Now Media Scott’s LifeStream

When I was 25, I accepted my first corporate job in a Brooklyn, NY ghetto, for a national book distributor, who was just a few months away from bankruptcy. Fresh out of retail, where I had been stocking organic produce for a several years, I was pretty naive, and expected to be fetching coffee and filing papers for the big bosses. Seriously. But on day one, I was led down to the basement ( I called it the dungeon), handed a pad of paper, a phone, and was directed to generate orders. In other words, in 1995, when I was least expecting it, I got my first introduction to sales. 

The first three weeks on the job were tough. I stumbled, fumbled and bumbled my way through a series of calls, many of which ended up as hang ups. Or simply put, me getting hung up on. Sales can be tough. Sometimes brutal. Especially when getting rejected daily in a tough Brooklyn neighborhood. But I stuck it out.

In my third week on the new job, a new Andrew Weil book, Spontaneous Healing quickly became a bestseller, and roared it's way into our warehouse, while garnering national recognition. Packaging up a marketing promotion with an extensive call strategy, my luck quickly turned, and my days of bombing out transcended into a first run of selling success. Within 2 months, my colleagues would say, there goes Scott building his empire. And I was. Only thing is, just as things started getting good, within a few months, the company did go bankrupt.

Such is life. There would be more empires to build. And I did.

I often like to say, marketing can be fun and exciting, but sales pays the bills. Thing is, marketing really is sales, or utilizing wording, media and graphics to create the dynamic of an appealing buying environment. PR is also a form of sales. Whatever it is that drives people to buy a product or service is essentially, sales. But I am getting ahead of myself. When I was 25, in retrospect, selling was actually pretty easy. We had a product customers wanted, and the enthusiasm and desire to get it in the stores.

By the time I was 30, the challenges multiplied, the salary increased, the economy was in good shape, and selling was still easy. But of course, at the still youthful age of 30, I represented a great product line and program that everyone in my industry wanted. It was a true selling market.

That was then. This is 2010.

Today, its mostly a buyers market. At least in my little world. While I represent dynamic clients, and exciting possibilities, the market is different, the economy is still weak, and the competitors are fierce, many of whom are hanging on for dear life. The easy selling success I achieved 15 years ago isn't possible in today's environment. Now, it's a game of patience, product demand, presentation, and pricing. And while I had to take my hits 15 years ago to learn how the game works, today, there are a whole new series of hits to learn from.

Getting on the phone, making the calls, and getting the meetings is part of the game. Cold calling is not dead. Its how one utilizes the call that matters. There is no science of sales I live by, and a first great meeting is now just, a nice meet, with no expectations. Let me learn about your business, get a handshake, and begin the follow up. Maybe it will take a few months, or a year or two, but eventually I'll get a shot. Just keep the polite persistence up, bring something fresh to the game, and earn my way into an opportunity. Sounds easy enough, but most people, even those in sales don't like this routine. Many find it demoralizing or intimidating. To me, it's my job. It's what I do, when I am not playing journalist on Twitter.

It's tough out there, and it's not going to get any easier. Not anytime soon. But always keep moving forward. Opportunity is out there. Just have to work hard for it.

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Happy 2010.

Social media is still all the rage, but is it really living up to the hype as a driver of sales and results?

We're at an interesting moment in the evolution of social media technology. With millions of people now using Twitter, Facebook, and other networking platforms, in addition to the rise of even more social services in 2010 and beyond, the opportunity of tangible social media ROI is within reach it would appear, but the realities of social networking as a driver of sales results for all participants, is still at best, questionable.

2010 is the year marketers are to be demonstrating how social media produces solid ROI. I for one am not entirely sold on social media producing ROI in a broad sustainable sense. At least not for everyone, or every brand who takes part in social networking. Sure, some companies and individuals have figured out how to monetize social media, and more will. My feeling is social media is first, a communications platform, and second, a marketing tool. Everything else is play, fun and networking.

Some in social media talk about how relationships drive sales, and this is always true to some extent, but take away social networking, and relationship building to drive sales has been a true factor all along. What social media does best is to connect the masses, allowing for the free flow of information, and ideas.

So how exactly does social media drive sales?

When big name brands broadcast to millions of followers, naturally, there is the possibility of driving sales, from broad level mass marketing, and repeated branding that builds product or service interest and awareness. Beyond large companies, well positioned brands, and celebrity sponsored tweets, driving sales with social media is entirely possible through facilitating and enabling information. It doesn't take a whole blog post, or a book to outline how trust and relationships are sales drivers, but, to rely on current and existing social media technology indefinitely as a source of sales generation is, I now feel, a leap of faith. Besides, it really isn't social media that drives sales, but the users behind the profiles, that make generating sales possible.

If you or your brand is generating consistent sales using social media, way to go. I for one, have been an enthusiastic supporter of social media, but now see's the tools of Twitter, Facebook and other platforms as a complimentary sales building force, or, the appetizer to the main course of sales and marketing, which is really sweat equity, (aka hard work), charisma, a good product at a good price, and the right attitude.

So what is my social media outlook for 2010? To continue to be a part of the larger internet ecosystem, of ideas, influencers and information. I believe in social media as an agent to connect and influence. If sales comes from this approach, great. If not, that's fine too.

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If 2009 is the year of Twitter, after what has been an adventurous Twitter journey, I am a bit Twittered out, and taking a hiatus off the service. Not pulling a high profile celebrity quitting Twitter scene, and I am anything but discouraged by Twitter. I am hopeful for a future where Twitter continues to shine as a communication platform for the influentials, marketers and news makers. 

When I started tweeting last year, I enthusiastically embraced the service, and took it as far as I could in 2009, utilizing a tweeting blend of news, commentary and perspective. Sometimes in life, its a good move to take a step back, gain fresh perspective, and plan out new strategies.

Twitter is a great service, and I am reflecting today on three key components of what I've learned from Twitter, and the pearls of wisdom that come along with the experience. These components are: 

1.) Audience

2.) Content

3.) Purpose

In today's marketing environment, whether online or off, all three of the above components are critical to vision and success. As they apply to Twitter, I'm pretty confident no other online service allows users a more practical opportunity to learn about these components, and put them into test through trial and error.

Because Twitter is essentially a "microblogging" service, it becomes way too easy to write 140 character tweets as often as desired, and zap the writing spirit dry. Microblogging has some dynamic pro's, but writing full form (or blogging) is where the deeper action, information, innovation and growth is.

Whether sales, marketing or tweeting, I am a writer, and it's time to give this lifestream some life. So much of what I've learned on Twitter, and the people I've learned about and learned from on Twitter, are now applicable to building the blogging dream that I've had for so long.

Thank you Twitter...

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Over the last year, through the rise of Twitter and Facebook, I've experimented with different writing and posting styles on both social sites, and all the while, challenged the evolving status quo of what social media is, and where the trend is going.

The social media movement is bigger, stronger and more influential than I expected it would be. With the rise of social networking, the power to share emerging information is also more powerful than ever.

Beyond the simplicity of Facebook status updates, to the now globally respected value of a "tweet", social networking allows participants to converge at the crossroads of 21st century interaction and information sharing.

As we head into the future of social media, via web, mobile and TV technologies, the business community will become even more connected in ways we haven't even imagined yet.

Can now see, to rise to meet the challenge of social media 2010 and beyond, will require not only posting relevant links about news and trends, but blogging timely perspectives about breaking news and trends. Perspectives that provide insights, and tangible value.

It is within this sharing of valuable information where brand recognition, trust and social media experience can be further developed.

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What's happening today? Looks like Twitter finally made it into the big leagues.

One of today's social media headlines reads: Why Twitter is the Most Popular Word of 2009.

I haven't blogged much laterly. Probably because most of my writing has been in the form of Tweeting over the last several months. Simple to put thoughts into 140 characters, get on a rant, or journey, and tweet away. So that leaves my lifestream a bit dormant. Thanks to Twitter, I've learned a valuable lesson about blogging this year. When blogging becomes stagnant, readership drops. So be it.

We're well beyond the Twitter has proved itself phase. That happened with the Iranian election aftermath in June. Twitter is so "in", it's not even hip to poke fun at it anymore. The people making fun of "Twitter" phase happened back in the Spring 2009 when many said the service "jumped the shark", or late night talk shows blasted Twitter, just because it was the talk of the town.

The jump the sharkers, and late night hosts were clearly wrong.

Many people have their take about what made Twitter "twitter". Some will say celebrities, including the star power Twitter brought to life. Others will say real time communication in the form of microblogging which can connect people from all around the world in a split second. My take: It's the journalism aspect that made Twitter the superstar it is now, and why Twitter ends 2009, as the "word of the year".

See... In 2008, journalism was clearly beaten down (and still is), yet Twitter gave journalists and reporting a new lease on life. Thereby, many celebrity stories, special feature stories, and breaking news events have been catapulted to national hype status, because of mass Twitter media coverage. The more the media flaunted Twitter, and it's star power, the bigger the name the service received. 

Can Twitter maintain it's superstar profile going into 2010? Sure it can, but I expect the service will settle in as a real time communication utility, giving both influentials and businesses a platform to communicate to the masses, and yes, a now high profile outlet where journalists will report the news, quicker than the mainstream can.

Not bad at all Twitter... Not bad at all.

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Tonight, in a gesture of good will, combined with some good old fashioned American beer diplomacy, President Obama will have a beer with Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., and police sergeant James Crowley, in what is now being reported as: White House "Beer Summit" Becomes Something of a Brouhaha. Also, Slate Magazine has an insightful take on this current event, called Beverage Profiling: Why Obama is serving beer to the professor and the police officer.

With all the beer summit tweets on Twitter, and seeing as the "beer summit" is (as I write this) the #1 highest trending topic on Twitter, I got to thinking about not necessarily discussing the politics of tonight's beer summit (instead I posted the above news links so you can decide for yourself), but how "beer" is traditionally and presently, a great marketing product and topic. 

So this morning, when I stumbled onto the below beer video by Diana Mella (during my daily routine of scanning for cool videos) inspired by this July 2009 Budweiser commercial All Together Now, in the moment, I didn't see the value of posting this on the lifestream. But as the day progressed, this fresh, light and creative video weighed in my mind. Eventually, I found a fit.

Also... If you love beer, and believe "beer diplomacy" can create great bonding moments, be sure to check out Slate Magazine's Bonding Over Brewskies In The Movies post which has some great clips from The Shawshank Redemption, Chevy Chase's classic, Vacation, and other films.

Anyway, while not much of a drinker myself, since it is the night of "sauerkraut" in my little world, off to my own beer summit.

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For nearly a year now, I've said: Twitter is not for everyone. Nor is it meant to be.

For futurists, or those who want to tap into emerging trends, possibilities and visionary thinking, I still believe, Twitter is a portal that connects the present to the future. 

If you run a business, are in college, work in government, retail, or any industry where your skills and talent allow you the opportunity to grow, and climb the ladder, here are two simple options to consider:

A.) Live your life without Twitter, and enjoy other popular social media platforms. Update your Facebook, and get connected on Linkedin. Absolutely nothing wrong with this.

B.) Tap into the thought leader movement on Twitter, and connect to a rapidly evolving international world of opportunity and possibility.

There are no shortage of Twitter and social media experts telling their readers and followers how to use and take advantage of Twitter.  

Well, here's my take on how to seriously take advantage of the Twitter opportunity.

1.) Think of Twitter as an investment in professional and personal growth and self or community education. Could also think of Twitter as a "utility". A new way to communicate and share in the 21st century.

2.) Don't just follow 5 to 10 people or celebrities only. This gets old quick. Set yourself up with a Twitter account, and follow a minimum of 100 profiles, just to start. Some or more profiles will follow you back. Can always unfollow anyone at anytime. With this follow 100 profile approach, you can see how Twitter works, and provides value and insight. You can follow friends, businesses, thought leaders, news services, politicians, people with like minded interests, innovators, etc. From here, you can step in and be a part of the experience.

3.) Twitter presents users with an opportunity to sharpen their writing skills and step into a new forum of global communication. With Twitter, you get 140 characters (per tweet) to make your point. With a serious approach to Twitter, what a great way to strengthen writing skills.

4.) Take a risk, and advance your position in life. The more insights you gain, and resources you share on Twitter that are relevant to your realm of interests, expertise or career, the more you can begin to influence, inspire and be ahead of your social network, or industry curve.

5.) Think you are too busy to be on Twitter? Think again. You can tweet anytime from your own computer, or from your mobile device on a work break, or during work. That is, if your company culture supports Twitter. Check out how retailer Best Buy feels about Twitter:  Best Buy Calls Twitter a Job Qualification.

Some of the best and brightest in America, and around the world are on Twitter. The service is not only relevant for the times, but it drives innovation, and introduces users to communication and information possibilities never before experienced during the rise and evolution of human civilization.

If Twitter isn't for you, that's fine. But if, just maybe Twitter is for you, and you are not actively on the service, you may be missing out on a great opportunity in life.

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I first learned about Robert Greene's brilliant book The 48 Laws of Power in year 2007, while taking a three month summer hiatus from a very successful run in corporate America. During this hiatus, I set out to read several provocative, and educational books, to not only expand my horizons, but gain new life and business perspectives. There were several books I read over that summer, but The 48 Laws of Power stands out as the book that left the most profound impact on me. 

Today on Twitter, I responded to a tweet asking if anyone had read the book The 48 Laws of Power. With the book now fresh in my mind, within minutes, I had pulled the book off my bookshelf, visited the author's (Robert Greene) personal blog Power, Seduction and War, and began wrapping my mind around these laws, and the author's quite simply, compelling, and astounding thinking.

Upon my first experience with Greene's The 48 Laws of Power, I plunged into the book with a worldly fascination that captivated my attention for weeks on end. In my mind, I began my own serious internal debate over the moral standing of the laws, but quickly discovered some of these laws are practical and useful for business applications, while other laws, to be straight forward, are dark and manipulative, and serve no ethical purpose. With this information, I could now gain broader perspectives on understanding how politicians, celebrities and business executives or CEO's may operate and consolidate power to build their empires, fortunes and fans.

Business, like politics and life itself, presents all of us with a myriad of opportunities to observe a wide range of power players in action. Some people are naturally charismatic and radiate a healthy aura of earned power, while other people may be power hungry, and can and will do whatever it takes (both ethical or unethical) to grab and hold onto power.

So what does "power" have to do with marketing? Everything... Good to great marketing is about building a respected, desired brand, while harnessing the power of persuasion, and creating long term value, a positive image, and customer demand.

Below, let me reference three of Robert Greene's laws (from The 48 laws of Power) to quickly demonstrate how "power" impacts marketing:

1.) Law #5: "So Much Depends On Reputation-Guard It With Your Life" - The foundation of any business is it's reputation. A business can spend years and millions or billions of dollars to build a respected brand, and within minutes, an event can damage or wreck the brand's good name. Take what happened to Domino's Pizza in April 2009, when two North Carolina Domino's Pizza employees filmed a very inappropriate video on YouTube, and it quickly spread across the internet, creating an international uproar, while fueling a media sensation. Domino's Pizza quickly went to work with a PR counter campaign to head off an unpredicable, unprecedented event that could have easily spiraled into a catastrophic brand crisis. Under tremendous pressure, Domino's Pizza USA President Patrick Doyle filmed a video putting a face behind the corporation to head off further damage. Three months later, while no one will soon forget this unfortunate incident, in retrospect, it appears Domino's Pizza handled the crisis pretty well, and got some great practice out of law #5.

2.) Law #28: "Enter Action With Boldness" - If a company is crafting a marketing, PR or advertising campaign, confidence speaks volumes. Below this post is a bold video of the Evian Roller Babies video, which now has over 2.2 million views on YouTube, in just eight days since it was uploaded. I'll let the boldness of the Evian campaign speak for itself. (Side Comment: This video is so good, I keep watching it over and over)

3.) Law #37: "Create Compelling Spectacles" - Isn't this what Michael Jackson did, over and over again? And at the end of his life, even after all the tragic events, the outpouring of love, respect and admiration has been globally huge. Michael Jackson was a master at knowing how to evoke the power of shock and sensationalism, to spectacularly market his own brand name.

And there ya have it for now, on the powerful subject of "Power". I'll conclude this post with a popular quote from the great American movie classic, Spiderman:

"With Great Power, Comes Great Reponsibility".  Even when it comes to marketing...

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In 2009, social media (a natural evolution of Web 2.0), is fresh, exciting and in fashion.

Clearly, I showed up rather late to the social media movement. And just when I do, thanks to the "timing" of several global events making huge news on the internet (Obama election, Mumbai-08, Recession), social media goes and explodes into global popularity. Millions of people from all walks of life are now connected on the web. Everyday social web users are driving communication innovation on a growing number of social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.

For nearly a year now, I've studied blogs, videos, and tweets of early social web pioneers who are now well established as A-list writers and thought leaders. Some of the best and the brightest. From Chris Brogan and Brian Solis, to Jeremiah Owyang and Steve Rubel, and several others. My evolving goal is to learn from their wisdom, and gain perspectives and new ideas for marketing, web strategy, selling and PR.

Nowadays it seems, anyone on the internet can be a marketing expert. Progressive voices write about new ways to look at things, or how with the rise of the internet, traditional marketing techniques are outdated. Seems in the business communications world, we're all interested in learning how to use the most effective marketing ideas, and techniques for our own businesses. Just need to discover what works.

Internet technology allows creative (and non creative) companies and individuals to publish and distribute their own content. Not only can social web users compete with the news, but users can make their own news, sometimes launching a viral firestorm of interest. The possibilities are endless.

Beyond the emerging technology that allows this web interconnectedness, what I am coming to realize is, it is within the combination of "personality, relevance, and content" as to what makes social media dynamic.

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The post you are about to read or skim, is a blog. It is intended to be a blog. But, I am posting it as part of a "lifestream".

During the years 2002 to 2005 when the blogosphere began to take off in popularity and achieve cultural acceptance, (click Wikipedia's History of Blogging for more) I was extensively traveling the United States, following my corporate career journey. Much intrigued with the blogosphere as it gained momentum, I knew blogging would be something I'd get to one day, when the career slowed down. In April 2008, after launching the company website, I started blogging.

According to Blog World Expo, 12 million people Americans actively blog, while 57 million Americans read blogs. Additional blogging statistics can be referenced here: Blog World Expo Blogging Statistics

The way I see it, blogging is a creative vehicle where the user can communicate, educate, inform, report the news, or just journal. Most anyone can blog, but not everyone wants to write, so blogging is not for everyone. Yet, with the rise of Twitter, and with 200 million people now on Facebook, the increasing popularity of status updates (aka microblogging), is driving blogging into an evolutionary new era.

I've enjoyed watching Steve Rubel, (Director of Insights for Edelman Digital) who is a popular, well respected PR blogger embark on a gusty move, by walking away from the traditional path of blogging, and evolve to "lifestreaming" using Posterous, a nearly one year old social networking service, launched in July 2008.

Lifestreaming is simple. Really.

Lifestreaming is a platform that aggregates (a hub of sorts) most to all of your social networking content into one site. Friendfeed is popular example of an aggregate. To learn more about lifestreaming, click here: The Steve Rubel Lifestream.

For a counter perspective on blogging, here is a blog by Louis Gray called: "Blogging is Still The Foundation In a World of Streams. However, as Steve Rubel fairly points out in his June 28th post Frequently Asked Questions About This Lifestream about blogging: "For one, people don't have time to read as much as they used to. There's too much competing for our attention. This means you need to be creative to stand out."

To blog, or to lifestream? Now at a crossroads, I begin to soul search. This past weekend, just as I launch a new blog on wordpress, posterous begins to sink into my mind as a possibility I really should explore before getting too involved with Wordpress. It quickly became a tough internal debate, which posed for me, a nagging question: "Is blogging becoming a dated, fading communication vehicle, and if so, am I missing out the potential of lifestreaming? Or, are both blogging and lifestreaming relevant for the times, but the individual or business should discover the best fit for their own needs?"

The more I dug into posterous, the more I began to realize, everything I am publishing on my company website, can be done on the posterous site. Except, in a much more efficient way, through e-mail or web posting.

So, I've decided to take a risk, and start operating the Ace Marketing Agency as a lifestreaming website, via posterous. Meanwhile I'll blog journalism through Wordpress. Overtime, either blogging or lifestreaming may begin to emerge as my preferred writing vehicle, or each will co-exist with their own purpose. Feeling a bit adventurous, so I look forward to the discovery process.

Here goes...

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