Growth Catalyst, Leadership Development and Team Builder
2010 Book Reading List – 1st load
I have a habit of buying many books at once – in bulk. Thanks to nice folks giving me BN.com gift cards, this is my first load of books for 2010. Here’s to happy reading!
Justin's "to read" stack – January 2010
Job Titles are Obsolete in 2010 and Beyond.
What’s your title? What’s your skill? Is it one or two things, or maybe three things? If so, you’re in trouble over the next 10 years.
The days of being a “plumber” or an “artist” are gone. No more and never again will a person be able to be just one thing and be successful. Now and moving forward, you must be multiversatile – capable of many things across many fields competently.
You already see it in the local business owner who is the accountant, the salesman, the customer service rep, the help desk, and the human resources department. But it’s not just for business owners anymore. Now it’s the regular guys. The $10/hr guys.
The guys who will get ahead will be the ones who learn to express their ideas in a blog, an audio clip or a video – even if they are not “writers” or “camera men”. The guys who will win are the ones who learn to setup a website, a hosting account, and a wireless network – even if they are not “programmers” or “network engineers”. The guys who will have more accounts, more sales and better reputations will be the guys using facebook, twitter, along with teleseminars and local conferences – even if they are not “social media consultants”.
As we go forward, titles are pointless. If you want to win, you must be bigger than any job title and be able to demonstrate the ability to cross a wide spectrum of skills that were never before required. The good news is if you do it now, you’ll still be with the pack or maybe even ahead of the pack – for a little while.
What are you doing to blow up your job title and explode with success?
Here’s 7 things you can do:
// Edit // See Bernie Bay’s thoughts on the future of business and predictions on the next decade.
Leaders are Readers My 2009 Book List
So, two blog post got me thinking about the books I’ve read this year. One from Annie Sorenson which I misstated the books I’ve read and another from Lauren Leto where I ribbed her for not having any business books on her list.
Anyway, I am often asked “how I know what I know” and while I’d like to take credit for having a huge brain, vast intelligence and an uncanny ability to see the world in a way no one else does, I simply can’t tell that lie. The truth is, a lot of what I know and the insights I have is because of what I choose to read. I then apply these insights into my world view and cement them in real life examples of my own – making them my own, but most of what I know is seeded from great books. I typically read 3 or 4 books at one time. That seems to keep me the most interested and also allows me to cover several topics at one time.
I’ve found that books on business, self improvement, sales and just about anything else are truly the cliff notes to success. All you have to do is invest some of your time and attention and a few bucks and you can learn what took someone else countless hours of personal experience and research to create. Reading books is so much smarter, faster, and more insightful than college classes. Of course, it’s worthless if you don’t apply what you read or learn and it doesn’t matter if you are reading books that only serve an entertainment purpose.
I think I’ve covered all the books from this year. The following is my list of books from 2009.
Liesure reading:
So what are you reading? Do you agree that books are better than college? What do you recommend I read in 2010?
8 Must Know About Social Media Search Tools
I’m often asked by business owners, friends and even other marketers about recommended tools for social media and websites. Here is a quick list of social media search tools you really must know about.
Google Analytics – This free analytics tool will tell you everything you need to know about your website traffic, pageviews, source of visitors, and so much more. It’s free to signup and easy to use.
BlogTracker by IceRocket – This free analytics tool is geared to serve blogs only. A good tool that works directly with IceRocket.
Google Alerts – This is an easy and powerful tool that lets you setup keywords or phrases to keep track of and Google will tell you every time those words or phrases are used in new posts online. Great way to be notified when your brand name, company, product, blog or real name gets used and where. Good for spotting trends, seeking out issues for damage control, or staying up to speed on a developing topic.
Google Blogsearch – Pretty straightforward use of Google Search technology only its applied to the spectrum of blog posts as opposed to the entire spectrum of the web. Search for a keyword of phrase and you will find blogs that match your search.
Blogpulse – A blog search engine that offers a variety of ways to search blogs, see blogging trends and blogging statistics. This service is offered by Nielsen and reports to have 126.4 Million blogs indexed (as of today). This tool offers so many ways to slice and dice your data that you really need to see the benefits and uses here.
Technorati – A blog search engine that is free to use and very popular. It also reports top blogs overall and lets you surf by popular categories. If you want to know what’s being talked about today, look to Technorati for the jump start.
IceRocket – A blog search engine that also has trending tools and top blogs. This is a handy reference if you are trying to see things from a different perspective other then Blogpulse or Technorati.
Twitter Search – Search twitter on keywords and see up-to-the-minute tweets on that keyword. Great way to find out who is saying what RIGHT NOW. Easy to search for your brand, product service, website etc. Also if you are looking to find like minded folks, this makes it easy to find people tweeting on topics that interest you.
This may seem like a short list, and there are many more services available, but this is a practical baseline you should know about.
Feel free to share any additional services you recommend.
Living Your Dream
When I was a child everyone approved.
I’ve been thinking a lot about my childhood and how my parents and friends parents seemed to encourage me to keep dreaming and using my imagination. I suppose it’s “what you do” when you are an adult listening to a kid. I was always the kid and pre-teen who was mowing yards, selling lemonade, and bartering for money. I was identified as a business minded youngster with imagination and talent with the gift for gab.
From about 10 years old to about 19 years old I heard this line from friends and family: “your so ____ (smart, talented, advanced, wise, etc) for your age”. I heard it so much that I often wondered when I was going to finally be “as smart, talented, wise, etc as my age”. Turns out, for me it was about 28 years old. I still get the ‘wise beyond years’ comments, but otherwise I guess I’ve finally aged enough to match my ideas. I’m 32 now.
The shift.
Reflecting on my life, I spotted a shift where I went from being encouraged to dream to being discouraged by the majority of people around me.
It happened when I fell out of line, out of the status quo, and demonstrated my independence. I was 20 years old and quit my management job at Gateway Computers to start my own web company. Suddenly, everyone around me wasn’t so sure about my entrepreneurial dreams. Why? Because I was actually acting on it, not just talking about it. At 20 years old, this is where I crossed over to the other side no longer a man with potential and promise, but a spectacle for others to watch silently hoping I would fail and continually surprised that I wasn’t.
I didn’t know it at the time, but it’s obvious now, almost no one wants you to live your dream.
Now everyone disapproves.
Unlike my child self, as an adult, any time I ask someone else what they think about my idea, everyone, even the people I trust, love, or respect are quick to tell me how it’s not a good idea. How frustrating and disappointing this is.
The truth and what you can do about it.
If you have a dream you want to make a reality. An idea you want to act on. A goal you want to execute. Do it.
Don’t ask what your family and friends think because they can’t and won’t ever be able to embrace your idea – it’s not their idea, it’s not their passion, it’s not their life, and it’s not safe to them. That’s why you don’t need their input or permission to live your dream.
If this scares you, it should. It means you have to act for yourself and you have be willing to go your own direction regardless of what anyone else thinks. It also means there may not be a safety net below you or a shoulder to cry on. If you dream it, you believe it, then own it and do it. Know that others will judge, discourage, and speak against you because its not their idea, it’s not their passion, it’s not their life, and it’s not safe to them.
A few tips to emerge victorious with your dream.
I’m still dreaming and you can too.
Knowing all this makes it so much easier to dream as an adult.Now, I don’t expect others to embrace my dreams or my ideas and I’m better for it. It also means I don’t fault the ones I love or respect because I understand the fact that it’s just to hard for them to consider my dreams or encourage them.
Keep dreaming and stop looking for permission. Go ahead and step out of line, do something counter the status quo and I’ll see you on the other side.
Marketing Mistake: Pandora 40 Hour Limit Half Baked or Huge Opportunity?
In an earlier blog post I discussed the impact of Pandora being branded as free internet radio and promised to make suggestions for improvement. So here’s to keeping promises.
According to Wiktionary, Half Baked means “ill-conceived, unsound or badly thought out” and I think that accurately describes how the Pandora 40 Hour Limit service interruption currently works. Obviously it interrupts service as intended, but at what cost to Pandora and the listener? Much of it is a matter of the language used in the service interruption notice which I refer to as the 40 hour limit road block.
When you consider the cost of attracting new customers, you really can’t afford to run them off – even the free ones.
I see the 40 hour limit road block, to be a great marketing opportunity.
When your time runs out, you can…
Well, this is what you see (graphic above, typed out below) when your service is interrupted at the 40 hour mark:
You’ve reached the monthly free listening limit. Pandora gives you (leader4hire@yahoo….) 40 hours of free listening each month. To continue listening, we ask you to do one of the following:
For just 99 cents, ontinue listening as much as you’d like for the rest of the month.
For $36, enjoy an entire year of unlimited listening, plus great features:
No visual or audio advertising
Very high audio quality (192 kilobits per second).
Learn about all the Pandora One features. To continue listening for free, simply come back on December 1. The 40 hour limit is reset every month.
I think this message was crafted by someone in the web app department because there isn’t an ounce of friendly, customer centric, marketing copy in this whole message. Nothing makes me say “Yes, I want to do this”. I think if the marketing department was involved, this would look more like an ad and less like a court summons.
Definitely seems half baked to put such an unfriendly message in front of the customer when they are at a critical decision point about your service.
(hey moocher,) You’ve reached your monthly free listening limit.
Do you really need to make it so obvious that you attracted me to your free service, I used the free service, and now I’m being pointed at for using it? What if this was my first month of service and I didn’t know, I may have been in love with your service, but this doesn’t make me feel good. You’ve already started this critical conversation with a negative tone. And in my case, I’ve been a long time user and I still hate this message, yet I still love Pandora over it’s competition.
Pandora gives you (leader4hire@yahoo…) 40 hours of free listening each month (and you better be thankful).
Yep, definitely feeling like you are pointing a finger at me. I don’t like being singled out like this, even if no one else can see it, I don’t like how you present it.
To continue listening, we ask you do one of the following… (spend your money or else).
You must think you are the only guy in town and that I can’t find free music somewhere else. Customers shop with their dollars every day deciding where to spend or not spend their money. When you are online this is even more difficult if their are a lot of free alternatives. Tone has a lot to do with my perception and how I will spend my dollars.
Then the sterile report on price options and the rather valueless offer on the Pandora One service. In my mind, the other Pandora One benefits such as the skins, mini player, desktop application, and 5 hours before timeout are much more compelling then high quality and no ads.
Overall, the voice, tone, and “offer” to spend money just doesn’t make me feel special. I may really like the service, but when you boil it down to these terms, I’m just not interested. I think many of your listeners come to the same conclusion.
What if this 40 hour roadblock was reconsidered from a marketing stand point. What if the point was to attract the listener and move them closer to your brand, not away from the brand? What would you do then?
Here is what I suggest as a better option… Sell me, don’t tell me .
Wild idea, I know, but see, I’m logged in and I’m valuable as a listener and important to advertisers. So, what if the first 40 hour limit road block notice said something like:
Suggested ad copy:
Hey Leader4hire@yahoo… You’ve been a busy listener and hit our 40 hour limit. Betcha didn’t know we were counting!
This is the first time for you and you may not know that most listeners use less than 40 hours in a month. You on the other hand are a true fan of music and the music legends are smiling down upon you. We would normally suggest you upgrade your account here, but Tim Westergren, the President of Pandora is going to cover you for this month. The next time you hit 40 hours in a month, we’ll ask you to consider upgrading your membership so you can keep listening. Okay? Click here for Tim to spot you for the rest of the month at no charge. Click here to go ahead and upgrade or Click here to wait until next month for another bank of 40 hours.
What to do with Tim’s Freebie Listeners?
From then on, I recommend your tech guys enhance the player to report my time for the rest of the month. Once I click to accept Tim’s free offer, my Pandora player would give me a counter showing me how many hours I’ve listened with a note that said “Tim sponsored you this month” and make it clickable to a blog post by Tim on this free month with user comments showing below. I bet it would have a ton of users saying thanks.
Why?
By the way, you would go ahead and give me this ‘free’ month because by giving me something I am more likely to give you something in return. In psychology its classified as the rule of reciprocation in which we feel a strong obligation to repay debts. Now, this is difficult online, but it’s still effective if you work it properly. In this case, you’ve created value in something I thought was free, interrupted me and told me in a nice way that builds value in our relationship and as a listener that it normally cost money, but not this time. So, in return I’ll feel special (or more special) and make a mental note that this could have cost me something, but you did me a favor. Will people keep listening and still not upgrade next month – yes, but its worth the cost.
Remind them of the favor.
Now the payoff comes from taking advantage of the favor from that point forward. Every time I log in the rest of that month, remind me that Tim hooked me up, tell me how many hours I’ve listend too so far and tell me you are glad I’m still listening and hungry for more. Then, as I get closer to the end of the month encourage me to go ahead and upgrade and get something free (a hat, a shirt, a poster, a free download etc – all cheap stuff). I’ll be spending a lot of time thinking about the free ride im taking, valuing my service, and rationalizing my future expense. Then when the new month hits, tell me I get to start over at 40 hours but remind me Ive already got my free pass from Tim and that you would love to have me as a Pandora One member. Follow me for the following 40 hours of my new month reminding me and smartly nudging me forward to the upgrade. Then at the end of 40 hours, give me a very friendly service interruption. Perhaps tell me that I seem to really like Pearl Jam, Tool, and Nine Inch Nails (my top 3 stations) and that Pandora has cataloged over 400 (correct number here) songs by those artists and you’d hate to see me lose touch with my favorite bands. Encourage me to upgrade and get more of what I like with no restrictions.
Ok, what if you just took the current road block and rewrote it with a more friendly tone like this:
Suggested Ad Copy:
Leader4hire just rocked out 40 hours of free streaming radio and it’s only Thursday October 16th. You still have 15 days until the hours reset on November 1.
We bet you love Pandora.com and we want you to keep listening, don’t wait 15 days to come back.
Like your local pool hall or diner’s jukebox, drop 4 quarters (99 cents actually) and we’ll rock your socks off for the rest of the month – promise!
Or even better, show your support of the Music Genome Project and become a Pandora One member for only $3 a month ($36 a year). You’ll get a free Pandora One badge for your site, all access to the Pandora One members-only club and members only downloads. As an added bonus, we’ll stop those ads from showing in your Pandora player or playing commercials interrupting your playlist and we’ll give you a cool desktop Pandora player, a longer window to listen before we check to see if your still there, and high quality music.
See what we are doing here? We are talking about what I like and how I like it. This makes me sound like you really don’t want to cut me off and you are trying to work with me and you understand me.
If you really wanted to get clever and include an advertiser, here is the perfect hook:
Add a note in the more friendly version that says:
If none of these work for you, you can fill out this long form and we will see if we can get an advertiser to sponsor your listening, but you’ll need to fill it out completely and yes, we’ll be sharing your information with the advertiser so they can try to do business with you in exchange for giving you a free Pandora One subscription. It’s the best we can do to keep Pandora from costing you money even when it costs us. We’d rather see you be a Pandora One member though.
Still not sure what to do? Okay, just come back on November 1 and you’ll have a fresh 40 hours to work with.
Why not give me a way to share my service interruption with friends to see if they can buy my month or my Pandora One membership for me? This would act as both a soliciting tool for the listener and a recruiting tool for new listeners. In the months around Christmas and the listeners birthday, this might be an easy (very easy?) sale if the listener was prompted to share. The trick here is to make it very easy, no complicated forms, now date of birth, city or state – just friends name and email with an optional message.
The 40 hour road block is not a notice to stop listening, it’s an invitation to keep listening (provided the listener acknowledges the value of Pandora’s service). So, instead of throwing up a stop sign and pushing them in or out, try replacing the stop sign with a friendly greeter who sounds nice and interested in me as a listener. Really wow me by giving me a free pass with a reminder that next time it’ll cost me. Then work with me and remind me. The sum of all those tiny touches will lead to me to take a more favorable view of Pandora and ultimately increase my willingness to open my wallet. May sound far fetched, but it happens all the time from free samples at the grocery store to lunch and learn seminars to test drives at car dealerships and free mail list services like mailchimp.com.
Organizations I've Helped:
