Often, we get so absorbed in things we can’t affect that we neglect those areas we can.
Blog
Marketing
Just my random thought of the day. There are ways to build demand without creating suckers. Only focusing on maximizing profits from your customers can’t be sustained. Once a critical mass has been reached, you will have a growth rate the approaches zero rapidly
Go forth and do great things.
I assume all of you readers are using LinkedIn. Do you have any strategy? At this point, my main focus has simply been to connect to >1 person / week, which I’ve had no problem accomplishing. However, I’m confident that there’s much more I could be doing. I’d love to hear what success you have, ideas, etc.
More Ballen Seminar Thoughts
Just over a week a ago, I attended at social media workshop hosted by Lori Ballen. Covered a great deal of content that I deeply care about, thus there’s tons to write about. There’s one piece that really struck me, though. Her ability to connect.
One thing that happens regularly for her: people who she’s never met treating her like she’s their best friend. These are people who have only connected with her via social media. For all the criticism about social media destroying society, clearly these tools still enables us to bond.
Utilized well, people can connect solidly to brands, ideas, individuals. This gives communicators powerful ways to affect our audience. And elicit cynicism. If we’re not careful, these tools will end up viewed simply as deceptive marketing tools, building a false sense of connection and, thus, exploitive.
We need to be vigilant, ensuring we strive for genuine connection. Respectful, solution driven, thoughtful, and focused on our customer more than on driving cash-flow. Once your audience becomes jaded, rebuilding that trust is painfully slow and, perhaps, impossible.
Organizing
One thing that often happens with me: odd hour wakefulness focused on organizing. Not out of any sense of anxiety, mind you. Rather, my brain comes alive with ideas. I find it amusing.
My current focus when it comes to personal organizing: realistic daily loads. I’ve been using what I’ll call a “day dump”. I throw most of my outstanding workload into “today”, then shift the un-done into tomorrow. That’s quite frustrating. It makes it look like little gets done. And organizing starts to take much longer, especially as time oases. Plus, when you scroll thru a huge task list, it’s easy to get overwhelmed.
I’m trying my best to build my task list into something that has a real chance of getting accomplished. Helps keep my main foci on page one, and not scroll around looking for sheet I should do next.
Time
Just a thought: if you regularly give up planning and review time to deal with “now”, you have a future problem. We must make time to compare our progress against our goals. Otherwise, we get lost.
Don’t let this slip! And I’ll try to do the same.
Social Media Training
Spent all day yesterday learning how to generate leads using social media with Lori Ballen. Lots of good ideas, lots of things I want to implement over various projects. Though we had a real estate focus, the ideas are implementable across a wider array of sectors.
Learned tons, but haven’t had the chance to process it all. I’ll post more as soon add I make that time.
A Good Way To Engage The Public
Just read Ragan’s post about Southwest’s engagement via social media. They clearly get social media, how it’s about listening. I love seeing stuff like this.
I found their desire to name their PR command center “The Listening Post” particularly telling. Compare it, if you will, with Wal-Mart’s choice of “War Room”. One implies collaborative, engagement, respectful of it’s customers; while the other immediately screams adversarial. Seems clear which will be the best at mollifying the energy of critics.
This attitude works best to build ambassadors for your brand. These fans will be infinitely better at defusing potential crisis then even the best PR pros.
Your fans are a key asset. Invest in them.
My Email Frustration Du Jour
Let’s all agree to start using the “To:” line correctly.
Senders:
- Put people in the “To” line who have action items, or are otherwise the direct focus of the email. E.g.: “Carl, please take care of this”…blah, blah. Use the “CC:” line for people on the email for informational purposes.
Readers:
- Look in the address header to see where you fit in before you read. Then you’ll have a solid idea of whether you are being asked for information or action, or whether you’re being informed of a status, data, what-have-you.
If we can all start following email 101, maybe we can de-confuse the world some.
Maybe…
Restarts
I’ve been considering my blog theme for some time. Though I love poetry (and still plan on writing), my interests are much more varied.
My career has progressed over a wide array of industries and functions, all within the basic “general business administration” category. I’ve worried about shifting my focus, though. I’ve never been much for “profit hunting”. Business, though, impacts so many areas of our society, and we all are impacted by this institution. The variety in my background, from differing sectors (non-profits, Fortune 500, small and mid-sized business) to types (retail, technology, religious, advocacy, distribution, wholesale….) provides me with a remarkable perspective.
All this blends into a particular viewpoint. I take a long-term view. Sustainability is critical (both for individual institutions and society en masse). Project management tools and disciplines are master strokes of intellectual achievement.