Yesterday I spoke at the University of Maryland’s “Graduate Research Interaction Day 2014” (go terps). It was a great opportunity and I enjoyed it very much. It did get me thinking about how many of us consciously build our brands. This will be the first of three blog post on the subject of branding yourself.
Finding what you are passionate about is the first step in creating a personal brand that stands out. Figure out what you love and why you do it. A great video on Ted.com by Simon Sinek discusses the golden circle and encourages us to find our passion. What is branding? It’s building a relationship and engaging people—it’s a conversation.
Most people know “what” they do. Some know “how” they do it. Few know “why”. I challenge you to think about what your why is. What motivates you? Why do get up in the morning? And why does it matter?
Finding out your “why” and your passion will allow to stand out. A lot of people find it hard (and it is) to really stand up for what they believe in. Because this so rare, we value those that express what they are passionate about.
Safety is boring—average and ordinary are not memorable. It’s important to take risks.
Sure as humans we all want to fit in. But when it comes to your professional career, you want to be remembered top of mind.
It’s also important to know who is listening to your message. Who are the people with whom your message resonates? These are the people that share your worldview–that ones that have the same beliefs and values. These are the people that speak your language….find them NOW! Those are the people that will understand your kind of crazy. Embrace them and form your tribe.
Yesterday we saw the acquisition of Instagram for $1B or did we? What did Facebook really buy? A photo sharing application? Hardly. Facebook did not buy Instagram. What Facebook bought was far more valuable. They bought engagement through human connection and emotion. Every time we (you & me) take a picture with Instagram, there is an emotional connection that occurs. We are instantly curious. Our minds can often take us into the picture where we start imagining our own world, our own story.
Have you ever been on Facebook and started to randomly look at pictures of friends of friends? Practically strangers, yet so fascinating. Is it because we are nosy? Well, maybe. But I think something bigger is at play. As human beings, we have many forms of communication. The most powerful being the visual. At the end of the day, the way we interpret an image or a picture…
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In this day and age, there is nothing more powerful than a customer testimonial and/or a professional recommendation. This is especially true for a site like Linkedin. Even if you don’t own technically own a small business, getting a recommendation from someone you have worked with is just as powerful as a customer testimonials. After all, aren’t your colleagues, supervisors, clients, subordinates and others really your “customers”? The point is, your reputation in business is your brand. Maintaining your brand value is important. Below are some tips for obtaining the most powerful customer testimonials and/or professional recommendations.
What do you find to be a useful way to get customer testimonials or professional recommendations?
Remember that customer testimonials are a big part of having a strong online presence. Speaking of which, npersona is hosting a FREE event regarding this subject on June 6th from 7 PM to 9PM in Arlington, VA. Sign up now! http://www.eventbrite.com/event/3492575387
Follow us on twitter @npersona or email us with questions npersonaservices@gmail.com
Google just announced that it will kill its “Google Places” offering in favor of a new version on Google+ called “Google+ Local”. Why does this matter? It is interesting that Google has decided to build out its business listing service on its very own social network. What this can potentially lead to is for Google to essentially create a “Place Book”. Basically, a social network for businesses to rival Facebook’s consumer based social network. Imagine if you will, a network where a small business could go to interact with other small businesses, say its suppliers or its partners. This would create a one stop shop where a business owner can get all their needs met.
Now, add in Zagat and you have a powerful draw for consumers as well. Zagat reviews are valuable because of their rating methodology. It is considered much more reliable because they are based on surveys. The reason this matters to consumers? Simple. Yelp reviews can be skewed to favor the loudest person on the site. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out how to game the system. It is as easy as putting an add on Craig’s List and hiring a “Yelper” to write reviews for your business. I am not suggesting that this is the case with every review, but it can happen. Furthermore, businesses like Zagat for the same reason, objective reviews. I have heard small businesses complain that Yelp will not accept some positive reviews because it doesn’t “deem” them real. Then, the company asks the small businesses for money to include the positive reviews on Yelp. Not sure if this is true or not but I do know some small businesses are not fans of Yelp.
The other important consideration is Location, Location, Location! By making its “business listings” part of its social network, Google will be able to more easily encourage and prompt business owners to update their information. This is the same information that is included in Google MAPS. The search giant will also be able to incorporate this into its mobile strategy. The fact is that 20% of searches done in Google are for places nearby. This is huge! And will only continue to climb. In addition, 40% of all searches on Google are for “Local” businesses. This represents almost $2 Billion per month.
Overall, I think this was the best strategy Google could have taken. It will definitely increase the ad spend from local, small businesses. While Google+, when compared to Facebook, may be the smaller of the two social networks, it certainly promises to be the most profitable.
What do you think? Did Google make the right move? Tell us!
Remember to stay in the conversation email us at npersonaservices@gmail.com or follow us on twitter @npersona
NOTE: This was first published in February of this year.
Tomorrow we are launching our new video series designed to help small businesses learn from experts in startups, small business and marketing. We are excited that our first guest will be Josh Konowe, CEO and founder of Uppidy a mobile app that lets you store and share your text messages for free. The video can be found at the end of this post.
With that in mind, I wanted to write a post and give small business tips on how to use some mobile marketing strategies.
Mobile SMS Marketing Campaigns
These types of campaigns can be easy to implement and fairly affordable, I have seen pricing as low as $15 with a one year contract. Reaching consumers on their phones can be an easy way for businesses to stay top of mind with consumers. Here are some tips to make…
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Recently, I have been doing research on the topic of positive psychology. The essence of positive psychology is to focus on strengths and virtues. Traditional marketing focuses on the customer problem–the negative. Businesses bring a solution to the problem–the positive. Positive psychology advocates focusing on customer strengths–the positive. Businesses are encouraged to enhance customer strengths with their solutions–another positive. The field is still young and largely unexplored. However, the impact of positive psychology on individuals has enhanced performance & productivity. In my opinion, this is enough to at least explore how the principles of positive psychology can be applied to business and more specifically to marketing.
Today’s consumer is more inclined to develop brand loyalty to companies with a purpose. In other words, people today are looking for companies that have “values”. It is no longer enough for your product to “solve a problem” your brand has to stand for something. There has to be meaning in your brand. From wikipedia, the character strengths and virtues that positive psychology aims at is the following:
Ask yourself, how do your products enhance your customers lives? What is the positive that your products or services bring to the table? Focus on your customers strengths and add to them. What do you think about positive psychology?
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