Why Try To Get Out Of Your Box, When You Can Use What's In It?
1. Can a robot do my job? (read)
2. 5 steps to new job opportunities (read, seriously, I’ve read this four times over already)
3. Gen Y Girl (read/follow)
4. Readers expect humor on Facebook, says author of Dallas paper’s funny weather posts (read) Social media angle (read)
5. On being good: the secular virtues (read)
6. How I got fired from a hot startup (read)
7. Don’t let the PR plan block your path to success (read)
What are you teaching?
There is not a single successful business that doesn’t teach something of some sort to their customers or clients, or at least gives the opportunity to learn in some shape or form.
Netflix. Documentaries.
Starbucks. Small talk.
Pursuitist. How-tos.
Barnes & Noble. Self-explanatory.
Inkhouse. PR.
So, I ask again. What are you teaching?
Stay Positive & Businesses Stop Teaching When They Stop Learning
There are two situations for any club, event, outing, etc,.
1) You pay to get in and then you pay for things inside.
2) You don’t pay to get in and then you pay for things inside.
In both circumstances, you pay for things inside, but there is a large mental processing gap when it comes to how much you’re willing to spend inside.
See, the situations you pay to get in, you’re lead to believe everything inside will be cheaper. It’s not. Then you begin to rationalize your purchases, typically beginning with, “Well, it was already $15 to get in…”
On top of that, you may rebut with an example of an all-inclusive package. Supposedly, you pay for the all-inclusive package and everything “inside” is free. Thing is, it’s never free. When you’re inside, you then have to pay for an upgrade or to get the special drink that’s not included in the package or to get into VIP.
Taking a look at the other side
Everyone loves free. In fact, I’d argue they love getting into something free more than having everything inside be free. When you make an exchange with money, the value of the item (perceptional value) increases. That is, people who, say, buy a brat at a brat fest think the brat tastes better than someone who pays to get into the event and then gets the brat for free.
What does this mean for you and me?
It means to let your customers, clients, friends, strangers into your business for free and then charge them for what’s valuable inside. Consider all the business models that incorporate the situation where customers must pay to get in, then everything inside is free. Newspaper subscriptions. Water parks. Strip clubs. Movies.
Having clientele pay for what’s inside and not pay to get inside is not a flawless model (think Netflix), but it’s one worth considering when developing your business plan. One worth arguing about. Perhaps, one worth rebutting (or supporting) in the comments section below.
Stay Positive & Never Underestimate The Power Of In For Free
Your blog is your landing pad. All properties and social media outlets change without your control, but not your blog.
Recently I’ve blogged about independent PR blogs and how to face Goliath, the mass content producing sites like Pursuitist. I was privileged recently to sit in on a talk by Christopher Parr, founder of Pursuitist. I heard the story of how he made Pursuitist what it is now, a success.
Worth noting, not once did he say he couldn’t have done it without the help of all his contributing writers (group blog model). Perhaps he may think it, but I would still respond with disagreement. He could have done it by himself too. Why do I believe that?
Below you will find a list of ways he swears by to create blogging success. Bare with me 10 seconds before you scroll down to read them. As you do read them, ask yourself if you could do the action by yourself. Matters of speed and time aside, it is purely a matter of what you think you can and can’t do. You can take on the content machines. You can.
Chief Content Officer Takeaways:
What do you think? Think you’re up for it. I do.
And again. You don’t need to neglect the benefits of them, by all means participate, but also withhold your own landing pad.
Stay Positive & Imagine David And Goliath As Friends
Networking has officially become a buzzword. Not recently, of course. It is, however, getting more criticism. Some folk are refusing to use the term, thinking of networking as an act, a play to be sure you can get what you want from someone at a later time. Some believe networking is full of fake smiles and insincere it was great meeting yous.
It’s hard to argue about it. Networking really is a game of give and take, except, in networking’s defense, if everyone agrees to it, then is it wrong. (Don’t blow that statement out of proportion.) No one goes into networking events unwilling to give and no one goes into them unwilling to take. It’s not a game of cat and mouse, it’s a game of human interaction.
I do have one bone to pick about networking events. More and more I’m seeing those who attend them not enjoying themselves. They talk to those who they think they should talk to. They will stand talking with one person who they know they don’t connect with. They’ll waste an evening searching for a possible future exchange they can make with someone when it’s not there.
I said everyone at networking events are there to give and take, but each has its limits. Not everyone there will be able to help you, yet we think they will.
It’s not hard to pause in conversation with someone who you’re truly not enjoying conversing with to say, “Excuse me, there is another person I wanted to connect with tonight. If you would like to chat again, here’s my card.” And move on.
Networking, sure, is about putting your talents out there for others and looking for others’ talents you can use, but it’s also for enjoying yourself, making friends, not partners.
Friendship is an exchange too. More valuable, I would be willing to argue, than the skills of someone you meet at the event.
Stay Positive & Enjoy Yourself, Always
I just caught Arik’s article on PR daily suggesting the age of independent PR blogging is over.
He suggested there’s too much noise.
I agree, there is, but the most wonderful attribute of the Internet is those who are the loudest do not rank the highest. It is those who provide the most valuable work who rank the highest. There’s a filtration system for independent PR bloggers. Especially PR bloggers.
If you think you’re part of the noise, you’re not creating enough value, you’re not connecting with humans, you’re not standing out. Like I wrote yesterday, it’s not the person who can juggle more balls or yell louder than the rest who gets the attention, it’s those who get in front, those who make themselves vulnerable and those who create the greatest value who get the attention.
It’s easy to say there is too much noise. It’s a whole lot harder to admit you’re part of it. Noise is what groups of mediocre people make. Noise is cared about only by those who are making it.
He suggested early bloggers have moved on.
They have, but we need to clarify, not just the why, but also the where. They haven’t moved on because independent PR blogging doesn’t pay off, they have moved on because it has. They aren’t off somewhere else trying to get the same results they hoped for from blogging, they’re out there reaping what they sowed in their blogs.
He suggested you beware the content machines
Independent travel bloggers, say, Mike Walsh with flight4sight aren’t afraid of sites like Pursuitist. Consumer centric growth blogger Steven P. Dennis isn’t afraid of content machines. Bernadette Jiwa isn’t afraid of sites like Copyblogger.
Just because there are wandering generalities, content machines, if you will, it does not mean you can’t become a meaningful specific. (HT Ziglar)
Courage is the key ingredient
Writing as an independent PR blogger, I’ve shared all the same concerns as Arik. I’ve feared I wouldn’t make it through the noise, I’ve questioned whether it would be worth it or not, I’ve worried what the point would be of investing so much time in a blog if I knew I would eventually leave it behind (I won’t), and I’ve felt beaten by the content machines out there.
Recall the filtration system I mentioned, all the filters are right there. I understand the fear, the apprehension and the concern. It takes a lot of courage to blog about technology when TechCrunch is out there. But it’s that specific courage that makes you and your blog valuable.
If you’re going to plant any seeds, be sure to see their growth all the way through.
Trends don’t end
Lastly, a note about trends in general. A trend isn’t over if people leave. A trend is only over if people leave for something else, something better. Arik notes Danny is leaving the trend of independent PR blogging for his family. It would be different if Danny was leaving the blogosphere to start a new PR trend.
Spending time with family doesn’t produce the same benefits as an independent PR blog. Trends end when people find an action they can take that has the same benefits as what they were doing PLUS some. Better stated, trends don’t end, they change.
Stay Positive & It’s The Independent PR Bloggers Who Change Them, The Content Machines Simply Follow Suit
I was privileged to exchange a couple of emails with Arik since posting this. It needs a returning note. There are dozens of benefits to establishing a group blog model, benefits an independent blog model doesn’t have. However, it works the other way around too. My final note is a reminder that you can have the best of both worlds. In the early ages of PR blogging, guest blogging gathered attention for multiple bloggers at once. Think of group blogs as guest blogging on steroids. Bloggers never stopped writing for themselves even though they wrote guest blog posts, why should you if you’re also part of a group blog model?
Thanks, Arik.
In the front. Always.
Those who sit in the front of the classroom learn better.
Those who are in the front of the line get the best deals.
Those who perform in the front get noticed.
Not-so-coincidentally, the bold act of being in front, where everyone can see, where you can’t hide a thing, that’s what makes you stand out. It’s not that you’re the loudest or wildest dressed, it’s not that you can juggle 6 balls instead of 5, it’s that you’re in the front.
Very few ever go on a long observational journey looking for you or what you offer. Why bother when they know the best is always right in front of them? Call it lazy, convenient or call it a sifting mechanism. If they know you and 99 other people can hand-toss a delicious pizza, they’ll choose the one in front. Every time.
Stay Positive & Where Are You?
