Maria Popova created a fabulous motion typography piece on the evolution of storytelling. Click here to view it and be inspired.
What impossibilities are you challenging today?
Monday, September 28, 2009
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Why I plan to attend IZEAfest
On Thursday of this week, I will be attending the IZEAfest social media conference at SeaWorld Orlando. In researching the event and the speakers who will be attending this year, I came across a blog posting by a man named Charles who explains why he's decided NOT to attend IZEAfest.
In his post he states that his primary reason for not attending is because the event is "not marketed as an event to be taken seriously."
Admittedly, Ted Murphy, CEO of IZEA and the rest of the organizers and promoters of this event are making no secret of the fact that this is going to be a fun event. Nor are they making any apologies for it. Is this a marketing fail? Should they be making more of an effort to promote IZEAfest as the typical dry, boring, educational conference we're all used to?
By highlighting the frivolity and foolishness of the after-hour activities, are they perpetuating the myth that bloggers are lazy sell-outs who can't hold down a "real" job and just want to lounge around in their pajamas all day goofing off on the Internet and calling it work?
I think the best way to answer this is to tell you why I AM going to IZEAfest.
#1- The speakers.
Charles admits that he's missing out by not hearing the speakers and he's right. Ted Murphy, CEO of IZEA is giving the keynote speech on the importance of personal branding. Aaron Brazell, owner of Technosailor.com, is also delivering a keynote on the marks of an influencer. Social Media expert Chris Brogan will also be there along with a host of bloggers, social media gurus and marketing mavens who will be teaching this lowly blogger how to increase traffic to my site, work with affiliates and marketing agencies and generate better content. The information being presented is current, relevant and most importantly to me, coming directly from those in the blogging trenches who have proven the efficacy of the techniques they're presenting.
#2- The Networking
Blogging from the comfort of your personal home office is convenient, relaxing... and incredibly lonely. The Internet gives us the ability to make contact with fascinating individuals from all over the world but it can never, and should never, replace face to face contact. By attending IZEAfest, I have the ability to meet some of my favorite bloggers in person. I'm looking forward to sharing ideas, commiserating and having meaningful discourse with my colleagues as we navigate the ever-changing and always challenging conditions of the blogosphere together.
#3- The Energy
Creative individuals are fun, energetic, chaotic and unpredictable. Get a big group of them together and anything can happen! The electricity created by the gathering together of the attendees of this event is a definite intangible bonus for me. Just being in that atmosphere will motivate me to learn more, do more, risk more...and there's simply no way to duplicate that in my home office.
Charles doesn't think the event was marketed to be taken seriously. I ask, "By Whom?"
The folks at IZEA aren't amateurs at marketing. They weren't promoting this event to accountants and tax attorneys. They were promoting it to bloggers and bloggers took it seriously. Ted Murphy and his gang sought out the biggest names in social media and invited them to share their expertise and insight with the attendees during two full days of intensive training sessions. They also scheduled a series of fun, after-hours activities which include a high level of frivolity and foolishness. (Shaving cream is a key ingredient in one event.) Unprofessional you say? Maybe. But to make a living blogging, as many of these attendees do, requires a high level of self-motivation and hard work. It doesn't happen overnight. No one stands over them and makes them blog. They find the self-discipline to make it happen. If these folks want to blow off some steam during some fun activities designed by their creative and fun-loving event organizers, who's to fault them? Ted Murphy's personal brand is "fun-loving".
For him to create a stodgy, stiff event would be both inauthentic and ineffective.
For that matter, most of the conferences I've attended, regardless of the type of industry putting on the training, have had a large contingent of participants go out after hours to the local watering hole. IZEA is simply sanctioning this behavior and providing transportation. (Which seems like a rather responsible decision when you think about it.)
IZEA created, marketed and successfully sold this event to bloggers because they understood (the wide majority) of their target market and bravely communicated to them in a way they knew they would respond to, even if the rest of the world didn't.
Be true to yourself and be true to your audience and watch how seriously they take you.
In his post he states that his primary reason for not attending is because the event is "not marketed as an event to be taken seriously."
Admittedly, Ted Murphy, CEO of IZEA and the rest of the organizers and promoters of this event are making no secret of the fact that this is going to be a fun event. Nor are they making any apologies for it. Is this a marketing fail? Should they be making more of an effort to promote IZEAfest as the typical dry, boring, educational conference we're all used to?
By highlighting the frivolity and foolishness of the after-hour activities, are they perpetuating the myth that bloggers are lazy sell-outs who can't hold down a "real" job and just want to lounge around in their pajamas all day goofing off on the Internet and calling it work?
I think the best way to answer this is to tell you why I AM going to IZEAfest.
#1- The speakers.
Charles admits that he's missing out by not hearing the speakers and he's right. Ted Murphy, CEO of IZEA is giving the keynote speech on the importance of personal branding. Aaron Brazell, owner of Technosailor.com, is also delivering a keynote on the marks of an influencer. Social Media expert Chris Brogan will also be there along with a host of bloggers, social media gurus and marketing mavens who will be teaching this lowly blogger how to increase traffic to my site, work with affiliates and marketing agencies and generate better content. The information being presented is current, relevant and most importantly to me, coming directly from those in the blogging trenches who have proven the efficacy of the techniques they're presenting.
#2- The Networking
Blogging from the comfort of your personal home office is convenient, relaxing... and incredibly lonely. The Internet gives us the ability to make contact with fascinating individuals from all over the world but it can never, and should never, replace face to face contact. By attending IZEAfest, I have the ability to meet some of my favorite bloggers in person. I'm looking forward to sharing ideas, commiserating and having meaningful discourse with my colleagues as we navigate the ever-changing and always challenging conditions of the blogosphere together.
#3- The Energy
Creative individuals are fun, energetic, chaotic and unpredictable. Get a big group of them together and anything can happen! The electricity created by the gathering together of the attendees of this event is a definite intangible bonus for me. Just being in that atmosphere will motivate me to learn more, do more, risk more...and there's simply no way to duplicate that in my home office.
Charles doesn't think the event was marketed to be taken seriously. I ask, "By Whom?"
The folks at IZEA aren't amateurs at marketing. They weren't promoting this event to accountants and tax attorneys. They were promoting it to bloggers and bloggers took it seriously. Ted Murphy and his gang sought out the biggest names in social media and invited them to share their expertise and insight with the attendees during two full days of intensive training sessions. They also scheduled a series of fun, after-hours activities which include a high level of frivolity and foolishness. (Shaving cream is a key ingredient in one event.) Unprofessional you say? Maybe. But to make a living blogging, as many of these attendees do, requires a high level of self-motivation and hard work. It doesn't happen overnight. No one stands over them and makes them blog. They find the self-discipline to make it happen. If these folks want to blow off some steam during some fun activities designed by their creative and fun-loving event organizers, who's to fault them? Ted Murphy's personal brand is "fun-loving".
For him to create a stodgy, stiff event would be both inauthentic and ineffective.
For that matter, most of the conferences I've attended, regardless of the type of industry putting on the training, have had a large contingent of participants go out after hours to the local watering hole. IZEA is simply sanctioning this behavior and providing transportation. (Which seems like a rather responsible decision when you think about it.)
IZEA created, marketed and successfully sold this event to bloggers because they understood (the wide majority) of their target market and bravely communicated to them in a way they knew they would respond to, even if the rest of the world didn't.
Be true to yourself and be true to your audience and watch how seriously they take you.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Convergence
More evidence that the media landscape is undergoing a tremendous shift:
Did You Know? 4.0
Note the use of creative communication techniques to convey the information found in relatively dry facts and figures in a way that would be interesting and engaging to the viewer.
Did You Know? 4.0
Note the use of creative communication techniques to convey the information found in relatively dry facts and figures in a way that would be interesting and engaging to the viewer.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Communication Revolution
Internet Marketing is a relatively new field. New enough, in fact, that when I tell people what I'm majoring in, they frequently need me to define what it is exactly that I'm studying.
In the past, I have attempted to explain that I am becoming educated in traditional marketing methodology but am also learning how to use these methods more effectively via new technologies like the Internet.
The way the world communicates is changing. Social media and the Internet are not a fad; they are, in fact, the key players in a communication revolution.
This video, which has gone "viral" since its release (meaning that it has been shared widely by millions of viewers), clearly demonstrates the effect that the Internet and social media has had on the ways we exchange information, make purchases, search for answers to our questions and form relationships. Are you learning the language of social media and the Internet?
As author David Meerman Scott says, "We are what we publish." In this increasingly digital age, if you're not maintaining a presence on these new media channels, you don't exist to many of your potential customers.
In the past, I have attempted to explain that I am becoming educated in traditional marketing methodology but am also learning how to use these methods more effectively via new technologies like the Internet.
The way the world communicates is changing. Social media and the Internet are not a fad; they are, in fact, the key players in a communication revolution.
This video, which has gone "viral" since its release (meaning that it has been shared widely by millions of viewers), clearly demonstrates the effect that the Internet and social media has had on the ways we exchange information, make purchases, search for answers to our questions and form relationships. Are you learning the language of social media and the Internet?
As author David Meerman Scott says, "We are what we publish." In this increasingly digital age, if you're not maintaining a presence on these new media channels, you don't exist to many of your potential customers.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
United Singing the Blues Over Broken Guitar
I saw this story on The Inspiration Room blog and wanted to share a few lessons from it with Communication Creatif readers.
David Carroll, a singer with the Canadian group, Sons of Maxwell, took his guitar on a United Airlines flight only to discover upon touchdown in Chicago that it had been damaged, allegedly by some overzealous baggage attendants.
Perhaps you've seen United's "It's Time to Fly" campaign on TV which "celebrates the optimism and sense of adventure of frequent business travelers."
Undoubtedly, Mr. Carroll was feeling optimistic when he called United and asked to be reimbursed for the damages to his guitar. One would imagine that his optimism waned however, when he hit a brick wall over and over again with the customer service agents and no one at United either took responsibility nor compensated Mr. Carroll for his loss.
One hopes that the folks at United realize that this is not the sort of adventure Mr. Carroll was expecting when he chose United over Southwest or other airlines.
So, Mr. Carroll did what millions of heartbroken musicians have done throughout history. He poured out his troubles in a song. Not just one song actually, but three to be exact. He then made accompanying music videos and released them on YouTube.
You can guess what happened next.
In the last week, over 3 million viewers have heard the message "United breaks your stuff and doesn't care."
Had the situation been resolved by United's customer service department in the beginning, a handful of people would have known about the problem and United would hve been out about $3,000. Now, 3 million people have been told, United's reputation has been sullied and they could potentially lose thousands of dollars in revenue.
If you follow this blog, you know that I repeatedly stress the importance of taking care of your customers and remaining true to your brand promise.
It's the difference between dancing all the way to the bank...or singing the blues.
David Carroll, a singer with the Canadian group, Sons of Maxwell, took his guitar on a United Airlines flight only to discover upon touchdown in Chicago that it had been damaged, allegedly by some overzealous baggage attendants.
Perhaps you've seen United's "It's Time to Fly" campaign on TV which "celebrates the optimism and sense of adventure of frequent business travelers."
Undoubtedly, Mr. Carroll was feeling optimistic when he called United and asked to be reimbursed for the damages to his guitar. One would imagine that his optimism waned however, when he hit a brick wall over and over again with the customer service agents and no one at United either took responsibility nor compensated Mr. Carroll for his loss.
One hopes that the folks at United realize that this is not the sort of adventure Mr. Carroll was expecting when he chose United over Southwest or other airlines.
So, Mr. Carroll did what millions of heartbroken musicians have done throughout history. He poured out his troubles in a song. Not just one song actually, but three to be exact. He then made accompanying music videos and released them on YouTube.
You can guess what happened next.
In the last week, over 3 million viewers have heard the message "United breaks your stuff and doesn't care."
Had the situation been resolved by United's customer service department in the beginning, a handful of people would have known about the problem and United would hve been out about $3,000. Now, 3 million people have been told, United's reputation has been sullied and they could potentially lose thousands of dollars in revenue.
If you follow this blog, you know that I repeatedly stress the importance of taking care of your customers and remaining true to your brand promise.
It's the difference between dancing all the way to the bank...or singing the blues.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Sanctifying the Humble Mattress
Imagine for a moment that you're a mattress company looking to tell the story of one person's satisfaction with your product.
Do you try to find an insomniac who was cured by your product?
Maybe a couple whose love life was rekindled courtesy of your mattress?
If you're Flex Mattress, you take a more original approach.
You tell the story of a woman who uses your mattress on which to deliver her child in a home birth. Flex Mattress Commercial
But why would Flex Mattress feature such an uncommon use for their product? Why not cater the ad to their primary demographic: people looking for a good night's sleep?
First of all, sleeping is boring. It's a basic human function, we all do it but frankly, it's not very exciting. An ad based on sleeping would need to add humor or a bit of raciness to get noticed.
Secondly, the topic of homebirthing is controversial. We'll talk more about the value of controversy in a later post. Controversy is exciting! It gets people talking. And the more people you have talking about your product, the more exposure your company receives.
Flex Mattress could've made a funny ad or a racy ad but they decided instead to tell a very personal and poignant story through the eyes of one of their customers. Flex Mattress plays a humble part in this woman's decision to bring her child into the world in the comfort, safety and security of her own home. She wasn't their average customer but she was makes a great story.
Do you know your customers? Are you selling to just a nameless, faceless demographic or are you taking the time to really listen to who your customers are and how they use your product?
Honor your customers. Give them a voice. Let them tell a remarkable story about YOU!
Do you try to find an insomniac who was cured by your product?
Maybe a couple whose love life was rekindled courtesy of your mattress?
If you're Flex Mattress, you take a more original approach.
You tell the story of a woman who uses your mattress on which to deliver her child in a home birth. Flex Mattress Commercial
But why would Flex Mattress feature such an uncommon use for their product? Why not cater the ad to their primary demographic: people looking for a good night's sleep?
First of all, sleeping is boring. It's a basic human function, we all do it but frankly, it's not very exciting. An ad based on sleeping would need to add humor or a bit of raciness to get noticed.
Secondly, the topic of homebirthing is controversial. We'll talk more about the value of controversy in a later post. Controversy is exciting! It gets people talking. And the more people you have talking about your product, the more exposure your company receives.
Flex Mattress could've made a funny ad or a racy ad but they decided instead to tell a very personal and poignant story through the eyes of one of their customers. Flex Mattress plays a humble part in this woman's decision to bring her child into the world in the comfort, safety and security of her own home. She wasn't their average customer but she was makes a great story.
Do you know your customers? Are you selling to just a nameless, faceless demographic or are you taking the time to really listen to who your customers are and how they use your product?
Honor your customers. Give them a voice. Let them tell a remarkable story about YOU!