Intrepid LLC

Usually, something that is solid, that doesn’t move, that is unchanging, immobile, etc…is something we rely on, something that can be counted on, something that seems like a steady foundation. Almost comforting, if you will.

But not in the modern world of marketing. When it comes to your web presence, you don’t want to be described as unchanging or immobile. Your web presence needs to be…ENGAGING.

That’s what intrepid marketers do. [More text below video]

[In the video below, I discuss the value of an engaging web presence:]

Here are a few tactical ideas you can use to provide an engaging web presence:

1. Incorporate a blog into your site.
2. Allow comments on your blog.
3. Respond and engage people when they comment.
4. Provide forums to facilitate conversation.
5. Invite guest contributors.
6. Connect people to your social web tools, like Twitter.
7. Utilize surveys tools.
8. Solicit questions from your audience…
9. …and be sure to answer them!
10. Make it easy to share your content.
11. Invite people to join your e-newsletter.
12. Use an Instant Messenger plug in to invite conversation. Hold regular hours.
13. Provide content with various mediums, such as video and audio.

The items listed above are not new. They are not rocket science. In fact, I suppose when you reviewed the list, you probably said something along the lines of “no kidding.”

Yet I continue to be amazed how many entrepreneurs have chosen not to incorporate these simple tactical options into their web presence.

But that said, it is what you do with these ideas that matter. Here are a few reasons why having an engaging presence matters:

1. Strengthens your brand.
2. Allows relationships to develop. This is where the sales come from.
3. Simplifies process of testing – and getting feedback on – new ideas.
4. Does a better job educating people about you and your business.
5. Makes it easier to teach and help and serve others.
6. Allows for better story telling.
7. Not to mention provides fresh and unique content – updated regularly – that keeps people coming back for more.
8. Oh, and added Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strength.

At the end of the day, it is the safe and easy path to build a static website – one that is solid, reliable, and unchanging. But dare I say it is lazy? And boring? Static sites just don’t cut it any more in this fast-paced, conversational, and engaging world we now live in.

What do you think?

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Popularity: 6% [?]

cartoon by @gapingvoid

In my examination of what makes for intrepid marketers, it is clear to me that they are simply master storytellers. They can take complex issues, and make them simple. They can take ordinary people, and make them legends. They can take boring things, and make them scintillating.

In other words, they are master storytellers. They talk about things that matter. They keep you riveted. They make you believe. They are master marketers. They are intrepid marketers.

There are many tools at their disposal. But what most intrepid marketers utilize in their quest to do something remarkable, is a blog. It is amazing to me how many individuals and small business people still do not blog. But the list of people who are achieving big things and living big dreams because of their blog is a steadily growing list.

But just why is that happening to that select and intrepid group? Here are a few reasons…

The free form of a blog is liberating, and conducive to storytelling. There are relatively few constraints on a blog, and spirited, creative thinkers thrive in this medium.

But ordinary people can make something happen too. I mean, look at me for chrissakes…

Blogs facilitate conversation. And as any intrepid marketer knows, this is what the new marketing is all about.

Blogs don’t care if some new idea you are trying out tanks, big time. You can always write new content the next day.

Blogs demand that you be different, edgy, living on the edge, pushing the envelope. That nice tri-fold brochure you have? That is so yesterday…

Blogs just seem to work better when you are being yourself. Be yourself, yes, but speak your damn mind. Be honest. Be transparent.

So, if you currently aren’t blogging, get out there and do it. Try it. Experiment. It can be free. And the lessons you learn, and the experiences you achieve, will be worth the effort. Two key thoughts:

Blogs require a sustained effort over time. Blogging takes a while. Don’t retire after ten posts. It works, but slowly…

Blogs work best when you use them to spin electronic yarns. About whatever the heck you are passionate about. I mean, I really can’t think of a better medium to facilitate good story telling. Use them!

What do you think?

[Read my list of 99 ways to be an Intrepid marketer.]
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Popularity: 7% [?]

cartoon by @gapingvoid

I am as big an advocate of fully engaging on the social web as anyone…

By this, I mean that you should blog. You should read other blogs via your RSS reader, and be a part of conversations on those blogs. And you should be active on all those other social web tools such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr, YouTube, Foursquare, etc. etc…

But you know as well as I do that if you are not careful, you can lose control. And your activity on the social web will be ALL CONSUMING. And you can spend HOURS playing in the sandbox and not advance your business goals.

It has happened to me. And I am working hard to figure out ways to simplify my presence and activity there. Without sacrificing the benefits.

Here is my best advice to you in terms of how you should view the social web as a marketing strategy for your business:

FOCUS ONLY ON ENGAGING AND SERVING PEOPLE.

If you only do this, you will be on the right path to getting the results you want on the social web. Here are some tips to apply minimalist principles to your social web strategy:

Keep Connections Relevant. It really is quality over quantity. Who cares if you have 100,000 followers if none of them care what you say? Don’t focus time and energy on just racking up hollow follower counts (and do the things listed below, and your list will grow naturally).

Look out for a few key words. If you help authors, you should be searching for messages that contain the word “authors.” You will find someone who needs your help – if you are looking and listening.

Strike up sincere conversation. Don’t just send out one-way sales messages. Find people you can help or want to know, and talk to them. It is these conversations that will lead to business opportunities.

Share with your community. If you are not trying to generate a meaningful conversation, then you should be focused on sharing meaningful content. This helps your network, and can lead to conversations too…

That’s it. Your time on the social web really should be kept that simple. Make it a goal to connect in a meaningful way with ONE person a day. Before long, you have quite a powerful network.

Too often, we get distracted and just lose our way. We get caught up artificially growing our followers, or playing with shiny new tools, or focused on self-promotion.

So keep it minimal. Keep it simple. It is easy to lose sight of your real business purpose on the social web. Keep your goals, and the activity you do on the social web, simple. Follow only the right people. Read only the blogs that help you advance your cause. Do this, and you’re on the right path!

What do you think?

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Popularity: 6% [?]

I was reading Leo Babauta’s e-book about focus recently, and he was talking about the importance of rituals. He says it is easy to get distracted in this modern age, but when you engage in rituals, you are more likely to be focused and in the moment. He writes:

A ritual is a set of actions you repeat habitually — you might have a pre-bed ritual or a religious ritual or a just-started-up-my-computer ritual. One of the powerful things about rituals is that we often give them a special importance: they can be almost spiritual (and sometimes actually spiritual, depending on the ritual). And when they become special, we are more mindful of them — we don’t just rush through them mindlessly.

And I thought, I bet intrepid marketers have marketing rituals. So let’s examine this idea…

If intrepid marketers (CLICK HERE to learn what an intrepid marketer is) engage in rituals, based on Leo’s writing above, we should assume they are focused. On this point, I don’t think there is any argument. The question then becomes, what are they focused on? And thus, what part of their marketing process is cemented into daily ritual…

Are you focused on the customer? It is my opinion that each business needs to be more customer-focused, and thus, we need to devote more time – each day – to thinking about every customer interaction. We often overlook even the little ways our customers interface with our business.

What to do? Setting a ritual where you review these interactions – on a regular basis – is vital to success of your business. How about creating a series of questions you ask yourself – maybe at the end of each day – that help keep you focused and review how each customer interacted with your business, and how you can improve those. Include everything, from products, to voice mail, to your invoicing process.

Are you creatively focused? If being creative is an important part of your work, and it is for most of us, then ritual is probably a very critical element in your creative process. What does it take to get you in the creative mood? Do you need to remove all distractions, such as email? Twitter? Phones? Do you need to use a specific creative space, such as your studio, coffee shop, or the conference room?

What to do? Figure out what you need and then execute on the ritual so you can deliver your best creative work. And don’t let ANYTHING disrupt the ritual process.

Are you focused on process? Or results? These are two very different things, process and results. How you might ritualize to focus on these two would be different in my opinion.

What to do? First of all, do you have your process committed to paper? Can you measure the results of each step in the process? A regular examination of this process, and ritualizing to determine what is working and what can be improved might be a good thing to always be getting better at what you do.

As for results, well, isn’t this what we are after? Most people are more worried about the process than the results, and that’s why they have NO cash flow. It might be helpful to set a weekly ritual where you focus on thinking through all you are doing to be sure they are leading to actual positive results for your business…

Are you focused on conversation with your marketplace? Is interacting on the social web important to you and your business? Well, then you need a ritual. And I am not talking about getting on Twitter and just doing whatever for several hours.

What to do? What is your goal on the social web? If it is to identify and make relationships with new prospects, then create a ritual where you listen for keywords that are of interest to you, and begin a conversation. Then share information with that new contact. This three-step ritual might work for you. Here is what I do to help bring some sense of ritual to one element of my social web activity.

See, I am thinking most small business people don’t have marketing rituals. We are all too busy trying to manage the mundane and time consuming tasks of running our shop day-to-day. But, if Leo is right and rituals are a set of actions you repeat habitually, then we all need to formulate some new rituals. Life is too hectic, and we probably don’t have the discipline to focus our minds – on a regular basis – on the important things related to our business.

What do you think? What are your rituals? What works for you?

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[photo from untitled blue on Flickr]

Popularity: 11% [?]

A friend, very confused about Twitter, asked me how I manage my time on it. I told her about a little process I go through that helps keep me on the right track. And thought I’d share it with my community. Nothing profound, but maybe a few of you might find it helpful. So, this is for my friend. Hope this helps!

Randomly, once a week, I go through and organize a full day’s tweets into three simple categories: sharing (when I promote someone else’s work for the benefit of my community), conversation (when I am just chatting with other folks), and “ME” (when I promote my events, my blog posts, my services, etc.).

My analytical process is quite simple – you know, for a guy like me tabulating results in a moleskin. But here is the goal – and your target – for this exercise:

No more than 10% of the total tweets should go in the “ME” category.

If your “ME” percentage is higher than 10%, you are probably not utilizing Twitter effectively. And yeah, I’ve heard all the talk about everyone using it differently, what works for one doesn’t necessarily work for the other, etc..

I say hooey. If you are conversing with people and learning how you can help them and sharing valuable content with your community, then you are on the right track. Whether you are a person, a brand, or a business, or all of the above.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I just did a quick analysis on my Twitter profile from yesterday. Which showed 13% of my tweets sharing other’s work, 74% of my tweets conversing with people, and 13% of my tweets promoting something of mine, in this case, yesterday’s radio show. A quick review of yesterday’s numbers tells me I need to simply share more content from other’s work, and I will get the “ME” number under 10%. Easy.

If your “ME” number is consistently higher than 10%, here are some things to think about:

1. You need to come to grips with the fact that marketing is two-way, a conversation, a dialog. Understand this, and treasure this opportunity, and you will no longer struggle with something like Twitter.
2. It is actually possible to get to know someone on Twitter. Just decide to engage in a conversation. Ask about their kids. Ask about their favorite music. And ask about their business, not because you want to sell them something, because you really are interested in knowing.
3. Celebrate the tools that allow the sharing of other people’s work, such as TweetMeme. They make it so easy. You have NO excuses.
4. Do your best to concentrate on “REAL” interaction. Don’t focus on building up impressive amounts of followers, and don’t automate responses to people. You don’t play a recording at a face-to-face networking function, and you don’t (you better not) walk around to everyone at an event and give a business card to all guests – hoping someone will call.

So what do you think? Is 10% too high? But honestly, if you can manage a “ME” number of 10%, that’s a good start. I welcome additional thoughts…

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[photo from drp on Flickr]

Popularity: 17% [?]

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!

Popularity: 8% [?]

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]

Popularity: 100% [?]

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!

Popularity: 9% [?]

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.

Popularity: 19% [?]

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!

Popularity: 25% [?]