Mitch Joel's Blog: Six Pixels of Separation, page 272

The Power To Self Promote

Episode #379 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to.

I have known Dan Schawbel for over a decade. I have also had the pleasure of watching him blossom into a marketing juggernaut and passionate educator for young people who are trying to figure out how to leave their mark on the world. When I first started blogging about personal branding and online reputation, Dan was always eager to comment, add his perspective and share his insights. Now, he is the Managing Partner of Millennial Branding - a Gen Y research and consulting firm. He has authored two bestselling business books, Me 2.0 and the recently published, Promote Yourself - The New Rules For Career Success. Dan is also a contributor for Time and Forbes magazine, as well as being a sought-after media pundit on the topic of personal branding and Gen Y. Oh, did I mention that he accomplished all of this before his thirtieth birthday? He is an impressive young man. Enjoy the conversation...

You can grab the latest episode of Six Pixels of Separation here (or feel free to subscribe via iTunes): Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast #379.

Tags:

advertising podcast

blog

blogging

brand

business book

business podcast

dan schawbel

david usher

forbes

itunes

marketing podcast

me 20

millennial branding

podcast

podcasting

promote yourself

time magazine

Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #173

Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?

My friends: Alistair Croll (BitCurrent, Year One Labs, GigaOM, Human 2.0, Solve For Interesting, the author of Complete Web Monitoring, Managing Bandwidth: Deploying QOS in Enterprise Networks and Lean Analytics), Hugh McGuire (PressBooks, LibriVox, iambik and co-author of Book: A Futurist's Manifesto) and I decided that every week the three of us are going to share one link for one another (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person "must see".

Check out these six links that we're recommending to one another:

The Long Tail of Hardware - Slash Blog . "This is a great post by Amanda Peyton about the future of hardware. She wrote a widely viewed piece about how Best Buy is going out of business (I've heard it referred to as 'the Amazon showroom') but she has since concluded 'it's not just Best Buy that's going to fade away, it's our entire notion of 'Consumer Electronics'. It will be gradual, but there are already signals that indicate a shift is happening.' I think she's right, and that this will shape what the next decade of electronic innovation looks like." (Alistair for Hugh).

Why - and how - I wrote Bad Pharma - Bad Science . "Ben Goldacre spoke at Strata in Santa Clara a couple of years ago. He's a doctor, a skeptic, and above all, very curious. He's the author of Bad Science, which sold 400,000 copies in Engalnd alone. And he's just come out with a new book on the pharmaceutical industry. In this post, he explains why. As I see stories about healthcare in the US (including this heartbreaking/heartwarming one on Obamacare), I wish more people would write books like this." (Alistair for Mitch).

Tesla's $110,000 Model S is now Norway's best-selling car - The Globe & Mail . "Is Norway really Valhalla or what? Not only is the Tesla ( Elon Musk 's amazing electric car) the country's best-selling car, but... that means that everyone is rich enough there to make a $100,000 car a best-seller! Some parents at my kid's daycare have a Tesla. I'm not much of a car guy, but when that thing glides silently out of the parking lot, I confess to some coveting. Fire or no fire." (Hugh for Alistair).

Watch This Girl With Telekinetic Powers Freak Out Coffee Shop Patrons - Gizmodo . "OK, it's a 'viral marketing' video. But it's good. Great even. What makes it great, I think, is that we are in on the prank from the beginning. The reactions of the unsuspecting patrons - what looks to be genuine horror - are all pretty amazing. As is the whole set-up. Happy Halloween, a bit early." (Hugh for Mitch).

The mental block - Aeon Magazine . "Stressed out? Worried about that upcoming job review? Excited about the holiday season? Whatever you're feeling, blame consciousness. This is an amazing (and long) piece that asks a massive question. It's a question that most of us don't think about, because - like most depressing philosophies - it will lead you to realization that it is consciousness that is to blame for everything we feel, because it is this one thing that makes us aware of our own mortality. Without getting too morbid, consciousness is what drives everything we do - the negative and the positive... and we have no idea why." (Mitch for Alistair).

Great Spinal Tap Quotes You Can Use in Almost Any Professional Situation - LinkedIn Today . "OK, that last one might have been a little too depressing/freaky, so let's turn it up to 11. The mockumentary, Spinal Tap, is probably (still) one of the best big-movie inside jokes of all time. You're either in on the jokes or you're not. I'm not sure if you could actually apply any of these quotes to a professional situation, but I've been 'in' on the Spinal Tap joke from day one. This one made me crack up, and was a fun romp down memory lane from my days when a lot of this stuff wasn't just movie comedy and satire, but a sad reality of the people I interacted with day in and day out." (Mitch for Hugh).

Now it's your turn: in the comment section below pick one thing that you saw this week that inspired you and share it.

Tags:

aeon magazine

alistair croll

amanda peyton

amazon

bad pharma

bad science

ben goldacre

best buy

bitcurrent

book a futurists manifesto

complete web monitoring

elon musk

gigaom

gizmodo

globe and mail

hugh mcguire

human 20

iambik

librivox

link bait

link exchange

link sharing

linkedin today

managing bandwidth

media hacks

obamacare

pressbooks

slash blog

social media

solve for interesting

spinal tap

strata

tesla

twitter

year one labs

Leadership Skills For Life Or How To Ask Better Questions

Do you truly understand the things that are being said to you at your work?

This is a true story: I am often sitting in meetings with very senior marketing professionals who are either presenting or speaking to a group, and they're saying things that I simply do not understand. I mean, the words are in English and they form grammatically sound sentences, but the concepts are just not connecting in my mind. I'm lucky. One of my business partners at Twist Image is also someone I consider to be a personal mentor. They spent tireless years before becoming one of my business partners by growing one of the largest advertising businesses in the country. When these meetings occur (and I am flummoxed by a concept), I will often walk into his office and question my own knowledge (or lack thereof) of the marketing industry. Inevitably, I am led to better understand that these people are simply dumping a whole lot of jargon in an attempt to cover up the fact that they lack an original concept of their own. Sure, that's a generalization, but that's because it is generally the truth of the situation.

A sign of great leadership.

I consider Simon Sinek (bestselling author of Start With Why) to be one of the few people who can succinctly and powerfully explain concepts that drive brands to uncover their core reason for existing (yes, it's as profound as it sounds). Just this week, Jonathan Fields of Good Life Project spent close to an hour in deep conversation with Sinek discussing the impact of leadership, and how we should all be pushing ourselves by asking more questions and demanding that these questions be answered in a much simpler way.

If you're looking for something to watch and be inspired by this weekend, here is some real magic...

Tags:

advertising

business

good life project

jonathan fields

leadership

leadership skills

marketing

marketing industry

marketing professionals

mentor

presenting

simon sinek

speaking

start with why

Are Most Advertisers Asleep At The Wheel?

Advertising used to be easy.

Brands would work their respective agencies, make a media buy, create the ad, place it (in a newspaper, on the radio, television, etc...) and watch to see if anyone cared. In the golden age of advertising, you could - literally - buy your way to the top. As the industry evolved, grew and matured, things changed. Prior to the power of the Web, most media planning was done several months in advance, they worked in fiscal quarters and were highlighted by moments-in-time like holidays and seasons to attract new customers and bring the loyal ones back. The Internet changed everything. Not just in terms of changing the distribution and media models, but in how advertising is planned and managed.

Sadly, there is still too many brands that manage their advertising with a very traditional planning mindset.

You can call this the "set it and forget it" mentality. Media is bought, ads are placed and metrics are gathered post campaign. It seems simple enough, but in a world of Google AdWords, real-time bidding, Facebook's newsfeed and more, you can iterate, optimize and build different destinations (or landing pages) for a brand to test and learn - in real time - what is working and what is failing. At a primal level, this means that you can spend your money sparingly and strategically to work towards a better outcome before the media is all spent. There is no need to do a post-mortem to figure out what happened. Instead, you can work towards a better conversion rate when things start to fall apart (as they often do).

But, here's the thing...

You can't blame digital advertising for not working if you - as the brand lead - are not doing the hard work. Check this out: Small-to-medium-sized businesses waste 25 percent of their search advertising spend. Re-read that. According to the AdWeek article, Smaller Businesses Waste 25% of Google Search Cash, we're simply throwing our money into the garbage. From the news item: "The biggest problem is that SMBs only tweak their keyword buys only every 90 days or so, said WordStream chief tech officer Larry Kim, and don't spend enough time zeroing in on relevant lead generation tactics... What's more, Kim's firm found that 95 percent of SMBs don't have a functioning click-to-call button for their search ads, eliminating the opportunity for countless phone leads."

"My advertising doesn't work!"

Here's a clue: advertising works better than most marketing professional could ever imagine, they're just not willing to do the heavy lifting required to make it efficient. If AdWeek numbers are true results for SMB's, what do you think the numbers might look like for larger corporations? I shudder to think. This past week, I spoke at a few events around the continent and would regularly hear the hallway chatter that Facebook advertising doesn't work or that brands aren't finding ROI with Twitter or that their Google ad spend isn't performing like it used to. Advertising is hard. Bringing to it a traditional mindset of defining keywords, then simply running it against budget without putting into place a much more rigorous, real-time accountability plan to iterate and optimize doesn't make the advertising channel ineffective. It simply means that advertisers haven't changed their philosophy and approach to digital. In fact, it feels like they're simply trying to make digital adapt to their traditional ways of planning. That's the true waste.

Things need to change.

We used to find out about brands in a very different way. We waited for brands to announce to us what they were up to. Now, consumers are infovores. They are on the prowl for information and details about what is the best widget, and why people think it is the best. They're looking towards their peers for answers. They're looking to strangers for answers. They're looking to see if the brands are awake and at their beck and call with answers. They're using very different media channels and sources to find these answers as well (think: Google, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube and beyond). We - the marketing professionals - need to reverse engineer how we make great advertising happen. It needs to happen now. There is only one place to point the finger of blame, in a world where analytics, information and sentiment dances in real time.

It's on us.

Tags:

advertiser

advertising

advertising agency

advertising channel

advertising metrics

adweek

brand

click to call button

digital advertising

facebook

facebook advertising

facebook newsfeed

google

google adwords

google search

keywords

larry kim

lead generation

linkedin

marketing optimization

marketing professional

media

media agency

media models

media planning

newspaper

online advertising

pinterest

radio

real time bidding

search ad

search advertising

television

twitter

web analytics

wordstream

youtube

The Failing State Of Content Marketing

Simply put: there is too much content in too many places.

While some may contend that the "cream always rises to the top," when it comes to great content, there is another worthy argument that goes like this: there is too much cream and there are too many tops. Everyone is publishing - in text, images, audio and video. All of the time... and to the world. Of course, this is nothing new, and you will find instances when brands (think American Express and their Open Forum platform or what LinkedIn has done in recent months to become a top content provider with LinkedIn Today) are breaking the mold and busting through the immense amount of clutter, but the lessons about what works (and what's just adding to the clutter) seem to be somewhat formulaic.

How do you make your content resonate? Here's what the experts will tell you:

Tell a great story.

Tell that story in a new, fresh and interesting way.

Tell that story in a quirky, weird, strange or random way.

Tell that story in a way that will make them cry or feel deeply emotional.

Tell that story in a timely way... be the first to uncover something new.

Tell that story in a honest way.

Tell that story in a shocking way.

That's it. Easy. Right?

It's true, that when you can nail the components of what makes a story come to life (and, if you're struggling with this, make sure to read Joseph Campbell's The Hero With A Thousand Faces), you have a higher propensity for success. It's also true that you don't have to nail all seven components to have a hit on your hands (people have created stellar pieces of content using just one of the rules). Still, in a world of tweets, Snapchats and Facebook status updates that move faster than the ticker at the bottom of the screen while you're watching CNN, getting any content to resonate is becoming increasingly more challenging. The half-life of content is a brutal beast in this day and age.

Why the content fails.

Some may point to the fact that the content is nothing more than marketing blather thinly veiled as genuine content, or that the vast majority of stuff we're calling "content" is merely the publishing of a press release that has had its jargon surgically extracted by a former journalist. The truth has become bigger than what is being published. What the biggest publishers in the world tend to shy away from, when it comes to explaining how content becomes successful, is the distribution of it all.

If it's good content, the content will be found. Not really.

This past week, MediaPost ran a great little news item titled, Failing Distribution Strategies Smother Great Content. The article is based on a recent Forrester report titled, Put Distribution At The Heart Of Content Marketing, that touches on this exact point: content needs proper distribution. More often than not, brands and their content marketing (or branded content, or blogging or whatever) leave that content within their own walled garden. The assumption is that people will come to them. The best publishers in the world make sure that the consumer can get their content on their own terms... on their preferred environments. Content without a deep and meaningful distribution strategy is never going to properly convert into anything for any brand. It's painful for brands to hear this, but it's true.

Plant your content seeds.

A personal story: I am often asked about why I chose to write two business books (Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete)? Why do I blog so frequently? Why do I contribute to Huffington Post? What about Harvard Business Review? And now, a spot on the radio every Monday morning? What's the point? In a word: distribution. In order for my content to be effective (and the net result I am looking for is that our digital marketing agency, Twist Image, is easily recognized as a potential agency when brands think about their digital marketing needs), I need to ensure that our thinking is distributed far and wide and to different types of audiences in different states of circumstance. Does this mean that I will put this content everywhere? Absolutely not. I have spent a significant amount of time (over a decade) looking for new and interesting venues to put our thinking out, in order to increase the distribution. Traditional magazine publishers look at more than how much money they're making from individual magazines and subscriptions by closely gauging increased circulation numbers and where those copies of the magazine are being sold. They are tinkering with growing distribution opportunities to maximize revenue potential.

The true success of content marketing.

If your brand is trying to identify why the content isn't working, please take a much closer look at what the distribution strategy is of your content. You do have a distribution strategy for your content marketing platform, right? The sad reality is that many brands still struggle with a consistent editorial calendar and haven't really thought all that much about what the distribution model looks like (and what it can become) beyond posting it on their own sites. I recently spent some time with an individual who has quickly risen the ranks to become one of the most beloved bloggers in the world. The strategy for success is more distribution that creation. They test things on Facebook, and then blow it out into a newsletter article if it gets traction on Facebook. Once they get the analytics from their email newsletter, they decide which pieces have done well enough to be blogged about. From their, this individual has a handful of very diverse third-party publishers interested in their content. What does this equate to? For every hour of writing a piece of content, they spend two to three hours working on the distribution of it - within their own channels and beyond. The frequency of publishing is reduced in order to spend more time on the distribution of it.

Great content means great distribution.

This isn't just about tweeting about a new blog post or copying and pasting an article into a Facebook update (I am guilty as charged on this one). It's about thinking of new ways to distribute your content and getting it to connect to a much broader audience. From the MediaPost article mentioned above: "Skinner, the author of 'Put Distribution At The Heart Of Content Marketing,' explains that placing too high a priority on content may help to close sales, but marketers miss the opportunity to reach a larger audience. The proof comes from a SAP Web content audit where the company discovered the content was only relevant to a minority of its target audience. After focusing more on distribution, SAP's site grew to more than 200,000 unique visitors per month in 18 months."

So, do you have a lot of great content and are you distributing it properly?

Tags:

american express

audience

blog

blogging

branded content

business book

chom fm

cnn

content

content marketing

digital marketing

digital marketing agency

distribution

distribution strategy

e newsletter

editorial calendar

facebook

forrester

harvard business review

huffington post

joseph campbell

journalism

journalist

linkedin

linkedin today

magazine publisher

marketer

marketing

mediapost

online publishing

open forum

press release

publishing

radio

sap

signal from noise

snapchat

storytelling

the hero with a thousand faces

traditional publisher

twist image

walled garden

web analytics

web content audit

When Things Get Weird

You know the moment... when things get weird?

Technology is about to get even more interesting. As more and more appliances and devices get connected, coupled with wearable technology making some serious headway, it's bound to get as weird as it will get interesting. There have been a couple of moments - in just the past little while - where a new technology has come across my desk that has both intrigued me, but made me wonder if it's all getting a little too... strange? Let me also be the first to say, that I don't even consider things like Google Glass or self-driving cars all that weird at all.

Check this out...

Exhibit A - The New Fox News Deck. Is it just me or do these massive touch screens just seem... weird? Cool? Yes. Weird? Yes.

Exhibit B - The Refresh App. Granted, I think I have better small talk chops than this dude, but doesn't it seem weird that we're suddenly automating even the most basic of stuff? I suck at remembering names, and I can often be found not being prepared enough for a meeting due to time constraints. Again: Cool? Yes. Weird? Yes.

Exhibit C - Sony HMZ-T3W Head Mounted Display. We have seen devices like this before. You can cover your entire field of vision (and block out the rest of the world) with these headsets, but I can't - for the life me - imagine seeing someone crack this bad boy out on an overseas flight. Perhaps this is a technology relegated for the hardcore gamers or individuals desperate for a divorce, but still. Once again: Cool? Yes. Weird? Yes?

What about you? What technology has got you all weirded out?

Tags:

connected appliances

connected devices

fox news deck

google glass

head mounted display

networking

refresh app

self driving cars

sony hmz t3w

technology

the internet of things

touch screen

wearable technology

weird

No More Filthy Hotel Remote Controls And A Better Way To Save Your Content For Later

Every morning at 7:10 am, I am a guest contributor on CHOM 97.7 FM radio broadcasting out of Montreal (home base). It's not a long segment - about 5 to 10 minutes every week - about everything that is happening in the world of technology and digital media. The good folks at CHOM 97.7 FM are posting these segments weekly to SoundCloud, if you're interested in hearing more of me blathering away. I'm really excited about this opportunity, because this is the radio station that I grew up on listening to, and it really is a fun treat to be invited to the Mornings Rock with Terry and Heather B. morning show. The segment is called, CTRL ALT Delete with Mitch Joel.

This week we discussed: That the NFL was pitching for Samsung's Galaxy Gear smart watch, and what the future of wearable technology will be. While we're on the subject of watching football on Sunday afternoon, does the remote control have a future? Plus, why you don't need to ziplock your hotel room remote controls any more thanks to LodgeNet's app, StayConnect. We also talk about Pocket, Twitter's pending IPO and if Instagram will be amazing when they start running ads on it.

Tags:

chom 977 fm

chom fm

ctrl alt delete

ctrl alt delete with mitch joel

digital media

football

galaxy gear

guest contributor

instagram

lodgenet

montreal radio

morning show

mornings rock with terry and heather b

nfl

online advertising

pocket

radio segment

radio station

remote control

samsung

smart watch

soundcloud

stayconnect

technology

twitter

twitter ipo

wearable technology

ziplock

It's Important For You To Die Empty

Episode #378 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to.

Where does creativity come from? It's a big question. Tomes have been written about it. Few understand the creative process better than Todd Henry. He is the founder of a group called The Accidental Creative (which also happens to be the title of self-titled debut business book back in 2011). Most recently, he released his second book. It is, without question, one of the best book titles on creativity that I have ever come across. It is called, Die Empty - Unleash Your Best Work Every Day, and the  excellent content within the book lives up to the title. Too many people confuse "art" with "creativity," and Todd has an incredible knack for explaining how creativity needs to permeate everything that we do in our work. We expect creativity or moments of genius to hit us like random bolts of lightning, Die Empty is a practical and powerful roadmap that will put a process against your creativity (you need to work it - each and every day). What's the point of dying with your creativity trapped between your ears? Todd has been on the podcast before (SPOS #259 - Accidentally Creative With Todd Henry) and now he is back to talk about Die Empty. Enjoy the conversation...

You can grab the latest episode of Six Pixels of Separation here (or feel free to subscribe via iTunes): Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast #378.

Tags:

accidental creative

advertising podcast

blog

blogging

brand

business book

business podcast

david usher

die empty

itunes

marketing podcast

podcast

podcasting

todd henry

Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #172

Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?

My friends: Alistair Croll (BitCurrent, Year One Labs, GigaOM, Human 2.0, Solve For Interesting, the author of Complete Web Monitoring, Managing Bandwidth: Deploying QOS in Enterprise Networks and Lean Analytics), Hugh McGuire (PressBooks, LibriVox, iambik and co-author of Book: A Futurist's Manifesto) and I decided that every week the three of us are going to share one link for one another (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person "must see".

Check out these six links that we're recommending to one another:

Survivorship Bias - You Are Not So Smart . "We humans are daft, making all kinds of mistakes from the data around us. David McRaney has made a career of reminding us of this, and his post on how easily we misread the information around us is fascinating and funny." (Alistair for Hugh).

Consulting on the Cusp of Disruption - Harvard Business Review . "A few decades ago, the legal profession underwent a big shift away from law firms and towards corporate counsel, with independent firms handling specialized tasks like discovery. Now, say Clay Christensen and his colleagues, consulting companies are in the middle of a similar shift, and should learn from their predecessors. Must-read for anyone offering advice to others for a living." (Alistair for Mitch).

In praise of Richard Stallman, GNU's open sourcerer - The Guardian . "Thirty years ago, one of my heroes launched the most spectacular rearguard action against a prevailing view of 'intellectual property': the free software movement. Hardly a 'hippies-only' movement, free software underpins much of the tech infrastructure of the world, and forms the building blocks of modern (Web) technology development." (Hugh for Alistair).

Giant hornet attacks in China leave at least 41 dead, 1,600 injured - National Post . "Run for your lives." (Hugh for Mitch).

Why We Cry on Planes - The Atlantic . " Scooter Braun is the guy who discovered Justin Bieber . Now, he's widely recognized as one of the hottest music managers, and he's an active investor in startups. I've had the pleasure of meeting him and interviewing him live on stage. Prior to our first meeting, I decided to watch the Justin Bieber documentary, Never Say Never , on my flight over to see him. I cried like a baby (ok, a few tears here and there). I often find myself getting all teary-eyed while watching emotional movie moments on a plane. The thing is, I am not much of a crier at all. I figured it was from being away from my family that got me all emotional. It turns out that it could be something that much more. All of that to say: avoid sitting next to me on a flight if the sight of a grown man crying is too much for you." (Mitch for Alistair).

Cell Phone Libraries Offer Books To Every Ugandan Home And School - PSFK . "Here's what we know about our world: education is one of the key answers to ending poverty. Getting people access to books is not easy. Especially in the more remote parts of the world. We also know that there are more people on earth with mobile subscriptions than those with access to safe drinking water. So, why not give everyone with a mobile device access to books? A simple and genius solution. Sure, not everyone has a mobile device, but we're starting to see these devices show up in the most rural and poorest parts of the world. Let's hope we can close the gap on the last mile, and then shorten the chasm between the haves and the have-nots." (Mitch for Hugh).

Now it's your turn: in the comment section below pick one thing that you saw this week that inspired you and share it.

Tags:

alistair croll

bitcurrent

book a futurists manifesto

clayton christensen

complete web monitoring

david mcraney

gigaom

gnu

harvard business review

hugh mcguire

human 20

iambik

justin bieber

librivox

link bait

link exchange

link sharing

managing bandwidth

media hacks

national post

never say never

pressbooks

psfk

richard stallman

scooter braun

social media

solve for interesting

the atlantic

the guardian

twitter

year one labs

you are not so smart

Unlock Your Creative Genius

How many times has someone promised you the ability to help you unlock your creative genius?

I get it all of the time. I fall for it, more often that I would care to admit. But, the one person who truly does know how to help us all unlock that creative genius is Steven Pressfield. I have been following Pressfield since he first published the book, The War of Art back in back in 2002. Most recently, the bestselling author published his latest book, The Authentic Swing, which is a about the mechanics behind the writing of his famed novel, The Legend of Bagger Vance. This past weekend, Pressfield sat down with Oprah for an hour. It is truly an amazing piece of content to watch and enjoy.

Make sure to have a notebook ready... 

Oprah and Steven Pressfield.

(sadly, the Oprah website does not allow their videos to be embedded, so please click on the link above).

Tags:

author

book

creative genius

oprah

oprah winfrey

steven pressfield

the authentic swing

the legend of bagger vance

the war of art