Winning does not require the best equipment

Posted by renee on August 29th, 2011


When I was in high school I was convinced to join the mountain bike team. With no experience or the right equipment I signed up. What did I have to lose?  On my first day of our team ride I pulled up to the parking lot with my $199.99 Canadian Tire bike, my Walmart jogging pants and an old hoody. I thought I was prepared.

I did this every week, a couple times a week for a few months. Preparing myself for my first race at Hardwood Hills, I had no expectations of what a mountain bike race was like. I thought I was well equipped.

Equipped I was not, but physically and mentally ready I was.  Showing up to the starting line on a cold rainy fall day, smiling ear to ear, I took a few minutes to check out my competition. Umm, Ok. So maybe my bike won’t hold up. On either side of me were girls with $4000.00 bikes, sponsored gear, helmets worth more then my bike and quads bigger then two of mine combined. Crap!

Within a few minutes we were all ligned up ready for the starting gun to go off. When it did I put pedal to the metal and went full tilt off the start line. Mud and elbows flying everywhere, grunts and shouts coming from beside me. Who the heck are these girls? Christ, I think I had applied mascara before this race. These girls barely wore deoderant.

Halfway thru the race I took sometime to finally study the trails and the competition, noticing I had just passed racer after racer. Though it seemed I was still way behind the packed, I soon realized I was passing those same girls I saw at the start line. The ones with the fancy bikes. Ha! I kept going strong. Within minutes I past the finish line, laughing at the fact that I had just finished my first ever mountain bike race, on a cheap bike.

Then I heard my name … “Renee! Renee! Renee!” I turned around to see my parents running at me. “Renee… did you cheat? Did you cut the trails?” My dad asks.  ”What? No!  Why would you think that?” I reply. “Well, it seems as though you placed 15th, out of 55 racers” my dad says with enthusiasm. Well holy crap. I certainly did.

It doesnt always take the best equipment, technology or gear to win a race. It often times takes but sheer determination and a little laughter to get ahead of the pack and finish a race you never thought to enter in the first place.

What does it take to Click?

Posted by renee on August 25th, 2011

I am not talking about getting people to click on your Facebook ad, like button or call to action. No.  I am talking about what it takes to click with another person. The ultimate capacity to bond with an acquaintance or stranger. Clicking is finding common grounds with someone you may have known for minutes, hours or years.  There are many people you may click with right away, and others who take a lot of time.  But what are the underlying reasons that people can ‘click’?

I just finished reading both ‘Click – The forces behind how we fully engage with people, work, and everything we do‘ as well as ‘StrengthFinder 2.0‘ and noticed a similarity between my themes from StrengthFinder and the hypothesis in Click: different people click differentially. No two are the same.  I, for example, am a Positive, Harmonious, Includer so find it very easy to click with almost everyone. While others, some good friends of mine, are incredibly secretive and passive that they take much longer to find common grounds with new people. Mostly worried to be too open, it can take them years to really get to know them. Some people have hundreds of friends, acquaintances and close contacts, because they click more often.

Connecting, or clicking, with someone is about two things: proximity and time. The closer you are geographically and the more time you can get to spend with someone, the more likely you will be to click. This is best displayed in the example of the students in a police academy. As explained in the book Click, it is almost 90% predictable who will be close friends throughout the course of the police academy program.  John Adams and Robert Adamson will most likely click as would Steven Warner and Gary Warren. See the pattern? Alphabetical relations. Throughout the course of the program, students are arranged alphabeticaly so spend the majority of their time in proximity to one another, increasing the probability of clicking. And since the program runs over the course of a few months to years, these students spend a lot of time together. However, once the program is complete, it is not necessary that they will remain friends. Location, time and circumstance brought them together.

What makes someone click with you? And how best can you leverage that bond in your personal life or in your business?

 

 

Discipline

Posted by renee on July 5th, 2011


Remember the days in the school yard when you were tempted to break the rules? Maybe sneak into school during recess to keep warm or push that girl for budding in front of you at the swing line? I do. But I never did. I was disciplined. I followed the rules set out for me to avoid the negative consequences. I did not want to get written up in the black book.

Discipline is a funny thing. It has both positive and negative connotations.  Discipline to maintain order, follow a diet, workout, and stay within the speed limit. Negative. Meaning they are things you know you have to do, but don’t want to.  But the results are often positive. So why then do we view discipline so negatively?

As I grew up and started taking on the world by myself, I realized that conviction was much more a part of discipline then I thought. Discipline means having conviction. It means setting out a course to achieve a certain result and stopping at nothing to get there. It means saying NO more than YES; Whether it’s a great job offer, an extra slice of pie, giving up more of your startup for more financing, or even not drinking a pint of beer at 5:40pm (Which I am. Clearly not discipline in this area). It means holding true to your beliefs. Discipline is a necessary ingredient in achieving your goals.

More so is the requirement of routine. In order to achieve discipline, you must instil routine.  You must create something that is so habitual overtime it takes no thought;  Brushing your teeth, calling home, saying thank you. It requires optimistic views of the outcome to come; no cavities, happy family, delighted strangers. Discipline is not negative, rather it’s a formal activity that must take place in order to achieve even the slightest goal. You must adapt your behaviour and habits to adjust accordingly.

So think of discipline as something with a positive outcome, set your goals, and go and take on the world.

Social media is not relevant to all

Posted by renee on June 10th, 2011

This morning I had coffee with a friend who was picking my brain about social media and asking numerous questions about how it has disrupted the marketing industry, how it can solve this problem and that problem, and wondering if it’s even relevant to all industries. The conversation got pretty intense and lasted a lot longer then we had given ourselves time for. After we left the meeting, I could not stop thinking about what/who social media is really relevant to.

My thoughts: it works best for consumer facing brands that typically have a tangible product to sell. Service businesses can do well, or course, but I think the most successful ‘campaigns’ and uses of social media are those that offer coupons, discounts and promotions for real things.  Food, toys, games, beverages, anything that can be given away. With the increase in social sampling as a promotional tool (Great examples are popchips and HK Anderson Pretzels) more and more companies are discovering the power in leveraging social media tools to give away product and (for others) services.

Popchips, for example, has created a culture within its community where fans openly share their popchips on Facebook, blogs and Twitter without incentive from the company itself. They are simply enthusiastic fans.

You wouldn't see this type of behaviour with a mining equipment business

As we continued chatting it really became apparent that social media is not relevant to every industry, as much as people try. This also goes back to a discussion I had with my dad three years ago, but was realized again today, that not every industry can easily leverage online platforms to sell or promote their product. My dad asked me if I wanted to take over my grandfathers mining equipment business. It thought about it but couldn’t figure out how the hell I would do it, to make it ‘sexy’.  When opportunities like this come my way, I ask myself  “Can I make this brand sexy?” – What I mean is can I create an appeal for the brand that can:

a) last the test of time
b) appeal to the target market at the macro level (critical mass)
c) have fun with it.

Of course, it is more fun to work with clients/brands I believe in and like, but there are some industries that can’t and will not ever be able to use social media to sell a product/service.  I can’t think of any companies in ‘conservative’ industries that used social media as a way to sell services or increase brand awareness.
Can you?

 

Which comes first: the Tool or the Goal?

Posted by renee on June 2nd, 2011

If it were a game of golf, that could be answered very simply; you want the ball in the hole (Goal) using the driver (tool). Similarly with social media, goals also always come before the tool, the objectives before the tactics and so on. Don’t flip the funnel here. The last thing that you need to concern yourself with is the tool to measure.

Most recently, I worked with a client who wanted to find a solution to match the measurement tool they have already been using. BIG – RED – FLAG. They did not think logically. I told them “Your business objectives should define your social media goals, which then define those objectives to influence what tactics and measuring tools you should chose.” It made sense to them in the long term, after the campaign was done when they realized their numbers were all off.  Between all the other shared content and accessing an extremely complicated measurement system, we could not summarize all our findings and results in a clearly articulated document. It was a mishmash. [Note: we came into the project halfway through so did not get the chance to tell them this from the beginning.]

Jay Baer, one of my favourite bloggers, speaks to this all too clearly in his ‘A hammer isn’t a house’. He discusses how choosing the right tools for your metrics is the last item in the funnel of Social Media Metrics Sequence.

You have to know WHAT you are trying to measure first, and then audition candidates for HOW to best perform that measurement.

Social Media Metrics Sequence 1 A Hammer Isnt a House   Dont Confuse Tools with Metrics

For a long time my team once juggled between Twitter lists, spreadsheets, shared googol docs, and email. And guess what? We still do!! These platforms allow us to collaborate, share, measure and monitor our online activity for us and the client. What wasn’t needed was a spiffy application that told me the publics sentiment for our 5th level competitor. We didn’t’ care!  So why pay for something that wasn’t going to help us?

Most recently though, my company Spark Boutik, started working with a great measuring application (name not to be disclosed until I understand the full breadth of it’s ability) for the sake of trying to understand why these tools exist in the first place.  It surely has helped us discover things about our business, certain industries, companies, people and a combination of that. But the ultimate question still remained “What do I do with all this data?”. It is so easy to become hypnotized by fancy charts and graphs, likes and dislikes, smily faces and sentiment grades. But it is not all necessary.

Quite simply, with all this data accumulating out of our control and understanding, it is important that you chose your measuring tools based on you metrics and ultimately your business objectives. The final results should be ones that you understand and that can tell what you did right, wrong and how awesome you are getting with Social Media (PS – if you suck at it, contact me - I can definitely help you)

 

Experiencing the Entrepreneur Pendulum

Posted by renee on May 25th, 2011

It is tough being an entrepreneur. Some days are amazing. While others you just want to crawl under a rock and stay there – forever.  I, at the moment, am experiencing what Mark Suster calls the terror in starting something new (On the other end of the pendulum is euphoria).

As you may come to understand or have already experienced, there are a billion different emotions that overcome entrepreneurs at the best of times and at the worst of times. Anxiety, stress, euphoria, happiness, accomplishment, … all in a given week. It is not ever constant or consistent.  Today for example, I had one client terminate a contract, another client say “I don’t think we can pay your invoice’, and another client wanting more for FREE!  Oh, and the cherry on the top, our top designer is too busy doing her own thing to focus on our work at the moment.

Where to find comfort?  It’s knowing you’re not alone and talking to other entrepreneurs who have been there too. A good friend of mine today said to me “I know exactly how you are feeling today, as I went through that a few years ago. I forgot how hard it can be. Just know that now is NOT the time to give up. You can’t give up. Your business partner relies on you. People expect great things from you. You will get through this”.

Well, sure. Sounds possible.  But where is the light at the end of the tunnel?  These damn Ramen noodles are getting gross and I am sick of drinking the cheap beer.

These damn Ramen noodles are getting gross and I am sick of drinking the cheap beer.

Again, I chose this route. I chose this lifestyle. I chose freedom over having a boring job helping someone else get rich.


What I have learned is simple and easy to remember:

1. Your business partner can easily comfort you in chatting about how/why you feel the way you do.
2. Moms DONT always know best. Try to keep family out of the tricky conversations. Chat to them when you think there is something they can help you with. But avoid too many negative conversations [They'll get worried]
3. It will pass, as long as you keep on going. Don’t Stop!
4. Books, podcasts, audio books, webinars, and events can help you through the emotions. Think about how bad some entrepreneurs had it, and they overcame it. [FedEx is a great example. The founder had to gamble everything he had in order to win enough money to pay his employees wages]
5.  Start working out more. A little sweat releases those fancy endorphins that make you happy.
6. Find your source of inspiration [Mine happens when I'm in the shower and getting ready in the morning. Hence why I have an excessively long grooming schedule ... half the time I am emailing or jotting down my ideas]
7. It’s life. Suck it up!
8. It was never meant to be easy. If it is easy, you are doing something wrong.
9. Think about everything you have learned and have yet to learn.
10. Smile
11. Have a beer (The good stuff)

As this will pass, so will the good times. Just F****** deal with it and move on.
I did.

Advice from startups. It helps!

Posted by renee on May 23rd, 2011

Yeah, you’re right. I don’t run a tech startup. But living in San Francisco means I am surrounded by it all day, everyday. At first, I was intimidated, then I got bored of the jibber jabber, then I realized…Wooaa! These startups, this lingo, this MVP – Product/Market fit – metrics – conversions – stuff is really helping me out.

Tech startups CAN set an example for service based businesses, as I wrote in this blog post. Earlier on I also realized that people in my industry and other online marketing people really DO need to know the basics, the basics of UX, UI, metrics, conversions and so on (Check out this post about that very idea).

My point, don’t discard the tech startup mentality if you run a service based business. Consider taking a few pages from their book and appreciate how they work, especially the part on being lean.

Being lean?  Here are some resources to help you out:
1. The Entrepreneurs Guide to Customer Development
2. Startup Lessons Learned
3. The Lean Startup

Wait, what? I am supposed to know UX too?

Posted by renee on March 18th, 2011

More and more each week I get requests to help companies with their online strategy, more so, with wireframing UX, and UI.  I haven’t created so many mockups in my life!  I am by no means a designer (Christ, I haven’t even used illustrator) and by no means a UX/UI or wireframe expert. But you know what?  I KNOW good design when I see one.  [Ok, you are 100% allowed to call me a hypocrite as my company's own website is a bit sour, but at least I recognize it] <– on that note, if you know of a really good designer that can make it better please email me.

So here blurs the line in expectations of online strategists and social media folks of all kinds: we are expected to know, or at least, under stand it all.  What is social media?  When does design, development, and user experience come into play?  In my opinion, it’s at every level.  If you claim to be a social media ‘guru/expert’ here are my words of advice:

Pick up a damn UX book, purchase balsamic, head to a design conference, chat with a developer and learn – even just basically – the many different components of the web. It will make your job that much easier and your clients will appreciate you more.

Why?  Because you need to know if certain elements of the strategy you are creating for a client are feasible, can be completed within budget and on time, and even make sense.

Why?  Its where the web is heading. YOU are expected to know these things,  maybe not in much detail, but you must be able to appreciate them.

“In order for someone to appreciate something they must first understand it” – Valerie Maltoni

So stop reading every damn Chris Brogan blog post and start following:
Brenden Mulligan (@bmull)
Jeff Parks (@jeffparks)
Valeria Maltoni (@ConversationAge)
Jared Spool (@jmspool)

Do it.

And for this advice, I charge you $1000 USD.

 

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Conversions

Posted by renee on February 28th, 2011

“The simple truth is that conversion is the most fundamental element of online business success”

MarketingProfs blog had a five day crash course on conversions.  There are some amazing tips for conversions.  They are listed below.
————————————————————————————–

1. Conversion basics

- Simply improving conversion beats trying to increase traffic
- A short-term conversion investment improves long-term ROI
- Testing your own marketing budget can help to evaluate your conversion investment
- Buying more traffic versus improving current site for better conversions

The beauty of conversion optimization is that once your page is converting better, it stays that way almost indefinitely.

Keep Reading »

tools

Social Tools to Get You Noticed

Posted by renee on February 24th, 2011

There are some excellent online tools available for marketing a business, whether it is an Internet-based retail store, or a brick and mortar operation with its own website. Some of the top tools that can increase traffic and sales are also free or affordable.  In the onset of starting and managing your brand online, you should consider the more affordable tools to leverage your growth. Below is the list of the obvious – and less obvious – tools for you:

Blogs – Not just a journal
Many companies, especially startups, use their blog for lead generation. It is a simple platform to provide updated information, special announcements, and to engage with your readers.  Just like a website, your blog can provide detailed information on what you do, where to follow you (Twitter and Facebook) and whats going on in the industry.  The secret sauce to the blog is… getting people to RSS and sign up for updates.  This notifies them every-time you update.

SEO – Quick tips
Quality, simple content is a significant factor in SEO. What else can you do? Using bold text to highlight keywords and phrases within the content; use deep incoming links to site pages; make the most of social bookmarking by including a widget to enable linking; place text links first in the site’s source code; use article exchanges and newsletters as well as link exchanges; add variety to inbound links by using different wording; have more than one domain; include a navigation bar (small sites) or a site map (larger site).

Adwords – Not the cheapest option anymore
Google adwords (Pay Per Click) is a great marketing tool. How it works: a given website pays Google a set payment each time a viewer clicks on one of its marketing links. Simple. And with eighty percent of Internet searches using Google, it offers an almost guaranteed strategy. But, it is no longer the cheapest social advertising options.  With the populrairty of Facebook growing everyday; its advertising reach, impressions and CPC is substantially lower then Google.  See next point for more detail.

Keep Reading »

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