Photo by adactio

When you land a big client, you want to shout it out from the rooftops, right? Course you do! All those hours of blood (well, hopefully not blood), sweat, and tears earned you the right to boast that it was time well spent and a job well deserved. But! and oh, there is always a but…

Unless you are an advertising company, where your client list and portfolio is essentially your business card, what advantage is this really benefiting your client? Because that is who your business is all about, right?

In my marketing business, both my clients and I sign non-disclosure agreements (otherwise and herein referred to as NDAs). This is not only to protect any sensitive materials or the admission that the client “needs help” – but also to protect you! As a marketer, much of your billable worth is the strength of your intellectual property. Without an NDA, what’s to say the client won’t take that intellectual property and tell another – maybe cheaper – marketing agency how to do what you’ve slaved so hard to create?

Now potential clients may want to see a portfolio, a way to evaluate what sort of fabulous services and ideas you do for them. It is at this point that the all important case study comes into play, but Wayne’s done quite a thorough job covering how using case studies can earn you trust in business.

So next time you want to add that big clients’ logo to your homepage or show off a bit to your marketer buddies, think of how you’d want your clients to tell their buddies, too. The goal of a marketer should be to be the person that no one knows, but everyone uses.

A young dancer decided to take her lessons up a notch, and wanted to learn how to be as flexible as those gorgeous, legged dancers of stage and screen. She dreamed of dropping effortlessly into Russian splits, without hurting herself in the process. After numerous consultations with peers, all agreed that a local woman was without a doubt the best around. The novice dancer eagerly set up her first one-on-one appointment.

On the day of her first lesson, a smile was plastered on her face and eager desire was fixed in her eyes. She was directed to the studio where she laid down her bags and approached the bar fastened to the mirror. Her stretching began a bit too aggressively, unable to stop tensing her body in anticipation. When she heard the turn of the doorknob she spun on toe, hoping it would impress her new master instructor.

The look of surprise and slight disgust on her face was undeniable. Walking toward the young woman was a heavyset, wide-footed, beady-eyed woman. Hesitation flickered across the young dancer’s face as silent awe froze her in place. The teacher slowly surveyed the dancer up and down, lips tightly pursed, and the pupil was suddenly hyper aware this was indeed the famed instructor.

Without a word being exchanged, the stout dance trainer dropped into a flawless split, and just as easily rose back to standing position with the ease and grace of a crane. The moment broke, and lesson continued as if the original exchange had never occurred. Not only did the pupil achieve her goal of flawless splits, but is now an accomplished dancer and master teacher in her own right. The only classes she still attends are those by the portly instructor, who remains one of the best in the biz.

Perhaps you feel as if you’ve heard this story a thousand times over. You’d be right. Yet every day we make snap judgments of people, businesses, and situations. You have a mere few seconds to make your first impression, but your job is a heck of a lot easier if you can prove your product works in that same amount of time.

Maybe you don’t have the snazziest logo. Maybe you go into beta before the look is quite solid. Or maybe you just do not look the part of someone in your profession. But if you can build your reputation and back it up by delivering and often exceeding expectations, what more can you really ask for? Don’t get me wrong, building that look and feel is essential to your long-term success, but looking good does not a good brand make!

It reminds me of the classic, “looks are fleeting; stupid is forever.” Apply that to yourself, your brand, your product. Then next time you read a recommendation for a fantastic blog, product, person that doesn’t quite fit the look you’d expect, give them the benefit of the doubt and try it out. They may just teach you something you weren’t anticipating – heck, maybe even a split!

Special thanks to G. Rice for the anecdote and inspiration!

As the holiday season rhythmically begins its steady swing, and the snow begins to stick to the wet sidewalk, I have ‘instinctually’ added a scarf to my daily dressing routine. The winter sweaters get unpacked, and boots replace that remaining pair of renegade sandals.

Everywhere you look sleigh bells aren’t necessarily ringing, but green and red advertisements are around each bend, indeed. They’ve been up for some time now – Thanksgiving is barely a blip on the holiday radar unless you are a cranberry sauce maker – but somehow the sudden crispness of the winter air make these holiday purchase urgings more noticeable, applicable.

Call me a grinch, but I’m not the biggest holiday season fan. Why is it that so many adults still get that twinkle in their eye this time of year? Why do people rack up debt at an exponential rate during these months? Surely it can’t all be keeping up with the Jones’?

Maybe it’s something a bit more magical – fitting for this time of year. Perhaps it’s that child-like feeling of wonder?

Think I’m being a bit too idyllic? Believe me, I’m with you there. But, think about the best holiday commercials…

Don’t tell me this brilliant holiday BMW commercial doesn’t make you smile, or at least give you that warm tummy feeling that you are never sure is the mistletoe smell or too much eggnog. Christmas really is for the children.

Or think of the commercials that remind us its holiday season once again, that we expect to see, like Coke’s brilliant animated Antarctic series. Who wouldn’t want their commercial branding to be synonymous with the holiday season?

Or what about humorous spoofs about gift buying or hilarious re-writes of the classic caroling we may remember from our youth? The only thing we remember more than the fuzzy joys of holiday times are those crazed horror stories we all inevitably have. In all the chaos that is this time of year, accidents are bound to happen – and when commercials can make us remember those times and laugh? That’s emotional marketing gold.

DeBeers says it best with their last holiday commercial: “This Christmas, say everything without saying a word.” Is there a Santa Claus? Yes, Virginia; it’s a state of mind.

Now maybe you haven’t bought any of these products, but these commercials sure are memorable and that says a heck of a lot considering they are up against the over-commercialized holiday assault.

So evoke an emotion. Tis the season.

In every aspect of your life – online and off.

Call it serendipity, kismet, fate or whatever you’d like. Whether you believe this is crafted by a higher power or otherwise, it’s out there and constantly affecting you and your business. Good timing is quite difficult to manipulate in the real world, but online can be a much more simplified process and may be just what puts you in front of your competition.

Get involved first. There is a reason that practically every social networking, media, forum or blog includes the date you joined: the longer someone’s been involved, the more credibility they appear to have. Of course, this doesn’t apply to those who signed up in 2002 and not logged in since then, but in general getting involved in things early and staying at least loosely involved pays dividends later. Except when it doesn’t (exceptions to every rule, remember?).

Where do you stand? Artists and writers are given this advice all the time: where does your work stand in the grand scheme of things? Who have you drawn inspiration from, what is your final product reminiscent of, and why should you bother adding your work to the top of that distinguished pile? It is important that you know what came before you, even if you are going to repeat the information/style anyway – it’s about context. A word to the wise, however: history is written by those who win the wars.

What time is it – and where? Social media/networking is a multi-faceted, time-sensitive beast. Most people know that Digg requires the ultimate in timing necessity, for example. But while you may be happily at the beginning of your Friday morning, others may be enjoying Friday late night festivities – Web 2.0 kryptonite – leaving your content limp, lonely, and weak. Make sure you evaluate, comment, and spend some time with any community sites before you start submitting items, especially your own content. It will give you the best shot at being successful, giving your profile time to be noticed before you start looking for votes to come your way.

There’s business beyond blogging, too. Whether you are working to start a company, expand your service offerings, or launch a new product – you need to make sure everything fits and has been accounted for, before the decision to move forward is made (the italicized portion being the crucial piece of advice). Too many companies have gone down in flames for trying to rush to the market too soon.

Strike while the audience is hot. We all know most people don’t get more than the obligatory 15 minutes of fame, so be ready to milk all you can out of that quarter hour. If you have the good fortune of hitting the front page of Digg, make sure you have Digg effect protection and plan in place, for example. Again, another word to the wise: Evaluate quickly, but completely – you don’t want to rush into something you don’t want to have to make good on, even if it has a snowball’s chance in hell of happening.

News is not news if it isn’t prompt. What you are reading right now? Not news. In fact, you’ve probably heard much of this advice before. Don’t push things that aren’t new onto people like it’s the best thing since sliced bread: it may be to you, but to everyone else it’s annoying. This applies to anything from blogging to swag promotions to date ideas.

Whether you think about the Titanic speeding to reach New York, or the famously horrid ET Atari video game which was coded in a mere 6 weeks so it could be released in time for Christmas, there are tons of products that have met their end because they were rushing. Consider the auto industry, which “coughed up $14.5 billion to cover the cost of warranty and recall work in 2004″ alone! Or what about the websites that often get added to the TechCrunch DeadPool, many victims of jumping on the bandwagon too late?

In short, getting your timing wrong can have disastrous effects, and should always be considered during the product/marketing development – not as an afterthought. But don’t let me take up too much of your time…

Yesterday was Thanksgiving in America (in case you hadn’t heard). Between the people traveling to grandma’s house and those frantically checking in on the turkey, many regular ‘net surfers were offline for the day, some even electing to go internet free for the entire long weekend (brave souls).

But does the internet stop? Oh no, my friends. Never.

As easy as it is to slip down that ethnocentric slope, there’s a big ol’ world out there that were online as they would any other Thursday. Companies overseas were (and are, for you Americans off today!) still bustling, aware that a multitude of holidays and the end of the calendar year are drawing closer quite quickly.

Now this is what makes the internet biz great, in my mind. The various opinions and viewpoints melded to make one universal practice in cyberspace, lending itself to the illusion that we are one group, one culture. Maybe in some broad, everyone hold hands sense we are, but it makes me wonder how different this internet business culture is from “real” variety. There are holiday/geographic/time zone differences that are obvious, sure – but what else is there?

In the face to face business world, there are several commonplace practices that I just don’t see performed online. Take for example the standard practice to quote high, leaving room for negotiation and still get the price wanted. Then to be fair, the customer has been trained to never take the first offer. It’s an archaic cat and mouse bit, but also a great way to get a good feel for the people you are working with.

On the ‘net (and particularly with blogs), however, this practice runs into difficulty. With rates cards and numerical stats available to anyone, there’s not much room for movement. Quoting too high for a job could easily send a potential customer to the company listed after you in the search results.

Or what about asking for donations? There may be the occasional charity box in the kitchen of an office, but overall people don’t go to their co-workers and ask for donations just because they do good work. Yet, we see these “Buy me a [insert a drink here]” pleas throughout the blog-o-sphere. Is this the internet equivalent of tipping? Or like asking the boss for a raise?

Tipping is a tricky subject, too. In New York, I expect to tip basically everyone I come in contact with – to not do so would be in poor form. Yet in other places around the states and world, tipping could be considered an insult, a condescending practice. But what about tipping in a more general sense?

Caroline Middlebrook, a fantastic and really nice “make money online” blogger, recently posted about how an article encouraging thanking those who support you on social media sites triggered a nasty backlash. Now I get plenty of messages from a multitude of sites each day, but I would never be angry that someone took the time to say thank you, as long as it seemed sincere/personal. It’s just good business sense, as you see the same people on your climb up as you do on the way down. But evidently even thanks have been automated on the world wide web, and something that should be a sincere token of thanks has become effortless in a way that a thank you in the real world never could.

Now I know I can’t be the only one noticing these differences. If you have any articles/posts/observations about the differences between internet v. real world business strategies, please feel free to share in the comments. I’d love to put together a solid list to serve as a good reminder that not all business situations are equal, and this internet culture of ours does have some business etiquette of its own.

And heck, maybe as this cyber business culture continues to grow, we’ll have an universal internet holiday one day.

I know, I said I wouldn’t do memes unless it was something important, but I’ve been so busy (and sick) as of late, I wanted to let everyone know I was still alive. I promise, marketing goodness will be coming at you this week!

Thanks to YC, the fabulous internet marketing mind, for tagging me. Onwards!

1. How long have you been blogging?
Just over a couple of months, and I must say that time has flown by. So much has happened in such a short time!

2. What inspired you to start a blog and who are your mentors?
I started blogging because the internet lifestyle (one of never ending leisure, ha!) works for me. No, I’m not a hermit, but I think being able to work on my time is about as good as it gets. I’m not so sure about mentors (though I do admit to playing Robin to Wayne’s Batman at his Blah, Blah Tech blog, just don’t tell him!), but there are loads of fantastic bloggers that I have learned a lot from over the last couple of months from their articles, feedback, and just a general willingness to help.

3. Are you trying to make money online, or just doing it for fun?
Well, in case you only read this blog via rss feed, you know that I’ve been taking advantage of the (admittedly boring) free WordPress theme. Because you have only that to look at, I’ve kept the blog free of advertising. But, I’m happy to announce that this blog is getting fitted for some swanky digs, with a new title, look, and feel. And then, my friends, we’ll be having fun.

Though I haven’t monetized this blog, I have made money from blogging. This baby has landed some good gigs and put me in touch with some wonderful people/businesses, so in that sense, this little blog that could is worth its weight in gold.

4. Tell me 3 things you LOVE about being online

1) How quickly everything moves: No, I don’t have ADHD, but it’s close. No more sitting at a desk fretting about this or that, waiting for that certain email or person – as long as my internet connection is up, I’m working. StumbleUpon is absolutely my speed.

2) How fast the world is shrinking: On any given day I’m working with people from Australia, England, Israel, and everywhere in between. I do business with people I’ve met only through video Skype, and believe me when I say they are some of my favorite co-workers ever.

3) How much there is to learn: I enjoy a wide assortment of subjects, and the internet offers no shortage of any of them. Discovering random combinations, topics, and information keeps me quite happy.

5. Tell me 3 things you STRUGGLE with in the online world

1) I’m not a natural at keeping in touch: I try my best to get back to everyone who takes the time to send me a note, but when you consider how many social networking and media sites I’m on, it is overwhelming at times. Getting back into Facebook is my challenge of the moment.

2) There’s too much I want to read: I’ll admit it, I’m a bit of a rss feed freak. I have something like 500+ subscriptions, and I just can’t stop adding more. Between the blogs I love from my niche, ones I read for personal interests/hobbies, and those that relate to my clients businesses, I spend a good bit of time each day reading. Those skim reading skills from college really come in handy here.

3) Programming: I used to know a couple of languages back in the day, but at this point I’m glad I can still bust out some HTML. It’s something I wish I was better at, but don’t quite have time to re-learn at the moment. One day.

Now I’m supposed to tag other people to do this, but I think I’ll keep it open ended. If you would like to answer these questions, consider yourself tagged. And don’t forget to let me know so I can send you some linky love.

My youngest brother once had an English paper assignment where he had to write a two page creative essay about advice he had been given. Having procrastinated until the wee hours of the night, he came to me with a desperate face and exhausted eyes.

“Please give me some advice. It can be about anything, I just can’t think of good advice I can write a whole essay about.”

After playfully scolding him for watching football all day instead of starting the paper, my mind fluttered through the myriad of cliches and famously helpful sayings I had been taught over the years. I was surprised to find that most were not memorable at that moment, especially not to pass along to my brother as a piece of key advice.

And then there it was. I turned to him and said, “Don’t worry about writing the perfect paper. Write a paper then perfect it.”

It was one of my better pearls of wisdom, and I was pleased to see that the words sent my brother scampering excitedly to the computer to finish his assignment in record time.

Tonight I sit staring at the empty page, waiting for an article idea to pop into my head, up way too late the night before the assignment, so to speak, is due. I recall the advice I gave my brother, and it gets me to start writing what you are reading right now.

This is not just advice for English majors or writers – that would be quite short sighted, indeed. Think with broader strokes, about your business or even personal brand.

Of course you want to have an array of absolutely flawless products or services – who wouldn’t? But how many companies/people can you name that can deliver something perfect every time? Seriously, if you can name one I’d love to invest.

I’m not suggesting to ever put forth something that is sub-par, but if you don’t take a stab at that next great thing or unique twist on a common concept – how will it ever have the chance to impress your customers? How will you ever evolve as a person, business, brand?

Don’t be scared that your output won’t be perfect – only be afraid it won’t be. Nothing comes out perfect the first time, and often the hardest part is just starting.

Oh, and my brother got his first A+ on that paper.

Please welcome a guest blogger for today, Wayne Smallman

There I was, having lunch with a client (he was paying, not me) and being guys, the conversation slipped through sex, painful injuries and violent illnesses and on towards more legitimate business topics, such as word-of-mouth referrals and the power thereof. Or, as the lack, as the case may be…

I was to be regaled with a story of business won and then lost, all because of one stray hair. And this one story has a moral relevance to just about every business there is…

The business of eating

For any business, having a deli close by can be a life saver. Few things are worse than a long walk or an even longer drive at lunch time to find something to eat.

So being less than five minutes away from an eatery was a bonus. On what was probably the first day of his job, my client went to buy a sandwich.

With said bought sandwich, he returned to his office to eat while surfing the web for his lunchtime sports news. As usual, he performed his customary autopsy on the poor unfortunate sandwich to remove the tomato.

But wait! There atop the sandwich was something he hadn’t bargained on or paid for — a single human hair, curled up on top of the slices of ham and cheese. Feeling the colour pour out through the soles of his feet, he simply wrapped the sandwich in the paper it came in and droped it in the trash at the end of his desk.

And there began a ruthless, yet silent and unknowing vendetta against those not-so-fine purveyors of the aforementioned sandwich that went uneaten.

Food for thought

As he chomped away on a selection of fries and onion rings, he quickly began to look back over those seven years which he’d gone out of his way and traveled further afield to find something to eat. Never before realizing just how much effort he’d invested in avoiding eating at that same place again.

He paused as he recalled, his eyes drifting off through the walls of the restaurant and into his distant recollection. Not only had he not bought from them, he’d also gone out of his way to suggest other people not buy any food from there either.

So to compound his abstinence, he’d prompted probably a dozen others to do the same, too! Then his mind was abuzz with numbers — he began to calculate the amount of money he’s likely to have lost the deli in the last seven years.

It’s a sizable number; probably more than £5,000.00 all told. A not inconsiderable amount of money by anyone’s reckoning.

Lost earnings are hard to swallow

There was more than a tinge of guilt, if only fleetingly. He fought to justify his actions and I stressed several times his innocence in the matter. After all, hygiene in food preparation is paramount.

For a small business like a deli, such sums of money could be the difference between one or two weeks holiday a year, a new or second-hand delivery van, or maybe a part-time staffer to help with the lunch time rush.

The distance between success and failure can be but the width of a hair. And if the latter is to be true, it’s likely leave a bad taste in the mouth…

Wayne Smallman is the man behind the Blah, Blah! Technology blog: a focal point of his passion for technology, and a hallmark of his business mentality, writing style, and aptitude for making complex technology issues approachable and accessible. He is the principle founder and managing director of Octane Interactive, a Web design, Web applications development, and Internet marketing agency established in 1999 and based in Yorkshire, U.K.

While at my last job marketing theatre, I hired people to work as my grassroots promotions team. I held countless interviews, and ultimately hired a group of mostly out of work actors and actresses. They were friendly, outgoing, well-spoken, and available. Overall, the promotions street team was a really outstanding group.

While I was the youngest person by some years, or perhaps because of it, I was tough on my squad. I made it very clear that they were the eyes and ears of the show; that we as management were depending on them to give us the real buzz, that we could only speculate looking at graphs and numbers on spreadsheets during massive oak table meetings.

The show lived and died on their voice, dedication, and push. The actors in the show had an easy time compared to the promotions team – they were playing to a captive audience. Here on the street, the rejection would be immense and they would have to earn the attention of each potential patron.

I made it crystal clear they were to work every minute of every shift; every minute they were late was another empty seat. To illustrate my point, for the first couple of weeks I showed up at the promotional headquarters 5 minutes before every shift and 2 minutes ’til the end. This included Saturdays and Sundays, come rain or shine. I expected them to do it, so I did it with them.

In the beginning, when they went on breaks, I had them call me. If any tourist had a question they weren’t 100% sure how to answer, I had them call me. If their child got sick, I had them call me.  No matter what time.

The two weeks of drill sergeant intensity brought me very close to the team. There was no breakdown of will, but there was a constant state of urgency and importance instilled. They knew I was a hardass, and that excuses were never an option because I was always available to take their call.

Yet, after the trial period was over, I rarely got calls. They knew I would always be available to them, so they didn’t need me to be. They knew I was willing to meet them at 8am on a rainy Saturday for coffee before their shift, so they didn’t need me to be.

I’m convinced they worked harder than some management personnel, feeling connected and responsible for the shows’ success. On their feet 40+ hours a week in the elements, smiles on their faces, voices continually piercing the air, and even with some terrible reviews by critics, they never got down on the shows.

Talking and communicating are not the same thing. When you talk to someone, maybe they listen with their ears and analyze your words with their brain. When you communicate with someone, they feel what you are saying with their hearts and minds. The team wasn’t told they were part of the show – they simply felt it.

Communicate, don’t talk – and use stories when you can. It works. It may sound cheesy, but I know that distinction to be true. After all, you’re still reading.

The one quality all great leaders have in common is their ability to connect with others using stories.

Stories are at the heart of basic communication. Going back to the earliest days of man, lessons and oral tradition was the only way to ensure survival. Not much has changed…

Today, iconic leaders like Winston Churchill, Howard Schultz and Steve Jobs have simultaneously captivated and sold us on their ideas, through the excellent manipulation of language and timeless stories.

And it’s not just the big guys, either. Being able to tell a great story will get you noticed, like my favorite tech blogger, Wayne Smallman, who announced today he’s been invited to blog with the likes of famous CEOs, inventors, and scientists.

Over the course of the week, this blog will contain only business tales, illustrating various proven marketing values. Which beats me just telling you what marketing tactics you ought to be looking at.

So gather ’round the fire while I tell you a few…