Mitch Joel's Blog: Six Pixels of Separation, page 276

The Marketing Of Things

We put brands on everything.

Think about it this way: we put brands on everything and we're putting the Internet into everything. It's true. Brands will put their name on baseball stadiums, water bottles, the bottom of that plastic bin that we put our shoes into at airport security, and they're even putting them in public toilet bowls. Anything to get attention. The Internet is being dumped into everything and anything that can be plugged in (or wirelessly enabled). Computers were just the beginning. Now the Internet is being plugged into phones, tablets, watches, refrigerators, barbeque thermometers, exercise monitoring wristbands, farming equipment, cameras and beyond (welcome to The Internet of Things). Marketers haven't been negligent in this regard. You can't see something on the Internet without it being surrounded in ads, sponsored by a brand or even created by a brand as a means to do something more than saturate the public with advertising.

So, if you can put a brand anywhere....

Why not put it on an operating system? It raised some eyebrows this past week when Google announced that the upcoming version of their Android mobile operating system will be named KitKat (the seminal chocolate bar from from Nestle). Android has been using names of delicious deserts and sugary snacks since Cupcake in 2009. Moving down the line alphabetically, they are now at the letter "K" (Jellybean was the most recent version). What makes this deal that much more fascinating, is that both Google and Nestle are portraying it as something more closely tied to partnership marketing than corporate sponsorship marketing. According to the Advertising Age article, , "Stewart Dryburgh, an assistant VP at Nestle who oversees global marketing for Kit Kat, said the fact that no money exchanged hands was an 'acid test [for] how confident both parties were in each other.' He said there is an 'equal amount of equity to be shared out of this.' The parties began negotiating in January and closed the deal at in Barcelona a couple months later at a Mobile World Congress meeting." Imagine that, a win-win for both brands with no need to exchange money.

A valuable expression about the power of impressions.

The Kit Kat website has already been updated to reflect this marketing opportunity. The media attention (in terms of PR) has been off the charts. For Google, it maintains its position as a playful and whimsical brand in a technology space that is - all too often - proliferated with industry jargon and engineer talk. For Kit Kat, a brand that has been around since the 18th century (not a typo), it gives them not only a rejuvenation and some cool factor, but something new and different to market in an impulse buy - low interest space. The fact that money isn't a part of this transaction makes it all that much more interesting. For my advertising dollar, the most interesting aspect is still the one of impressions. This is still, ultimately, a game of impressions. It is advertising in the purest sense. Google's brand looks whimsical. Kit Kat's brand looks more relevant and hip. If you don't think that this is a game of impressions, just check out this news item from Business Insider: Android Activations Hit 1 Billion. That's right, while many people may not know the implications of over 1 billion activations on the Android platform, this is still a staggering number. There are now over 1 billion people who have Android activated devices in the marketplace. Out of those 1 billion activated devices, it's hard to say which users, actually know or care about the fact that there is some kind of operating system with a name like Kit Kat attributed to it, still this is a massive game of massive impressions for two massive brands.

Size and reputation matters.

Whether this lives on to be anything more than a press release with a couple of co-branded contests in chocolate bar wrappers is a whole other story. In a world of Twitter feeds and chasing Facebook likes, it is moments like this (and the Super Bowl), when we are reminded about what can happen when you have a brand of size and depth. As a marketing professional, the more interesting point is that we can create new and interesting ways of making those big impressions create an equally big splash. It's hard to imagine that a chocolate bar got naming rights to a mobile operating system. It seems insane to even write that last sentence. That just happened. It means that a whole lot more of new and interesting doors may be opening up for marketers that are creative enough to create them.

Keep those marketing ears open, folks. Opportunities are abound.

Tags:

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Hacking Skype For Better Audio

I use Skype to record most of my audio podcasts.

This may not be a big deal to you, but most people who have any passion for audio and recording are gasping in disgust at this admission. For over 375 episodes (since 2006), I have relied mostly on Skype to record these weekly conversations with leading business thinkers. And, while I take a more "indie" approach to my production (instead of the pristine clean that you get from NPR and the like), I have learned some very powerful tricks about using Skype to create a high quality audio conversation worthy of broadcasting to the world. The truth is that for under two thousand dollars you can mack out your audio recording studio with a proper mixing board, pro digital recorder, dynamic microphone, pop filters, mic boom stands, studio quality headphones and more. Personally, I'm just not that interested in the production side of things and prefer to have something simple and portable. So, I plug the MiC by Apogee directly into the USB on my MacBook Air, fire up Audio Hijack Pro and record my Skype conversations - from wherever I may be in the world.

That's it.

The problem is that Skype (and other VOIP programs like Google Hangouts) can be very finicky. From garbled conversations to dropped calls to moments that sound more like a scene out of The Max Headroom Show (wow, I carry around a lot of useless pop culture references from the eighties in this cranium of mine!). There are some tricks, and they're not just for those who are attempting to record and broadcast their Skype conversations. These tricks will - without question - improve the overall quality of your conversation in many more ways than you can imagine.

Here are 6 ways to get the best sound possible out of Skype:

Plug in. Do your best to ensure that both parties are hard-wired into the Internet. This means no wireless networks and no wi-fi. If you're using a MacBook Air or another computer that doesn't have the CAT 5 cable plug, get a USB Ethernet adapter. Also, ensure in your network settings (prior to turning on Skype) that your Ethernet connection is the active one. Bonus tip: turn off the wi-fi to be sure.

Kill the tabs. Every piece of software that you have running is sucking up valuable CPU that could be diverted to Skype. Shut it all down. Every application that you can. This includes your email, Web browsers and more. Try to ensure that Skype (and whatever you're using to record Skype) are the only pieces of software that are running on your system. Remind the person you're speaking with to do the same. Believe it or not, this will also keep both parties focused on the conversation instead of emails and Facebook updates. There's nothing more annoying than hearing the clicking of a keyboard from the person you're speaking to (especially when you know they're not taking notes about the conversation). Bonus tip: if you need your computer for notes, try using your tablet or smartphone for the notes instead, just be sure to have them set to airplane mode as well to keep the overall bandwidth usage as low as possible.

Use headphones. They don't even have to be good headphones. Any headphones will do. Most computers' external speakers aren't that great, but worse, the audio pumping out of speakers is easily picked up by the microphone. This causes weird echoes and could lead to annoying feedback. Bonus tip: if you can use in-ear headphones and run the wire along your neck and back, you'll look like a pretty cool news anchor instead of an out-of-work rapper when you're sporting your neon orange over-the-ear monitors.

Invest in a microphone. The internal microphone on your computer is always crummy. The combo of headset and microphone that you can buy are a little better. There are a slew of USB microphones (like the one I use from Apogee) that are of pretty high audio quality. They can run anywhere from $150 - $400. The difference in sound quality is astonishing, so spend some time figuring out which one is best suited for your needs. Bonus tip: if you work in a boomy room or open space, try to prop the microphone up on a pillow or buy some sound dampening foam to put around the mic stand. The warmth and closeness will make every conversation that much more personal.

Neutralize alerts. Most people do not know how to stop their Skype from pinging, ringing and dinging. The easiest way is to click on the green checkmark next to your profile picture and change the setting to "invisible" or "do not disturb." Make sure to have the person you're speaking with do the same. Bonus tip: Prior to starting the conversation, send yourself an email to turn that setting back to "online" once you are done, otherwise people will not be able to contact you on Skype.

Leave some air. Words and sentences sometimes get cut. The best Skype tip is not a technical one related to the software or hardware, it's about the conversation. Leave some air. Do not interrupt the person you are speaking with. Let them finish their sentence. Once they're done, leave a second or two of air and then respond. If you're doing any formal editing, you will begin to see these natural breaks and be better able to edit the audio. More importantly, this technique will also make you an active listener. It will make the entire conversation that much smoother and, along with helping to overcome any bandwidth lags, it will also make you a much better conversationalist. Bonus tip: while the other person is talking, force yourself to not give out too many uh-huhs and uh-hums. If someone is going to listen to this conversation, those natural audio prompts that we give in day-to-day conversation are incredibly annoying when it comes to listening.

You feel like you're there.

The end result is that the conversation sounds like you are sitting together in a quiet space, where the only thing that matters are how the words are flowing and how connected both parties are to the conversation. That not only makes for a great sounding podcast, but it also makes for a much better and deeper business partnership.

What are some of the best tips ad tricks that you use for creating a better Skype chat?

The above posting is my twice-monthly column for The Huffington Post . I cross-post it here with all the links and tags for your reading pleasure, but you can check out the original version online here:

Huffington Post - Hacking Skype For Better Audio.

Tags:

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Inspiration Day

Let's call it Inspiration Day. Not Labor Day.

You've heard enough jokes about why we take the day off from work on Labor Day. Personally, I watch my schedule for days like this, and slice some time away from family and friends to get inspired about the work. Thankfully, we have things like YouTube and TED that make it a whole lot easier.

Following are five videos that will inspire you to get more inspired about the work that you do: 

1. Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement Address.

2. Simon Sinek - How great leaders inspire action.

3. Good Life Project - Seth Godin On Books, Business And Life.

4. Susan Cain - The power of introverts.

5. The Attributes of Great Leaders - Tom Peters.

BONUS ROUND!

Commit to change the way that you hold meeting...

Nilofer Merchant: Got a meeting? Take a walk.

Feel free to add the one that have inspired you below...

Tags:

good life project

inspiration day

labor day

nilofer merchant

quiet

seth godin

simon sinek

stanford university

start with why

steve jobs

susan cain

ted

ted talks

tom peters

youtube

Catching Up On Social Media With David Meerman Scott

Episode #373 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to.

Welcome to episode #373 of Six Pixels Of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast. Last week Boston hosted HubSpot's Inbound Marketing Marketing Conference. It was a veritable who's who of marketing and those who are thinking about ways to connect with consumers in a more profound way. A fellow speaker at the event was David Meerman Scott. Scott is a massively successful bestselling business book author and speaker. If you don't know the books, The New Rules of Marketing & PR, Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead, World Wide Rave, Real-Time Marketing & PR and Newsjacking, you really should. Over the years, I have been lucky enough to get to know David, and I have the privilege of calling him a friend. We decided to meet up for coffee early one morning, and then decided to hit the record button to discuss the launch of the fourth (fourth!) edition of The New Rules of Marketing & PR. 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 #373.

Tags:

advertising podcast

blog

blogging

brand

business book

business podcast

david meerman scott

david usher

hubspot

inbound marketing conference

itunes

marketing lessons from the grateful dead

marketing podcast

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the new rules of marketing and pr

world wide rave

Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #167

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 Most Honest And Heartbreaking Reason To Leave Your Front Door Unlocked I've Ever Heard - Upworthy . "What's it like to date when you have crippling OCD? Watch Neil Hilborn tell you." (Alistair for Hugh).

If Disney Princesses had Instagram... - B For Bel . " BforBel 's satirical take on Disney in a social media era was hard to miss last week, but just in case, here it is. One can only hope they have Tumblr accounts too." (Alistair for Mitch).

The Middle East Explained in One Letter - Buzzfeed . "Who can keep track of what's going on in the Middle East? Here's a quick primer, so you know what's what." (Hugh for Alistair).

Writers should take a year off, and give us all a break - The Guardian . "Colin Robinson, publisher of O/R Books, has a radical idea for all of us who think we have a book in us: don't write it. In the age of self-publishing, what if would-be best-selling authors took a year-long book-writing holiday?" (Hugh for Mitch).

First 'Mind Meld' To Link Human Brains - Futurity . "When we think about Star Trek and all of the technology we have in our homes that was  once science fiction, I'm guessing you never thought that the Vulcan mind meld was something that could become a reality. Well, it has..." (Mitch for Alistair).

14 Writers Handwrite Their Writing Advice on Their Hands - Between Letters . "I once knew a photographer who loved taking pictures of hands. They said that hands were the gateway to the soul... not the eyes. I always remembered that sentiment. If that photographer was, indeed, right, then this little piece of visual beauty is insight into the soul of some people that we would consider masters of the written word. These people use their hands (and other parts of their anatomy) to create the words that move us. Now, they've written on their hands the best piece of writing advice that they have to offer. Awesome." (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:

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b for bel

between letters

bitcurrent

book a futurists manifesto

buzzfeed

colin robinson

complete web monitoring

disney

futurity

gigaom

hugh mcguire

human 20

iambik

instagram

librivox

link bait

link exchange

link sharing

managing bandwidth

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neil hilborn

or books

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social media

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star trek

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tumblr

twitter

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vulcan mind meld

year one labs

Public Displays Of Affection (CTRL ALT Delete style)

If you're interested in meeting, connecting and sharing...

I will be doing a few public appearances in the next few months to support the launch of my second business book, CTRL ALT Delete. If you are interested, I would love to connect and meet. I'm hopeful that if you live in and around these cities that you will come down and hangout:

Toronto, Ontario - Third Tuesday Toronto happens Tuesday, September 10th, 2013 at The Pilot in Toronto. There are already close to 100 confirmed guests. Special thanks to Joe Thornley and Thornley Fallis for pulling this one together. Tickets cost $20 and everyone gets a copy of CTRL ALT Delete.

Cleveland, Ohio - Content Marketing World happens September 9th - 12th, 2013. I will be giving the keynote address for 2013 Financial Summit on Thursday, September 12th, but my recommendation would be that you attend the whole event. The line-up is stellar and it's always an incredible event.

Ottawa, Ontario - Third Tuesday Ottawa happens Monday, September 23rd, 2013 at Maxwell's. There are already over 100 confirmed guest and only a handful of spots left. Tickets cost $20 and everyone gets a copy of CTRL ALT Delete (thanks, again, Joe).

Webinar, Everywhere - Vocus. Reboot, Rebuild, Prevail happens Thursday, October 3rd, 2013 at 2:00 pm (eastern). Anyone and everyone can attend, all you have to do is register here (and it's free!).

San Diego, California - Lifecycle Messaging Conference happens October 9th - 11th, 2013 at the Omni San Diego Hotel. The event is being put on by BlueHornet, and it's all about email marketing in an omni-channel world. I will be speaking on Thursday, October 10th and my good friend, Jay Baer (Youtility), will be there as well. Madness will ensue.

Toronto, Ontario - The Art of Small Business happens on Monday, October 21st, 2013 at the Metro Convention Center. This could well be a line-up for the ages, as I get the chance to share the stage with Michael Gerber (E-Myth), Chris Guillebeau (The Art of Non-Conformity, The $100 Startup and World Domination Summit), John Jantsch (Duct Tape Marketing, The Referral Engine and The Commitment Engine), Jonathan Fields (Good Life Project) and Stephen Shapiro (Best Practices Are Stupid and Personality Poker). A general pass ticket is only $349, but if you call to register be sure ask for the special Twist Image promo.

There are more to come as well.

Along with this list, there are a few more public events that are still being finalized (which I will add to this list). I'll also be speaking at many private corporate events (not open to the public) in Phoenix, Calgary, Mountain View, New York, England, Orlando, Toronto, Montreal and other cities between now and the end of November. I will do my best to try to organize some meet-ups, tweets-up and other stuff along the way, so please follow me on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn for updates on that as well.

See you on the road!

Tags:

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bluehornet

business book

chris guillebeau

content marketing world

content marketing world financial summit

ctrl alt delete

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email marketing

emyth

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good life project

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youtility

How Did You Do That? It's Magic!

You can blame The Ninja on this one.

I call Christopher S. Penn, "The Ninja," for a myriad of reasons. He also happens to be one of the most practical and well-thought-out working professional marketers that I know (and I do not say that lightly). Years ago, we were discussing topics like persuasion and presentation skills during one of our not-frequent-enough chats, when he introduced me to the book, Strong Magic by Darwin Ortiz. Penn's reasoning is sound: if you really want to master the art of presenting, there are few people as amazing at presenting than a great magician, and this book is over-the-top with insights about how to work an audience, and how to turn a presentation into a spectacle (in the best way possible).

And then, it hit me.

When I was a kid, I was into magic. Really into magic. I loved it. I bought tricks. I had one of those old-fashioned hardcover suitcases that eventually became stuffed with all kinds of magic tricks. Yes, I used to perform at kid's birthday parties. I'm not sure where that passion went (it probably evolved into some of the words that you're reading right now), but it wasn't something that I had thought about until I was halfway through reading Strong Magic. That book sent me back down another rabbit hole. One of watching magicians, learning how tricks are done, but - most importantly - reading a lot about magicians and how they weave their craft (hat-tip to Mark Levy and Steve Cohen as well).

It's all magic.

The overall sentiment I share with those who ask me about my fascination with magic is this: if you understand how magic works, you know things about the human condition that most other human beings don't know. While the tricks are simply tricks, it's the manipulation of thought and suspension of belief that makes magic more real than most people know. In fact, it's all about the presentation. One of the true masters is David Copperfield. Kevin Rose recently had an amazing conversation with Copperfield for his latest episode of Foundation (still, one of the best video podcasts out there). There is a ton of meat in this interview, and many interesting thoughts about how Copperfield blends magic with entrepreneurship and yes, even technology.

You have to watch this...

Tags:

audience

christopher s penn

darwin ortiz

david copperfield

foundation

human condition

kevin rose

magic

magic tricks

magician

mark levy

marketer

marketing

ninja

persuasion

podcast

presentation skills

steve cohen

strong magic

3 New Ways To Think About Amazon, YouTube And LinkedIn

Are you experiencing any digital marketing fatigue?

Thinking about what's coming next? Curious about what is around the corner? Just this week, three interesting news items emerged that demonstrate some big shifts in three of the major online social channels.

Amazon Adds Ability to Buy Goods From Within Mobile Apps . Buying virtual goods in-app is nothing new, but buying physical goods in-app? This is the convergence of a movement I discuss in-depth in my second book, CTRL ALT Delete, about how physical becomes digital and digital becomes physical. Now, developers will be able to create applications that enable consumers to buy physical goods from within the app and receive a commission for these sales from Amazon. From the Bloomberg news item: "Imagine a developer of a nutrition and fitness app can now offer their customers the ability to purchase vitamins, supplements and fitness gear within the app, directly from Amazon." This a big deal for brands. Brands can create an app of full-on utility, but have the flexibility to sell (and make money) through in-app purchases. This adds a dynamic new layer to e-commerce and the convergence of marketing and commerce.

Forget Amazon. YouTube Is Where Shoppers Do Research . Back in 2008, the big news was that YouTube had become the second largest search engine in the world after its parent company, Google. This data point still surprises many people who see YouTube as a simple online video platform. When considering a purchase or wanting to see a product demo, where do you turn? More often than not, somebody, somewhere has created a video of almost everything. This AdWeek article further substantiates that as YouTube matures and more and more consumers find it increasingly easy to create video content (you can shoot it and upload it directly from your smartphone), that YouTube morphs into a destination for product discovery, review and a massive engine of influence. Who would have thought that YouTube's commercial value extends to become a heavy influencer in the purchase decision?

Ad Agencies Love LinkedIn but Not SlideShare . What social media tools do marketing agencies use to hustle down new business? It turns out that LinkedIn is the clear winner. From the AdWeek article: "46 percent of 300 agency honchos described LinkedIn as the 'most important' social media vehicle for generating new business leads, well above blogging (24 percent), Facebook and Twitter (both at 14 percent) and Google (just 2 percent). The same poll, though, found that only 21 percent use SlideShare to market their agencies to prospective clients. Interestingly, SlideShare has been around nearly as long as LinkedIn--seven years compared to 10. So, both are ancient in the realm of social media, but obviously LinkedIn is a bigger name in b-to-b networking." The reason LinkedIn is so popular? Apparently it's this big, because it requires the least amount of effort to maintain effectively. That's a (somewhat) sobering (and sad) statement, but everybody is looking for shortcuts. What makes this interesting is how our virtual and physical networks are not only blurring, but how multi-million dollar deals are now being brokered through relationships that have been initiated because of the power of social media and online social networking.

Don't always look at what is coming and what is new.

While reviewing these three disparate news items, it was refreshing to get a new perspective on how these channels are both evolving, and how they are maturing as engines of marketing and commerce. The smart marketers will take these three news items and (hopefully) get creative by thinking about new brand solutions. It feels like some new and exciting opportunities that can be capitalized on as everyone else continues down the same, old path because they're not paying attention to just how much the audience is evolving over a short period of time.

Fascinating stuff. 

Tags:

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adweek

affiliate marketing

amazon

amazon affiliate

b2b networking

blogging

bloomberg

brand

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ctrl alt delete

digital marketing

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7 Reasons Why Marketers Should Be Twerking Miley Cyrus

Talk about a whole bunch of keywords in a headline that I never thought that I would ever write. But, here we are!

When cultural moments like Miley Cyrus at the Video Music Awards happen, we can't help but stop and take a look. It's the classic rubber neck syndrome, where we all, collectively, slow down to get a glimpse of the accident. It's probably not the best part of the human condition, but it is who we are. We've taking rubber necking to a whole new level when you implicate social media into the mix. Now, we're not just stopping to watch the madness and talking about it at the water cooler the next day, but we're living it, sharing it, reporting on it and commenting on it like never before.

Media feeds the beast.

The Onion beat me to it. The satirical website had one of the most insightful (and hilarious) posts about the fiasco that points to the reality of what these types of events means to brands and marketers. And, make no mistake about it, brands, marketers and media entities jump all over this sort of stuff because it moves the needle. The article was titled, Let Me Explain Why Miley Cyrus' VMA Performance Was Our Top Story This Morning, as a mock op-ed piece from the Managing Editor of CNN.com. Most will simply read this piece and laugh, but it has all of the major points about why moments like this get the kind of coverage that they do - particularly in this day and age when traditional media outlets are doing anything and everything to generate advertising revenue, and the wall between editorial and advertising is blurring faster than you can say: native advertising. You can read the article to get the humor, but here is a rundown of why marketers should be twerking Miley Cyrus:

If the headline is salacious, consumers will click on the site and drive up Web traffic.

When Web traffic jumps, publishers have impressive Web analytics to share with their boss... and with the advertisers.

Once the story gets some traffic, spin-off articles happen (like 15 other Music Video Awards Embarrassments, and the like), these bump up the numbers even more.

Digital editorial teams then turn these popular articles into slideshows (consumers love clicking on pictures). As the mock-article points out: "We also throw in a slideshow called 'Evolution of Miley,' which, for those of you who don't know, is just a way for you to mindlessly click through 13 more photos of Miley Cyrus. And if we get 500,000 of you to do that, well, 500,000 multiplied by 13 means we can get 6.5 million page views on that slideshow alone. Throw in another slideshow titled '6 'don't miss' VMA moments,' and it's starting to look like a pretty goddamned good Monday, numbers-wise." Again, this is a satirical piece, but it's one those, "it's funny because it's true" kind of things.

One publishers have some articles rolling and slideshows that consumers are mindlessly clicking through, publishers will then create quick, cheap and dirty highlight videos and more, with experts discussing the performance or whatever. These video have pre and post roll advertising and some of them have sponsorship and product placement within the clips. More advertising. More traffic. More revenue.

If consumers are spending all of this time with this type of content, media publishers have ammunition to tell brands and media agencies about how engaged and how much time their consumers spend on their property in comparison to others. Along with that, the bounce rate decreases (the amount of people who look at a page, but click on nothing else). These are prime metrics that enable publishers to command a higher advertising rate.

We like to share. Once consumers watch this content, spend time with it, maybe even comment on it, they may be inclined to share it across their own social networks. From blogs to Twitter and Facebook and beyond. This propagates the content, drives more attention, amplifies it and builds the media brand. Yes, once a consumer shares it, they are complicit in helping the media entity to grow and to charge more to the advertisers.

So, in the end, everybody should read this fake op-ed piece in The Onion and realize that it's probably the most accurate story about publishing, content and the state of digital advertising than any research report you are bound to come across.

Tags:

advertising

advertising revenue

blog

bounce rate

brand

cnn

content marketing

digital editorial team

editorial

facebook

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marketers

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satire

slideshow

social media

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the onion

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twitter

video music awards

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10,000 Hours And 20% Of Your Work Time

How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chunk would?

Time is always the number one concern in our lives, isn't it? Feel free to blame consciousness. The clock is always ticking... and it's ticking down. Some of the greatest thinking of our time comes from people who are more acutely aware of just how limited our time on this earth is. Work is no different. We're constantly in this strange battle for time. Be it deadlines, product launches, responding to emails, starting a meeting on time, getting home on time, finding the time to blog or whatever. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

How much time will this take?

Because of the human addiction to time, we want things to happen fast, faster and fastest. We want raises, promotions and more as quickly as possible. This fascination with speed and business is especially prevalent in the digital marketing space. Because it is still (somewhat) nascent, employers are paying a premium for talent and that talent has expectations that they will be moved up as quickly as possible. We see it in the work that the industry is doing as well. Brands want to know how quickly it will take them to get a million fans on Facebook. They want to know how quickly they can change the brand narrative by engaging on Twitter. They want to know how much quick money can be made if they blast out another email promotion. But, here's the thing:

It takes time to get good. It takes a lot of time to get great.

With that, the world keeps on spinning. So, we're obsessed with speed and time. Clients want things to happen fast. Agencies have to appear like they are moving faster (to stay ahead). Malcolm Gladwell popularized the notion that it takes 10,000 hours to truly master something in his bestselling book, Outliers. Last week, he revisited his 10,000 hour theory in The New Yorker blog post titled, Complexity And The Ten-Thousand-Hour Rule: "No one succeeds at a high level without innate talent, I wrote: 'achievement is talent plus preparation.' But the ten-thousand-hour research reminds us that 'the closer psychologists look at the careers of the gifted, the smaller the role innate talent seems to play and the bigger the role preparation seems to play.' In cognitively demanding fields, there are no naturals. Nobody walks into an operating room, straight out of a surgical rotation, and does world-class neurosurgery. And second--and more crucially for the theme of Outliers--the amount of practice necessary for exceptional performance is so extensive that people who end up on top need help. They invariably have access to lucky breaks or privileges or conditions that make all those years of practice possible. As examples, I focused on the countless hours the Beatles spent playing strip clubs in Hamburg and the privileged, early access Bill Gates and Bill Joy got to computers in the nineteen-seventies. 'He has talent by the truckload,' I wrote of Joy. 'But that's not the only consideration. It never is.'"

Is it possible to be great at something in less than 10,000 hours? Or, asked another way, can we get there any faster?

According to Gladwell (and others), it doesn't apply to everything (obviously). Some people may be inherently gifted with specific genetic and physiological gifts that make them more prone to be successful when you can match that specific gift with a specific area of expertise (Gladwell's blog post points to areas like high jumping, etc...), but some things do have to be learned and nurtured through experience and more education. Marketing is one of those things. It takes time. Lots of time to get great at it.

What about focus?

While we're focusing on time and how to get focused enough to earn those ten thousand hours, Google is either slowly ridding themselves of (or has already done away with) their infamous 20% rule (where every employee is expected to spend 20% of their work time focused on a personal project - no matter how outlandish). The Wall Street Journal reported today in the news item, Google's 20% Mistake, that "one can't just throw money and bodies at innovation--there is no correlation between the size of a company's R&D budget and its innovation rate. Most ideas are bad ones, so you have to entertain a lot of them to find the real gems. On average, a company needs 3,000 ideas to get 300 of them formalized, 125 of them into small experimentation, ten of them officially budgeted, 1.7 launched--and one that makes money... On paper, eliminating it might look like it saves money. But the signal it sends is that management, not the workers, know what the most productive use of your time is. It's a step down the road to a company of clock-punchers."

Time is money.

For my time (and money), all of this is less about management decisions and how HR is going to deal with the fallout, and much more about the macro issue of time well spent and how we're all struggling in a world that is expecting us to put in our 10,000 hours and find our true groove. We can't look to our bosses on this, we have to look within. After reading these two powerful pieces on how much time it takes to get great at (mostly) anything, the only thought I had was this: am I, personally, committed to the 10,000 hour rule and am I spending enough of the other time working on something personal, out there and possibly bigger than me?

Get less worried about how long something takes and get focused on how much better you are getting over time.  

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