There is such a treasure trove of great videos out there. Videos that make us think, cry, and laugh. Videos that inspire us to action or give us pause in our own lives. And videos that crisply and clearly offer tips to move us closer to our goals.
Today, please enjoy these 5 great videos I’ve curated for you, in hopes they will inspire and delight your brand, heart, mind and soul. (Tweet this!)
The Power of Reinventing Ourselves. Dorie Clark’s inspirational, personal (and funny) talk about being yourself, living your truth and parlaying that into your personal brand so that you can uniquely stand out. Dorie’s first book, Reinventing You, is a recommended read in the 2nd edition of my book, Branding Basics for Small Business. Dorie’s next book, Stand Out, is now available for pre-order. It’s a book about how to become a recognized expert in your field – something we all need to discover these days in order to gain true professional security.
7 Problems Every Extrovert Understands. Hilarious! And I’m willingly to admit they are all true and have happened to me on my multiple occasions. Introverts in the house: you will love this as well, as you are the saints who put up with us.
How to Increase Your Twitter Engagement. My girl Amy Schmittauer of Savvy Sexy Social creates the most entertaining – and USEFUL- videos about how to use social media more effectively. Her sharp advice can even be found in the 2nd edition of my book, Branding Basics for Small Business – that’s how much I love her. In this video, Amy shares a little secret for how to tell if you’re doing what you need to do to increase your Twitter love.
Lennon and Samaras Share Title Success With Young Fan: OK, if you missed my post on this a few weeks ago, get ready for your heart to burst out of your chest and your eyes to well up with joyful tears. I showcased this heartwarming video of a young fan getting the experience of a lifetime at the Scottish Premiership soccer match as a great example of how need to make your customers be the hero of your brand – just like Celtic FC did here. The joy in this boy’s eyes says it all.
I’m Not Your Inspiration, Thank You Very Much: The previous soccer video is about making a fan the hero because of his loyalty and not simply because of his developmental challenges. Stella Young was a humorous and tireless advocate for disabled rights. Read more of her story here. Alas, she just came onto my radar this past week when she died at age 32. This TEDx video is a sharp, funny, wise call to arms to stop treating people with disabilities like they are exceptional JUST because they have disabilities and that it is insulting and unfair to treat them that way. Her advocacy and push for change – not her failing body – is what makes her an inspiration. You will crack up at her reference to “inspiration porn!”
Got other videos you love that you’d like to share? Please tweet me the link and I’ll share it out!
Photo Credit: Waferboard via Flickr
Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™
2015 is right around the corner (seriously?! What the….?!). If you’re like me, you are hibernating in a bit of strategy and reflection mode for what to do with your business or brand in the coming year.
For me, it’s about helping you (and myself) create more marketing with meaning. To find a deeper purpose in the work. To stand out by not trying to reach the lowest common denominator but by inspiring people who are committed to making the world a better place with their ideas, in ways big and small. (ahem…people like YOU!)
Whether you’re focused on your business, book, online platform or non-profit project next year, here’s some inspiration and clarity for you: 20 of the best branding and business quotes out there. Does one resonate with you? If so, write it down and pin it to your computer or desk so you can keep that focus right in front of you.
And please Tweet or share your favorite ones. There’s a tweetable down below for you with mine!
“Content is of great importance, but we must not underestimate the value of style” ― Maya Angelou, Author
“What people want is the extra, the emotional bonus they get when they buy something they love” ―Seth Godin, best selling author, marketer, and entrepreneur
“Our job is to make change. Our job is to connect people, to interact with them in a way that leaves them better than we found them, more able to get where they would like to go. Every time we waste that opportunity, every sentence that doesn’t do enough to advance the cause, is a waste.” ― Seth Godin
“Making promises and keeping them is a great way to build a brand.” ― Seth Godin
“Time, energy and talent can be more important than a budget “― Scott Harrison, founder charity:water
“A business has to be evolving, it has to be fun, and it has to exercise your creative interests.” ― Richard Branson
“Engage rather than sell … work as a co-creator, not a marketer.” ― Tom H.C. Anderson, NextGen Market Research
“Statistics suggest that when customers complain, business owners and managers ought to get excited about it. The complaining customer represents a huge opportunity for more business.” ― Zig Ziglar, American author, salesman, and motivational speaker
“Give them QUALITY. That’s the best kind of advertising.” ― Milton Hershey, Founder of The Hersey Chocolate Company
“Tell a story. Make it true. Make it compelling. And make it relevant.” ― Rand Fishkin, Founder of Moz (Tweet this!)
“The future of business is SOCIAL” ― Barry Libert, Strategic Advisor
“In this ever-changing society, the most powerful and enduring brands are built from the heart. They are real and sustainable. Their foundations are stronger because they are built with the strength of the human spirit, not an ad campaign. The companies that are lasting are those that are authentic.” ― Howard Schultz, Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time
“People change, and so do their aspirations, and so should brands.” ― Laura Busche, Lean Branding
“Make sure you test your brand story’s recipe with whomever you’re cooking it for.” ― Laura Busche, Lean Branding
“Always remember: a brand is the most valuable piece of real estate in the world; a corner of someone’s mind.” ― John Hegarty, Hegarty on Advertising
Your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room.” ― Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com
“Too many companies want their brands to reflect some idealized, perfected image of themselves. As a consequence, their brands acquire no texture, no character and no public trust.” ― Richard Branson, Founder of Virgin Group
“If people believe they share values with a company, they will stay loyal to the brand.” ― Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks
“Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.” ― Henry David Thoreau, Author
“Entrepreneurs average 3.8 failures before final success. What sets the successful ones apart is their amazing persistence.” ― Lisa M. Amos
That sort of seems like a trick question, right? Who says “I’d like to create work that’s superficial, boring, and disposable?”
Nobody, right?
But sometimes we’re reminded about the importance of putting good things into the world by … magazines in the grocery store checkout line.
There I was, three months after giving birth to my son and buying a few groceries in a rare respite outside of the house. As I waited in line, my eyes scanned across the magazine headlines screaming at me from the checkout stand:
“Hate Your Butt? 5 Secrets to A Body You’ll Love!” “Miracle Cream Erases Wrinkles Forever!” “How to Be Rich and Powerful…And Work Less Than Three Days A Week!” “(CELEB) Tells All About Her Life, Loves and Drug Use in Hot New Autobiography Buy it Today!”
A wave of panic flooded over me as tears sprang to my eyes. Frustrated tears. Angry tears.
Was this the world my darling little boy has just entered? This is what he has to look forward to once he learns how to read? Yikes.
Maybe it was post-partum hormones but, really…no. Anyone who knows me knows I have hated hyperbolic marketing and trashy reality TV (worse, people who are famous just for acting like infants) for a while.
And the digital marketing world is no different: people promising riches, 6-figure incomes, and pretty much everything but an evil lair in your own mountain hideaway (although it’s probably out there).
Despairing, I surfed social media when I got home and just felt sicker. All the noise, empty claims, the “Buy This!” and “You Need That!” It seemed everyone was promising people – entrepreneurs and women especially – a pot of gold at the end of their own personal rainbow.
I’m all for optimism. But I’m also for truth and value. For putting in the hard work required to build something wonderful. And many people I know offer such value to their clients and customers every day. You just can’t always hear them above the din.
Then, I finally got it. It’s not about silencing the crazies. They will always be there, promising people the sun, moon and stars, and yes, they will find an audience to believe.
But the more of us who pledge to put something good out into the world, something decent, and thoughtful and true – the more the tide will rise and lift us all up. It’s not about stopping them. It’s about stepping up ourselves and ensuring the stories we tell are honest, the work we deliver is quality and, most importantly, the marketing we create has value and meaning.
We see examples everywhere, if we look hard enough. People like Marie Forleo, Alexandra Franzen, and Jay Baer market themselves and what they offer with integrity, hope, and meaning. These are the ones we should emulate. These are the people we should strive to become.
Make meaning. You owe it to this noisy world to create something amazing and market it truthfully. (Tweet this!)
Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™
Thank you for reading this blog, being a part of this community and creating something wonderful in the world with your business, art or cause.
It’s Thanksgiving week here in the U.S. and it’s time to be thankful. We should, of course, be thankful for our fans every day of the year but it never hurts to take a special day out to show your gratitude.
How can you thank them? Well, we covered some ideas in a past post.
And today, here are 3 more insanely great ways to thank your customers. (Tweet this)
Give on their behalf: Every year, instead of useless gifts that will just see the inside of a trash can, I send my clients an email with information on 3-5 charities near and dear to my heart and let them choose which one they’d like me to donate to on their behalf. They feel good, I feel good, the charity wins – and no fruitcake goes to waste.
Invent some whimsy: Every year, my writing partner Sarah Von Bargen partners with another colleague to produce a super fun calendar. Last year’s calendar showcased cats “acting out “ scenes from classic literature. It’s hilarious, thoughtful and showcases her wit and killer writing style (which is her bread and butter)
Write a love note: When was the last time you got a handwritten note? Yeah, I thought so. If your client or customer list is manageable enough, why not send them a thoughtful handwritten card about what you love about working with them? It’s a good excuse to buy some pretty stationery. Not sure what to say? This will help.
You can always tell “ego brands.” They are the heroes of their own story, it’s all about them and they could care less about the value, satisfaction or delight of their customers or clients.
C’mon: I KNOW you’re thinking of an example right now!
Great brands like Apple, Starbucks (yes, despite my break up with them), Disney, Nike, Tom’s Shoes, Virgin America, Zappos all make the customer the hero. It’s about their needs, their experience, what the brand says about them as a person.
It’s about delighting the heroes of their story: their customers. (Tweet this!)
Good story structure always has a protagonist facing an antagonist to achieve his or her ultimate goal. Without the conflict, there is no good story. Who wants to read about Cinderella being this perfectly happy young girl who went to a ball and married her prince?
Yawn.
But throw in some mean stepsisters, a deadline of midnight and her unhappy life standing between her and her prince and – BAM – you get a riveting classic.
Your customer is the hero, the protagonist. Their pain points and unmet needs are all the conflicts they face. And your brand is the handsome prince. But never forget that the story is called Cinderella – not The Handsome Prince. It was never really about the prince. The story is about her.
How do you make your customers or clients the heroes of their own story? How do you solve their problems, remove the conflict and utterly delight and surprise them?
This post was inspired by a video I recently saw from Scotland’s Celtic football club – my husband’s favorite team from back home. This young boy is one of the team’s biggest fans and they have adopted him as their own, often having him in the team huddle (click here for the video plus full backstory). This moment will leave you in speechless tears of joy. The brand could have just celebrated its own win that day. But the team chose to share it with their biggest fan. This – THIS – is how you make your customers – your fans – the real heroes of the story.
Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™
What does it really take to build a successful brand online? What matters when you seek more engagement, better search rankings or more buzz? Here’s s sneak peek for you from my upcoming webinar with Nick Kellet, co-founder of Listly, happening on Nov 11, 2014. Enjoy!
Like what you see here? Please join us for this FREE WEBINAR to discover even more truths and learn 3 ways to supercharge your brand online: Embrace Imperfection on November 11, 2014 at 10 am Pacific Time. Details and sign up can be found here – but hurry! Spots are limited.
Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™
Trick or treaters, pumpkin spice lattes and chilly weather usually signify one thing (the chilly weather part for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere anyway): the holidays are right around the corner.
And with that…the dreaded holiday networking mixer circuit.
While you know you should be doing more networking to boost your brand awareness and grow your business, it’s sort of like knowing you SHOULD be having more kale smoothies – but the thought makes you want to vomit.
But no need to dread, my friend. Here to share 3 tips to survive the holiday networking chaos is my friend and frequent Red Slice collaborator (some of you have read her guest posts here before), networking expert and author Sandy Jones-Kaminski of Bella Domain Media.
Holiday networking is not all eggnog, idle chit chat and cheesy sweaters. It CAN benefit your brand, too (Tweet this!)
Don’t take networking too seriously. It can and should be fun. Connect with the intention of helping others rather than simply expecting to find the elusive perfect client or biz partner. Relax, take the pressure off yourself and focus on what you can bring to the party or offer in the form of ideas, knowledge or resources (websites, apps, connections, etc).
Improve your outlook and your fortune will change. If you have a negative outlook on networking, you’re probably sabotaging your chances at connecting with the “right” people. Put all the negative or disappointing encounters behind you and focus on “what’s possible.”
Take a proactive approach and get off the couch or out from behind your screen and get out there! You eventually have to meet people to know if you’ll really connect with them, and the more people you meet, the more likely you are to find the “right” people for you or your business.
What sanity-saving tips do you have for surviving the holiday networking season? Please share your thoughts below so we can all breathe easier!
A few posts have recently emerged around this theme and when I start seeing patterns, it’s good to pay attention.
Too often, entrepreneurs, solo business owners – and yes, even large company CEO’s – think there is some magical cure to flagging sales, lack of brand awareness, or no clients knocking on the door. And so, they believe the claims like:
“Join my course and you will absolutely achieve six-figure success and prosperity!”
“Issue press releases every week and you will definitely get featured in The Wall Street Journa!l”
“If you place one ad on my site, you will increase sales without lifting a finger!”
And often it turns out these courses, techniques, or masterminds are just fluff.
I’ve had enough. Haven’t you?
There are millions out there who will pay for a quick fix, an easy answer, a way to earn money without putting in the work. They claim it should be easy. Yes, it doesn’t always have to be rocket science, but when was the last time you saw someone achieve meteoric success without any real value, smarts, hard work or talent? I should clarify: lasting success because reality stars who are famous for being famous won’t (I hope) be here for long.
If you want to be a reality star, by all means, go ahead. Godspeed. I on the other hand prefer to use marketing for good rather than evil. I prefer to create marketing that delights, informs and tells the truth. I’d prefer to build a business based on real honest to God value for someone and if I do that for less people rather than duping millions, perhaps I’ll sleep better at night, knowing I created something real, good and valuable in the world.
Yes, your business should bring your joy. Yes, you shouldn’t have to slog if things don’t feel right. I’m all about only doing the marketing activities you enjoy (if they reach your target audience) or at least finding a way to make them enjoyable.
But I’m tired of the modern day snake oil salesmen, aren’t you? Tired of hyperbolic claims, tired of people charging thousands for something that won’t bring real value to a business. Of course, it’s all in the eye of the beholder. And you can only find value if you do the work someone ifsteaching you.
But I guess that’s my point. The not-so-secret to brand success? DO. THE. WORK.
Bring the value. Be authentic, be vulnerable, be unique but the most successful folks I know are finding joy in their business while alsoproviding real value for their clients and customers.
Marketing is not about lying to people. It can be used for good rather than evil (Tweet this!)
I’m a huge Twitter fan. I love the convenience and conciseness of it, plus I find it a personal challenge to get my point across in 140 characters or less. You might be on Twitter but are not sure how to get a handle on what can often seem like the Wild Wild West. Enjoy today’s guest post from Logan Strain as he serves up 7 juicy tips for nurturing your Twitter account with a little TLC.
With over a quarter billion active users, Twitter is one of the most powerful social networks you can use to build your company’s brand and drive traffic to your site. But with all the tweets and new accounts being created every day, how do you gain a foothold in this very noisy space? It can be intimidating starting with zero tweets and zero followers when other accounts in your niche might already have hundreds of thousands of followers.
No account becomes a valuable social media asset overnight. If you are taking the very first step towards establishing a presence on Twitter, here’s some advice to help you kick start your efforts.
1) Use Tweetdeck
Using the web or mobile client might be fine if you’re a casual tweeter, but pros like you need to use something more powerful like Tweetdeck or Hootsuite. Tweetdeck is fantastic because it’s a tool created by Twitter to help power users get the most out of their social network. You can schedule tweets, keep track of multiple feeds simultaneously, and manage multiple accounts. You can log in on the web, or (if you’re a Chrome user), you can use the handy Chrome app.
2) Follow (A Lot)
You can’t get if you don’t give. So if you want a flood of followers and you don’t have a strong brand name yet? You better start following people. While you shouldn’t be completely indiscriminate, clicking “Follow” every single time it pops up on your screen, it’s a good idea to start off with a ton of followed accounts. Some of the most successful tweeters literally follow tens of thousands of accounts.
Find all the biggest brands, thought leaders, and other personalities in your space and follow them all. Then check out who those big names are following, then follow lots of them too. When someone follows you, favorites a tweet, or retweets you, reward them with a follow. When you are actively following people, tweeters take notice, and you start earning followers in return.
3) Retweet And Favorite (A Lot)
Retweeting (posting other people’s tweets on your own timeline) and favoriting (marking tweets as your personal faves), are also part of giving. Retweeting is an easy way to add content to your feed with just a single click, but it also acts a compliment. It says “This tweet is so good, I want to share it with my followers too.” That’s a good way to endear yourself to bigger Twitter accounts and their followers.
Favoriting isn’t as strong, since it doesn’t add the content to your feed, but it still gives a hat tip to the tweeter. Feel free to favorite as fast as your mouse can click (or finger can tap) since it increases the number of times people see your name but costs you nothing.
4) Schedule Tweets A Week In Advance
In order to save time and be consistent, setup about a week’s worth of tweets in advance. This not only saves you time by doing all of your tweeting at once, it ensures that you schedule tweets for maximum impact.
Some studies suggest that the best time to tweet is between 9AM and 3PM, since that’s when people are most likely to check their feeds. Once you really start to build your following, however, you can more easily find when your best tweeting time will be with the online tool Brand Mentions. This is another free service that can tell you when your feed sees the most activity. Armed with this knowledge, you can schedule your most valuable tweets during the periods that you see the most engagement.
5) Be Hashtag Smart
Of course, you can’t simply tweet to nobody when you’re starting out. Twitter is like joining a giant cocktail party, and adding hashtags is how you join the conversation. People set up special feeds and alerts for their favorite hashtags, and can see when anybody (whether it’s a budding Twitter account or one with a million followers) is making a contribution. So it’s essential to add relevant hashtags to every single tweet you make.
But how do you find relevant hashtags? There are two main ways: either by checking out what kind of hashtags similar twitter accounts are using, or by using some simple and free online tools. One of the best ones is the related hashtags tool from Hastigify.me. Simply enter any hashtag, and you can find ones closely associated with it.
For example, if you are building a Twitter account for a hair care product, you can just check the hashtag #haircare. From there, you’ll see that people who use that hashtag also use #naturalhair, #beauty, and #bbloggers (the hashtag that connects beauty bloggers.) Now you’ll have several more hashtags you can add to your posts, and more ways you can be discovered.
6) Private Message People Who Follow You
If someone follows you, they’re probably following a lot of people. So how do you make an impression? Besides consistently offering interesting content, you could also simply send a private message through Twitter to your new follower thanking them. Since so few accounts do this you’ll stick out a bit more when they see you pop up in their feed, which increases the chances that they’ll engage with your content.
7) Connect Your Twitter Account To Your Other Properties
No social media account is an island. Provide a link to your Twitter account on your blog, your email signature, and even your other social media accounts. You want to give people as many opportunities as possible to discover your account.
Tweet Smart
That might sound like a lot of work in order get your brand’s account up and running. But the truth is that you don’t have to be a Twitter addict in order to build up an account and start gaining attention and traffic from this massive social network. Just 10-20 minutes every working day is enough to take you to zero followers to someone who is part of the conversation. Like anything in life, all it takes is a little persistence.
About the Author: Logan Strain is a writer for Crimewire, father, and podcast addict. When he’s not browsing reddit, playing with his daughter, or binge-watching Netflix, he’s creating viral web content.
Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™
It’s not about competing. It’s about ensuring there is no substitute for doing what you do.
Instead of “That’s not our policy” try “Here are some options for you.”
Instead of “We can’t help you” try “Here’s a few referrals for you so you can make things happen. I’m happy to make an introduction”
Instead of “These are all the reasons you didn’t get what you wanted” try “I am so sorry you are disappointed and I should have done better. How can I make it right?”
Instead of “I don’t accept comments on my blog because I only care about pushing out my ideas not how you feel about them” how about “Got feedback? Ping me on Twitter. Or Facebook or…”
Instead of “Here’s why your negative feedback is wrong or our actions are justified” how about “Wow! Thank you for taking the time to show us how we can do better. There must be others who feel like you do who’ve never said anything.”
If you want to create something irresistible, start with listening to what people really desire.
Raise the bar by delighting people in unexpected ways. (Tweet this!)
That’s how you raise the bar. That’s how you stand out. That’s how you create something you can be proud of.
What is one example of how you’ve raised the bar for your customers or clients? Please share in the Comments below!
