio ad. Look me up on Facebook. Connect with me on LinkedIn. I’ll introduce you to the same great people that have helped me develop my business over the last TWO YEARS. (The icons at the top of this page are links.)

Make it a great day.

You say you want to do business in person or over the phone. Or at least that’s what your verbal cues state. Really? Then why are you on the Do-Not-Call/Do-Not-Solicit list? Why do you hide when the doorbell rings unexpectedly after 6 pm? Come on, folks, don’t be shy, I DO IT, TOO! Ask my wife what the first words out of my mouth are when the doorbell rings and I see something other than a neighbor’s friendly face or a young person standing outside waiting to sell me magazines for their school band trip. No offense to my clients at all, but if I could put my business on the do-not-call/do-not-solicit list, I’d do it in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, businesses aren’t allowed to sign up. One can only assume the reason being that businesses actually deserve to taste the unpleasant fruits of their own actions.

For years we’ve been conditioned to be traditionalists. Newspaper ads, television commercials, radio spots, traffic billboards, and web browser pop-ups have all attracted our attention by design. Forty years ago they were few and far between. Now they’re infinite and close together—and so LOUD and DISTRACTING that Congress is meeting about restricting their decibel levels…REALLY? So many people complain: “Why is Congress wasting their time on advertising noise when we have the highest unemployment in years and unemployment benefits are running out for millions of good people within the next 30 days?” I’d pose the question in a slightly different way: “Why SHOULD Congress HAVE to deal with advertising noise at all? Why can’t consumers litigate this situation on their own by promoting and supporting alternatives to interruptions and “noisy” ads?”

The social media concepts we see in place today are affecting business relationships, specifically in the marketing and advertising worlds. Marketers can now identify with laser-accuracy the perfect customers based on personal tastes and preferences and narrow their messages to an exact profile. That’s very positive because the benefit is that the customer’s suitability to the business/individual they will be working with is far more compatible. The negative side is that non-suitable clients do not give attention to the business relationship because of a lack of commonality. NOTE: Many marketers and businesses truly believe this “trend” will fade and that the world will return to “the way it was”. Such an observation is both inaccurate and short-sighted and those that refuse to believe will be left behind.

This issue is extending to personal relationships as well. How many blogs are there? Over 1.9 Million and growing. What are they about? Better yet, what AREN’T they about? Individuals can literally search for any topic of interest and discuss it in any format they choose: Skype, e-mail, blog, text, phone, letter (not likely), FB, Twitter, My Space, YouTube, LinkedIn, …… You get the point. The challenge is that our tolerance for discussion of topics OUTSIDE our interests is drastically reduced…we’d far rather give attention to things we genuinely CARE about…not things SOMEONE ELSE cares about…There simply isn’t enough time in the day to learn enough about someone else’s interests to engage in an intellectual discussion with them included. Like it or not, this isn’t going to change. Call it information overload in the Information Age, call it targeted social interaction, call it whatever you want. It may or may not break down longstanding personal relationships depending on the coping capacity of the people involved in the discussion.

People are actually finding themselves drawn to others who share much more TARGETED interests than 20 years ago. Remember in the 80’s and 90’s? What did we have to talk about? Football, basketball, local news from the NEWSPAPER, what mixes well with watermelon schnapps…Are we on the same page? Today, we are all challenged with too much information. Dining room table conversations don’t happen like they used to, even when the entire family is present. Family gatherings are becoming stressful instead of relaxing because there are now MILLIONS of topics someone could possibly choose to discuss. For example: If a discussion begins about something for which you are totally unprepared, what do YOU do? I personally feel that’s the reason there’s football on Thanksgiving.

Happy Holidays.

What differentiates the two? Answer: The perception of sales strategy.

“Calling something to the attention” of someone (advertising) is a passive sales strategy. TV, radio, Google, and newspaper ads are all just that: Advertisements. There is no real call to action for the viewer/reader. Ads create awareness that a product or service is available if the viewer decides to pursue the need or want. The only party with a financial interest at stake is the purchaser of the ad. It physically takes an additional interaction for the transaction to occur. This span of time could be called a “trust gap” or “investigation period” for the viewer to determine which service provider to use and is an opportunistic point in time for the social media activist.

Marketing is “the act or process of selling” and is an active sales strategy. It involves a transaction between a buyer and seller and usually the seller has at least an equal financial stake in the decision of the buyer. In this scenario, there is no investigation period prior to the intial interaction. So the question: “Will one or the other have a longer life span or will they both remain effective for the next century and beyond?”

Prediction: Advertising will survive. Marketing in its present form will be forced to evolve or become extinct. Why: Advertising is essentially harmless except for the attention factor. Marketing, on the other hand, interrupts, pushes, and closes. It creates a negativity that increases the awareness that competitors DO exist. When consumers get “closed” enough, they begin to look for alternate solutions.

No one can really predict the future, but the evolution of social media is bound to have a profound impact on both marketing and advertising. It will be interesting to see if either or both can withstand the knock-out punches ahead.

What is an ad, really? Has anyone ever given a donation to a charity and at the same time provided their company logo? Why? Is a donation a transaction or a gift? By definition, a donation is the act of giving or bestowing. Why is credit even desired for the donation? The most logical reason is that the donor wishes to acknowledge public support of a cause. That’s really the only plausible answer. If no transaction is expected and the cause is truly believed in, what’s your point?

Prediction: Social media is going to have a huge impact on this phenomenon and it is going to significantly impact who consumers choose to trust with their livelihoods/money/friendships/decisions in the very near future. If there’s one thing social media is big on promoting it’s transparency. The internet is one giant background check. If someone provides financial support to a specific cause with the expectation of receiving a transactional financial gain from the donation, it’s a hypocritical gift…otherwise known as a bribe. Bribes are usually big news in the political world, but we either engage in them or passively observe them every day in the business world. Certainly, businesses can give “gifts” to schools and non-profit organizations and get recognized on the “donor list”. That’s acceptable IF THAT’S WHERE THE HEART IS. Skepticism should and does arise when it’s discovered that the donor has no personal interest at stake in the organization besides the transactional expectation. And if he/she doesn’t have such an interest? Sorry, folks, that’s called advertising and they’re not really supporting your cause…They’re looking for ROI.

There is a huge gray area between advertising and marketing versus charitable giving. One sets a transactional expectation and the other does not. Social media is all about giving more than you get in return. It’s built on the word-of-mouth premise that if someone does something nice for me, I want to reciprocate that act NOT WITH MONEY, but with kindness. It’s the word-of-mouth around the character that generates ROI, not the financial significance of the donation. In other words, successful businesses of the future will pay it forward.

In the industrial age, one of the predominant careers was agriculture. I grew up on a farm, but until recently didn’t understand the correlation between succeeding in the present environment with my own childhood. Someone once said that history will repeat itself. How prophetic.

In agriculture, seeds get planted with no guarantee that they will grow or generate a return. Yes, there is a lot riding on those corn and soybean plants, but there’s also a lot of patience, nurturing and faith that goes into the process as well. For example, why can a tractor only travel a little over 3 miles per hour when a farmer is cultivating corn? Two reasons: First, one sudden move can cause the implement to plow out the very plants it is cultivating. Second, if the implement is moving too fast, it throws dirt over the top of the plant’s leaves and stunts it growth, or even possibly kills it. I learned this from experience, and from attitude adjustments applied by my father.

Compare the example to the strategies of the present day, namely social media. The internet is touted as being the fastest, most efficient advertising and marketing vehicle on Earth. We have instant access to more information, more opinions and more people than ever before yet moving through it too fast will affect the very relationships that are required to grow a “crop” online. Moving recklessly through the “fields” could uproot seeds that have been planted for some time or stunt the growth of others by covering them up with unwanted “soil”.

Resist the temptation of accelerating through the fields just because you want and need your online crop to grow faster. Instead, plant, cultivate and nurture every seed you plant in every online relationship. It may take months or even years for the seeds to germinate, but in the end you’re more likely to be rewarded with a record harvest.