I haven’t had my morning coffee yet so I’m still a bit punchie. Last night while relaxing with the Mrs., I saw a commercial on the Idiot Box that got me to wondering, do ad agencies really think we’re this stupid? They must, just look at some of the commercials being aired, and it’s not any one product or market, there is at least one or two ads that run in all product lines that make you scratch your head and wonder, who the hell they are talking to.

I won’t name the company but, you’ll figure it out quickly I’m sure. A girl is standing in the middle of the road, there are hundreds of frogs (toads) all over the road, the girl picks one up and kisses it on the beek and VOILA! The frog (toad) becomes a handsome dude on a horse, he jumps off the horse, looks at the girl, looks at the car, he runs to the car and drives off!

Now, does that ad make you want to run out buy that car? Was the commercial maybe even man bashing a little? I mean really, am I supossed to be so stupid that kind of ad is going to motivate me to buy a car? At the risk of sounding like a sexist, obviously the ad was designed for women, it smacks of all kinds under current issues in my head. This is one of many reasons why I don’t watch TV much, bad programming first and then crappy commercials that companies spend thousands of dollars if not millions, to insult people.

It disgusts me that companies think these ads are clever, hell even the financial world (Wall Street) obviously thinks the general public are the dumbest creatures on the planet! But that’s another story. These ads, most of them, don’t speak to me nor do they reflect that they are trying to solve a problem of some kind, they are trying to be Witty, Smart, Clever and maybe even subliminal. But…..the hell!

Is it me or am I that stupid? There, I’ve opened up the barn door for you to leave a rude comment or two, am I alone….hello?

I worked in Radio & Television for 15 years, I know they think your stupid, I once did too, but times have changed and you & I have the power back in our hands once again. We are the people formerly known as consumers, so ad agencies, creative departments, stop talking to us (me) like I’m stupid!

Do you think Ad Agencies think you are stupid?

The Internets future is of great interest to me, I study some of the worlds smartest technology people because they see things differently than the rest of us. The Futurists are an interesting lot, they even cause me to chuckle now and then, but we need them because it forces us to look outside the box. I share and talk about the possibilities technology can bring, I care very much how it impacts society and our economy’s, plus I love looking into the future.

So I ask you Bloggers & Marketer’s, have you stopped to consider what and how the new economy is going to work, what it might look like, and how it will impact how you Blog and Market? Do you know what the New Economy is? There is and will be a New Economy, it will be The Data Economy, the New Content Economy. We will connect data to data, line to line, not web-page to web-page, this economy will set the table for a revolutionary way of doing business on the Internet. Google is ensuring this will happen, everything will be mobile and on the cloud.

We are entering a time where Command & Control will become Coordinate & Cultivate, where domination is out – and Collaboration is in. Where the current economic egoism no longer works, because now we are all connected, it breeds mediocrity. Mediocrity is what we have / had under the control model. We need to build an Ecosystem, where we freely, openly share & collaborate, with the right blend of sharing rather than piracy. Collaboration is and will be required to build in this new economy.

An entirely new way of thinking comes from being connected, Trust is the Key, Trust is the new currency. This trust will be developed over time, it will make or break organizations and indivduals with large followings and high levels of influence, but this trust won’t come easy. Advertising in the connected world has to be radically different, otherwise it will keep declining. We can no longer market on the Internet by yelling. Marketing needs to hit the RESET button and figure out how to function in the new economy.

Content today is copied, you download a PDF, an MP3 and what have you, it’s a copy. The Internet is a giant copy machine, if you disconnect the copy function, you disconnect the listening function. The fight to keep control of copies is a losing battle on this network, but how do we get the money from a network that can copy everything for free? We need to sell things that can’t be copied, the conversation is the sell. We need to sell things around the content, the packaging, the experience. Money is moving from the selling of copies, to selling the experience. After all, your Brand will be judged by that experience, if it’s bad, you will be out of business sooner than later. You can see the landscape is changing, the end of control is taking shape everywhere.

Social Media is a very human driven practice, it can’t be done with a single person, it just doesn’t scale well that way. Gary Vaynerchuk has shown us how hard it is to keep up and stay on top of all that is data, he won’t be able to sustain the demand on his time and become ineffective.

It’s important to state that Social Media is not about technology, it’s about a culture change, a paradigm shift, we have to get better at believing in the impossible.

We need to think about how we Blog & Market, re-write the books on how it’s done, because what we are doing is a diminishing return. What kind of experience do people have when they come to your Blog, and what kind of emotions are engaged when they see and hear your marketing messages? The power is now in the hands of the people formerly known as consumers, how will you engage them?

You’ve heard this message before a million times, you probably preached it over and over, but the real question is, are you one of the change agents helping shape this new economy? Have you studied what’s to come, do you know and see the indicators? The New Economy views content first as a service, then an experience – and only then (maybe) a product.

I know my voice gets lost in the noise, that’s OK. I know the Internet is a big place, and a very large network that dissects, crosses over and loops back, and some how we are supposed to find what we are looking for. Companies like Google are trying to filter the content and help us all get exactly what we want. But that my friends, is whole nother story. Filtering and curation are the keys to the next phase, and eventually we’ll find ourselves dealing with smart noise.

Are you paying attention, what do you see?

The Internet world new this day was coming, Apple was going to make this huge announcement that was going to revolutionize how we use the Internet. Everyone who is anyone in the technology sector has been talking about this for weeks, and the day has come and it will soon be gone. You will read thousands upon thousands of new articles, Blog Posts and Video’s on this new thing called the iPad. It’s priced at $499.00 USD, screen size is 9.7″ and so on, if you have an iPhone you probably won’t want one of this slick machines. In fact, it looks just like a biggie sized iPhone!

Leo LaPorte said that he has never seen so many people at an Apple Announcement, everyone was there were his words. That’s not entirely true because I wasn’t there! I was there via the Internet and I thought I would share with you how these events will be attended in the future.

I sat here in my home office, openned my browser (FireFox), brought up Leo laporte’s Live.Twit.tv and watched Leo’s version of the event via his show. I also had FriendFeed open and watched Robert Scoble’s Stream, plus, Robert did a live UStream.tv stream at the same time! I got everything I need by following the #iPad & #AppleLive HASH on Twitter as well, I am fully informed.

I expect in the future this is how many people will attend Conferences and major announcements, why pay for parking, hotel and so on when you can get LIVE coverage via the NET? I recognize it’s not the same thing as being there, but it’s far more cost effective. I am however, very disappointed that the broadcast of the event by Apple or lack of one was so poor in quality. They have more cash than Microsoft does, they can afford to stream this better, or maybe the CLOUD can’t handle the load? What will happen when more than 10% of the world gets online for FREE?

How did you watch the Apple Event?

Something is terribly wrong with the business world at large don’t you think? I mean, customer service is still failing and businesses and their owners don’t seem to care! Yes some get it and are doing something about it, but lets be honest here, have you seen a grand scale change of mind and heart on what customers really want from local businesses?

A while back a shared a couple stories with you, one where Black & Decker failed bigtime in my books, one where SAVE-ON FOODS went way out of their way to make my life easier, and then there was the BEST BUY stupidity. I was out with my oldest son this afternoon, he said hey let’s go to Best Buy! My response, why? He looked at me kind of funny and said what? I said these guys don’t get customer service and I won’t buy from them again. Of course he asked what happened and I shared with him, he said I understand. The stupid thing about this experience is that I got more attention from Best Buy USA online staffers and I never did hear from anyone in Canada at the time of my rant. I did get a Tweet from someone a wekk later but that was it, and that person solved nothing, did nothing and didn’t even ask for details. No nothing, no how can we make this right, sorry you had that problem….NOTHING! I won’t be back, That I can control.

Black & Decker made absolutely no effort to fix their website and or make my experience with them a positive one. SAVE-ON FOODS, they were amazing, well one staff person was (Lorna) , they get my business, that store ONLY gets my business unless I’m out of town.

The oxymoron of all businesses is, they ask for our input, how were we today, how can we be better, make a suggestion and so on. But are they really listening, and if they are, they must be using selective hearing. I rarely see improvement from those businesses that blow it and know about it. So why am I pissed? They don’t get it, and I’m not confident that they will anytime soon. They don’t understand that their clients, their customers want to talk to them, and want to be heard. Don’t they know that their customers want that relationship, want to trust that company, want to have a positive experience with their Brand. I don’t get it, why don’t they want to give us what we really want?

Don’t you know – Your Customers Are Dying To Talk To You!

We can all take a lesson from these experiences, I know you have your own stories to tell but somehow the message is getting lost in translation. Is Social Media that confusing they don’t understand what Social Media is all about, I think it is, orherwise we would see more movement for the better.

Am I over reacting? What do you think?

Most business owners implement systems that solve problems, sometimes they do it without looking into who they ask to help solve this problem or problems. It happens because there is a precieved urgency, something that just can’t wait and must be solved immediately. So let me ask you, is that any different than impulse shopping? Yes & No.

I’ve learned over my 50+ years that most things can be solved by slowing down and thinking through the challenges rather than making a knee jerk reaction to something that is most likely not that urgent. Sometimes the problem or need isn’t urgent at all, it’s just a need and you fill it without making sure that the person or thing is actually qualified to fill that need. Worse yet, how far in the future are you looking when you do hire someone to fill a role or fulfill a need?

Most business owners don’t look past their own sphere of influence when hiring or solving a problem, I’m generalizing of course but you know business owners that do just that everyday. A problem I see and have yet to figure out a solution is, how to grab the business owner before they make these kinds of decisions. If you have influence, credibility and you know how to help them, then you have a chance. The bigger problem, how do they find out about you? That’s another topic of discussion.

So business owners, please take the time to look more closely, so you actually solve the precieved urgency and or hire the right people. Hasty decisions cost you, how you make decisions in your business speaks volumes to the outside world and your accountant.

What do you think?

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year from Owen Greaves Consulting.

I’ve been thinking about how much time a person or company should spend on Marketing / Promoting their Blog. Is everything you do on your Blog considered Marketing and or Promoting? I mean everyday you do things like branding, PR, adding content and making sure your name (company name / brand) is everywhere. Is there ever a time when marketing what you sell or do is too much marketing? I can’t imagine an executive ever saying we are advertising to much, we have our name out there too much we have saturated the marketplace with our Brand. If you do have someone like that, he or she probably won’t be there very long. I would rather have the problem of too much business and too much awareness than not enough.

Some of the tasks involved in marketing & PR today are changing subtly, because the rules are changing, now that Social Media has become mainstream you can’t just set it and leave it. You have to listen more than you do anything in todays new marketing environment. So, how much time should you spend listening? More than you are probably willing to spend time doing I’ll bet. If you aren’t willing to listen, how will you know what to do? How will you know when to do it?

So I keep asking myself, how much time should I spend doing PR & Marketing my blog? I think you should invest more time listening and then figuring out how you can solve what you just heard that day. So, do you market your blog everyday? How much time do you alot for that task?

Do you promote your blog everyday? I would love your input so please leave a comment below.

Anjuan Simmons

I felt it best to answer Anjuan’s statement of, ” CIO’s Should Own The Corporate Social Media Policy? ” here  rather than on FaceBook, I’ve added a few other comments to. Anjuan touches on so many nerve endings in his article that I couldn’t bring myself to keep it short. : )

On the surface it would appear the CIO is a great candidate to be the owner of a Social Media Policy, but only on the surface. A few of the questions to be asking before assigning this responsibility are, who is responsible for crafting the consistent message of the organization? How is that message integrated into all communications, and who is responsible for executing it? Who is responsible for the metrics and tracking them? Who is responsible for the role of listening to who is saying what about an organization? I suspect not the CIO.

The CIO does own the Acceptable use or Internet Policy, so a Social Media Policy really isn’t necassary. This policy may be touched upon in a Non-Disclosure Agreement and or Code of Conduct document all staff must sign when hired. But not likely. Begging the question, isn’t that an HR responsibility?

Anyway, In the example of a Virus entering the organizations network via Facebook or any other Internet source is not a Social Media Policy issue. It’s not even an Internet Policy or Acceptable use policy issue, that would be assigning responsibility to the wrong place. It is however a security issue which is handled by the I.T. Manager’s Security & Network Administrator’s. It is already assumed that these virus attacks are going to happen and are common place anyway, the CIO only wants to know that the I.T. Manager’s Security & Network personal are looking after this problem before it happens. (That’s an assumption of course)

The CIO should however, recommend to Upper Executives a Social Media Team be formed and that they are in compliance with the Internet & Acceptable Use Policy. This team resides within the Marketing  / PR Departments, not I.T. The Policy Monitoring should be entrusted to all Executives / Managers / Department Heads. To be completely honest, as a former CIO I wouldn’t want that job for all the tea in China; I am more interested in more high level issues, like where technology is going, how and what do we use it for, how does technology help us meet company goals, not worrying about violator’s & monitoring chatter.

The Tools: Again, as long as all departments and or staff follows the Internet & Acceptable Use Policy, I don’t care which tools they use. The department head’s might care, but I don’t. The role of the CIO is not to police or babysit, it is to ensure that the IT department is doing what the organization needs purely from a technical perspective. HR can monitor the Internet Policy as it’s probably packaged with the NDA and Code of Conduct anyway. I.T. will have monitoring software that can spit out reports for HR if needed, HR can then deal with the violating staff person and inform the head of I.T., NOT the CIO, unless a crime has been committed.

When it’s all said and done, the CIO is responsible for the technology needs of the organization and to see that technology align’s with the organizations business processes (needs). He is also tasked with educating executives and the organization as a whole on new technologies that may be of value or are being implemented. They may make a direct improvement to the bottom line or automate an existing process. Assuming the CIO get’s involved in the details or the tasks his Manger’s should be handling would be poor use of the CIO’s time.

The Internet Policy & Acceptable Use Policy will already have covered the Social Media aspect of the Internet, Social Media is not new, Instant Messaging and Blogging forced organizations to address these types environments years ago. What you say on the Internet could be a violation of the company Code of Conduct, NDA, Internet & Acceptable Use Policy.

I hope this helps, and I hope it makes you ask more questions, I love a good debate now and then, some of us will agree and many
will disagree but that’s OK. Thanks Anjuan for getting it started. Anjuan, you are on the right track, but remember, Social Media
is about giving up control and embracing ambiguity and sharing. Social Media is also the new CRM (Customer Relations Management). A seperate Policy for Social Media will be confusing and overlap the above mentioned Policy’s.

So, should CIO’s own the corporate Social Media Policy? My answer is….No.

I was working on a project today and found myself being distracted, sometimes you have these epiphany’s that give you a perspective you never had before right smack in the middle of working hard. You know what I’m talking about, the subconscious never stops, we day dream, we scheme, we plan and sometimes we get deep. So here it is, I stopped working to write this because it wouldn’t leave me alone!

The 3 P’s of Social Media

1. Presence
2. Placement
3. Participation

Presence

It’s not that complicated, we do these three without giving them a second thought or give them the credit they deserve. We all have presence at some level or another here on the Internet, some are very influential through their presence and become high profile, maybe you. Each organization, group or person has a different strategy to ensure that presence. Some may even be misleading, but I like to believe most are honest and true to their mission and vision. Doing the right thing right, being honest, having integrity, the very things required to be of value and trust worthy. Without those qualities your presence could be damaged without you knowing about it.

I wrote about the three parts of a social media marketer back in June:

• Marketing Knowledge
• They are Entertainer’s
• A dynamic personality.

Those three components add up to people that are, savvy, have trust and brand. Don’t take my word for it, follow them, watch, listen and learn.

The 3 P’s are really a platform those three parts leverage, we could go deep six on characteristics and personality profiling but that’s not what this is about.

The dictionary’s definition of Presence:

- the state or fact of being present, as with others or in a place.

In order to be successful in anything you must have presence, you must be present, you have to show up! Showing up is 90% of success in my humble opinion. What you do with that presence sets you apart from everyone, why? There is only one you!

Placement

In order to have presence you have be present somewhere, to be seen or heard, that’s where placement play’s it’s role. It’s part of your strategy in building a presence, in your marketing efforts, and is the playing field to which your brand can have success in the top of mind awareness game.

The definition of Placement:

- the act of placing

- the state of being placed

Where do place your presence? The Internet is the platform that allows all players a level playing field, but not all understand the power of how to leverage the Internet. The Internet is home to a new thing called Social Media, to be frank, Social Media is old news really, it’s always been around under different names and activities. There are literally hundreds of Social Media Networks, you probably know many of them, Twitter, FaceBook, YouTube, Tumblr, FriendFeed and so on. The principles of these networks are primarily the same, how you participate is the critical thing. Give considerable thought to how you present yourself, because it impacts your Social currency and only you can ensure that currency brings value.

Participation

The strategy is done and the presence component has been determined, also where that presence will be maximized, and now you have to heed the call to action…you have to participate. Without this action of participating you have a strategy going no where, it looks good on paper and that’s just where it will stay. Once you have determined placement, you will participate with consistency, persistence and deliver a message that is compelling and powerful.

The definition of Participation:

- the fact of taking part, as in some action or attempt: participation in a celebration

- an act or instance of participating.

Now I know you’re thinking these things are common sense and you are right. We do these things without thinking really, like breathing. The problem isn’t doing them, the problem is not giving these things the respect they deserve, they need their 15 minutes of fame. That’s what I’m doing here, oh sure you could probably explain this better than I but, this is my epiphany

Take inventory of your strategy and make sure you have given the 3 P’s it’s due attention.

I was sharing on Twitter today about a Newsletter I used to write & produce back in 1995 and Rob Cairn’s said he would like to see it. I thought I would reproduce the content and post it here for you to chuckle over.

Back in 1995 I produced a Newsletter called, ” MARKETING TODAY “, it was an informational piece that was distributed electronically, and the local book store was gracious enough to put it on the magazine rack back in the day. So for a walk down memory lane here is a list of things you couldn’t find on the Internet in October 1995. I even had advertisers in this little beauty!

1.) Material on any subject more than a few years old.

2.) Information about small privately held companies.

3.) Information about most companies not USA Headquartered.

4.) Information about Subsidiaries of major companies.

5.) Specialized Dictionaries or handbooks on business subjects.

6.) Directories of companies by industry and location.

7.) Information on business and trade associations.

8.) Information from small commercial databases.

9.) Franchising companies information

10.) Court reports from state and local jurisdictions.

11.) Telephone, fax and TELEX Directories.

12. Business information in languages other than English.

My closing comments on that article were:

I started this section by saying that the information which isn’t on the net now, soon will be. The Internet allows all of the originators of the information to present themselves, the traditional “middle man”  data gathering groups are no longer needed.

Just for fun, I also recommended Seth Godin’s book called, ” E-Marketing”.

Also, the topic of the day was whether or not you should upgrade to Windows 95, OS2 was still very popular back then too.

Of course much of the above if not all is now available and has been for many years, I hope you enjoyed the walk down memory lane.

I can’t help myself, I have to promote this book! Gary’s new book hit the shelves today, if you don’t know him, you’re missing on something. This book screams of passion and the message is simple to understand,

” Why NOW is the time to CRUSH IT! Cash in on your Passion “!

Here is a video that sums up why Gary wrote the book, Live Long & Prosper are words that come to mind : )