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Liz Strauss at Successful Blog

Thinking, writing, business ideas … You're only a stranger once.

The Beam Global Cultural Switch to Social Media: How It Began

Filed Under Interviews, Marketing, Strategy, Successful Blog | 6 Comments

A SERIES in the quest to know more about the offline world

A 2-Part Interview with Jason Falls

It was at SxSW that I finally metJason Falls, Social Media Explorer. It wasn’t hard to see that our ideas about business and relationships were of the same vintage. Not a surprise, I suppose that a saloonkeeper’s daughter would get along well with the guy who manages social media for the most prestigious international spirits distiller — Beam Global.

Beam Global Logo

Conversation turned to video — a video about SOBCon08, Biz School for Bloggers. Soon enough we were talking the places that SOBCon and Beam Global had mutual interests and goals — our conference on social media and business; their business and their new social media campaign. Jason proposed the idea to his clients, JJ Betts and Scott Kolbe. Beam Global became a SOBCon a fully participating sponsor/partner, just weeks before the soft launch of their first social media campaign.

I asked Jason Falls to check in with Beam last week to see whether we might tell the story of the campaign, both as it started and as it goes through it’s launch and life cycle. I’m delighted to say that Jason and JJ Betts both thought the idea was great way to open the curtain a bit and let folks see how things are working — with that I begin this series of interviews.

Hi Jason! How did your relationship with Beam Global begin? What sort of advertising and promotion were they doing? Why did they come to you and Doe Anderson?

I was a public relations account manager at Doe-Anderson for a while, but one who was constantly jumping up and down, yelling that more needed to be done in terms of social media strategy for our clients – blogging included. We offered social media programming from a PR perspective, but like a lot of agencies at the time, we didn’t have a great deal of takers.

Beam Global, which is the parent company for two of Doe’s signature clients — Maker’s Mark and Knob Creek (& Small Batch) bourbons — came to Todd Spencer, our CEO, and asked him to help them find what they were calling at the time an, “Internet Trends Analyst.” After a couple months of not really knowing who they were looking for, Todd finally put two and two together and realized that what I was yelling about was what Beam Global was asking for. After a quick meeting with Sam Seiller, the director of whiskeys for Beam, I had a new role.

Prior to my counsel on a number of the brands in the Beam Global portfolio, there were some small steps Beam needed to take in order to dive into the social media space. The brands were all playing in traditional advertising, both above and below the line, fostering a sense of community around their customer relationship management programs. My job was, and still is, to see to it that each brand gathers a group of brand enthusiasts through their social media efforts as well as open the lines of communications between the brands and their consumers.

I’ve always said that spirits companies are the most social, which would make the move into the social media space seem relatively easy. However, there are the always important legal restrictions for alcohol, wine and spirits advertising that make social media more of a challenge than one would expect. The good news is that the company is completely committed to new ways of thinking, particularly with this new Jim Beam effort.

How long had you worked together before you started to talk about the opportunities of social media? What was Beam Global’s initial reaction?

Since they came looking for them, right away. The folks at Beam knew they needed to play in the social media space in order to continue their 200-plus year heritage of being leaders in the spirits industry. “The Stuff Inside” effort is one of the first major social media efforts for the spirits industry

Were there long lists of ROI questions? What was the tipping point that made social media a positive direction?

ROI was, is and will forever be a huge question for brands in everything they do. However, Tom Flocco (Beam Global’s CEO) and Rory Finlay (Beam Global’s CMO) changed the way of thinking within Beam Global a little over a year ago when they launched the Beam Global Vision – To build brands people want to talk about. That opened the door for what we’re doing now with social media. While Beam Global is a big company and is used to many of the traditional measures and reporting that determine success, this new way of acting is from the top down. We want people talking about our brands, we want to listen to what they’re saying and respond and we want that activity to positively effect sales.

Jason, can you share some of the growth of the social media campaign from conception to final version?

The great thing about “The Stuff Inside” is that the concept about who we are and what we stand for was already in place before we fully developed the social media strategy. And, as you can tell, the concept is tailor made for the social media audience. Our research told us that the adult, male consumer of legal drinking age is tired of a fake world – he is looking for something genuine and authentic to hold on to. This parallels the same quest many social media users are on and why they’ve flocked to the web to get away from the mainstream media experience. So drafting some tactical compliments to “The Stuff Inside,” which allows people to be authentic, genuine and engage with one another and the brand, was almost easy.

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More from Jason on Wednesday, as we report what happened when we shared the Beam Global social media plans with a few select folks at SOBCon08.

Thanks, Jason and Thanks, Beam!

–ME “Liz”Strauss

MinuteFix: Computer help is only a click away

Filed Under Interviews, Productivity, Tools | 4 Comments

I’m pleased to announce that this week while I’m in the UK,

Phil and Diego will be hosting
Tuesday Open Comments
Come Ask Them Questions!!

Minute Fix and Diego Orjuela
Guest interview by Phil Gerbyshak

Recently I had the opportunity to spend a few minutes chatting with my friend Diego Orjuela, founder and CEO of what will hopefully the world’s greatest tech support company, MinuteFix. Full disclosure: I got to know Diego at the 2007 Successful and Outstanding Blogger Conference, and have been working with him at MinuteFix since December of 2007 as the Customer Experience Officer.

I wanted to share this interview with the audience here at Successful Blog because a service like this can really help you out if you’re in a pinch working at your home office and you need tech support. If you don’t want to pay $50 or more to take your computer into your local computer shop, give MinuteFix a shot.

Without further ado…

Tech support from MinuteFix

An interview with Phil Gerbyshak and Diego Orjuela

Phil Gerbyshak: So tell me Diego, what is MinuteFix?

Diego OrjeulaDiego Orjuela: MinuteFix is the first provider of tech support that is powered by a community of experts. Think of it like a Geek Squad combined with the power of a community model like Wikipedia or eBay. Customers can get help for any computer problem, no matter how big or small, 24 hours per day, 7 days a week. The service is very affordable, at only $0.99 per minute. It doesn’t matter what the problem is, our certified community technicians will do
their best to fix it. And, if we don’t fix your problem, the session is free.

PG: Wow, why didn’t I think of that? Seems like it could be very useful for anyone working at home or with a limited budget.

DO: Absolutely! Imagine you are at your computer and you are having trouble with a
simple task like downloading an image from the Internet. MinuteFix can help you complete such a simple task in a few minutes, which otherwise might have taken you an hour to figure out on your own, all the way to more complex issues like virus or security problems. One customer last week lost her entire iTunes music library. We were able to help her recover it, and get her on her way, saving her tons of lost time and money.

PG: I hear you guys are very big on customer service. Why is that so important to you?

DO: Well, we are a company built by a passionate community of technicians who love what they do. With tech support from MinuteFix, we empower technology experts to work from home, at the hours they choose. Because they do what we love, we can offer a superior service. We deeply believe that technology should help us to interact seamlessly with the people we care about, produce tremendous results while making us more productive – and not get in the way in the process. We are your friend, and maybe even our neighbor, so we want to treat you as that. All Certified MinuteFix Technicians are thoroughly screened and tested, and must pass a customer service exam. Great customer service is the foundation of MinuteFix. Read more

Meet Sia — the Heart of a Web Hosting Company

Filed Under Interviews, Successful Blog | 3 Comments

It’s the People

THC logo

The intimate scope of SOBCon automatically draws a certain kind of people together. I’m the luckiest one because I get to meet them all in conversations as we pull the event together. That was how I met Sia Liolios. Sia is with Top Hosting Centre, a sponsor of SOBCon08.

I wanted to share this lovely person I met with you. Sia agreed to answer some questions about herself and what she does for a living.

Sia, THC, I know you to be lady who cares deeply about your customers. Tell me how your company started and how you came to be a part.

THC doesn’t have an extraordinary birth story. It’s a branch of ProWeb Consultants Inc, the “mother” company if you want, at it was born simply because ProWeb Consultants wanted to take care personally of the hosting solutions for its clients. Many companies want to have all their web services in one place – from design to online marketing and hosting. It made sense to create THC as an option for our clients. Eric Vanier, the CEO and my husband (which tells you how I came to be a part) monitored the Web for a long time and saw a need for better hosting solutions for bloggers – which determined him to make THC public and to launch it as a hosting solution for bloggers and small businesses. We soon saw that this was the best possible choice: bloggers are a rare breed, so human, warm and real. I was “observing” how my husband ran the business for a long time, then I felt a natural affinity for the people who asked for advice and support.

If there is one thing a customer really hates, it is half answers and a closed door when he needs help. We don’t keep our clients waiting for answers and we always help. It is not only our duty as service providers. It’s our mission.

What gets you up in the morning? How do you stay so positive?

My kids – they are quicksilver! It is strange to associate your work with your family sometimes. It doesn’t feel right to think about business and the kids, does it? But in the end, aren’t the kids what we are working for? Aren’t the kids what we are living for?

We run our business with family values in mind and we always think about the possible implications and interactions between business and personal life. Positive thinking and living help keep a healthy balance between the two. I managed to make positive thinking more than just a philosophy: it’s a way of life.

Sia, I never knew a child who wanted to be a web host when she grew up. What did you dream about becoming when you were 8 years old?

I often daydreamed about being on a farm riding and caring for horses. Actually I still do, but don’t know if I still have the energy and strength it takes. Maybe one day !

Do you find that dream of the 8 year old fits with what you’re doing now?

We have many dreams when we are young. Some are forgotten, some cherished like treasures. All these dreams have some common traits: they are bold, full of hope, magic. If I only think about these attributes, I dare say that yes, a childhood dream fits in our adult lives.

If everything moves forward ideally, where will you be three years from now?

Top of the world! Hey, it’s my dream!

How do you hope THC will change the world?

We don’t aim to change the world, we just hope to make it a little better through care, respect, honesty, attention. Everything else (like sponsoring a good cause, donating something to a school, going green) comes naturally, because we care and we want people to be happy.

THC, Sia and Eric are making it possible for us to have a second professional signer, so that our deaf participants will be able to fully understand what they won’t be able to hear.

Thank you, Sia! I feel lucky I met you.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

18.5 Getting Free of Success Mythology

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The Secret of a Lifetime

Bounce! The Path to True Business Confidence

Are we at the end of the week already? In this five-day series, we’re talking with Barry Moltz about five key facets of his book, Bounce!: Failure, Resiliency, and Confidence to Achieve Your Next Great Success, which goes on sale January 28, 2008.

Barry has explained what he means by the idea of Bounce! He’s shown us the three paths we’re told lead to success and why we should honor our failures. Then he’s explained how to enjoy a one-hit wonder. With this last question, we explore the mythology of success.

Barry, You talk in the book about ways to free ourselves from success myths that strangle us by “Downsizing our Dreams” and “Striving For Minimal Achievement.” People search a lifetime to find this type of secret. Can we really do that?

We are constantly told to conquer that next mountain. To grow our businesses and our careers as big as possible. To get richer, bigger better faster, Achievement has become our addiction. If so, why can’t we just lower the bar a bit. Get in touch with that inner laziness that up to this point has eluded us.

That is why I want all of you to commit to me that after this meeting that you will downsize our dreams and begin too define our own brand of success – not someone elses. Forget the grand vision. Besides there is always someone that is going to be richer, smarter or better looking than you- I know, not you but for the most of us.

First, we need to set patient, interim goals…get small!. I remember when I asked my Zen master when I first began mediating, how long I should mediate for- 15 minutes, half hour or an hour each day? He said that I should try it for a minute for each day for the next few months. If I was successful, I should go to two minutes. He always taught me to strive for minimal achievement by focusing on one small goal at a time This is where I learned when striving for new goals, what we important in the climb was not even to get a foothold. Get a toehold…if you can get some progress toward your goal, you have a better chance of achieving it in the long run.

..

Who won the race, the tortoise or the hare? And who lives longer. Hares live to 4 years old and tortoises, well the can live to 100

After downsizing our dreams and getting that toehold, we next figure out what will make us happily successful. Most of us will immediately say is to make a lot of money. Money is an important measure of success. It is how we keep score. But if we never get to that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, will our life trip be for nothing. However, we can all take solace that many people that have a lot of money are really unhappy!

Thanks, Barry, for five days of great conversation!
And thanks for lunch yesterday too.

Find more great information about Bounce! and advice on success and failure at BarryMoltz.com And buy his book Bounce!: Failure, Resiliency, and Confidence to Achieve Your Next Great Success !!! I’ve read it. You should too!

–ME “Liz” Strauss

If you’d like Barry to do a guest post or an interview at your blog during his virtual book tour, email me at lizsun2 at gmail.com

18.4 Good Things about One-Hit Wonders

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Getting to Success

Barry J. Moltz

This week, Barry Moltz, author of Bounce!: Failure, Resiliency, and Confidence to Achieve Your Next Great Success. has been telling us how to view our success and failures so that we learn how to Bounce! along the path of a business career. He’s shown us how we can let go of false ideas about success and pointed out that some failures offer us no lesson at all. Letting go of the “joy of victory and the agony of defeat” can free us up to move forward with confidence, enthusiasm and passion.

Sometimes we succeed brilliantly, but it’s just not something that we can repeat.

In Chapter 2, you talk about your fascination with One-Hit Wonders. Isn’t being a One-Hit Wonder a bad thing? Where do One-Hit Wonders fit in a successful career?

What happens if you go out there and only hit that big success one time like those one hit wonders? Remember, it doesn’t matter how many times you fail. It doesn’t matter how many times you almost get it right. No one is going to know or care about your failures, and neither should you. All that matters in business is that you get it right once. Wayne Gretzky said that “You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.” We can’t get caught up in the failures. It only matters that we met our success requirements that one time. When things go bad, we can think back to perhaps that one time where the planets aligned, and we got to the goal line.

With true business confidence, we can look back a single success and enjoy it for what it was. Maybe there is only one success on a particular path. We may need to bounce to an entirely different path to get another success. The complete answer to this puzzle can’t be known until the end of our lives. The order of successes and failures does not diminish the high point. Hitting it once can help root a sense of business confidence that will carry through whether the rest of the path is filled with failure, success, or a mix of both. It will give us the resiliency spring to bounce through the rest of our business lives

Thanks, Barry!

Tomorrow Barry explains how to break free of the success mythology. Find more great information about Bounce! and advice on success and failure at BarryMoltz.com

–ME “Liz” Strauss

If you’d like Barry to do a guest post or an interview at your blog during his virtual book tour, email me at lizsun2 at gmail.com

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