The Engaging Brand

3 Questions about Buzz

There is a wonderful quote which I have in my moleskine which is from John Hunter

"My mind is like a beehive; but full as it is of buzz and apparant confusion, it is yet full of order and regularity"

The reason I like it is that we can so easily fall into thinking purely about the 'what'

What do I need to do? What's next? What am I going to be judged on? What is the most important?

For me the what can overtake our minds and leave us less productive and less creative.

Order comes when we can ask ourselves 3 questions about all the buzz

1. Why is that buzz in my head? Why will it bring value to either my world or the world of others?
2. How then should I turn that buzz into something meaningful?
3. When do I start?

We want create buzz, we want the thoughts, we want the ideas.....but buzz becomes negative when we don't apply a filter to those ideas! 

Buzz becomes positive when we use it as fuel for personal growth!

Do you want a catalogue of hits or just the one?

Business has always tended to be too short term...and the economic crisis seems to have made this view even more prevalent. In fact you could argue it was short termism that got us into this mess in the first place.

I believe there is a lot we can learn from established brands, established artists. For instance if you look at X Factor, they are looking to gain the Christmas No 1. However, if you look at a recent interview with Tony Bennett he said his aim was to create a catalogue of worthwhile music not just a record.

Catalogues take more time. You need to understand who you are, and who you are not. You need to understand who you want to be and what you want to be remembered for...you also need to create the living story into which the buyer can enter....and take them with you on the journey.

We live in a world of projects...as if there is a discrete beginning and end to our products and services...I don't believe that to be true.

We don't have projects to create something special....being something special is the project in itself....

 

Show 357 - How to be an Entrepreneur

Show 357 of The Engaging Brand leadership and marketing podcast is ready just for you. To subscribe or listen for free, you don't need to download anything and all explained at the end of the post. 

Gregg Fairbrothers wasn't born to business yet as founding director of the Dartmouth Entrepreneurial Network, he teaches a wildly popular course on entrepreneurship, which is now in book format - From Idea to Success: The Dartmouth Entrepreneurial Network Guide for Startup

Gregg joins Anna Farmery to talk about

• Can entrepreneurship be taught?
• How the belief is the key ingredient of entrepreneurship.
• How Carol Dweck research shows the mindset is key to learning
• Epistomology - the value of figuring out what you know and what you don't  know!
• What is healthy skeptiscm!
• The role of facts compared to listening to your gut.
• 3 steps to creating a value proposition - in fabulous simple terms
• The difference between price and what customers will pay
• Role of intellectual property on competitive advantage
• Create a business plan which explains how you are going to sell your products and services as well as what...

If you have feedback for me on the show or topics that you would like me to cover then e-mail me at anna@theengagingbrand.com or join me on twitter. Or leave a message at The Engaging Brand Fan Page or join me on Google+ for a huddle!

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The Social Diamond

Social circles are all around us....and yet it bothers me that we create, share and network with circles. I tell you why...

Circles are enclosed.

Circles go round in...well circles

Social circles therefore by definition can be insular and reshare, repost and rehash the same ideas and concepts.

I prefer to think of my network as a SOCIAL  DIAMOND.

A social diamond which shines because ideas are crossing over and shedding new light on ideas.....a diamond that sparkles because it has many angles, is has many different light sources...

That is why I see Facebook as my socialisng platform with mainly family and friends, twitter as my quick share and natter platform and Google + my ideas and concept discussions...and with that in mind I follow all different sorts of people. 

I make sure that I use the search categories in Twitter and Google + to find people with completely different interests to mine.....to help bring light and make my social diamond.

The Nobel Way of Legacy Creation

People talk about creating your legacy....and I believe in that 100%. However that can sound a little grand for you and me...

I was listening to Thought for the Day on the BBC and they told the story of how Alfred Nobel read his own obiturary when a journalist incorrectly reported his death (it was in fact his brother).

The 'legacy' concentrated upon his invention of dynamite and his role in warfare. He hated that was what he would be remembered for....so had the idea of the Nobel Prize.

The thing is we are not all as lucky as Alfred! We don't see what we are remembered for and get a new chance to rewrite our orbituary!

So today....starting today....don't be put off by the grand aim of creating a legacy...instead think...

what 3 actions will you take, to create the memories you want to be remembered for?

Three Facts about Online Privacy

The next interview on The Engaging Brand podcast is about online privacy with Terence Craig - co author of Privacy and Big Data. A topic I think is a growing concern and an area which we need to consider more and more....

Ahead of the show Terence has shared with us 3 facts about online privacy which we should all know

1. What happens in Vegas should stay in Vegas is a well know phrase and the Internet corollary is: What happens on the Web STAYS on the Web (forever). Even if you trust the company you are sharing your information with, do you trust the person that buys your data from them, or the company they merge with, the government agency that serves them with a warrant, or the 14 year old that hacks their server? So keep it simple: Don’t share data that you are not comfortable with being public.

2. Don’t assume that local laws will protect your privacy – privacy laws differ markedly and which laws that apply to your data is a guessing game. Bottom line: the intersection of local and international privacy laws almost never leads to more privacy.

3. Remember the positive – while it’s true that our lives are becoming a much more open book, it is also true that the actions of large corporations and governments are becoming more transparent as well. I firmly believe that this increased transparency will help the 21st century avoid some of the horrors of the 20th by ensuring that we know what is being done in our name.

If you have any question for Terence on privacy which concern you both as an individual or as a supplier then you can email big-privacy@patternbuilders.com or @terencecraig.

 

Why Social Media is a material not a tool

When working with companies people often argue that I must be 'techy' to understand all this 'stuff' - and that as they aren't, then they cannot get the best out of the social web. 

But for me...social media has never been and never will be about technology. The technology is an enabler, technology is a material used in how we communicate.

The web is like the book cover...the binding of pages...which transport your story from your mind to someone else's imagination.

Tom Armitage on Inforvore has a wonderful quote

"To make art with technology, one does not use it as a tool; one must understand it as a material. Technology is not always a tool, an engineering substrate; it can be something to mould, to shape, to sculpt with."

Now why that is important is that it changes how you think about social media.

As a material, social media is something that you can make something out of...

As a material, social media is not the end in itelf

As a material, you can choose which styles, which patterns etc

Imagine you had a material which could make something so rich, so beautiful people across the world would want to touch it, feel it, engage with it?

Well you have...that material is the social web!

What Marketers can do for Teachers

The concept of colleges and universities treating students like consumers isn’t new; in fact, the debate has been going on for some time in business schools all over the country. But for other academic programs, taking a marketing approach to education has been slow to catch on. Is there value in adopting a marketing mentality for teaching techniques? What can higher education learn from marketing experts?

Branding

• College athletic departments learned this lesson decades ago, and their academic counterparts are starting to catch up: a strong and recognizable brand inspires loyalty. Even for colleges and universities with weak-to-middling sports teams, students and alumni tend to be proud of their teams and, by extension, their schools. 
• Advertising has becoming an effective way to get students and their families interested in enrolling at various schools; in addition to attracting students, marketing can help change the perception of the school for current students as well. 
• A 2008 article in Business Week breaks down how several large universities used marketing and advertising to reshape their public image. Since student retention is a major issue for colleges and universities, the goal isn’t just to get students to enroll—it’s getting those students to stay and graduate.

Results

While the traditional college experience is important to many students, others are focused on the ends rather than the means during their academic careers. And with so many working adults returning to college, an old-fashioned college campus experience seems more like a distraction than a selling point.

In response, colleges and universities are offering online degree programs and distance learning opportunities that allow working students to earn a degree on their ownterms. Likewise, instructors for these programs are becoming more tech savvy, conducting office hours online or in chat rooms.

As the Internet becomes more integral in the lives of college students, schools are shaping their programs to appeal to non-traditional students, a demographic that continues to grow.

Experience

In the competitive world of academics, having a decent reputation isn’t enough—col
leges and universities must prove that their programs are run by leaders of their fields.

An important element of this type of advertising involves securing faculty members with experience in research, which can lend the department and the school a kind of prestige.

Faculty members with successful careers outside of academia, such as law or business, can also be attractive to students. This approach can give students and their families a sense of security; faculty with successful professional careers outside of a university setting can give their students a more practical education, and prepare them for the “real world.”

As the landscape of higher education continues change, colleges and universities are learning to adjust. A large part of that adjustment must include finding ways to draw and retain students; it also involves giving students several alternatives to the once-rigid four-year, campus-centric degree program.

From advertising to alumni relations, using marketing tactics are helping schools become more competitive. The result doesn’t always translate to a bigger student body, but it can result in a better one.

(Today is a guest post from the wonderful Joseph Baker, a wonderful guy and friend of The Engaging Brand. )

Why Social Media is Like Shakespeare!

Writing on the web is not just about putting words on a 'virtual' piece of paper.

Think back to the likes of Shakespeare, the plays were not just words portrayed through actors....it was an insight into emotion and life.

When you think of Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare through his writing allows the youngsters who haven't experience love...to experience it through the story. The engagement was created because people could live through the story, understand different feelings and grow as a person because of it.

Social media is similar.

Social media that engages...doesn't concentrate on the words

Social media that engages...concentrates on the emotion

Imagine if Shakespeare were alive today. Do you think he would write in marketing speak? Do you think he would write about what he wants to say? 

Or do you think he would write about a world that his audience could relate to?

 

Do you reflect...honestly?

A weekend is a great time to just grab a few minutes just to reflect, reflect on your life both at home and work.

Jack Canfield has a great quote

"When you always tell the truth, people trust you.

When you do what you say, as promised, people respect you.

When you make others feel special, people like you"

This quote helps you reflect. This quote gives you a wonderful start in being honest with yourself about how you are living your life. 

But this quote works if...and only if

You give up on your excuses and you are honest with yourself - are you?