Successful Blog

SOB Business Cafe 07-30-10

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SB Cafe

Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking — articles, books, podcasts, and videos about business online written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.

The Specials this Week are

Brian Solis
A recent study conducted by Duke University and the American Marketing Association documented the rise of hiring, budgets, and social media spend over next year.

According to the 2010 CMO Survey, on average, CMOs expect to increase marketing budgets by 5.9% citing social media as a crucial slice of the Internet marketing mix.

Fast Company
Sure, these companies could have found this data elsewhere, at any time–but they likely didn’t. Public information on a Facebook page is still public, and public means your friends as well as sort of scary corporations like Halliburton, Boeing, and Lockheed Martin have access to it.

Harvard Business Review
Culture determines who will work for you, who stays, and who quits. Once formed, culture is nearly impossible to change. People who work well within the culture quickly self-select. And those who don’t fit leave.

Problogger
One of the biggest challenges for a new bloggers starting out in an established niche is to find a way to stand out from the crowd and find their first readers. Without existing profile and/or credibility – getting those first readers can be very tough.

grow smart business
The lessons and advice imparted in Dale Carnegie’s ground breaking 1936 book How to Win Friends and Influence People are as useful today as they were then. Think about the reasons we small business owners spend time and money on marketing, especially social media: We want to connect with current and prospective clients and convince them that they need our product or service. To do that, we need to know exactly how to connect with them, and this is where the book comes in.

TAG Communications
Second only to “how much is this all going to cost?” the question of how to control their brand ranks high on our clients’ list of priorities.

The short answer? You can’t.

Related ala carte selections include

Co Design
via @MelissaPierce

Sit back. Enjoy your read. Nachos and drinks will be right over. Stay as long as you like. No tips required. Comments appreciated.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

I’m a proud affiliate of

third-tribe-marketing

Questions to Get Closer to You Question 25

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Get Closer to You

This is a series of questions, I don’t know how many. They are the ones I ask when I help folks get closer to their personal identity.

What are you NOT doing right now that is causing you to miss opportunities?

< I'll answer first to get things started. --ME "Liz" Strauss Check out the Work with Liz!! page in the sidebar.

Related
Branding: 5 Ways to Help You Find Out Who You Are

Questions to Get Closer to You: Question 24
Questions to Get Closer to You: Question 23
Questions to Get Closer to You: Question 22
Branding: 5 Ways to Help You Find Out Who You Are

Questions to Get Closer to Your Brand: Question 1
You’ll find the entire series of Questions to Get Closer to you on the Successful Series page.

Getting Your Blog Traffic An Old-Fashioned Way

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cooltext455576688_blogging
By Terez Howard
Last week, I had two doctor’s appointments, one at my new gynecologist and one at my new ophthalmologist. Both of these visits had a common thread.
At each, my physicians made small talk with me. I told them about my 3-year-old daughter and my love for family. Both asked what my job was, and I don’t know if they’re required to ask about this (I did have to fill it out in the paperwork), or if they were genuinely interested.
Nonetheless, my simple answer was: “I’m a freelance writer.” That statement raised their eyebrows, and they asked what I wrote. For simplicity’s sake, I told them I wrote for businesses on the Internet as well as for an online magazine. I also highlighted my history, explaining that I previously wrote for the local newspaper.

Interestingly, they both responded by asking an identical question. “What do you like to write about?”

I said that my favorite writing topic is family-related because my family is my life.

Talk in the real world

I haven’t been running my blogging business for a long time, and I have a confession to make. I have felt much more comfortable talking about my business behind the computer screen, rather than face-to-face, even if those faces were familiar ones.

But as I talked about my love for writing with my doctors, I learned something that I’ve read over and over again in blog after blog: Talk about your business in the real world. Yeah, when we have access to the entire world, it’s easy to forget about the people in our own town.

I read a blog post a while back (I wish I could find it!) that made an interesting point. The blogger said if you are a professional blogger for businesses, you should not neglect your local area. You could be the only one in your entire city.

Of the 20,000 people in my city, I only know one other professional blogger, and she’s my associate. Think about your area. What is your niche? You too might be the only person in your region offering the information in your blog.

Talk to the community

So I started brainstorming some ways to get my name known in my city. I used to be community editor for the newspaper, and I covered many club and organization meetings. These meetings oftentimes included guest speakers who not only shared useful information, but also gave out materials on their occupation/business.

I realized that several business professionals attended these meetings, and I could reach these individuals by volunteering to speak. Most of these meetings, like Kiwanis or Rotary, are covered in the newspaper. Can you see the free publicity that has the potential to reach a broad audience?

My goal is to speak for at least one meeting by the end of the year. If I get a lead, great. But my real objective is to get people talking about my blog and what I do.

Talk to familiar faces

I previously mentioned how I’ve been more comfortable speaking about my blogging virtually, rather than face-to-face. My other goal is to talk about blogging to my family and friends. It might not seem much like a goal, but several of my family members and friends aren’t aware of my blog.

Do your relatives and acquaintances know you have a blog? If they aren’t, why don’t you mention it? Be careful not to give your brother a sales pitch. Be casual. Be conversational.

If you want more traffic to your blog, and we all do, start talking in the real world. Those people own computers, too!

Who do/will you talk to about your blog?Â

 

—
Terez Howard operates TheWriteBloggers, a professional blogging service which builds clients’ authority status and net visibility. She regularly blogs at Freelance Writing Mamas . You’ll find her on Twitter @thewriteblogger

Thanks, Terez!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

“You NEVER Do That!” – How to Tell a Story to Someone You Just Met

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Talking …

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Sometimes I talk without listening first. Sometimes I just spout off what I know without finding out what the person I’m talking to might know about the subject. When it happens to me, I’m little grateful to find out I’m not the only one who does this. It happens often enough that I’m starting to think most of us might …

When I talk about mistakes, I usually tell about mistakes I’ve made, and believe me, I’ve made plenty. This time I choose to write about being on the other end of the experience to share that point of view. I want you to sit where I was.

It was at a huge conference. Many friends and colleagues were there. Three of them came to a small event with me. We introduced ourselves around the table. Everyone still had name badges on.

“Hi! I’m Liz.” I said to two women I recognized from Twitter. They didn’t recognize me.

The two talked mostly to each other about things like scalability and how to grow the readership on their blogs. During the conversation, they referenced some of closest friends and colleagues.

One said something like, “The editor at [insert name of mass media blog] asked me to write my story in 100 words. I’m trying, but it’s impossible.”

I said, “Want to try it out on me?”

So she did. Her story was fascinating …

She’d started her blog a couple of years ago. It began about one topic — a sort of hobby idea. The blog had a clever hobby sort of name right down to the url. Over time, the blogger telling the story found her interests were wider and more about business. She tried a new tagline to communicate this new interest. It didn’t have the effect she’d envisioned. After a while of trying to convert her audience into talking about business, the blogger changed the name of her blog to reflect the new focus.

At that this point, the storyteller looked me in the eye and said, “And you NEVER do that!”

I said, “Why not?”

“Because you DON’T. It’s the ultimate of bad practice.”

The story continued. Huge thoughts. Time passing. A change in audience began to happen. The blog began attracting a new crowd of fans. However, the blogger felt some folks were put off by the girlie name of the old url. The storyteller then decided to “bite the bullet.” She changed her url to match the new name of her blog.

Again, the storyteller looked me in the eye and said, “And you NEVER do that!”

Again I said, “Why not?”

“Because YOU DON’T.”

I got to feeling uncomfortable. So I softly said, “Um, I think we should start over. I’m Liz Strauss. I blog and I think we know each other.”

Her hands flew to her face. “Oh my God! I guest posted on your blog. Oh my God! I’m telling you what you should be doing.”

I smiled and said, “And a great blog post it was.”

For a minute there, it was getting really uncomfortable.

My guess is that everyone has made this mistake at least once. There w

I know I have realized too late that I’ve underestimated someone’s experience. I’m pretty sure I’ve been “that woman” more than the woman in this story, if only because I’ve had more years to do so.

NEVER Do That! – How to Tell a Story to Someone You Just Met

My experience is that wise, polite, and busy people rarely tell that we’re underestimating their experience. It’s up to us to know our audience especially when we speak.

The mistake that we can make when we first meet someone is that we can make our own story more important than the person we’re talking to.

We all know it’s best if we don’t take the place in the center of the universe. But sometimes a question is asked or a story is requested before we really know our audience. And sometimes, well, we can miss.

I’m still learning how to keep the other person in my vision — to be interested and interesting. I’m learning I’d much rather find out a few things about the person first. Some folks really want to listen before they talk and here are a few things I’ve picked up that help.

  1. Be aware of the influence of familiarity. When we’re in our element, we can make assumptions that people know things that they don’t — especially things obvious to our friends. A familiar question can make it easy to assume that person asking is a learner. It’s easy to forget that many who know the most never give up their beginner’s mind.
  2. Be curious about details. It’s hard to make your story “about them,” if you don’t know who “they” are. Have a favorite open-ended question ready. “What do you do when you’re not doing this?” “What’s been the highlight of your week so far?” Listen for and invite details. Details break down assumptions and let us see people as individuals to reach out to them.
  3. Interrupt your own stories for feedback. It never hurts to say, “Have you ever been there?”

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

I’m a proud affiliate of

third-tribe-marketing

Stop Being Overwhelmed, Directionless, Too Busy To Think

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Perceived Productivity

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Working with senior managers and social media practitioners I’m hearing on complaint all too frequently “I’m too busy to think.” It seems that just keeping up with what we need to do has become more than even deciding whether we should be doing it.

Do you see the irony in that?

It’s time to reset and start thinking again.

We need time to decide when a Yes and a No come calling.

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Stop Being Overwhelmed, Directionless, Too Busy To Think

When we’re feeling too busy to think, we’ve lost direction. It starts a cycle that will unravel any good thinking we might have done in the past. We’ve got energy and productivity, but lost sight of the strategy or outcome that guide our decision making. Without the end goal, we can’t accurately decide what’s moving us forward and what is not.

Catch yourself. Stop. Set a destination, a driving aspiration, something you won’t quit or call success until you reach it.

Make a commitment.

If you’re new at this, start small, but make a personal and professional commitment to a future destination and hold yourself and your team accountable. Get clear agreement on what that means.

I (we) will be ___ in the next ___ (days, months, or years)?

That clarified goal will let you know …

  • why you’re doing what you’re doing.
  • which relationships and offers align with your goals and which pull you off course.
  • how to separate the signal from the noise on your desk, in your work relationships, in your life online and offline.
  • where to spend your time in social media spaces. .
  • how to tweak opportunities to move you forward more quickly and efficiently.

Clarity comes from looking forward far enough that the noise of now doesn’t confuse us. Don’t think of defining your purpose in terms of now. Define a future destination worth investing in — even a small one — and get there with clear determination.

That determination will lead you to build the strategy, gather the right team, build the systems, and get out the message about what you’re doing.

Once you make that first decision, you’ll be setting your direction with more power and certainty.

What small commitment will make to yourself, your team, your business today?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

I’m a proud affiliate of

third-tribe-marketing

SOB Business Cafe 07-23-10

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SB Cafe

Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking — articles, books, podcasts, and videos about business online written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.

The Specials this Week are

Awake @ the Wheel by Alexis Neely
If you are reading this blog, it means you are a pretty smart cookie. You love to read, think, critique, improve. Me too.

Reading at three. High school and college, a breeze. Graduated first in my law school class (more to do with over-studying as a result of massive fear that I was the dumbest person in the room than to innate smartness).

A smarty-pants.

The Brand Builder
Point: Knowing full well that a method, tool or model no longer yields the desired outcome (assuming it ever did), some organizations will continue to bet on it, in the hopes that the laws of the universe will shift in the night and miraculously turn a completely ludicrous project into success.

Geoff Livingston
Ever interrupt a conversation with people you don’t know at a party and start talking right away, only to find the members leave? It sounds crazy, doesn’t it? No one likes to have their conversation interrupted, and normal conventions are to walk up, listen, introduce yourself, maybe even ask a question, and then participate after listening for a couple of minutes.

Listening Comes First

Note: You can download the first drafted chapter of the new edition — Welcome to the Fifth Estate — for free.

Digital Peas & Carrots
How We Shop in 2010: Habits and Motivations of Consumers, the latest report by eConsultancy, takes a look at consumer behavior in both the US and UK with a focus on 1) how consumers interact with e-commerce brands 2) how consumers conduct product research and 3) how consumers are affected by different factors in the buying decision-making process.

Carol Roth
After I stopped rolling my eyes, I realized it was such a great reminder of how you need to sell your products in a location and manner relevant to your customers.

Thought Gadgets
Web stats go up and down, but it’s noteworthy that Google’s share of total U.S. search volume has plummeted since it redesigned its main page back in May. In April, just before adding bells and whistles to its search venue, Google led U.S. search volume with 71.4% share. In June, its share had fallen to 62.6%. Third-place chaser Bing is gaining fast, up from 9.4% to 12.7% of all U.S. searches in the same period.

Related ala carte selections include

SOBCon COLORADO CONTEST
Win! Win! Win!

Sit back. Enjoy your read. Nachos and drinks will be right over. Stay as long as you like. No tips required. Comments appreciated.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

I’m a proud affiliate of

third-tribe-marketing