The Flurry Blog

What goes through a marketer’s mind that makes them hire a booth babe? I can just imagine.  “Our product is a bit boring so let’s throw some sex at them.”  In the long run it does not pay off.  It is a leftover from traditional advertising.  It cracks me up to see men talking to scantily clad beauties as if the girl was an expert on the product.  Yeah, the customer will remember you but probably not what you were selling.

Here is an idea. Instead tell me a story, engage me in conversation, build a relationship with me.  Most of all let me use your product.  That is how you will make a lasting impression.  Your goal is to gain and hold the attention of your followers, not for two seconds via human billboards.

*Image in gallery above used under creative commons license : flickr user nDevilTV

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The kindness of strangers by Ed Yourdon used under creative commons license from flickr

I could go in so many directions with this topic.  This last part was the hardest for me to write. We have covered shutting up and focusing, but being a good listener eventually boils down to action.  Action indicates to the other person that you have actually heard them.  However, sometimes the best action is to do nothing.

So you have actually heard what the other person has said.  Now it is your turn.  Most likely they will give you a chance to act.  The action required of you depends on the conversation.  Did they ask your advice? Did someone post a blog and end with a question?  They are prompting you for a response, so turn up the value meter and act.  We all have something to say, but is it of any use?

I asked one of my best friends and mentors, Rick Herbert to chime in on the topic and he nailed it.  Here is what he had to say:

So Action – To Act or not to Act, may be trite but true… does this conversation provoke or require more than words? Is there something I need to do, for this person with whom I have been listening? After hearing their point of view, their concerns, their information, what do I need to do? Purposeful action is determined in the context of the conversation.

Converstaion – convesari is the Latin root.  It means “to live with,” “to keep company with,” “to dwell upon,” “to move to and fro,” and “to turn oneself about.”

Since Conversing is much more than words, we must listen to one’s life and internal movements in order to engage in their lives… we determine our purposeful response based partly on their life and words and partly on what we choose to say, to do or even merely to be in the context of that information.

I have been moved to tears because of conversation.  I have been moved to acts of charity or compassion due to conversation.  I have chosen to become a different person based on what I’ve seen and heard in others.

Purposeful action – always! Regardless of my awareness of reasoning, there is always some compulsion…

Wow, I could not have said it better.  Thanks Rick.  So there you have it. Act.

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Be yourself, be remarkable, be unique. This past week I had the chance to meet a few people from Keen Footwear. Keen’s CEO gave the keynote at the Willamette Innovators Night (WIN) 2009 and did a great skit.  The main point of James Curleigh’s skit was to be an innovator…not an imitator.  I was first introduced to the company by a friend who had a great customer service experience. I am now a big believer in Keen and a recent convert after finding their shoes were the only ones that did not give me pain while I am recovering from foot surgery.  To say the least, they have left an impression on me.  When I came home that night from WIN 09, I posted a few things online about my experience. As I usually do, I look for  a company’s or individual’s twitter account to either engage them in conversation or reference to them in a post on twitter.  It took a bit of digging to find Keen on twitter since there was no link on their home page or blog.  This surprised me at first but, then again, Keen does not do things like anyone else.  I finally did find Keen.  They had one post and a little over 200 followers*.  Their single post is a request for feedback, a great start; “heard a lot about this twitter phenomena – want to know what the “tweeple” want us to tweet. Ideas and suggestions are very welcome”.  In true form they are asking their followers what to do next. So here is my suggestion. Don’t copy anyone.  I hear this all the time “I am on twitter now what”?  I tell people, “be yourself”. I love the movie Hitch. In it Will Smith plays a relationship/dating coach. He guides men through the dangerous world of relationships with women.  His tried and true method has been to drive out the individual and get them to conform to a few key principle that will land them the girl. Like any good PR pro, he teaches them to pose. What he eventually realizes is that true happiness comes when a woman falls in love with a man for who he really is (if he is genuine, kind and honest).  The same works for businesses and personal brands.  Be who you are and no one else (even if it is a bit ugly at times).  Anything else is posing.  A company like Keen has an amazing product to stand on (pun intended) and a great following to go with it.  All they really need to do is find that tribe and join in on the conversation that is already happening.  And like anyone, they are finding ways to reach out to their community with true innovation.

Don’t be mistaken.  While Keen has obvious fans, so do you. I just saw someone comment tonight on Facebook that they have no fans.  I beg to differ.  It might take some digging (not much on Keen’s part) but everyone, if they have a web presence, has some following . When it comes to finding great followers, you are your best researcher .  The ones that will shout the loudest will say the most via the web. We have the greatest search engines at our fingertips.  I look forward to Keen’s next move.

*Looking further I found Keen’s active twitter account @Keen_Shoes via Keen founder @MartinKeen

And a quick side note to Keen – don’t be like everyone else and hire a marketer with 10 years of traditional marketing experience…which would likely result in you doing exactly what everyone else is doing.  Invest in someone that will encourage and guide you in just being you (even if that results in still doing the “Q-tip”), help build on your incredible community, and encourages you to invest in continuing the tradition of developing remarkably innovative products.

Want to know more?

Seth Godin’s Tribes and Purple Cow
Using a social media framework to grow your tribe
Go watch Hitch

*Looking further I found  Keen’s active twitter account @Keen_Shoes via Keen founder @MartinKeen

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I found this video via @jdale and @tshuttleworth and I had to share it with you.  I have had several people this week ask me if Social Media is a fad.  Well my simple answer is no.  In fact I agree with the statement in the video that “it is the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution”.  It is changing our habits, how we digest media, how we connect and engage with people and our description of community.  Socialnomics09 did a great job pulling together my favorite quotes and statistics. Enjoy. I would love to hear your comments.

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The world is beginning to fill with self proclaimed social media experts and Trust Agents (even though Chris Brogan and Julien Smith warn against calling yourself such things).  These people can not possibly be experts.  We are all learning in this space. Yes, some have a true uncanny ability to connect and build communities.

An expert though, by definition, is someone who knows everything about a subject.  Social Media is such a new frontier that there really is no way that someone could honestly claim to fully understand it.  It is constantly changing, and rules of the game are continually being remade and broken.

Like climbing guides, a good consultant is someone who has survived a few impressive journeys and now wants to offer help to others.  And like a guide, they usually fail when they become too cocky.  When I was growing up, my dad would tell me stories of pilots who died because they were too confident.  The good ones are always learning, always correcting and experimenting.

Recently I was watching an episode of Globe Trekker.  Adventure diva Holly Morris had chosen to attempt a personal life goal of climbing the Matterhorn. She could have tried the climb alone with some chance of success.  She chose wisely though to use a trusted Mt. Guide, Ricky Andenmatten.  Her guide is what caught my attention.  He was humble, kind, and most of all knowledgeable.  He also offered a sense of safety and confidence to his client.

Guides are simply people who have gone before us.  They come back from the journey and offer us the chance to succeed where we might have failed. They also offer tips for avoiding some of the least obvious pitfalls, as well as nuggets we might miss if trekking through the web on our own.

Guides can range from seasoned veterans to those just starting out.  Right now we have a new frontier still being explored.  Some of us have been to the far reaches and are now offering our help to others. Others are just starting out.  If you have survived, offer what you found, but please leave the expert out of your title.  Let others call you an expert, trust agent, or guru.

*Matterhorn image used under the flckr creative commons nordique

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Yesterday Pew published a study showing the communication and understanding gap between the public and the scientific community.

As we face many critical future decisions regarding our environment, there is no greater time in recent history that the general public needs to be informed and educated about the natural world they live in. A few years back I was in Duluth Minn. for the yearly Society for Conservation Biology meeting . Like most of these meetings many of the topics centered around the public communication. We have all these findings, now how do we communicate them beyond the choir. Many of the closing workshops rehashed communication skills and press release writing styles, as well as the standard “public outreach” solutions. Many of the scientists I talked to were pretty skeptical that the divide we all knew existed with the public could ever be bridged.

Fast forward to today, and we now have tools we never imagined would exist. Twitter , Facebook , Youtube , and blogs have turned each of our offices into press briefing rooms and communication studios.In fact the regular outlet scientists have relied on for decades, the press, is still trying to play catch-up as print media outlets fold everyday. Now we not only have a way to get our papers, studies and critical findings to the public, we also have a way to receive instant feedback. We can engage in conversations all over the world. With the new search tools we can now find the conversation happening about the subjects in our field and add our input, correct false assumptions and bridge the gap. Are these tools and the social media phenomenon a cure all? No. But they are a far better tools than the regular press release and email blast. If you are a scientist and you are not using these tools, the world is waiting. They are talking and waiting for you to engage.

I re-posted  this article from the blog I manage for @consbio.

*Image used under creative commons: flickr user amypalko

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We often need to break from tradition in order to make a change. This is especially true in established organizations.  Programs in a business or organization can become encumbered with the expectation of mediocrity, regardless of how hard they try to succeed.   Being a heretic can disrupt this pattern, especially if the heretic’s ideas result in a changed outcome.

In 1992 I served as the events chair for Oregon State Universities Memorial Union Program Council (MUPC), charged with bringing entertainment to the student body.  The organization had a long history of draining the universities funds.  A poorly planned event a few years before had left the administration having to pay Jay Leno for a costly failed event.  His show had been scheduled on a Monday night during midterms.  Each concurrent event was saddled with the task of adding its contribution to paying the debt.

So now it was my turn to bring a musical concert to OSU.  I was told to book someone affordable (under 5K).  The administration was already braced to lose money on the concert, but they wanted to keep the losses low.  As I looked through the stacks of bands that promoters were offering me for that price, it quickly became apparent that there was no way I could book a band that would both satisfy the students desire for good music and keep within the administration’s budget.  It seemed hopelessly set up for failure.

That evening I was listening to music with my roommates.  One of our favorite alternative bands was The Violent Femmes.  My friend Doug suggested that I book the femmes!  At first I laughed.  I knew they were nowhere close to being within my budget.  I also knew the administration would frown on having a band named “The Violent Femmes” play on campus.

As I thought about it more, the rebel in me awoke.  Why not?  I knew I could fill any venue on campus.  Just about any social group I could think of liked the femmes. You couldn’t attend a party without one of their hits, Blister in the Sun  pumping out of the speakers at least once.

I called their promoter the next morning.  I was shocked to find out that it would take over 10k to book them.  There was no way I could get that much out of the university.  Still I could not resist.  I wanted to buck the system and take a risk.  I knew it could work.  I told the agent I would call her back.  How was I going to approach the school with this crazy idea?

To my surprise, after a bit of nervous assurance from me, the administration agreed to front the cash, and I booked the band.  The event turned out to be very successful.  The fans were pleased, and the school made money on an event for the first time in years.  I could have booked a mediocre band with no risk.  Low ticket price meant minimal  loss would  incur.  What’s the fun in that though? Being a heretic can pay off.  Try it on and see what happens.

I would love to hear your heretic stories.

McAlexander Fieldhouse hosted a full house for the Femmes

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Just like the colander you have in the drawer below the kitchen knives, strainers filter out stuff we don’t want.   We filter what we say to our friends, spouses and colleagues.  Some of us filter too much and some too little.  Our mothers have told us “if you don’t have anything nice to say…” you know the rest.

These same filters apply to social media and especially Twitter.  Since writing my first tweet a year ago, I have had many moments where I knew I could not post what I had just written.  My finger hesitated over the delete key and then, from those internal filters, a decision arose, and I blasted the 140 characters into oblivion.  So what are these filters, and how should we use them?

I write for myself here at Flurry Creations, as well as for Soma Games, and Conservation Biology Institute.  My filters are different for each account.    In general I think they apply to most situations.  Below are a few filters that I rely on:

• Is this useful to anyone and am I promoting something I really think is remarkable?  I have to remember this one most of all when friends ask me to retweet something.  It is so tempting to publish it because they are friends.  Would you send hundreds of friends to a bad mechanic or a lousy restaurant?  No. So visit the link and make sure.  Don’t be afraid to pass.  Also be honest and let them know why you won’t be furthering the promotion.  By all means, pass it on if you agree that their new found product, post, or service is truly remarkable.

• Am I being a sleestak?  This term comes from a post I think everyone using Social Media should read.  A sleestak will post constantly to their own benefit and glean the popularity of others, while benefiting no one.  If you have not read it you really should.  (Really, go read it and then come back here and finish my post.)  If you have that horrible feeling in your stomach because you know that you have been a sleestak in the past, don’t worry, we have all gone there.  Just try not to do it again.

• Am I willing to make a mistake?  This is big.  We need to be willing to take risks and make mistakes.  Two of Chris Brogan’s posts on mistakes and apologizing come to mind.  We need to be willing to make them as well as apologize for them.  Just don’t let this filter stall you from posting all together.

Use these or come up with your own.

What are your filters?  Please share them here.

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Many businesses are wondering “what is all this about tweet this and twitter that”.  My Friend Loyan at Blog Laboratory has started a multi-part series addressing just that question.  Check it out!

Every day your prospects, customers, partners and competition are communicating in a very public way. They are asking questions about your products, ranting about your service, praising your assistance and sharing information about your market. Every day, this is happening on Twitter, with or without you.…………….

Using Twitter for Business: Part 1

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Two weekends ago I stopped by a local bookstore to pick up some reading material for a relaxing weekend at the beach. I wanted to buy the latest INC magazine. The Saturday morning buzz, so familiar to our college town, was still evident in this store. Many customers were browsing. I walked past the lazy resident cat on my way to the magazine racks. This particular store has four rows of magazines; I love the selection. Today though, most of the shelves had several empty spots, once filled with the latest glossies. The first thought that came to my mind was, “dang another store is folding”. I walked up to the counter and asked about my missing INC. To my relief the clerk told me that they were doing fine, but their magazine distributor, Anderson News LLC, had gone out of business suddenly, leaving them with no supply.

When we reached our beach destination, I decided to slip out to the local grocery store and pick up a few items. As I perused the isles, I was constantly met by empty shelves. The candy section had four bare shelves and one bar of chocolate. The soda section had only the standards for Pepsi and Coke. Obviously the varieties had been ditched in this ever tightening economy. This is frustrating to the consumer. I did not have the nerve to ask the manager if the store was closing its doors, but that was the perception all of the customers left with. Right then perception was everything.

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