positive disruption by: Tom Martin | New Orleans based Social Media | B2B Digital Prospecting | Digital Strategy Agency

The Introvert's Guide to Success

I was going to write a great post today but then I finished reading The Introvert's Guide to Success in Business and Leadership written by my good friend Lisa Petrilli and I realized the most important information I could share with you today was hers. Yes, the book is THAT good. I should note that she was nice enough to send me an advanced copy to peruse at no charge and we've "worked" together -- she and the lovely Lisa Diomede co-hosted my first #Cocktails4Causes in Chicago --  but that's not why I'm writing this post today. I get a lot of free books and seldom review them because of late, a lot of the business books are downright weak. 

Thankfully, The Introvert's Guide to Success isn't one of them.

It's a quick read, a mere 60 pages. In fact, I read most of it on my iPhone while waiting for my wife to arrive at a meeting the other night. This morning I finished it off over coffee.

Quite simply, it might be one of the best books I've read in a while and I read a lot of books. Lisa does a fabulous job of giving introverts a big "it's ok" hug and then leveraging that warm feeling to teach them applicable strategies and tactics for being successful in their careers, lives and pursuit of their dreams.

Best of all, the book helps the extroverts in the world understand how to better work with, for or direct introverts.

Here is a taste of the book -- one of the most insightful passages I thought...

Time to Recharge

Since extraverts get their energy from being around other people, from energizing
others, and from actively participating in events, the world of business and
leadership is naturally rejuvenating for them.

The opposite is true for introverts. The world of business and leadership is
draining for us, particularly energy-demanding events like conferences and
networking meetings.

After basking in the glow of visibility and attention you will return home craving
privacy and time to recharge. Actually, on virtually every day of your business life
you will return home craving privacy and time to recharge; some days more than
others!

Respect this need for time to recharge, and be clear with family, friends,
colleagues and fellow conference attendees that you need to take this time for
you. Everyone will appreciate you for honoring this need, because you’ll be
bringing your best self to them and to your work when you’re with them.

It's this kind of simple, straightforward advice that you'll find throughout the entire book. It is only $7.99 and I think it's only available in Kindle form... but go get it, read it and then start using the techniques in your life.

And let me know what you think about the book.

 

 

4 Reasons Online Retails Shouldn't Wait for CyberMonday

CyberMonday was coined in 2005 to title the post-Thanksgiving online shopping spree that Shop.org data suggested occurs. Since then online retailers have taken special care to offer CyberMonday specials and promotions to snag their share of the CyberMonday traffic and sales opportunities.

In fact, according to a new Shop.org release, 80% of stores are planning to tie Thanksgiving Weekend specials to CyberMonday. But I for the life of me can't figure out why retailers are still clinging to outdated approaches.

 

4 Reasons Retailers Shouldn't Wait Till CyberMonday to Launch Specials

Number 1: Mobile Phones - 77% of the US population has a mobile phone and north of 40% own a smartphone. If there is one thing we'll all do on Black Friday it's stand in line. Whether we're waiting for that midnight opening, the 20 people in front of us to check out or to ask a question of the overworked sales associate, you can rest assured that Black Friday shopping will entail waiting.

What do you do when you're waiting? That's right... you text, Tweet, Facebook and read email. In 2005, your only real opportunity to buy anything online was via a computer and for most of us, heavy duty computing was still largely a work activity primarily because in 2005 only about 50% of us had high speed access at home. You remember dial-up don't you -- didn't it make shopping fun? 

But today, in 2011, that same broadband speed is now in the palm of your hand. And according to recent research, consumers plan to use it. In fact, according to Deloitte’s 2011 Annual Holiday Survey of 5,000 U.S. consumers, of the 42% of consumers who own a smartphone, 27% will use their device while shopping for the holidays,

Number 2: Propinquity Marketing - yes it's a real word. Propinquity means nearness in place, proximity, similarity or time. Ask yourself what is the last thing a consumer will likely have in their hand right before their credit card? If you need a hint, see #1 again. Mobile phones (smartphones especially) are the ultimate propinquity marketing platform for online retailers -- and this advantage is highlighted during busy holday shopping days like Black Friday.

If the consumer is shopping, and they have that little computer in their hand, why then would a retailer want to wait until CyberMonday to pass out that special discount? Give the consumer a simple option to check with you BEFORE they buy that TV at Best Buy. Supplement that with special offers delivered via that mobile device and you have a powerful 1-2 punch that might move even more Thanksgiving Weekend shopping online.

Number 3: Opportunity Cost - have you seen those offers of "find it cheaper elsewhere and we'll match the price" that retailers love? Honestly, how much of a discount would you have to find to actually go through the trouble (especially during the busy holiday time period) to take advantage of that offer? So again, why would an online retailer wait until AFTER the consumer had shopped to offer that great deal? With the plethora of low cost, digital marketing channels available, why wait? Fish when the fish are biting.

Number 4 - competitive advantage -- again with digital transmission tools an online retailer can wait until the very last second to show their pricing/offer hand. There is no need to print the newspaper flyer that comes out the day before. There is also no need to stick to published prices. Online retailers can change the cost of their products in seconds. This is a huge competitive advantage that their offline brethren don't share. Once that big fancy newspaper circular or TV ad touting the $399 60" LCD TV goes live - that retailer has to live with that price publicly. Sure they can do mark-downs in store, but the digital retailer can instantly change his price and have that be the price that shows up in Google Search, email marketing, social efforts, etc. In today's hyper-competitive marketplace, nimble wins. So again, why not leverage that to work against the brick-and-mortar competitor.

CyberMonday is a big day. Online retailers should continue to focus on that day because it will continue to drive large portions of sales. BUT -- if you're a retailer that is waiting until CyberMonday to launch your great holiday sales, etc, vs kicking it off on Thanksgiving Day or Black Friday -- well, IMHO you're missing a huge marketing opportunity.

But that is just one opinionated social media marketing consultant's opinion... what do you think?

photo credit: alancleaver_2000

Are you an online retailer looking for digital marketing strategy? Click the link... and let's talk. There's still time.

 

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28 Tips To Create Awesome Blog Content with an iPhone

Given my Talking With Tom project this year is produced entirely from my iPhone -- I've had a chance to learn a lot about what you can and can't do multi-media wise with an iPhone. The big surprise -- your iPhone is so much more than a phone... it's like Hollywood in your pocket -- a complete multi-media studio right there in the palm of your hand. The fine folks over at Blog World invited me to share what I've learned. Here it is.

View more webinars from Converse Digital

So, what was your favorite app or accessory?

 

Got any I missed? I'm always looking for new iPhone apps and iPhone accessories to test.

 

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Marketing Experts Can't Save You

[Click Here to view the video if you don't see it in your reader]

Every day marketing teams around the world hire experts in an ill-fated attempt to make their marketing better, more efficient and more insightful. And so very often, it fails.

What's Wrong With Marketing Experts?

Simply put, Experts are looking the wrong direction. They look back at what they and others have done to develop best practices. Then they share those best practices with you. The result -- me too marketing.

Go into any industry, pull a sample of the marketing campaigns and you'll see what I mean. Lots of sameness, very little difference.

 

4 Steps to Creating More Insightful Marketing?

In the talk above I discuss a framework for creating more insightful marketing... for embracing the idea of exploration as a way to create more innovative, more compelling and ultimately more effective marketing.

To create more insightful marketing, go exploring. Hire Explorers that are looking forward, studying data and using that data to dream of futures that don't yet exist. It is those dreamers that will push you to create more insightful and effective marketing.

In this talk, I'm specifically discussing this idea in the context of developing effective destination tourism marketing campaigns. If you are employed in the destination tourism marketing industry and you'd like go hire an Explorer -- to leverage more INSIGHT -- and create more compelling marketing campaigns.... my company, Converse Digital, has created the perfect information, insight and consulting package just for you.

LEARN MORE ABOUT INSIGHT - our CVB/DMO Consulting and Information Services Package

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If you've got about 40 minutes, I'd love for you to watch the presentation and then let me know what you thought? I'm pretty proud of this one... think it is one of my better keynotes. Let me know if you agree.

 

Destination Tourism Marketing INSIGHT

Earlier this week I soft launched INSIGHT for Destination Tourism Marketing Directors. It's a special package of service designed specifically for DMO and CVB marketing directors.

INSIGHT is a unique combination of information, insight, innovation and consulting services targeted to mid- and large-size CVB and DMO marketing directors. After consulting with a number of mid-size CVB marketing directors, integrating their feedback into the package of services, I think INSIGHT is something that every CVB or DMO marketing director can find value in having access to throught the year.

So now it's time to open it up to the rest of the tourism world.

If you handle the marketing for a destination inside or outside of the US, I'd love for you to check out INSIGHT and consider becoming a member.

I'm offering the first 15 members a special Charter Member rate, so hurry.

LEARN MORE NOW

photo credit: By kevin dooley

Will Brand Journalism Replace Public Relations?

There is a perfect storm brewing in the publishing world. A storm that is fundamentally altering how and where consumers interact with information and news.

Taken alone, each of the four key trends is interesting... but when viewed through a combined, interdependant lens, you quickly see that tomorrow's successful public relations agency needs to quickly adapt or die.

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Brand Journalism, Content Marketing or whatever name you wish to give it is not a trend, or a fad. It's a new reality brought on by a Me Too media world combined with technological change occuring at an unprecedented pace.

In this 40 minutes presentation to the IABC Southern Regional Conference, I took the audience through each of the four trends and then brought them all together in the end to understand why, in my opinion, tomorrow's successful public relations strategy will absolutely include brand based journalism.

If you've got 2,400 seconds or so, I'd love for you to give it a listen and then let me know what you think about brand journalism, the future of public relations and the news industry.

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iPhone Photography App Review: Big Lens

Is Big Lens the new Instagram or just the coolest iPhone photo app released to date?

The photo above -- I just took that using my iPhone and then retouching (on the iPhone) with Big Lens. I changed my depth of field, isolated the Converse Digital business card and then applied a photo filter to give it a bit of tone. All in about 30 seconds.

And all with my iPhone 4.

Here is the original shot (which I cropped using Photogene):

As you can see, the photo is completely in focus, like every iPhone shot. There is no opportunity to create a depth of field on an iPhone, until Big Lens came along.

I have a bunch of iPhone photography apps and I spend a good deal of time playing with and looking for more in my quest to explore the content marketing capabilities of the iPhone.

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Speaking of using an iPhone to create killer blog content -- if you're going to be at BlogWorldLAX this week, I'm giving a presentation on using your iPhone to create awesome blog content. Stop by and if you're not registered yet -- use Martin20 as your discount code (good for 20% off).

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Photo App Review

The app is 99 cents in the app store and the interface is simple. There is a basic function -- which gives  you the ability to set the focus point using a circle (as I did here) or using a horizontal plane (rectangle). My only beef here is that the rectangle extends the entire photo like on a TiltShift app, and in this case, having the ability to just isolate the card with a rectangle would have been cool.

For users that want/need a really high degree of control, there is the advanced function, which lets you isolate any particular area of the photo. It takes a little practice, but you can actually outline the object you want to have in focus and the rest of the photo will go out of focus.

You can also change the f-stop setting from 3.5 to 1.8, which is how you get the blurred background. Lastly, there are a bunch of Instagram type filters that you can add to the photo too.

There is also a handy "compare" button that when pressed shows you the original photograph that you took using the iPhone. This is really handy for seeing the before and after to determine how far you want to go with your editing.

Sharing your iPhone pictures

Sharing is one-click away. The app can save your new photo to your camera roll or you can share directly from the app via eMail, or upload to Facebook, Picasa and Dropbox. I really like the Dropbox integration, which would make it easy for a field photographer to shoot and upload to a home office based blogger that then uses the photos in content marketing creation, like blogs. NOTE: you have to save it to your camera roll if you want the photo in the future. The app seems to keep your retouched photo in some kind of cache that is only available to the app if you don't. 

Best Uses for this photo app

After playing with the app, I have to say it's just perfect for food bloggers, tourism bloggers, restaurant blogs and home decor or real estate blogs/bloggers. Can you think of any other bloggers that would benefit from such an app?

And when you combine the focus and filter effects with the ability to crop shots via other iphone photo apps like Photogene (or in the native app on the new iOS5) the iPhone continues to show itself as an outstanding content marketing creation tool.

So what do you think? Is this the coolest iPhone photography app you've seen? If not, what is... let me know!

 

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