Intrepid LLC

In today’s “You Might Be Intrepid Marketer” episode, I talk about how intrepid marketers are NOT afraid to dive in and build relationships. With real people. In a video filmed last Friday morning, I share some thoughts about how profound relationships – that are formed online and strengthened in real life – can have a dramatic impact on your marketing and your personal brand. Enjoy!

Click RIGHT HERE to Be Intrepid!

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I recently stumbled upon Leo Babauta’s Mnmlist blog, a blog about minimalism and simplifying your life. It has been a profound find, as I am in the process of trying to simplify things in my cluttered life (and I simply LOVE the blog’s design).

But as I was spending time thinking about these things in the context of my life, I got to wondering if there is anything to applying the same concepts to our marketing efforts. Just as it seems to be the case with my crazy life, I oftentimes wonder if most entrepreneurs have a marketing program that is far too complex.

So, here are some minimalist ideas to think about and some important questions to ask yourself:

1. Is your message too complicated? Make it easy for people to remember why you are special.
2. Is your website too cluttered? When people visit your website, make it easy to learn what you do and easier to contact you to do it.
3. Is your strategy on the social web too complex? Your simple online mission is to engage and serve others. That’s it.
4. Is your target audience too scatter shot? Be laser focused on a niche. Don’t try to help everybody.
5. Are you focused on simple storytelling? Do NOT try to communicate one thousand different ideas/messages/concepts/fixes…
6. Can your prospects look at your marketing collateral and easily understand the call to action?
7. Is your diet of new learning focused on the things you need to improve? Don’t read thought leadership on shiny objects (as Seth says) that don’t really advance the goal.
8. Do you have BOATLOADS of pointless busywork? Instead, be laser focused on the important work.
9. Do you experiment with all kinds of new tactical options on a whim? Instead, execute only on new ideas that fall into the scope of your crystal clear marketing plan.
10. Wait, do you even have a marketing plan? Oftentimes, the lack of a road map leads to confusion, complexity and disarray.
11. Are you worried about too many details? Such as inventory, blogging, twitter, facebook, sales, promotions, employees, sick days, cubicles, vacations, graphic design, vendors, invoices, accounts receivable, etc? Instead, focus only on the customer. All the rest will fall into place…

So, minimalist marketing isn’t about cutting back on your marketing, or reducing your marketing budget, or even cutting the time spent on marketing. What I am talking about here is simplifying things so that your program is uncluttered – and can do it’s job.

What do you think? Agree or disagree with this concept? Got anything to add or subtract? Let me know if you have additional ideas to simplify your marketing…

[photo by marmota]

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I’ve been doing some reading and experimenting on this topic. I think social search/real-time search is an important step forward for the social web. Big time. In this episode, I claim that intrepid marketers fully embrace this, and aggressively seek to take advantage of it. Enjoy!

Here is a VIDEO from Google to get you up to speed!

Learn how to Be Intrepid here!

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The first in a series of blog posts discussing how we can all be intrepid marketers. In this episode, I talk about how we must NOT be afraid to try new marketing tools (apps, online tools, software, hardware, new technology). I suspect a majority of what we experiment with will not work for our business, but you just might land on something that may change your business. Forever.

The online, social web, and technology sites referenced in the video: TechCrunch, ReadWriteWeb, Mashable + Foursquare…

How we help you Be Intrepid…

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The MacBook Pro (from store.apple.com)

Well, I have finally made the decision. The decision I have NOT made with the last two computer purchases. I am finally switching to a Mac.

A MacBook Pro, in fact. Will probably happen sometime in the next month or two. And I can’t wait.

So I stopped by an Apple store at a crazy-silly-busy-suburban Atlanta mall yesterday with a friend. Not to make the purchase, but to ask some questions and learn as much as we could.

So, we walk into the store, only to see about 1,200 people in there. I almost turned around and left. But we headed in anyway and started looking at machines. And we were overwhelmed, to be honest.

[btw, the last Apple computer I had was an Apple IIc. It did enable graduation from college.]

Eventually we make contact with a gentleman named Matt. Young fellow. Just what you’d expect from an Apple employee (earrings, headset, cool hip Apple clothes, graphic designer by trade).

And if I had my wallet, I would have bought on the spot. He was the most engaging fellow, and man oh man did he know his stuff. Spent an hour with us. Answered every question. Answered every. stoopid. question.

I will just cut to the chase, so allow me to simply list the reasons our interaction with Matt solidified my conversion to a Mac. Pay close attention and apply his tactics to your situation:

1. He cared. He genuinely cared about our (my) stoopid questions. Never once losing patience with the inane crap coming out of my mouth.
2. He actually said “Hey no worries. I have nowhere to be. Let’s take our time!”
3. Being long-time PC users, we are burdened with PC thinking. He spent time explaining that the transitions would be easy ones…
4. But he also walked us through ways to keep as much of the PC experience, in case we needed to.
5. He really knew his stuff. I suppose Apple does a solid job training their people, but I don’t know this for sure. In any event, he knew a lot.
6. He was prepared for – and anticipated – all our (my) stoopid questions, with easy to understand answers and good metaphors to help goofs like me understand.
7. He didn’t upsell. Yeah, he could have sold us on higher priced equipment, but after carefully listening to how we use our machines, made it clear we would do well with less potent machines.
8. He. was. for. real. There was no “fake” in this guy. He sincerely came across as if he would rather be nowhere else.
9. He was passionate about Apple. I asked him about the iPad, curious to see how he’d respond, and wondering if he’d come across lukewarm. And frankly, after his passionate response, I now want one.
10. Apple salesmen do not work on commission. Which was glorious. Whoever decided on that policy ought to be commended. When I asked for Matt’s card, he said “Hey, I don’t work on commission. So remember, anyone here can serve you well.”

But the critical lesson here? He cared about us. He cared that all our questions were answered. And he cared enough to spend an hour of his day helping us learn, KNOWING we were not going to buy that day.

The point is, if you sincerely care about your customers and prospects, you will market yourself well. However that manifests itself…

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The Graduate

Just last night, I watched the classic film The Graduate, starring Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft. Truly one of the coolest films ever made, it is one of my top 10 favs. And not just because Simon and Garfunkel did the music.

You recall the film. It tells the tale of Ben Braddock, fresh out of school, but clueless as to what to do with his life. In his confusion and quest to find answers, he falls for an older woman, the wife of his father’s business partner.

Being the marketing guy with a permanent thirst to learn as much as I can about marketing, I look for lessons and answers every where I can. So, watching the film last night, I looked for marketing lessons while watching the film. And damn, if I don’t think I found some profound lessons we all can benefit from. Thanks Ben, Mrs. Robinson, and Elaine. Enjoy.

1. Don’t conform. Don’t fall prey to the expectations of others. Ben’s father had much different aspirations for Ben’s future. Go your own way. The way your instincts guide you.
2. Don’t always say yes. Remember the family friend who suggests that Ben should get into “plastics?” You don’t always have to say yes. Make smart decisions. [see below]
3. Don’t be timid. Remember when Ben was checking in to the hotel for his first rendezvous with Mrs. Robinson, and he was very timid with the desk clerk? Funniest scene in the film. Don’t worry what people think about simple, mundane stuff. Live life to the full. It will make you a better marketer.
4. Celebrate conversation. Deep into the affair, Ben got more comfortable with Mrs. Robinson, and he tried to engage her in more conversation in an attempt to get to know her. She obviously had no desire. It probably drove Ben off, off on to a path she wasn’t happy about. Don’t avoid conversation.
5. Don’t be who you are not. Remember when he took Elaine out on their first date, and he tried to scare her off by being someone he is not? It didn’t work for Ben. He was better off when he went back to being himself. Be real. Be sincere.
6. Know what your goals are. Remember when Ben declared to his parents that he was marrying Elaine, but then shared that he actually hadn’t asked her yet? Classic moment. Turned the tide of the film. Take a lesson from this – don’t be afraid to declare what you want.
7. Don’t let a “NO” dissuade you. Remember when Elaine was still mad at Ben for having an affair with her mother? Most would walk away. You will hear “no” a lot in life. It doesn’t mean the quest is over.
8. Don’t fear obstacles. Remember when Ben was on the way to stop the wedding and his car ran out of gas? He kept going. Kept going until he got what he wanted.
9. Be persistent. Remember how Ben kept after Elaine even when she went back to school at Berkeley? He kept after her.
10. Try new things. Hell, if Mrs. Robinson tried to seduce me, I’d have done the same thing too… Celebrate opportunities. You will learn a lot…

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cartoon by @gapingvoid

There are thousands of blogs about personal branding, half a million personal branding experts, and thousands upon thousands of personal branding books…

Point is, there is an awful lot of thought leadership and advice on the topic of personal branding out there to be found. And much of it is good stuff. And things you should pay close attention to.

But what they all do is TELL YOU how to build your own personal brand. As in, here are the things YOU should do to build your own brand. In fact, I think you get trapped into thinking what YOU want to hear and say, not necessarily what YOUR AUDIENCE wants or needs to know.

[It is important to remember - you can't just create a personal brand out of thin air, or hire a consultant to create your brand. You have to earn a brand by performance, results, discipline, and hard work. Over time.]

And that’s all fine and good. And important. But when thinking about personal branding, I think we should change our perspective – and look at the process of building your personal brand another way. Might give you some fresh ideas to create something truly unique!

There is a target audience you care about, right? So what do the people you are looking to make an impression on care about? What is it they are looking for? What do they want? What is important to them? What will make you stand out in their eyes?

When constructing your personal brand, and when considering the means by which you will tell and share your story, you should think about how your target audience will answer the following questions (and this is by no means a complete list – please add your own ideas in the comments):

1. Does this person CARE about me? I mean, really care about helping me?
2. Does this person SERVE their community?
3. Does this person GIVE FIRST and SELL LAST?
4. Is it CLEAR what this person does? Can I describe what they do in one sentence?
5. What is this person known for? What is their skill? What problem can they solve?
6. What is the ONE compelling reason I should seek to build a relationship with them?
7. Does this person get the concept of TEAM? Are they collaborators? In any type of context?
8. Are they agents of CHANGE?
9. Are they trying to make a DIFFERENCE in the world?
10. Is this person PASSIONATE about who they are, and what they are about?

So, assume that your target market is asking questions like these. Are you building a personal brand that will present well when those questions are answered by your target audience? You need to think long and hard about how you want your target market, your target audience, to identify with you, to want you to be a part of their circle. What do you want them to say about you? What do you want them to tell others when they talk about you?

Be Intrepid.

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OK, so I made a complete fool of myself yesterday…

I was meeting with a client who is launching a blog very soon. He remodels homes. He is a sharp looking fellow. He is a master craftsman. He is the perfect candidate to do a lot of fun – and effective – video demonstrating home improvement ideas for his blog (amongst many other ideas).

So here’s Todd, walking around Starbucks with his flip, demonstrating a style and attitude that I think will work great on this guy’s blog. At one point, I am on my knees pretending to talk about how to repair Starbucks floorboards…

And yeah, patrons in Starbucks were looking at me strangely. But who cares. In fact, it is even fun demonstrating using video in your marketing…

That said, utilizing video in a creative way to help add some pop to your marketing is an increasingly popular way to go-to-market. Buying high quality, high definition, video cameras that are SIMPLE to use, is as easy nowadays as buying a calculator in the check-out line. I use a Flip UltraHD camera…

Here are a few examples of some folks doing it right:

How Chris Jordan can even make insurance fun:

Stephanie Frost simply talking about an example of poor customer service. This video got picked up and was featured on the Huffington Post and on Diane Sawyer:

My model for successful vlogging, Chris Brogan. Demonstrating what “overnight success” looks like:

Stephanie Lloyd and I have fun talking about marketing and social media on He Said, She Said:

So here are a few things to keep in mind to make marketing with video fun – and effective:

1. Be yourself.
2. Make it memorable.
3. Keep it short. These things don’t have to longer that 90 seconds to have an impact.
4. You don’t have to be funny, but humor helps make it memorable.
5. Be helpful. Serve. Try to impart information that really helps people.
6. Remember that you don’t have to produce Oscar-caliber quality or editing for your videos to be effective.
7. Be sure that when you upload them to a video site, such as YouTube, that you tag them properly with the right keywords to make them more searchable.
8. Be real. If you are fake, you will lessen the impact. Considerably.
9. Don’t rely ONLY on video. Integrate it into a broader marketing program.
10. Remember, video isn’t for everyone. Find the medium that works best for you. And use it!

So, good luck. And if you can, leave some links in the comments with OTHER examples of people doing marketing right with video. Thanks!

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cartoon by @gapingvoid

OK. I’ve had two very busy days, but I finally got to spend some time on Twitter this evening.

And in about 90 minutes time, these are the things I observed that just really, well, bother me.

And know that if you are doing these things, your “friends” in the community are quietly murmuring about you. And that isn’t good….

So, here are Todd’s Tips To Avoid Twitter Murmuring About You (and please add ones I miss in the comments!):

1. Be honest. If you fudge facts, we will know. And we will never, ever, trust you again.
2. Don’t gloat. We secretly hate show offs…
3. When you retweet something without citing the orginal source, and making it appear that it comes from you? Bad.
4. If you want your community to retweet something, leave us some extra space. If I have to spend 30 minutes editing to knock it down to 140 characters? Forget it…
5. Don’t send out a tweet with JUST a hyperlink. It smells so MLM-ish…
6. Auto-DMs = Nails on a chalkboard.
7. More than ten tweets per day about Trump’s latest scheme is enough. Way enough.
8. If you are tweeting about someone on Twitter, USE THEIR DAMN TWITTER HANDLE!
9. And oh, don’t type in ALL CAPS. The shouting is annoying…
10. If you’re going to tweet about politics, don’t get mad when someone from the other side fights back…
11. Understand the differences between lol, LOL, and ROFL…
12. Plz dn’t abbrevi8 evy wrd n a twt. Hrd 2 follw…
13. If you are on Foursquare and you tell me you are at Publix, don’t get upset when I ask you to get me some chips and dip…
14. If you are only going to tweet once a day, don’t just push your latest blog post…
15. Honestly, if I want to connect with you on Facebook, I will seek you out. Don’t DM me a %*&$# link to your Facebook page…
16. Just because you add to the end of a tweet doesn’t allow you to be mean…
17. Really? Did that person just RT their own tweet?
18. I get the value of hashtags… but don’t overdo it. #twitter #socialmedia #helpfultips #advice #socialmediarules #howtostoptwittermurmuringaboutyou
19. I love twitpics, but if I am still working at the end of a long day, and you send around a pic of an ice-cold beer? I am probably going to unfollow you out of spite. Just saying…
20. Did I mention gloating?
21. If you SPAM us? Don’t be surprised when you are hunted down and shot…
22. …Mercilessly.

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My video message above is a testament to the power of the social web. When I started blogging at the Intrepid Runner about my half-marathon training, I never knew that it would lead to so many new enriching personal friendships.

The process has indeed opened my eyes. I mean, yes, I knew that using social media was a powerful way to build relationships, but I was never prepared for how this small blog about marathon training was going to expose me to so many new people, and increase the size of my social network.

And meeting and interacting with Kat Cole is just one example (You can see a video about her guest appearance on High Velocity RIGHT HERE). Yes, she ultimately accepted an invitation to participate on High Velocity Radio as a result of she and I connecting on Twitter. But what is more important to understand is that our friendship will extend far beyond today’s guest appearance.

As I said on the video, using the social web to talk about and share passions of yours will connect you to new people, but only if you are willing to engage. Making the effort to journal and chronicle about your passions will also result in strengthening your personal brand, creating deeper personal relationships, marketing you and your business, and yes, enriching your life.

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