Zane Safrit

Social Media Links: Dec. 31, 2008

* 50 Websites you've lived without...?!?!.

You'll now know why your life is so empty after you read this list of websites.  But, now you can read them. And fill that emptiness in your life.

And, it's at least cheaper than a pet.

And 2009 is starting to look so promising, now.

From Maria Langer and her eclectic mind...blog.

* Social Media Marketing for Lawyers.

Is that like Social Media for Dummies? Except it's for lawyers? And it's one in a series of books that explain things really, really, simply in language geared towards a specific audience and its knowledge or lack?

Like the rules of social media are different for this profession or it needs a specially titled post to get their attention? I don't know. The article so says 'sue me, the author, for libel and/or slander' for the generic content (and lack of passion).

From rex7.

* FindLaw recommends Twitter.

On the other hand, FindLaw recommends Twitter for lawyers. And being attorneys they know the audience and keep the article crisp, to the point, articulate, with excellent supporting evidence examples.

From rex7.

Note to self: I need to ask Rext why he links to articles hosted by adjix and not the original article. Kinda not cool in a social media etiquette world.

* Six Degrees of Social Media for Entrepreneurs

This is an excellent article with excellent graphics. It's well worth the read. It covers some basic definitions and then shows how social media brings these six degrees down to maybe 3-4.

Now, they did have one section that made me chuckle. Here it is:

In the past, network building has been done in person, followed by telegrams and postal mail, then phone/ pager/ voice mail, then email and now through a variety of online “social media” options.

These electronic options are all variations of “word of mouth” - an ancient form of communication.

Dude. You are so....web 2.0. And web 2.0 is so....2008, really 2007.

First off, in person network building is even more powerful and vital with the spread of digital social media.

Second, word-of-mouth....it's very now. It's the most effective form of marketing, advertising, spreading a brand message because it uses the most trusted network: you and your friends. And word-of-mouth, like in-person networking, plays an even larger role in marketing communications today as it's the only message format that consistently delivers a positive ROI in any market, any industry, any company with the right DNA.

Article is at the GeekPreneur blog.

And we forgive you for that one quirky passage. Here'a s couple of things you can do in 2009 to help your personal brand by networking in the most effective manner:

1. Join The Swom.
2. And get out more often.

* Google quietly coolly launches the What's Hot area. Where's the Most Shared area?

It's a good article that asks why Google chooses to algorithmically determine what's hot, as opposed to crowdsource the data from Google Reader Shared items among its users.

That cool phrase, algorithmically, (I had to spell check it twice and I'm a champion speller in 2nd grade) is so cool...that it's a bit opaque. And That's so antithetical to Google Reader and its sharing feature.

Odd. Google's showing signs of big-company-itis using some super-secret, uber-geek, algorithm (spelled it on my own).

Still, as the blog post reads:

Eventually, I believe that will be a part of Google Reader. And this may well be the first step.

I do, too. I applaud them for not waiting for perfection, throwing something out to the blogosphere to start the discussion and then in later iterations, making it perfect. That IS what you're doing, Google, isn't it?

Link from Jguske.  Funny sidenote about Jguske. I met him in the Vegas airport as I was leaving the BlogWorld Expo this summer. Nice guy, smart, shares lot of good stuff on Twitter. See: in-person networking....it works.

* What are you going to do about your personal brand in 2009?

That's the question that Stephen Nipper asks in his blog The Invent Blog.

And he offers some possibilities to help improve your personal brand. After all, we're living in a BrandYou World now.

And here's three of his 8 suggestions to improve your personal brand oin 2009:

• hire a personal/business coach
• start blogging, even if it is microblogging via Twitter (there are 50+ IP attorneys doing just that already)
• learn to effectively use LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Steve's an attorney. He's an IP attorney.  He doesn't need a social media tutorial. In fact, he could write a tutorial for social media that wold work well with any audience. Even geeks.

Link from Nipper. (That's Steve's username on Twitter.)

* Stop Paying for Focus Groups; Use Twitter, instead.

Yeah, why not? Save a lot of money. Save a lot of time. This here's an article in Advertising Age. So, when they say stop using focus groups, start using Twitter...you should listen. This advice is the advice that bites the hand that feeds it.

Link from Ben McConnell's post at Church of the Customer.

And that's a wrap for 2008. Let's make 2009 a great, great year. We're off to a headstart: nowhere to go but up, at this point. Right?

Note: Some of the titles of articles here have been changed from their original posts in order to protect the innocent reflect what I think they should be.

Wanna generate word-of-mouth? Well, then grow up.

Word-of-mouth is the sign of maturity.

You show you're  able to stand on your own as an independent adult when you make your own decision using your own criteria....and they work. And people talk about what you've done in your life.

And it's no different for a company.

Word-of-mouth, being able to generate it, generating it, sustaining it, re-creating it in the DNA of your company is a sign that your company has grown up. 

It’s a sign that your company and all those involved in its creation and strategy and execution, branding it, making it profitable, delivering the customer’s experience, the employee’s experience....have grown beyond your former me-too strategy adolescence. You  can now make your own decisions using your own criteria. And be  successful.

Me-too strategy adolescence is a phase of business growth marked by mindless conformity to business rules of no use except to large global brands and their desire to protect their market share. These business rules of no use include:

• advertising like everybody else does
• building a website that looks like everybody else
• corporate policies that make everyone act like...no one, really. They inflict conformity on the behavior of all in the company that the life, humanit or personality or strength, is sucked out of all those people. And the brand.
• HR policies meant to insure the importance of HR
• Charging the same for fear a different price might change something.
• products with me-too features.
• Bloated advertising budgets (see GM)
• rigid customer service policies
• customer service measured by the number of calls handled, not the number of customers made loyal
• innovation by committee.
• employee productivity measured by units produced per hour, not solutions per employee
• employee hiring costs measured by recruiter expenses not referrals from employees
• Changing the community’s needs to meet the company's goals

Your company shows it’s matured past these phase when its own identity is measured in your unique features, in the passion of your members for their mission, when your company's decisions are based on your goals and their match for your community.

And that’s when word-of-mouth is generated by its customers. That company has done something truly unique, worthy of discussion, admirable, inspiring, crazy, different, and it works!

And their parents and friends and siblings...all talk about it with awe and respect and inspiration.

The odd part is that every company has its family and friends and parents and siblings anxiously waiting for it to take this step, to show it’s grown up, matured, able to make its own way.

But so many companies never do. Kinda like the sibling that always made good grades and ended up working for someone else. They opted for security. But no one talks about them or their failures or successes.

That’s the point: no one talks about them. Word-of-mouth is when people talk about you.

If you want to generate word-of-mouth: grow up. Be an adult. Move out of your parents house. Make your own way. Make it your own way. Do something that will inspire people to talk about you. And they will, too.

Small Business Social Media Starter Kit

A friend and colleague of mine shared a complaint common to many small business. She needs a social media program for her company and at the same time she lacks the resources, time and money, to launch and sustain that needed social media program. The time restrictions are hers as CEO, and, like all small businesses, cash is precious.

I created a simple social media starter kit for her. It has the features of low-cost, low-risk, manageable requirements to execute that should generate benefits in a range of areas.

 Here it is, the Small Business Social Media Starter Kit:

RESOURCES:

Student Intern. College or high school student. The work experience for them is invaluable. Many schools encourage internships with local companies and include professional internships as a graduation requirement. Students will likely already be fluent with the social media tools needed and listed below. And oftentimes, there is no salary requirement for the intern. They work for free.

Blog. You’ll need a blog. Most hosted websites and the aps used to create them have a blog component easily attached. If not, use a service like Typepad. With a 3rd party hosted blog resource like Typepad you’ll pay no more than $15.00 a month. 

Google Alerts. Create Google Alerts for news and blogs. There’s the source of your blogging and Twitter commentary and community-building outreach.

Twitter. Create a Twitter account.

EXECUTION

Initiate: Have the intern organize these materials and resources.
Review: Review all of these steps with the intern as they are completed.

Blog:

1. Brand the blog with your corporate logo. A good designer can brand your blog, even on a 3rd party hosted resource, with your corporate logo and link it back to your company site. I did that with a company and 50% of the traffic to the corporate site came from visitors to the blog.
2. Have the intern write the drafts of your blog posts.
3. You can review them any time.
4. Once finalized you can schedule them to be published at a later date of your choice.
5. Prepare and schedule a minimum of 3 blog posts to be published weekly.

Google Alerts:

1. Create Google news and blog alerts using keywords pertinent to your company, your industry, your market, your interests.
2. These will provide the source for your blogging and Twitter posts.
3. They will also prove valuable for crowdsourcing market research.
4. Have the Google alerts sent to you, also, to start. (It's educational for you as well as a good management oversight step.)

Twitter:

1. Create a username/profile: The username should absolutely be your company name, unless you're the person tweeting. Then you have the option to Twitter under your name with the create two Twitter usernames: one for your company and one for you.
2. The bio should point to your company, including your desired URL. 
3. Subscribe, ie, follow your company's Twitter username.
   1. Again, it's a good oversight step and will educate you in a time-efficient way for the power of Twitter.
   2. That means you will have to setup a twitter account.
4. Tweet daily. Morning - Noon - Night. (Total time: 15 minutes, per day, tops)
5. Follow the 80/20 rule of Ben McConnell:
   
   1. 80% of your tweets are NOT about you.
6. Search Twitter regularly. Use search.twitter.com. Regularly means...once a week at this point. Use the same keywords, and in the same manner, as  you use with your google alerts.

BUDGET

• Intern - $0
• Blog - $15.00 per month
• Designer:  $300.00 to brand your blog with your logo and link it to your site or add the blog to your existing site.
• Twitter: zero
• Google Alerts: 0
• Your time: 10 hours the first week; 3-5 hours per week thereafter.
• Results: Priceless. Traffic, community, conversation, prospects, enhanced brand image, and possible future savings from lower advertising budgets, free organic bite-sized market research with crowdsourcing on twitter and your blog.

SUMMARY

 Let's assume you have a product or service or mission worth sharing in an open, transparent, manner. That means others will want to hear about it as it adds value to their day.  Let's assume you can learn these simple skills to manage an online conversation. I think you will: A. be delighted with the results over time; B. Find the resources to expand this beyond a starter kit (hint: hire the intern). 

Regardless, let us know how it works. Other companies need your example, your inspiration, with success. Other companies need to know what to avoid or change if this plan does not produce the desired results. At the very least, I need to learn from my failure with this plan.

Happy New Year.

Huh?

English, please. Er, regular people's English, please.

Link from Strumpette: the Naked Journal of PR.

BlogTalk Radio for 2009

2008 marked the start of a new initiative for me: talkshow radio host. I started talking regularly with experts in small business, social media, customer evangelism, innovation and even Miss America - 2008 where we talked about healthcare.

Here's a list of all of the guests who shared their expertise in these areas. You can click on the name of each guest to listen in streaming mode.

The list here is in chronological order starting with my very first guest:

* David Zinger from the Employee Engagement Community

* Jackie Huba co-author/co-founder of the Customer Evangelists blog and TheSwom, or The Society of Word-of-Mouth and Creating Customer Evangelists and Citizen Marketers: When People Are the Message with Ben McConnell.

* Andy Brudtkuhl of Iowaflood.com, 48webconsulting, getanewbrowser and youmetandy.

* Drew McLellan of Drew's Marketing Minute blog and one of the organizers of The Age of Conversation.

* John Cass, author of Strategies and Tools for Corporate Blogging and blogs at PR Communications and one of the researchers/organizers behind the Blogging Success Study sponsored by Backbone Media and Northeastern University.

* Krishna De, founder of Biz Growth News and its blog, instigator and founder of PodCamp Ireland, Chair and host of the globally-acclaimed A Brand You World global telesummit in 2007.

* Yvonne DiVita, founder of Windsor Media Enterprises, blogger at LipSticking, author of Dickless Marketing: Smart Marketing to Women Online.

* Paul Chaney, CEO of IBNMA, International Blogging and New Media Association and VP of Marketing at Bizzuka, blogger at Conversational Media Marketing

* Jake McKee, of the Community Guy blog and Chief Ant Wrangler at Ant's Eye View.

* John Moore from Brand Autopsy blog, author of Tribal Knowledge, Lessons Learned from Working Inside Starbucks

* Patrick O'Keefe, founder of iFroggy Networks, an internet network of content, community and e-commerce sites covering various interests, and author of Managing Online Forums.

* Tom Fishburne, author This One Time at Brand Camp and Brand Camp Cartoonist and Marketing Guy

* Dan Schawbel,  author of Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success and Personal Branding blog. 

* Anita Campbell, CEO and publisher of Small Biz Trends and Small Biz Trends Radio. 

* Bob Graboyes,  Senior Health Advisor on healthcare for the NFIB, National Federation of Independent Business.

* Michelle Miller, author of Wonderbranding: Notes on Marketing and Women blog, Wizard of Ads partner and refugee from snow.

* Becky McCray, author of Small Biz Survival, a Top 100 business blog and Small Business Ideas for Small Towns (the inspiration for my ebook) 

* Kirsten Haglund, Miss America - 2008

* Gregg Fraley, author of Jack's Notebook, one of da innovise guys podcast team, and a creativity and innovation expert.

* Brad Smart, Ph.D., author of Topgrading: How Leading Companies Win by Hiring, Coaching and Keeping the Best People and The Smart Interviewer and creator and coach for Topgrading day-long seminars. 

I will continue to schedule more interviews with guest experts in business, marketing, innovation and more. Contact me here in the comments, if you'd like to be a guest on the show in 2009.

Happy New Year!

2009 is the year your business will do [x]

John Jantsch at Duct Tape Marketing asked a fascinating question of small business marketing experts: 2009 is the year small business will do... .

He asked that they reply in microblog or twitter-like fashion with  small bites of info, think twitter sized responses - Plain and simple. Twitter-sized responses would be sized at 140 characters or less (including spaces).

My favorite two responses are:

Seth Godin, author of Tribes said . . Run/grow/compete like mad because the big bad companies that have been slowing you down are in such disarray.  - Squidoo page

David Meerman Scott, author of The New Rules of Internet Marketing, said... stop spending $$ on marketing. Instead create interesting information people WANT to consume. - Twitter ID

My thoughts are:

Bring our economy out of this recession because....nobody else can. Small business is the driver of job creation.

What are your thoughts? Finish the sentence: 2009 is the year small business will....

Massachusetts Plan Creates Near Universal Coverage

97.4 percent of Massachusetts residents now have [health] insurance, compared with 90 percent when the law was passed in 2006. - Boston Globe

So...without change we'll see MORE Americans without health insurance and by default access to affordable healthcare.

Here's a plan that mandates nearly all individuals have health insurance of some sort. Insurance is mandated for ownership of cars and homes. Why not mandate insurance for healthcare?

My costs of healthcare are higher because a growing number of people require healthcare but are unable to afford it. Back-in-the-day, car insurance was so expensive because not everyone was required to have it. Those who could afford it, ended up paying higher premiums for higher costs. That all changed as all car owners were required to have car insurance.

What's the difference?

For an opposing viewpoint on the Massachusetts Plan, here's Why The Massachusetts Solution is No Solution.

Healthcare Change: Medicare Coverage for All?

A detailed report issued by the Congressional Budget Office comparing health care reform options found that a plan to allow Americans to buy into Medicare before turning 65 would lead to more people with health coverage and lower costs than private insurance coverage. CBO Predicts Medicare Public Buy-In Would Lead to Higher Insured Rates and Lower Costs...

So...more people with access to affordable healthcare AND lower costs. Huh.

That would be a positive change.

We've Mandated Change in Our Healthcare System

With no changes to the current system,

* health care spending will account for 25% of the gross domestic product in 2025, compared with 16% in 2007, CBO said (New York Times, 12/19).

*  the number of uninsured will rise to about 54 million in 2019. (That's an increase of 7-9 million or 15-20%.

With no changes we have 20% more people without health insurance (not receiving healthcare) and at the same time the percentage of our GDP devoted to the care of fewer Americans will rise by 50% (9 percentage point increase, from 16% to 25% = over 50% increase).

What kind of a system creates these results?

• 20% fewer customers and 50% higher costs? 

People talk about the inefficiencies of government sponsored healthcare....Could an universal-coverage system create inefficiencies worse than that? 

 We, you and I, have mandated major changes in our healthcare system. How, you ask? By idly allowing the creation of the system we have now.

Think about it. Think about how we grow our way out of this recession if a greater percentage of our GDP is devoted to the costs of our healthcare and if fewer Americans receive adequate healthcare meaning a less healthy and less productive workforce, community and nation?

Link: Medical News Today: CBO Reports Analyze Major Healthcare Proposals

Public healthcare funding: the same hand giveth and taketh?

Already, 19 states -- including Maryland and Virginia -- and the District of Columbia have lowered payments to hospitals and nursing homes, eliminated coverage for some treatments, and forced some recipients out of the insurance program completely.- Washington Post's States Cut Medicaid Coverage Further

Although the number of uninsured and the cost of coverage have ballooned under his watch, President Bush leaves office with a health care legacy in bricks and mortar: he has doubled federal financing for community health centers, enabling the creation or expansion of 1,297 clinics in medically underserved areas. - NY Times, Expansion of Clinics Shapes* Bush Legacy

The same hand giveth and taketh away. And yet, even in giving, it leaves a lot to be desired. Rising numbers of Americans are turning to government funded healthcare programs, rising numbers of Americans are going without health insurance, without healthcare, with reduced healthcare, cutting back on needed prescriptions.

* I think the correct operative term here would be 'offsets'. Expansion of Clinics Offsets Bush Legacy.

Joe, Leon, Mad Dogs, Englishmen: The Letter

The horn section, Leon's piano, Joe's singing...Jeez.

Happy New Year!

Story of the Week: Israel, Gaza, Hamas, Palestine

Hamas sent hundreds of missiles into communities in Southern Israel in recent days and weeks.

Israel responds with bombings and maybe infantry troops.

Hundreds dead, thousands traumatized, oil prices ratchet up, world powers begin to pick sides, Iran jumps in, more military sales deliver more military tools to be used and fewer alternatives to their use and devastation....

It's Groundhog Day in the Middle East...and for everyone in the world. Only in this movie, real people are really dying.

Happy New Year.

Links from any major media outlet. Here's a few of my preferences:

Debka is a good source of news about the Middle East. It has a pro-Israeli perspective. But its news sources have proven to be quite good over the past 7 years I've followed it with mainstream media reporting the same stories, but weeks later with much less depth. They have a Gaza War Diary section devoted exclusively to this current Gaza War.

Gaza Diary. The Gaza War seen through the eyes of a Palestinian living in Rafah, the south end of Gaza.

I'm sure there are diaries of civilians living in Beersheba, and other cities in Israel under the attack of Hamas missiles.

AlJazeera news site and on twitter as AJGaza.

Update, 1/3/2009: Israeli troops await the order to enter Gaza.

Apple Abandons MacWorld

Apple announces that MacWorld Expo 2009 will be the last MacWorld Expo it attends. And the icon/CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs,  will not keynote the MacWorld  Expo 2009.

All good things must come to an end. And the MacWorld - Apple thing has been beddy, beddy good for both parties... and everyone associated with these organizations.

And so now it comes to an end.

I understand the destructive part of the creative, innovative process. I'm just not sure the timing of its role in this very productive relationship of Apple, Steve Jobs and MacWorld.

I'm trying to figure this one out. Help me with your comments.

I'll try to understand itwith a comparison to my meager world. Let's say there was an event called....ZaneSafrit World Expo. All items ZaneSafrit related are promoted, displayed, discussed, mashedup and...sold.

It's proved to be the perfect venue for me...Zane Safrit, one and the same, to announce some new creation I've created in secret.  The announcement always dazzles my audience. 

Thousands of devotees flock annually to this event.

Millions more read about their experiences on blogs and mainstream media reports. Who knows how many personal conversations take place about this, MY, event.

Huge amounts of free press for me, Zane Safrit, and my devotees' devotion to me....and my products, trinkets, creations ( and their mashups of them) that they share. You can't buy better PR. Nor is there a better way to generate sales...

And it costs me nothing to produce. I have a big display booth there. But...it's comp'd. Why? The event is about me and my.  Me and my creations. Me and my audience of devotees.

But, now in 2009, Zane Safrit (I'm speaking in the 3rd person now....as that's always a sign of importance) has decided that Zane doesn't need to attend the event devoted to ...him, me.

Instead, I want to control it all....I'll create my own expos, at my expense,  where I'll announce my creations. Besides, why should a 3rd-party  sponsored event generate success for itself... celebrating my creations and creating a venue where my fans can gather in my name to discuss their devotion of me, mine, and their love of it all.  Without me they wouldn't have a venue. So...there.

And I'll call it...what... AppleWorld?

I think this is a failure in the making which we'll all learn from shortly.

(I'm wondering if this isn't a smokescreen to hide failing health of Mr. Jobs. His decision to not keynote this year is the prelude to the divorce of Apple and MacWorld. Then, later....Apple renews its commitment to MacWorld after the news of his failing health has been managed/controlled for minimal impact on the brand and its stock price.)

Social Media Links: December 24, 2008

Here's the social media links from the previous week. Most of these I found on ...Twitter.

* The Five Stages of Twitter Acceptance.

(It's only appropriate that I start with this.) The post is by Rohit Bhargava at his Influential Marketing blog. Rohit posits the 5 stages of twitter acceptance are:

• Denial
• Presence
• Dumping
• Conversing
• Microblogging

Seems pretty clear, complete. What do you think? Which stage are you? I'm around conversing and microblogging. I'm not sure I'm doing either well. But, we're all learning together. You can follow me, instruct me, help me, and maybe me do the same for you,  on Twitter at zanesafrit.

einspruch tweeted this link.

* 8 Ways that Twitter Can Help Grow Your Freelance Business.

And you, in the first two stages of Twitter Acceptance thought Twitter was merely digital crack or email (and it's distractions) on steroids or a productivity impediment (work you slaves!)

It's not. And this post is a great one that explains in calm, non-messianic language a few ways that Twitter is a powerful resource for growing your business.

Darren Rowse shared this list at TwiTips blog.

DaveBenjamin tweeted this link.

* The Community Crushes a Facebook Scam.

With a digital roar, the members of the tribe (Facebook Community) exposed CollegeProwler.com for using fake identities, shills, and other sleazy tactics to create hundreds of Facebook groups meant to deceive students and cash in on university brand names.

Andy Sernovitz blogged this story of Brad Ward, Squared Peg blog, and his investigation. Andy says Brad's story is fascinating. It is. Read it.

Sernovitz tweeted this story.

* Twitterholic

Who's the biggest reindeer? Who knows. But with Twitterholic you can discover who's the biggest....tweindeer of them all! Twitterholic will show you who has the most followers on Twitter, globally. And you can search by location, too, to find who's the biggest tweindeer this season in your.

Note: if 'Fairfield' was found on Twitterholic, I'd be the biggest Tweindeer this season in Fairfield, Iowa. Oh. Maybe I need to add that to my profile. Maybe not.

I do have Iowa on my profile location. But Iowa's not found either.

 

Wow. An ugly reminder how I live in total fly-over country, even in digital media....(Yes, I'll take cheese with this whine...and I'll grin big and bold while enjoying them both.)

Sernovitz tweeted this story. He's in the top 10 tweindeer for Chicago. That's even higher than Gov. Blago...(hey, hiya dthoooin').

* Building Community.

From little things, big things grow is an excellent post at A List Apart. It's about all the little things, the little decisions, most read as the little decisions to NOT interfere/restrict/burden/restrict....that go into building a viable online community.  They profile the creators of Flickr throughout the post. Fascinating.

The link was from Richard Millington at Fever Bee blog.

Becky McCray, SmallBiz Survival, shared another article from Fever Bee.

That's how I found the site and his link to this excellent article.

* That's All Folks.

It's Christmas Eve. Whatever you celebrate, whomever you celebrate, tonight be sure to make it wonderful.

Word-of-Mouth: It's a cycle of giving

I gave a short presentation on word-of-mouth yesterday. No powerpoint slides, no whiteboard.  I had 45 minutes of material with examples of brands that grow through no advertising, brands that spend $1.5 billion in advertising and need bailout money, and ways to create WOW in your customers with big things/game-changers and small and personal steps.

One of the issues or questions I knew would be asked is What's the difference between word-of-mouth and referral marketing?

Tactically, I was clear on the difference. The first, WOM, is generated solely at the leisure and discretion of your customers.  You give them something valuable, something that WOWs them, WOW them consistently,  they can't help but share that story. They talk about you. It's natural. That's word-of-mouth.

Referral based marketing is different. The company is asking the customer to do them a favor. Referrals are generated with follow-up phone calls, emails, special offers with tell-a-friend links, etc. The company asks for a favor from their customer. Some have earned it. Some haven't. But, in essence the company asks for a favor: "Our business depends on referrals. We appreciate your referrals. Who do you know....?" That kind of thing.

See the difference? One's giving. The company wants to give a WOM experience to their customers. They devote themselves to understanding the needs of their customers. As a result, the company knows what extra feature or tidbit or step or tactic or benefit would add meaning to their customer's day. And they deliver it. Little to no fanfare is used. The focus is on giving to the customer.

One's holding a hand out asking for a favor. Can you do me a favor and tell me your friends' name who may want our service?

The first one, the word-of-mouth company, creates a cycle of giving. The company gives a WOW to its employees. The employees give a WOW to the customers. The customers share that WOW with their friends. Their friends call the company, already pre-qualified and excited, and give that WOW back to the employee when they tell the employee "our friend, your customer told us how much they loved your business".

The second one, the referral-based marketing, creates a cycle of interruptions. The company interrupts the employee to remind them they need to go out and ask for referrals. The employee interrupts the customer to ask for referrals. The company then interrupts the friends of their customers with uninvited sales calls.

Which cycle creates trust and loyalty with both customers and employees?

Which cycle creates a sustainable business model?

Which cycle do you create?

Handwritten Thank-You Notes

Larry Port of Rocket Matter tweeted me this morning that he's spending this morning handwriting notes to his employees. Thanking them. Wishing them Happy Holidays.

It was just a perfect way to start my day.

Handwritten thank-you notes are a simple touch. Don't require much time. Very personalized. VERY personal.

It's the step of a good leader, one who cares, one who's thankful. Genuinely thankful.

Now...let's imagine working for him, coming to work, finding his hand-written note on your desk, on Christmas Eve. Or any day for that matter.

How would our day be different? How would our life be different?

Now...let's imagine we're the boss and maybe we are, maybe we're a parent or a spouse or a friend or a leader...how would we change the day of those around us with a simple hand-written note? Just saying, thanks.

I'll start. (It's not hand-written, here. But it's a start. ) Thanks for reading this blog. Thanks for writing your blogs. Thanks for sharing your comments. Thanks for what you, we, are doing to make 2009 great.

Insurance Companies Beware: Someone that matters may be listening

Secret shoppers have hit the insurance industry. WSJ's healthcare blog reports Uncle Sam may be a secret shopper with the health insurance industry.

So...if you’re an insurance company promoting your Medicare Advantage plan during open-enrollment season beware. The person you are pitching may be a “secret shopper” with a government badge and a license to listen.

That struck me as oddly revealing. It's not the consumers the health insurance industry has to fear may be listening....it's that someone with power may be listening. That's the problem with our healthcare system. We, the consumer, have no power, no voice.  We, the users of this system are the ones whose opinions, reports, complaints, matter the least.  And it's no surprise that this industry is the most dysfunctional.

Tough Times Tip: Song to Sing When We're Scared

(Ok. I'm well past worrying if I'm dorky. Or should I say I'm well post being confirmed as dorky.)

 ZeFrank offers a song to sing when...we're scared.

I know none of us are scared these days. (chest puff, cough, shout 'yeah, that's right!') 

But...if you know of any entrepreneurs, startup leaders, big corporate leaders, employees, unemployed...spouses, children...you know the proverbial others who may be scared at times, here's a song that helps:

8 Tips to Survive and Thrive Today

1. Invest in Your Employees.

The most valuable, the most productive, asset for every company is the employee. The employee is the asset that creates the strategy and then executes it to deliver the brand that makes the customers happy who tell their friends who become customers who experience the brand who tell their friends...The employee finds innovative solutions to new challenges, works the long hours away from their family, finds new products...A company builds shareholder equity as it increases the value of its assets over its liabilities. An investment in your employees generates the best ROI.

I've shared 16 ways to invest in your employees, without spending a dime  in free ebook Employees: Worth their Weight in Gold.

Future Action Step: Create incentives that are meaningful for your employees and that reward reaching the right goals for your company.

2). Invest in Your Customers.

• Reach out and call them. You, the CEO. Call your customers. Find what they need.
• Then go find a solution.
• Treat their every call like it’s an emergency. It will be if you don’t.
• Empower your employees to make them happy.
• Incentivize your employees to make them happy.
• You’re creating the most powerful and cost-effective sales force: customer evangelists.

3) Cut Costs.

• Open the kimono, as Guy Kawasaki has said. Show them the numbers.
• Show them how it effects them, why they should care and why they should believe.
• You've already incentivized them.
• Let them participate, now.

4). Keep Advertising.

No need to increase advertising. That budget is better spent with incentives for your employee’s reaching the right goals.

Keep advertising. Your message will naturally fill the void from the silence left by  your competitors fading away.

5) Network, Network, Network

Now’s the time to reach out for partners, vendors, idea sources, influentials, innovators, new products and services. Network, network, network.
With social media tools like blogs, twitter, linkedin....all free...your network of resources can quickly reach global.
And so can your solutions. And so can your marketplace.

6). Broadcast Your Story....LIVE!

• Every small company has an unique story to tell.
• You solve unique challenges. You have unique products and services.
• Each employee can have a direct and personal influence on your brand, internally and externally. That differentiates you from those global, impersonal, brands.
• Use free resources like blogs and podcasts, digital videos and twitter.

7) Now’s the Time to Hire.

Refugees from faceless corporate brands are free and motivated to work for an inspired company. ( That's your company, right? ) They bring talent and training, also, which someone else paid for.

Upgrade your talent pool and hire these A-players.

Brad Smart from Topgrading shared this tip when we spoke together on BlogTalk Radio.   You can listen to the full conversation here.

8) You. Manage Yourself to Lead by [Positive] Example.

 Now, more than ever, your leadership skills will be critical to your organization’s success. People depend even more on their leaders in times of change.

Manage yourself so that you can lead by positive example every day, so that you can be there for them.

I blogged my list of tips to insure focus.

These are tips that work for me. You'll find others, more, less, that work for you. Use this as a starting point to define your own set of tips that let you lead with the right example: strength, clarity, focus, patience.

Your Small Business Glass: 2/3 empty, 1/3 full

What's your small business glass holding? One sip more than back-wash? You're swirling it around making sure you get it all mixed in for that last gulp 'fore you toss it back and...give up?

Well, you're not drinking alone, if you are. ( Some days I'm there, too. )

And you've got great data to back you up; just read the papers. They make their money with bad news. But the news is so bad now even they're going out of business. (Strange days, indeed! Most peculiar...Nobody told me there'd be days like these*.)

Steve King at MyVenturePad reminds us that...1/3 of small business sees the glass as full, brimming with opportunity.  He writes:

The primary reasons the optimistic firms see opportunities in the recession are:

1.  Their customers are looking for ways to cut costs, boost productivity and do more with less.
2.  Their prospects are re-evaluating all aspects of their business.
3.  The optimistic firms believe their business position is enhanced due to weaker competitors facing financial problems.

How do you, we, help customers and prospects cut costs, boost productivity, do more with less?

How are you, we, helping our prospects AND our customers re-evaluate their business needs? Yes. Help them. Help them. Help them. And in that process of helping you become their ally AND you discover their needs. Presto: there's your new product line. Presto-2: there's your newest loyal customer who's out shouting your praise with their friends...your future customers.

Cash is king. Cash-flow makes kings. Make sure you're the king, you stay the king, with keeping and growing positive cash-flows.

* John Lennon, Strange Days Indeed