January 16, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Martin Luther King Jr. and Marketing

This might seem like a stretch to you. But the deeper I submerge myself into the continuing evolving world of marketing I like to consider much of the world through the eyes of marketing.

I would say that Martin Luther King Jr. is probably my greatest American hero. We are so fortunate that he lead the civil rights movement instead of a person like Malcolm X. We would likely be living in a much more angry and violent country today if that had been the case.

MLK Jr.’s message of love and non-violent resistance had incredibly powerful and long-lasting positive consequences.

But the fact of the matter is: the movement would have never been as successful had it not been for the marketing.

Here’s what I mean:

 

Rosa Parks was the crucial opening the civil rights movement needed.

She, of course, was the incredibly brave woman who refused to sit in the back of the bus on December 1, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama.

This was so incredibly fortunate because she didn’t yell, fight, curse. She just sat there.

This wasn’t the first time someone tried to stand up for herself. But it was the first time that people decided to use the moment as a jumping off point for what became the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

The power of this all was the speed and precision at which everything happened:

  • Thursday, December 1 – Rosa Parks refuses to move out of her seat.
  • Friday evening, December 2 – she is bailed out of jail.
  • Friday night, December 2 - Alabama State College professor Jo Ann Robinson stayed up all night mimeographing over 35,000 handbills announcing a bus boycott.
  • Sunday, December 4 – plans for the Montgomery Bus Boycott were announced at black churches in the area, and a front-page article in The Montgomery Advertiser helped spread the word.
  • Monday, December 5 – the WPC distributed the 35,000 leaflets. The handbill read, “We are…asking every Negro to stay off the buses Monday in protest of the arrest and trial … You can afford to stay out of school for one day. If you work, take a cab, or walk. But please, children and grown-ups, don’t ride the bus at all on Monday. Please stay off the buses Monday.”

I would like you to notice that this happened over the weekend. If they had said, “We’ll get to this Monday,” the initiative would have been lost. They pounced so aggressively on this and worked more intensely over the weekend than most people ever work all week long.

This was all carefully prepared and ready to go. It was a marketing plan that was locked and loaded. Rosa Parks wasn’t the first person to be arrested for sitting in a white person’s seat. But she was the best.

From here: Montgomery Bus Boycott – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

When 15-year-old Claudette Colvin was arrested early in 1955 for refusing to give up her seat to a white man, E.D. Nixon thought he had found the perfect person, but the teenager turned out to be pregnant. Nixon later explained, “I had to be sure that I had somebody I could win with.” Parks, however, was a good candidate because of her employment and marital status, along with her good standing in the community.

This was a marketing campaign carefully crafted.

I could do this article through the entire civil rights movement. It was not ad hoc. It was orchestrated, carefully and precisely. It was meant to win the hearts and minds of people (which, incidentally, is a phrase I stole from the U.S. government – some of the best marketers on the planet).

Marketing. Brilliant psychologically-based marketing is at the core of every great movement in the history of humanity. If we had enough written documentation I’m quite sure I could do this article on Jesus and the rise of Christianity.

So what’s the point of this?

You must ask yourself what you are doing to win the hearts and minds of your customers and clients.

I can hear the bull crap excuses that are going off in your head:

  • “I sell commodities – no one needs or wants to love what I sell.”
    Got Milk?
  • “I sell industrial equipment – these people just want facts and figures.”
    So does Caterpillar:
  •  ”I just sell a small part of a much larger product.”
    Tell that to DTS, the company specializing in digital surround sound formats:

If you want to stay small and irrelevant please… just keep telling people the features and benefits of why they should buy your product. The civil rights movement could have done that all day too. But it would have never taken off like it did the moment Rosa Parks (perfect Rosa Parks) sat down in that seat.

Filed Under: Featured, Life, SEO
January 11, 2012 By Leave a Comment

What does it all mean? My learnings from #CES

I’m trying to keep my mind open here at the Consumer Electronics Show. You are so inclined at something like this to make what you are seeing fit into your preconceived beliefs. You can see anything you want, if you look hard enough.

But so far I’m not sure I know exactly what the show is trying to tell me.

We have seen a lot of really thin things. Greg (@smomashup) got a forbidden picture of a new Samsung super thin TV. Pictures and videos were strictly forbidden.

And here is a video I shot of a presentation Intel did on the new super thin Ultrabooks. This particular video is of a prototype where the goal is to make notebooks you can interact with through touch, mouse and sensor.

While I’m as impressed by this stuff just as much as the next person, I’m not sure thin is changing our world. It’s just making it cooler.

I think maybe what is changing our world is Apps.

You can now download apps for your i-devices, Androids, Chrome browser and now the Windows smart-phone and you will be able to download apps for Windows 8.

This is signficant for a variety of reasons.

1. It continues the process of decentralizing the world. Many, many developers can fairly easily create an application and then sell it on the marketplace of the specific device. The marketplaces are key to this. Developers have always had to struggle to find an audience for their software. Now the center of buying these apps is in one location.

2. These apps scale from small smartphone size to large tablets and now, with Windows 8, full size monitors. This makes scaling designs much more challenging. If you are a designer and your sole focus is making sure your site looks pretty on a full sized monitor, you are out of touch with where the world is going. Web design needs to look good on all sizes and all environments. It’s much trickier than it used to be.

3. Most importantly, designing strictly for a keyboard and mouse environment is outdated methodology. The next generation of your site will need to be much more app oriented. Thinking about how a person could easily navigate through your site using their fingers will be critical.

4. Consumers are going to begin to seriously ask if they can do most of their computing on a tablet. While I don’t think we are going to see the demise of the PC anytime soon, there are more options than ever on how to interact with the Web and information.

5. The platform of the future is open game. I don’t feel totally confident that Microsoft will be able to pull this transition off. Android, Ubuntu, iOS, WebOS, Chrome OS. There are many people in the hunt to be the operating system of choice. They are also intensely aggressive. I don’t know that Microsoft has that same intensity. They are working hard. And I like what I see. But I feel like they might have missed the initiative here and it might be hard for them to make up lost ground.

What does this mean to you?

As a consumer it means nothing. Just have fun and do what you do.

As a business it’s a whole different story. You are living in a great, but uncertain time, in the history of computing. Things are changing and morphing in more extreme ways than ever before.

You are entering into a completely new era of cloud computing, new ways to buy and sell software, potentially thinking of your online presence more as an interactive app than a static Web site (no, having video and Flash does not make your site dynamic. It’s still static.) This is going to require flexibility, testing and optimism.

At his keynote, Steve Ballmer was asked what he thought the future of Microsoft was going to be for 2012. He emphatically shouted: “Windows, Windows, Windows, Metro, Metro, Metro.” Metro is Microsoft’s new people focused layout for Windows 8. One of those is the past. And one of those is the future. He was hedging his bets. That is potentially dangerous because so many other operating system companies are betting everything on their new OS. That makes them more intense, focused and aggressive.

You will need to experiment in these other areas and think about how your company potentially could fit in here. Ask yourself, “What if this was the leading operating system? How would we look in here?”

It’s exciting but also trecherous. This is a transformative era that will require us all to be agile and quick. Not doing so could leave us vulnerable to our competitors who get it better than we do.

Filed Under: Featured, Life, Small Business
January 2, 2012 By 1 Comment

My 2012 Advice You Probably Don’t Want To Take

What I’m about to talk about here are market predictions for the next 365 days.

There is so much wrong with that audacious goal.

  • Markets change quickly and instantly on the smallest things.
  • Investors are still really gun shy so they invest more on emotions than on actual reality.
  • If you watch one episode from a investment show you will see how incredibly difficult this is… even for the next week, much less the next year. (Although, I will say, the shortsightedness of those shows is most of their problem.)
  • I know nothing about the market. I’m just a guy with a very small business.
  • I don’t even know what I’m talking about exactly here: the Dow, the S&P 500, consumer sentiment, business sentiment… Maybe I’m talking about it all.

That said, THIS IS THE YEAR!

If there was a year (in the last 10 years) where I think it would be “safest” to take a risk, 2012 is the year.

Even that statement makes this recommendation less valid. As soon as people start telling you to invest in something it’s probably too late. But just the same, this is as good as it gets. If you are risk adverse but really want to take a risk, what I’m telling you is: This is the best chance you’ve got,  from a market point of view.

But since this is the advice I will be taking this year, we’ll both be in this together.

I’m not the only person recommending this.

Seth Godin recently wrote:

Seth’s Blog: The chance of a lifetime

Interest rates are super low, violence is close to an all time low, industries are being remade and there’s more leverage for the insurgent outsider than ever before in history.

And investment adviser James Altucher recently wrote in My Last Death Threat in 2011 Altucher Confidential:

Remember 2000 when everyone said, “man, I wish I knew a boom was coming in 1996.” Well, here we are again.

I’m not the only person making these predictions. People smarter than me are telling us we are at a moment of great opportunity.

So what should you do with this knowledge?

Let’s say you buy this concept. What would I recommend you do?

    1. Know thy self.The first trick is to know your level of risk and then move a little beyond it.If you are a person that has never started a business, bought an investment property, advertised outside of the newspapers and yellow pages… the world is your oyster. Try anything.If you are already an entrepreneur, you don’t really need me to inspire you. But I’m telling you, look to add a little something extra to your portfolio this year. Even if you weren’t planning on diversifying now, it’s a buyers market. I’m a big believer in diversifying. Even business owners need to diversify their holdings. If you are in a service business, get a product business. Buy a building. Do something!
    2. Buy something!I’m not talking about buying a tv or a car. I’m talking about a house, a building, a new product, a website, new advertising strategies, sales people, somebody else’s business. Buy or invest in something that will make you money. All that stuff is rock bottom cheap right now. It may never be this cheap again. Imagine you are at Wal-mart on Black Friday at midnight… because that’s exactly where you are in the business world. For me, I’m considering starting up an ecommerce site where I might try drop shipping something from a wholesaler in this network: http://www.worldwidebrands.com/. I also think that I might try experimenting with some outsourced telesales this year. Go to Realtor.com and look at property in your city between $5,000 – $20,0000. Akron is filled with this stuff.Go to Craigslist and look at real estate there.There is a building right down the street from where I work that the owner is basically begging for someone to take it off his hands. The ad says things like: “VERY motivated seller. Seller financing available.”
    3. Scare yourself!This is the only way you will grow and move off of the spot you are on now. If you don’t take a risk you will never: be richer than you are now, be happier than you are now, live someplace warmer than you do now. Nothing will change from this moment if you insist on feeling safe, secure and comfy.

      But what I’m telling you here is if there was a time where taking a risk and scaring the shit out of you was going to be the least painful 2012 is the year to do it!

Now I know full well you aren’t going to take this advice. Or if you do take it, it’s just because you were going to do one of these things to begin with.

But whatever, I wanted to be on the record that I told you to do it.

When you are 80 years old and you have no rental property, you never bought or started a business, you are praying social security doesn’t go away, know that you will be saying this sentence: I should have taken a risk because I’m not feeling any safer right now because I did the safe thing all along.

Filed Under: Featured, Life
December 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Saying “Hi” the day after Christmas

I have been really dedicated to putting out this blog on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Being that today is Monday I feel a sense of obligation to put something out.

That said my mom always has a day after Christmas get together. We get bagels, go to a movie and then go out to dinner. I think we’re going to see Mission Impossible this year. And you can’t go wrong with Olive Garden.

So I don’t have much time to write up a blog post today.

In fact, sometimes you just have to stop.

Americans, in particular, are so intense. We work so hard. It’s nice when I notice us slowing down a little. This weekend seemed like that. Everything was fairly quiet. Twitter was quiet. And I only had 4 emails in my priority inbox from Saturday and Sunday.

Public holidays in the United States – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The United States does not have national holidays in the sense of days on which all employees in the U.S. receive a day free from work and all business is halted.

We sometimes just need to relax. Take control of our lives. And relax.

I mean even China (the country with all the money) has national holidays (in fact more than any other country: 16) Top 10 Countries Having Highest Number of Public Holidays | .TR

So I’m taking today off. Just a couple more sentences and I’m off.

Let me say this:

I’ve been on Facebook a little this weekend. Most people are very happy and thankful. But a couple are in particular pain. People have wronged them in severe ways.

I’m sorry any of us have to feel intense pain, especially during this time of year.

Let me remind you of where we all are in time and space:

Take a look at this:

And then take a look at this next graph (notice our population size compared to our wealth):

In the U.S. we often complain about how the rich have all the wealth (the 1%). But what I want to gently remind us all of is this:

Distribution of wealth – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A study by the World Institute for Development Economics Research at United Nations University reports that the richest 1% of adults alone owned 40% of global assets in the year 2000, and that the richest 10% of adults accounted for 85% of the world total. The bottom half of the world adult population owned 1% of global wealth.[10] Moreover, another study found that the richest 2% own more than half of global household assets.[11]

The U.S. is the top no matter how you look at it.

Ask EarthTrends: How many people live on less than $1/day? | EarthTrends

About 1/5 of the Earth’s population, or 1.1 billion people, currently live on less than $1 a day [1].

We are crazy rich, people… even if you don’t think you are. You are.

So, take a note from the Chinese and take a day or two off. You deserve it.

 

Filed Under: Featured, Life
September 16, 2011 By 3 Comments

Internet Marketing In Our Colleges

On Monday I told you I was going to talk about my most recent failing.

But here is the thing: I’m not really interested in talking about that at the moment.

I apologize. It will have to wait.

What I want to talk with you about today is the disconnect between university education and the existing business world.

First let me say this: The current role university education plays in our workforce seems like a strange, mutated evolution of what university education was supposed to be.

University – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Early Modern universities initially continued the curriculum and research of the Middle Ages: natural philosophy, logic, medicine, theology, mathematics, astronomy (and astrology), law, grammar and rhetoric. Aristotle was prevalent throughout the curriculum, while medicine also depended on Galen and Arabic scholarship.

It seems like now the primary focus is to get a good job.

That is fine. Things change all the time.

But I don’t feel that universities are changing with the times.

You might know that I’m teaching a class on social media at The University of Findlay.

It’s truly a highlight of my career.

But these students have so many questions:

  • How does online advertising work?
  • How does link building work?
  • How does on the page optimization work?
  • How do you use call tracking?

I haven’t even brought up the world on online analytics.

And then there is the topic of running your own business:

  • Why should you have employees?
  • How do I get my own business going?
  • Should I start a business in a slow economy?

These are all great questions. And I have thoughts on them.

But I’m just the social media guy.

I threw out the idea to the class that I could come a couple hours early one day and do an Adwords clinic. I couldn’t believe the excitement and interest in this. The last question of the night was, “So are you coming early next week to do the Adwords class?”

I honestly believe this is no one’s fault.

The role of the university has primarily been philosophical. You came to college to read great books and to discuss big ideas. It wasn’t created as a place to learn how to set up an AdWords campaign.

But that’s really why these kids are here. They are looking into a global economy where the US Poverty Rate Increases as Household Income Decreases.

They are here so they can have a leg up on all the other 20 somethings. And not just in Findlay or Cleveland. Beijing, Shanghai, London, Delhi. Knowledge workers come from everywhere. They are all the competition.

It’s a difficult spot. There aren’t enough people to do the work much less teach people how to do it.

And the truth be told: I really shouldn’t be allowed to sit in front of this class. I only have a bachelors degree. I’m not really sure how strings were pulled that allowed me to get to this point.

The Problem

  • People that know how to do online marketing taught themselves. They might have a bachelors degree (like me) but it was in something totally unrelated.
  • Colleges require a minimum of a masters degree to teach college students.
  • I would love to teach more college classes. But until I get that masters degree (at least) I probably will only be doing continuing ed classes after this.
  • The cost of getting a higher degree would be significant. I’d pull myself out of the workforce in my prime work years. Plus I’d probably have to pay to get the degree.
  • The only way I think I would do it is if I sell my company and can basically retire. But even then I probably would just start something new.

We are in a real sticky wicket.

The Solution

The University of Findlay has this new “Professional In Residence” program of which I’m the second member.

The premise is: you get someone from the business world to come in and teach some application-type classes. These are ideal for senior survey classes.

This is great for everyone:

  • The university looks cutting edge and progressive. They are moving with the times.
  • The students are learning the most current trends and techniques at the moment.
  • The university gets to pay someone who is probably making $100,000+ to basically consult for adjunct level fees.
  • The professional gets to put this on their resume. This makes them a more valuable member of the business community because of this Professional in Residence distinction.
  • The professional gets to talk with a whole bunch of students they could possibly hire or offer internships.
  • The students get to talk in great detail with the head of companies. They not only can learn the subject of the class, they can also learn what the business world is like.

Everybody wins.

I believe there is always going to be an issue with the lack of education in my life. It doesn’t matter how many years I do Web marketing. It doesn’t matter how many companies I have worked with. It doesn’t matter how many books I’ve written. Until I have that higher level degree I am an outcast.

But I’m here to tell you. I’m teaching a class at an amazing university. If it can happen once it can happen again. Experience must be an accepted alternative to a higher level degree.

Will I ever be a full time professor? That’s not likely unless I stop everything and study for years to get a degree in something that is out of touch of what I would be teaching. The irony would be that I probably would be less valuable to the students after I got the degree than I am now. That’s simply because I wouldn’t be learning the most current skills and techniques. No one is teaching those things.

A warning to universities

This gravy train you are all on can definitely stop running. This phenomenon that everyone must get a 4 year college education at an accredited institution is a new trend and one that can end.

If students believe that the $39,000 a year they are paying is not converting at a high enough ratio they will look elsewhere.

My wife and I are currently discussing the options that don’t include college for our 6 year old.

You should also be aware that credits from the University of the People are now being accepted at NYU Abu Dhabi.

The tuition-free pricing structure utilized by the University means that the University does not charge for the cost of course registration, instruction, books, teachers or annual enrollment; as is customarily charged in traditional Universities.

It’s a small crack in your wall. But if that little crack can happen it’s likely just to get bigger.

I truly believe universities can be the solution. But they have to move faster. They have to provide a solution that is a unique advantage.

People don’t usually move fast when things are great. But it’s very possible that the foundation is being dug out from underneath you. If free universities and other alternatives start producing results it might be impossible to gain back what you lost by not getting in front of this.

If people are here to be great business people give them a great business education. Get the business world in your universities.

Filed Under: Life, Social Media
August 19, 2011 By 1 Comment

Big Picture Friday – 5 Ways to Keeping On

I have stopped keeping up with the news. It is an endless stream of things I can’t control and does nothing more for my life than makes me worry.

It’s part of a series of steps I’ve been taking to continuously fill my life with positive energy.

This has been a process I have been working on since the whole recession thing. The negative energy and depressing news has been crushing my spirit.

But I’m here to tell you: I’m getting out of it. I’m coming back. All I see is hope and opportunity. No matter what happens in the outside world I can handle it and, in fact, I can prosper in it.

The recession has given me this outlook. The difficulty has made me stronger. It has made me realize I can handle anything that comes along. The recession has made me more hopeful and optimistic than I’ve ever been.

You might think this has nothing to do with marketing. But I assure you. It has everything to do with it.

If you are stressed, exhausted and feeling generally beat up, you will never do your best work.

If you see everything negatively how are you ever going to get something other than negative results?

To be positive you have to feel positive. You have to be hopeful. You have to see the light at the end of the tunnel. You can only do that if you have energy.

Here are 5 things to help give you energy. My optimism is a product of wanting to be hopeful and optimistic. It isn’t something that I feel entitled to have. It is something I want and therefore work for.

1: Exercise.

This is an absolute criteria. In my life I have a hierarchy of importance. Number 1 is sleep. Getting a lot of sleep is absolutely critical. It’s like breathing. But if sleep is my air, exercise is my water.

I can only stay strong and optimistic if I exercise. 40-60 minutes a day. Every day! Nothing is more important. That’s because if I don’t do this I can’t be my best for anything else in my life. It may seem selfish. But I see it as giving back to the world. I get and stay strong so that I can be strong for my family and business.

2. 2 Minutes of Deep Breathing

You know you can take 2 minutes. But I promise you, if you take 2 minutes 5 times a day you will improve your state of mind. Close your eyes and just think about your breathing. Slow in. Slow out.

3. Read a good book.

Books will get you out of the minutia of the world. A good book will throw you into a whole new world. Biographies are amazingly inspirational.

4. Take a nap.

Taking a 20 minute nap will turn your day around. There is something about sleep that is like a reset button.

5. Cut yourself some slack.

We are often unbelievably cruel to ourselves. There is nothing wrong with you. There never was.

Stay relaxed. Stay strong. You will start to see things as they really are… full of hope and opportunity. Your marketing will be filled with that feeling.

 

Filed Under: Featured, Life
August 10, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Marketing for the Person Who Can’t Market

Some of the best business people I’ve met are people who have never seen the inside of a college.

The traits that make up a good business person have little to do with what is found in a book.

Understanding people is a character trait that goes a long way. I often really like small business owners. They are not afraid of the things other people are afraid of. That makes them very transparent and accessible.

They aren’t afraid to tell you they are on the brink of failing.

They aren’t afraid to tell you they are on unemployment because they haven’t taken a paycheck in 6 months.

They aren’t afraid to pawn their gold to make payroll.

They aren’t afraid to tell you how much money they made last year… good or bad.

But make no mistake. They do get afraid. Sometimes the fear is palpable.

They can become paranoid of competitors stealing their clients or employees.

They are often afraid of things they feel like they don’t have any control over.

I know a successful painting contractor who has been putting the exact same flyer in the newspapers for the last 15 years! And now it’s not working.

I know a restaurant owner who relied on the local newspaper to deliver people to his front door. And now that’s not working.

I know a private school that relied on a close knit group of people in the community to refer like-minded people to their school. And now they aren’t referring as many, probably because of the recession.

These are all good business people that had found a marketing method that worked years ago and it served as their life blood for years and years.

These are people who I can feel their fear. They are terrified of this new marketing world. They don’t get computers. And they definitely don’t get how to use the Web to make their business grow.

The marketing world is significantly different these days. Between a severe recession and the complete absorption of the Internet in most people’s lives, things are different.

Look at this:

It’s from the article, “Internet Ad Spending Not Equal to Internet Usage.”

I want that top bar to burn into your brain. People spend:

  • 42.9% of their media time on TV
  • 25.2% on the Internet
  • 15.6% on Radio
  • 8.1% on Mobile
  • 4.9% on Newspapers
  • 3.3% on Magazines

So enough yammering from me.

You came to this article to learn “marketing for the person who can’t market.”

Here are the exact 7 steps I want you to take:

Step 1:

Print this off and put it on your wall.

I want you to look at that bar graph of where people are spending their time. You need to see it, live it, believe it. It’s not lying. You may love the newspaper. But no one else does.

Step 2:

STOP IT WITH THE NEWSPAPERS ALREADY!

People spend more time on their phone than in a newspaper.

Step 3:

If you are heavily into newspapers and it is still getting you business then keep feeding it. But get an exit strategy out of the newspaper now. The peak period of newspapers was in the 1920′s. It’s just been downhill ever since.

In the 1920s, on a national basis in the U.S., daily newspapers achieved market penetration of 123 percent (meaning the average U.S. household received 1.23 newspapers). As other media began to compete with newspapers, and as printing became easier and less expensive giving rise to a greater diversity of publications, market penetration began to decline. It wasn’t until the early 1970s, however, that market penetration dipped below 100 percent. By 2000, it was 53 percent.

There is no rebirth coming. It’s all just an inevitable decay.

Don’t make me put another step in here about getting off of newspapers. You know I’ll do it.

Repeat after me:

Newspapers are dying.

If I rely on them I am dying.

Step 4:

You probably can’t afford TV. If you can, then great. Do that.

Step 5:

Mobile is not a great marketplace for most businesses. The advertising opportunities of mobile still have a ways to go to catch up to the usage. So for most people avoid this.

Step 6:

The Internet is where it is at.

There are a whole bunch of ways to use the Internet for marketing. There are terrific ways of advertising your business online. But no matter what Google tells you, you have to know what you are doing. You need a solid tracking mechanism in place. And you really need to understand how to organize your campaigns. Otherwise I can pretty much guarantee you will be wasting money.

I want to see you advertising on the search engines. But if this article is a new concept to you, I want you to wait! You have much to learn young grasshopper.

Step 7:

I want you to blog.

That’s right. I want you to do what I’m doing right now. I want you to tell your story. I want you to tell about your experiences in business. I want you to tell tips and tricks to make the most of your service or product. I want you to post pictures. Someday I want you to post videos. I want you to show the genuinely nice person you are on a blog.

I want you to be you. 

Whether you believe me or not (many business owners are pretty hard on themselves) you have probably gotten this far in business because people like you. I want you to show that on a blog.

There are a whole bunch of places you can get a blog. And if you want options let me know in the comments below.

But long story short: I want you to use SageRock Places.

There is a free trial. So you can try it out. If you like it, it’s $19.95 a month. And look. If you tell me you are on seriously hard times or you are just starting out and you have no cash, let me know. We’ll work something out.

It’s built on WordPress which is used by 50 million (literally 50 million) other Web sites.

We keep it updated with the latest patches. And we back it up all the time.

On top of that it comes with live and on-demand Webcasts to learn how to use it the right way.

Just use this. If you don’t like it you can easily move your content to another place.

You need to be on the Internet in a serious way (like 5-10 years ago, actually). 

The Web is the future. The longer you wait the harder it is going to be for you to catch up.

Just do these things. You will thank me for it.

Filed Under: Featured, Life
October 26, 2010 By 4 Comments

A Cool Interview Twist by Kevin Lockett

I just had a cool interview with Kevin Lockett. We’ve been friends for a long time.

I credit Kevin to being one of the first social media visionaries in Akron. He got Lock 3 involved in social media at a time when few, if any, other companies in Akron were using social media.

He’s doing a cool project for a new media group here in Akron. I can’t remember the name of the group. Kevin, can you post the name of the group in the comments?

He did an interview with me about my thoughts of what is going on with Ohio businesses and Internet marketing. It was a fun conversation. But what was unique was his questions about my personal blog (SageLewis.com). He had a couple questions about that place.

That was an interesting set of questions. During an interview of Web marketing, why did it turn to my personal blog?

I have a theory that people want to know about your personal life. They want to know the personal details of politicians and actors. Why wouldn’t they want to know the personal details of business associates.

I often hear people say, “Why would anyone care what I did during the weekend?”

Believe me, if they work with you, they care.

Zappos.com CEO -Tony has 1.7 million followers on Twitter. His entire profile on Twitter is just what he’s doing in his personal life and his random thoughts on business philosophy and life philosophy. It’s not like he’s giving shoes away or anything.

I think this fascination in the personal lives of people we work with is more than just random voyeurism. I think it allows others to see what kind of person they are dealing with. If a person leads a good personal life, they probably will lead a good business life.

I did a survey of people who follow me on Twitter. 89% of them said they wanted an even mix of business and personal items in my Twitter feed.

This is the big change that is happening in business. Our personal lives are becoming a major part of our business lives. The successful businesses will figure out how to effectively blend these two worlds.

Thanks for a great interview, Kevin! I’m looking forward to seeing the final product.

You can follow Kevin’s highly engaging Twitter profile here: Kevin Lockett (kevinlockett) on Twitter.

Filed Under: Featured, Life, SageRock
July 13, 2010 By 3 Comments

Sage To Photograph The Gulf Coast Oil Spill

The picture you see here is the kind of picture I’ve been taking for years.

I love my family immensely and consequently, I love taking pictures of them.

The picture above is of my wife Rocky, our friend Holly and our awesome kid, Indiana.

We were on Lake Erie in upstate New York at Evangola State Park.

Next week I’m flying to New Orleans to meet up with this guy:

This is Zoriah. Zoriah is a photojournalist and war photographer.

If there has been a major event in the world, chances are very good that Zoriah has been there to cover it.

The list of places Zoriah’s photos have been published is massive. But the top few include:
Newsweek • BBC News • The Wall Street Journal • CNN • Fortune Magazine • NPR

I have the very unique opportunity to participate in one of his photojournalism workshops. This is a one-on-one workshop where Zoriah and I will be going through the Louisiana area shooting the life of people effected by the recent oil spill.

This was a birthday present from Rocky. It’s, without a doubt, the most awe-inspiring gifts I’ve ever received. I’m incredibly excited. But I’m also extremely humbled by participating in this workshop with Zoriah and also shooting this incredible catastrophe. Straight up, I’m a little nervous about the whole event. I really can’t imagine what it’s going to be like.

But I wanted to tell you what I am up to.

If you are interested in keeping track of my week-long journey, I encourage you to be sure you are following me on Twitter and/or Facebook.

My Twitter account is:
http://twitter.com/sagerock

This is my Facebook account:
http://www.facebook.com/sagerock

I’ll be posting photos there and possibly some video.

My life pursuit is to deeply experience as much as I possibly can while I’m on this earth. This opportunity fits perfectly in my life values.

See you on the other side.

Filed Under: Featured, Life
November 17, 2009 By 5 Comments

Post-Recession Online Marketing

There’s this fella I know; we’ll call him “Dad.”  Dad worked his ass off for seventeen years with the same company, climbing the proverbial ladder of success.  Of course, the higher you climb, the further you’re prone to fall when that company to whom you’ve poured your blood, sweat, and tears for decides, “You’re expendable.  Take this branded paper weight as a sign of our gratitude, leave the keys to the company car, and start over, buddy” (I am just the teensiest bit biased, I know).

It was 1989 when my Father was laid off from his job.  I was six at the time, and barely noticed the jostling.  Lucky me: my parents each have a fierce work ethic and a dedication to me and my sisters that left us never wanting for a single thing.  Over the years, however, I’ve realized just how difficult that time was for our family.  Like so many people know now, losing a job can shake your confidence, your belief system, your habits, your life style, your being.

Forever.

So that “whooooooosh” of relief I felt a few months ago when I heard the words recession and over in the same sentence may have been premature.  My parents have been financially sound for decades, yet I think the knowledge exists in their minds that the rug can come out from under you at any given time.  Consumers, and businesses, in the post-recession calm after the storm know this, too; it’s not news: our economy is no longer diseased, but the disease has left it weakened.

A recent study analyzed the long-term impacts felt from this decade’s recession.  Based on the results, they identified “four distinct purchasing and attitudinal groups based upon how they have internalized the current recession and how they plan to spend after the economy improves.”  From August 5th to the 12th, Decitica surveyed 1,055 individuals.  From the results, they were able to identify four major groups.

Decitica Post-Recession Consumer Segments

Decitica Post-Recession Consumer Segments

Each group requires a unique marketing approach.  The more you understand their motivations, the more successful your marketing message will be.

STEADFAST FRUGALISTS want to save money.  They want to save money.  Notice the difference between wanting and needing.  Keep this in mind when marketing to this group.  They are less impacted by marketing messages and brand loyalty.

INVOLUNTARY PENNY-PINCHERS don’t want to have to save money.  They don’t enjoy it, they want nothing to do with it, and report the most severe emotional toll of any other group, admitting to being more scared, stressed, and worried about their futures.

PRAGMATIC SPENDERS are rather aloof to the recession in their day-to-day living.  Thanks to higher income levels, they’ve maintained their lifestyle adequately, curbing spending when necessary, and will be able to easily jump back into their pre-recession spending habits.

APATHETIC MATERIALISTS were the softest hit by the recession, and as such find little satisfaction in saving money or focusing on value.

In regards to how the recession will alter their long-term buying behavior, groups reacted in the following ways.

Decitica Changed What and How Consumers Buy Forever

Decitica Changed What and How Consumers Buy Forever

Read the complete article from MarketingCharts.

Image courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/joanneteh_32/4097725445/

Filed Under: Featured, Life, SEM News
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