Archive for November, 2009

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31 Media Interview Tips

Monday, November 23rd, 2009

This list comes from John Hanks Communications – a PR Consultant. I thought it was a good one and decided to share it with you.

1. Always return calls
2. Use the person’s name in your interview
3. Defer to the interviewer if possible.
4. Always ask for a deadline.
5. Interview the reporter before you give an interview:
a. What will the questions be?
b. What’s your deadline?
c. Can I call you back?
6. Do your homework before the interview – not during it.
7. Decide on a specific message.
8. Make your own soundbite.
9. Practise your message… in front of a mirror if necessary.
10. Practise your message again.
11. One more time… with feeling!
12. Wear simple, professional clothes if you’ll be seen on camera.
13. Be well-groomed (translated – comb your hair)
14. Lose the glasses if you can.
15. You’re better off without facial hair.
16. Show your forehead. It helps express you better.
17. You decide the background for the interview.
18. Set it up where you are comfortable.
19. Warm up to the photographer. He/she can make you look good.
20. Watch out for pre-interview patter. It can be a landmine.
21. Watch out for post-interview patter. More landmines.
22. Never lie.
23. Never blurt out the truth.
24. Never say, “no comment.”
25. Talk through the reporter – not to her.
26. It’s the audience, stupid.
27. It’s the message, stupid.
28. You deny, you die.
29. Stay on your message during the interview.
30. Uh… keep your… uh… pauses, um, SILENT!
31. There is no such thing as “Off the record.”

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Do You Feel a Digital Smackdown Coming On?

Saturday, November 21st, 2009

By Denise Michaels, Author, “Testosterone-Free Marketing”

Okay, I get it. I really do. All this digital media is about more and more cool ways to stay in touch.

But does it?

Every morning when I get up I have to flip on my ‘puter and check three email addresses. I’m constantly checking Facebook and Twitter and my other social media portals. Oh, and don’t forget text messages and two telephone lines. My husband has two more phone lines.

On Tuesday, I went to a networking luncheon and someone asked me, “Did you get my email?”

I replied, “When did you send it? I’ve been away from my laptop since about 7:30 this morning.”

“I sent it about 8:30 am,” he said. I could tell he was mildly annoyed.

Last week I left the house for an early morning meeting and afterward, I realized I left my cell phone at home on the charger. I was across town and I had a meeting in that neck of the woods in the afternoon. So, I got my car washed, did some shopping for the holidays – and was blissfully uninterrupted by my cell phone for a few hours. I got home about 3:00 pm and as I’m putting the key in the lock my neighbor comes over to me and asks, “Denise, are you okay?”

I said, “Sure, I’m fine. Why?”

“Well, because Ernie (he was out of town on business) has been trying to get ahold of you all day and he’s worried sick maybe you’re not okay or something is wrong,” she replied.

So, I called when I got in the house. He’d tried to call me last night too after I’d fallen off to sleep and I just hadn’t checked the phone in the morning. “I’m fine,” I sighed to my adoring husband. Just needed to unplug from it all for a few hours.

This week I went to a breakfast networking meeting. You’re supposed to chat, talk and build relationships on which you might be able to do business with some people in the future. Everyone around me or across me was texting or checking their I-phone while eggs and hash browns were being served. Seems like people have angst about disconnecting for even a few minutes.

Ernie and I went to see a movie today and there were three commercials before the movie about silencing your cell phone and not texting.

Two weeks ago I gave a seminar and at one point I had to tell a woman to stop texting and turn off her phone.

I mean, c’mon. How are we supposed to be connected and learn new things right where we’re at if we’re constantly checking communications (often mindless) from someone in another place? How can you enjoy a movie and get lost in the story if you’re constantly letting yourself get interrupted. How can you ever relax and chill if we’re constantly “on?”

Just because we can be plugged in all the time now – does it really mean it’s a good idea? Just because we have the ability to constantly be online – does it really mean we should?

I think there’s a digital smackdown coming. Or, at least a rebellion.

I was listening to public radio in my car and there was a story about what they termed a “return to slow media.” That mean they used to phone (no texting), watched television now and then – and that’s about it. What they noticed was a refreshed calm they hadn’t felt in years and their relationships began to take on a new meaning and richness they missed when going back and forth with texts and tweets.

I’d love to try it. But I’m too chicken to unplug.

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Top Digital Marketing Trends for 2010

Wednesday, November 18th, 2009

This article is from a blog called Marketing Charts

As 2010 fast approaches, digital marketers are gearing up for yet another year of changes that will incorporate both the transformational and the incremental. From the economy’s influence on the burgeoning “do-it-yourself” culture to an increasing reliance on collective wisdom, information-based art, and remote computing, digital experts at Last Exit have put together the following list of top digital marketing trends they believe will play out in the year ahead.

1. Facebook Replaces Personal Email: As Facebook becomes increasingly used as a verb (e.g.”I Facebooked you today”) in ways that Hotmail and gmail never were, it will be interesting to see the extent to which it will displace personal email as a communication tool. It’s already completely permission based, there is no spam (yet), and no address book required – your friends are already there.

2. The Cloud Helps Open-Source Software Make Proper Money: Open-source software projects that were typically the purview of programmers and technophiles are now available to the masses. In one example, Beanstalk, a fully hosted, version-controlled code repository that uses the Subversion open-source project has created a subscription based service that – for a small fee – removes the hassle of setting up Subversions and maintaining servers. Services like this can really only be financially viable with cloud computing infrastructure – so companies such as Beanstalk don’t have the huge upfront capital outlay for servers. With the right skills any open-source project can be commercialized this way.

3. Mobile Commerce – The Promise That Has Never Delivered, Yet: Though mobile phones have, for a while now, delivered real benefits to global societies by facilitating the transfer of money, only recently has mobile device use extended to payment for goods and services. The game changer has – and will continue to be – the iPhone/iTunes platform. In-app purchases on the iPhone can tempt users to buy small items, upgrades, updates, etc, while iTunes holds their precious credit card information. All, of course, is done in seamless fashion, enough to promote impulse purchases. It would seem like an easy task for this to be extended to other platforms with PayPal or Google Checkout, but so far it has not been done.

4. Fewer Registrations – One Sign-in Fits All: As consumers grow increasingly frustrated and resentful about registering yet again on another website, juggling different IDs and remembering a dizzying array of passwords, information-managing services such as Facebook Connect and OpenID will becoming even more useful and will continue to be adopted at great speed through 2010.

5. Disruption vs. Continuity – Alternatives to the “Big Idea”: As the significance of social networks continues to grow, businesses are investing more in community building as a marketing driver. According to the recent Tribalization of Business study released by Deloitte, 94% of businesses will continue or increase their investment in online communities and social media and, for the majority of these companies, their marketing function will drive this investment. At the same time, as evidenced by Google’s recent release of “free floating” social tools, such as Google Waves and Sidewiki, there is an increasing shift toward online identity and social activity being an integrated part of the network as a whole, rather than concentrated within discrete platforms such as Facebook.

With the increasing emphasis on marketing and advertising through social networks and the increasing pervasiveness of social tools, marketing objectives come into conflict with advertising techniques. While advertising has often sought to distinguish itself and stop the consumer in their tracks with a disruptive “big idea,” the emphasis is now shifting toward persuasion through fitting organically into the consumer’s social sphere. It will always be the objective of marketing to provide creativity and novelty, but the way in will increasingly be one of persistence and continuity.

6. Self-Sufficiency: The Continuing Evolution of Web-Driven, Open-Source DIY Culture: Much has been said about the power and potential of collective intelligence, and many of the breakthrough solutions of tomorrow appear to lie in more effectively pooling the resources and intelligence of our increasingly networked world. On the other side of the equation, the power of pooled intelligence and networked resources have empowered individuals to take on more and more complex undertakings themselves.

From drawing on the collective intelligence of blogs and university open courseware to educate themselves, to services like ponoko, spoonflower and cafe press that facilitate small-scale production, to offline resource pooling like pop- up retail and collective office spaces, individuals are discovering that it has never been easier to try doing it themselves.

7. Info-Art: Where we once had pop-psychologists and pop-philosophers, we now appear to have pop-statisticians and pop-economists. The growing wealth of data and the access to rich and diverse data sources that are significant by-products of information networks have made the art of data analysis a defining skill of our time.

At the same time, the skill of elegantly visualizing that data has become a defining art of our time. The art of the infographic is becoming increasingly pervasive as people look more and more to the growing amount of data at our disposal for insight, and more refined as the interactions of that data becomes more complex. Expect to see greater innovation spurred by more elegant ways of capturing and visualizing information by a growing number of info-artists.

8. Crowd Sourcing: Across many industries and organizations, crowd sourcing will become a growing tool as part of various outsourcing strategies. Organizations will mobilize the passionate special-interest groups to not only carry a message but also to lead and take part in activities on their behalf. From political canvassing to software development, from people journalism to environmental activism, expect to see huge growth in crowdsourcing models provoked and led, in large part, by digital social media strategies.

9. More Flash, Not Less: Outside of the obvious brand sites, micro-sites and media sites (video, games, etc.) where it appears absolutely necessary, Flash has often been looked down upon if not completely discounted by both techies and search engine optimizers. It seemed to face an uncertain future as a viable tool for serious websites and applications such as eCommerce tools and corporate websites. However, Adobe’s rich media tool has enjoyed the grit and determination of its advocates and external development community. Now, several tricks, authoring tools and server side scripting workarounds have meant that Flash-built websites no longer serve up a single, impenetrable page. They offer deep, searchable, indexable sites that will allow acute, detailed traffic and behavioral analytics and search engine optimization.

As websites continue to increase in their importance as a company’s storefront, the demand for rich, brand-extending experiences will also increase. Further proliferation of fast broadband will reduce download issues while the adoption of Flash on mobile devices will dramatically increase and fuel reach and the desire/need for highly usable, brand transporting, conversion oriented experiences

Related topics: Telecom, Online, Mobile, Signs of What’s to Come, Opinion, Behavioral Marketing, New Tech, Interactive,

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The 5C’s of Marketing for Women

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009

By Denise Michaels, Author, “Testosterone-Free Marketing”

• Do you have a great idea for a business but haven’t launched it?
• Do you feel you don’t know enough about marketing?
• Have you started a business but it hasn’t grown as you hoped?

You’re in good company. Everywhere you turn women are starting businesses leaving behind the corporate world and affording them the opportunity to enjoy greater freedom and more time to share with the people they truly care about. In fact, women are starting businesses at double the rates of men.

I’ve coached thousands of women entrepreneurs and many mistakenly believe if a product or service is of high quality it will sell itself. Not true. If you forget to focus on marketing and selling you don’t have a business – you have an expensive hobby.

There are many ways new business owners can spend money on marketing with no guarantee of results. There are so many choices. Expert guidance working with someone someone who has cracked the code can greatly improve your chances for success. Entrepreneurs want hands-on, step-by-step information that makes your life simple without putting demands on your time.

One of the many marketing ideas I help attendees discover in my workshops is “The Five C’s of Marketing”. They include:
• Love your Customer
• Be Clear
• Do marketing that’s emotionally Compelling
• Be Congruent
• Avoid Confusion

Love Your Customer
This means more than great customer service. Most people are so caught up in their product or service, they never determine who their ideal customer is. They waste time trying to attract everyone, educating skeptics who will never buy, rather than focus on individuals who are perfect for you.

When I ask, “What makes your customer or client tick?” they are at a loss for words. Their energy is going into learning about the product and not their customer.

It’s easy to get caught up in the passion of a product, process or idea. There is no risk or rejection. Determine what you do and who you do it for takes vision and love.

Be Clear
Create a succinct, passionate message. Many people call this “an elevator speech.” If you were on an elevator and noticed the one person who could boost your business, what would you say? If you can’t sum up who you are and what you do in thirty seconds, you’re unclear. Figure it out and offer it how they want to receive it. Clarity will help you attract more ideal customers.

Do Marketing That’s Emotionally Compelling
Your experience of how you overcame obstacles with your product of service can be compelling. People see themselves in your story and think, “Wow! If it worked for her it could work for me.” Marketing should make people say, “I gotta have that.” It tells a story of how you or others solved a problem in an emotionally compelling way.

Take a fresh, new look at your customers and the problems your product or service solves as well as the benefits you offer. Create an exciting marketing message that will build cash flow. This is what I help people do.

Be Congruent in Your Marketing
Being congruent means more than just walking your talk. People sense when the smallest nuance is out of place. You may not even be aware of it, but nothing flows because you’re trying to attract the wrong people. This creates a disconnect between you and potential customers. Get your marketing message flowing in a congruent, clear direction towards the people who are ideal and it will become easy.

Avoid Confusion That Results in a “No”

A confused mind always says, “no.” If your message is confusing people will say “no.” You could have exactly what they need but if they don’t understand how it solves their problem the answer will still be “no.” Read through every word. Look at every message you’re putting out whether it’s verbal or non-verbal and look for little things that might confuse your ideal customer and either change them or eliminate them.

Carpenters often say “measure twice and cut once.” In a way, marketing is like that. When you take time to figure out who your ideal customer is and how your product or service is right for them you will have cracked the code that will lead to greater success and more freedom and fun in your life.

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Manifest a Man Who will Love You Forever (Part 2)

Sunday, November 15th, 2009

By Denise Michaels, Author, “Testosterone-Free Marketing”

(This is a continuation from Part 1.)

So, I knew I needed to make big changes. I knew I’d have to get out of my comfort zone to find true love.

I wrote an essay about what I wanted in a man. This is important. It doesn’t have to be an essay. It could just be a list. But here are a few crucial things to remember:

* If you want something in a man – you must be his equal because nature abhors a vacuum. If you want him to be fit and healthy it helps if you’re fit and healthy, too. If you want him to have a college degree it would help if you do too – or you’re working on it. It doesn’t have to be even-steven, but it has to make sense. If you want something you don’t possess – it helps if you have something else that compensates for that lack in a specific area.

* Sometimes we don’t realize it consciously, but what we THINK we want is actually what OTHERS want for us. Usually parents, girlfriends or someone else we have a close relationship with. These people have influenced us for years. They’re also the people whose approval we want so much we will unconsciously sacrifice perfect love (okay – almost perfect love *wink*) so they’re happy with us.

* Think about what will make your heart and soul happy. In my essay, I described how I wanted to feel when he touched me or held my hand. I described how I wanted his smile to affect me. I wanted him to be a good listener and have an easy sense of humor. I wanted him to be kind, gracious and liked by others but 100 percent true to me. I wanted him to have a good relationship with any children or exes. If he had children I wanted them to be grown.

* I didn’t care how tall he was as long as I could wear a medium heel and he’d be a little taller. I’m only 5′4″ tall and Ernie’s about 5′8″. After previous husbands who were 6′1″ and 5′11″ tall I learned height, though attractive, has nothing to do with real love. I also wanted a man who had a college degree who understood business but I didn’t want to be in competition. I wanted him to be supportive of my crazy ambitions and comfortable letting me shine. Ernie is all that.

* I didn’t care how much money he made but I wanted him to be self-sufficient and responsible with the money he did have. Traditionally women wanted men who make big bucks because at a primal level it was about looking out for the welfare of our future children. Now, its more about him being able to afford bling and a MacMansion. Don’t you trust in your ability to make your own money?

* Sweet, kind, supportive guys usually aren’t Wall Street Wonders or Captains of Industry slaying dragons and doing multi-million dollar business deals. Those guys want you to endlessly support them and be the Trophy Wife, not the other way around. The good guys are the men most women don’t notice. Or you’ll say, “He’s not my type.” They’re a teacher, web designer, social worker, computer geek, physical therapist, police officer or some other average position. These men can have a heartful of love to give.

* Millions of women are so busy drooling over “bad boys” and “players” – they never see the good guys. Open up to the idea that your type is an “unconditionally loving” man not a particular “look” or someone whose a constant challenge to your sanity or your self esteem. Slick guys lead to heartache. Why? Because they’re not emotionally available. They don’t know how to love a woman. They don’t have the maturity to be a loving husband to you.

* Don’t try to make him more loving, affectionate or communicative. The magazine headlines are wrong. Many women try to turn a person into a project. Stop wasting your time. Look for a guy whose naturally loving, affectionate and communicative. Upgrading his wardrobe and his hair isn’t difficult – but just about everything else is. It’s easy to change a man on the outside and almost impossible to change him on the inside. Besides, loving a man’s “potential” isn’t loving him – it’s loving what you WANT him to become.

Back to my story…

I didn’t date for almost a year – but I noticed when I started dating I was connecting with nice guys. I dated these men about a month and decided as nice as they were – we didn’t have enough in common to sustain a relationship. I looked at it as “practise.” I practised being open and vulnerable. I practised what it was like to share my feelings with a man and not have him whomp me over the head with ‘em later. Being vulnerable did make me more powerful.

When I finally met Ernie I just KNEW. I’d changed my perspective and my expectations of men. I changed what I thought of as important. So when I met that guy – my wonderful husband Ernie – it was instant. And yes, his smile still melts my heart, his touch makes me feel I’m home and he’s still a great listener.

When you get away from what you THINK you’re supposed to want and make different conscious choices that really work with the love you want to feel – that’s when you find love that’ll make you feel happy and fulfilled the rest of your life.

Isn’t that what you really deserve?

Tomorrow’s post: back to business. *smile*

Denise Michaels is author of the business bestseller, “Testosterone-Free Marketing.” Get your copy by clicking here. And, get Denise’s weekly empowerment and marketing tips by clicking here. Come join Denise Michaels in a movement to empower women business owners like you to be all you can be and to have more joy, more fun and more success in your life.

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Manifest a Man Who will Love You Forever (Part 1)

Saturday, November 14th, 2009

Denise Michaels, Author, “Testosterone-Free Marketing”

In a few minutes I’ll get up, go to the kitchen and go make my whole-grain blueberry pancakes for breakfast. Ernie’s home. I wouldn’t make ‘em for myself because I’m not really a breakfast person. I’m more of a yogurt, granola and berries kind of breakfast person. You know those cups they sell at Starbucks or Panera Bread? Love ‘em.

But he loves a big breakfast and now that he’s finally home from his big project in SoCal, I’m more than happy to fire up the griddle and give him the big, weekend breakfast he loves.

The last five weeks he’s been working on a project in Southern California. He took the short-term assignment because it was very good money and he’s starting a business soon – so it gave him a short-term cash cushion before getting started. He’s come home most weekends – but by Sunday afternoon he had to turn his car around and drive away for another week. Now he’s really home.

Funny how when he’s around most of the time – I find him a little annoying. He’s always interrupting me to talk as I’m working at the computer. Sometimes I’ll get up from my chair and give him a hug and a kiss because I discovered if I give him a little attention he gives me more space. These last five weeks I’ve missed those annoying interruptions. I’m so glad he’s home. After twelve years his smile still brightens my world and his touch makes me feel I’m right where I belong.

This isn’t a regular post on marketing, personal growth or common sense. But, it’s the weekend so I’m sharing how much it means to me to have a wonderful love. Even when I get mildly annoyed I don’t take it for granted. If you look under my archived posts for October 18th 2009 there’s a post about how we met. You can read the story there.

This post is about the things I did before we met to manifest Ernie. This isn’t a blog on finding love or dating. And I know you can be in a space where you’re perfectly happy without a love. But I know so many wonderful, single women who want to find the man of their dreams, either they’re divorced or never married, and it’s eluded them. (I’ll go back to business focused articles on Monday.)

A year and a half before meeting Ernie I was in a relationship with a man that became physically abusive. That’s how low I’d sunk in my ability to choose a good guy. I was 37. One day I was driving home from a busy day and I didn’t want to go home to the arguments, the drama and being flung on the floor or punched again.

I thought, “I’m too smart for this.” I suddenly realized with blinding clarity, “Based on results, obviously I’m not too smart or I wouldn’t be in this situation.” I passed by the small house I rented and kept driving. I drove to a Burger King, sat down and had a soda. I went home and announced he had 30 days to pack up and move out. Or, I’d get a restraining order. I helped him find a new place and that was that. Fortunately, he didn’t who come back or stalk me. He was gone and I was relieved.

I was working part-time in sales. I made pretty good commissions so I could do my own thing when I left the office about one-ish in the afternoon. I went to my boss. He and his wife were also friends and hiking buddies. I announced, “If I’ve seemed distracted, out of it, unfocused or anything – this is why.” and I explained. “But it’s over, he’s gone and thank goodness, I’m moving forward.”

My boss’ jaw dropped. He said, “I’d never guess anything like that could happen to you, Denise. You come to work in a good mood, you’re focused, you do a great job. I’m stunned.” He and his wife gave me hugs and we talked a little more. He recommended I buy a book titled, “Conscious Loving” by Hendrickson and Hendrickson.

I made a commitment to myself:
1. I would give myself time to heal. Not just form “emotional scar tissue” – but truly heal.
2. When I was ready I’d do whatever it takes to find true love – even if it meant getting out of my comfort zone.

I bought the book and started reading. I was sitting at my kitchen table with the sun streaming in the window on a Saturday morning. I read, If you want a true, loving, co-creative relationship you must be willing to give up all your emotional baggage from the past. You can’t bring it into a new relationship because it’s almost like a third person – and a negative one at that.

I had a panic attack. I’d never had a panic attack before – there I was clutching my chest and gasping for air at the kitchen table for about 30 scary seconds.

The book went on to say being vulnerable and open about your feelings in a loving relationship gives you power. I had so much scar tissue from two divorces by age 34 and other bad relationships that thought was totally opposite from what I’d come to believe. My experience was if I was open and vulnerable about my feelings people would find a way to hurt me. I wore my scars and hurts with pride like The Red Badge of Courage. This was be a total change. I took a deep breath. After all, everything I’d done in the past didn’t work. I was ready to change even if it meant stepping into some scary places.

More to come tomorrow…

Denise Michaels is author of the business bestseller, “Testosterone-Free Marketing.” Get your copy by clicking here. And, get Denise’s weekly empowerment and marketing tips by clicking here. Come join Denise Michaels in a movement to empower women business owners like you to be all you can be and to have more joy, more fun and more success in your life.

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Common Sense can Increase Your Sales

Friday, November 13th, 2009

By Denise Michaels, Author, ‘Testosterone-Free Marketing’

Years ago I worked for a millionaire who said, “Common sense is uncommon, Denise.”

I watch with amazement new women business owners and I see what they become. Sometimes the results are spectacular. Other times they’re not. I meet people in networking meetings, on my teleclasses, at workshops or through emails that lack so much basic common sense I wonder how successful they could ever possibly become.

Daily I get emails and phone messages with no name. How can you form a relationship with people you want to help you if you don’t tell them your name? Doesn’t it make sense a mentor would be more inclined to help people they know, like and appreciate – starting with their name? How will this person ever complete a business transaction?

When making calls to people a couple weeks ago regarding my workshop – even though I just left my name, number and where I met the person – fully two-thirds never called back. All of them say they want more business – so why wouldn’t they return a phone call?

People miss phone meetings because they get confused about which time zone they live in. How will these people ever complete business deals if they can’t keep their own time zone straight?

Make it easy for people to say “yes.” Keep your word and be a person people can count on. Learn how to count time zones. If you do business with people outside the USA, as I occasionally do, learn how to use one of the easy currency converter sites. If you have to miss an appointment, be gracious enough to let the person know. The more you make your request easy and idiot-proof, the more likely you are to get a “yes”. The more difficult you make it, the more likely you are to get a “no.”

A great example was a man who sent me a lengthy email stating he wanted my help with marketing but he was afraid to share his idea because he was ripped off by someone else. I replied, “If you want me to sign a Confidentiality Agreement or anything so you feel comfortable speaking with me, I’m happy to do so.”

His reply said, “Okay, write up a legal agreement, print it, sign it and mail it back to me.” He made it overly difficult to help him so I didn’t.

The piece de resistance was last week. A woman wrote asking if I knew anyone who could help her with her website issues. I contacted a web expert who’s a woman. I gave the web expert the name and contact info of the woman who needed help creating a website. She replied, “Tell her she can call me if she wants to.”

I told her Lesson Numero Uno when someone gives you a referral is to be pro-active and follow up yourself. If you don’t, your referrals will dry up.

Lesson Number Two: go back to the person who referred you, thank them again and share with them what transpired. People who refer you want to see you succeed. They want to know what happened. If anyone helps you, go back and tell them how things turned out when you used their suggestions.

If you want to be successful you must take on success habits. That means not only visionary thinking and the right attitude, but also doing the little things right like returning phone calles. Make it easy for people to say “yes” to doing business with you.

Think about “cause” and “effect”. Think about what you want the experience of doing business with you to be like. What steps can you take to make it easier for prospective customeers to say “yes”? How can you think from their point of view and make it a slam dunk?

When people help you out, do you get back to them, thank them and let them know how their advice turned out? Or, do you act as if you’re somehow entitled and never say a word? Life is easier when you treat others as you want to be treated. It boils down to The Golden Rule.

Do you have a story from your business of someone who didn’t mean to do the wrong thing – but just plain didn’t have any common sense at all?

Take an extra moment to think things through in a way that makes people want to say “yes”. Use that uncommon common sense that’s so rare. Just by doing the right thing – you’ll have a huge advantage over others in your industry.

Denise Michaels is author of the business bestseller, “Testosterone-Free Marketing.” Get your copy by clicking here. And, get Denise’s weekly empowerment and marketing tips by clicking here. Come join Denise Michaels in a movement to empower women business owners like you to be all you can be and to have more joy, more fun and more success in your life.

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Willing to Admit Your Level of “Cupcake-ness?”

Thursday, November 12th, 2009

By Denise Michaels, Author, “Testosterone-Free Marketing”

Are you willing to admit you’re a cupcake marketer? C’mon, fess up. Confession is good for the soul. After all, admitting you have a problem is the first big step to solving the problem, right?

If you answer yes to any of the questions below – chances are extremely good you’re a cupcake marketer. Here are the telltale signs. Do you:

* Undercharge for your products and services compared to the going market rates? Yes No
(Millions of women do because they don’t trust in themselves, their ability to market and sell or both.)

* You say you do it “to be nice” or “to give back or “to pay it forward?” Yes No
(Your business is not a philanthropy – it’s a business. The purpose of a business is to make money – including a fair profit. Then once you make it if you want to give it to charity – that’s your business. But a business isn’t a charity.)

* Secretly wish you could hire someone to take care of the marketing and selling? Yes No
(You do this because you don’t know testosterone-free ways to market and sell. The highest and best use of time for any home-based business owner is to be selling.)

* Say, “I don’t do my business for the money – I do it for fun?” Yes No
(Which tells the world you’re probably not making much money. There are so many things you can do in the world for fun – travel, spending time with kids or grandkids, sports, hobbies, gourmet cooking, sex – the list goes on and on. Even though business can be a lot of fun – the primary reason is to make money – not fun.)

* Say, “I started my business because I love the product?” Yes No
(I love “Prego Spaghetti Sauce” and “L’Oreal Feria” hair color too but it doesn’t mean I’m going to start a business around it.)

* Try to get other women business owners to give you freebies to help you out? Yes No
(Just curious – how often do you actually BUY products and services from other women business owners? If you’re not buying regularly – you’re contributing to the pink collar ghetto and are a serial cupcake marketer.)

* Secretly (or not so secretly) you get upset if another women business owner refuses to give you freebies? Yes No
(Damn! Your plan to create money without spending any isn’t working. She’s not making it fun for you! If you feel you can’t control the situation – it happens because you don’t know testosterone-free ways to market or sell.)

* If they say “no” to giving you freebies do you run around and tell others online? Yes No
(Okay, you’re a cupcake marketer and a backstabber when you don’t get your way.)

* Are your finances tight yet you keep telling yourself if you give things away (or undercharge) it’ll all work out and come back to you eventually? Yes No
(Karma does come back around – but not always the way we want it.)

* Are you an MLMer, DMer or party plan gal signed up for more than one business opportunity, yet you aren’t making real money you can actually live on at any of ‘em? Yes No
(My marketing rule number one is “a confused mind says no.” When people see you’re home-based, with no staff and in more than one business they’re less likely to buy anything from you.)

* Do you see dollar signs when someone says, “You don’t have to sell the product – you just have to share the product?” Yes No
(You should run the other direction. It’s a lie.)

Here’s how to score your results:

1-3 YES Answers: Admit it, you’re a cupcake marketer. You’re learning a lot about your business, having a great time and you just know that things will come around and the dollars will start rolling in soon. But even if they don’t – you’re having fun and that’s what’s most important, right?

4-6 YES Answers: You got it bad girrrrrl. You keep a happy smile on your face and you still LOVE the product(s) or services you offer. But there are time when you’re a little discouraged. You believe if you keep doing what you’re doing it’ll all work out and come back to you. After all, isn’t that what “attracting” is about? Thank God your (pick one) husband, savings, 401k are there to keep the bills paid. For awhile anyway.

7-9 YES Answers: You’re a lifer. You’ve been doing serial businesses for years now. You haven’t quite found one where you don’t have to SELL the product or service you just SHARE it. However, you keep looking and hoping and telling others everything is “Fabulous!” with your current business.

10 or more YES Answers: You’re either homeless, couch-surfing or you have a very patient husband, boyfriend or partner picking up the tab. You don’t make enough money to even pay for groceries. No biggie, if you made a bunch of money either you wouldn’t be happy or you’d leave the jerk, anyway.

Denise Michaels is author of the business bestseller, “Testosterone-Free Marketing.” Get your copy by clicking here. And, get Denise’s weekly empowerment and marketing tips by clicking here. Come join Denise Michaels in a movement to empower women business owners like you to be all you can be and to have more joy, more fun and more success in your life.

In tomorrow’s post I’ll break cupcake marketing down into smaller crumbs so you can understand why you do it a little better and help you get on the road to recovery.

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How to Avoid Dreaded Cupcake Marketers

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009

By Denise Michaels, Author, “Testosterone-free Marketing”

A couple days ago I wrote about something I dubbed, “cupcake marketing.” Women business owners who tend to expect everything free because they’re not so good at making decisions about their own business and hence they never have any money. So, they give everything away free – and then, they expect you to do the same because you’re a woman. They wouldn’t dare ask a man to do the same – but they expect you, a woman business owner to jump at the chance.

One woman commented in a Facebook message that she had three people today who EXPECTED her to give away her products for free. Can you imagine the gall? Expected her. Not even very polite. More threatening than anything else.

I told this woman if so many people are asking her for freebies that there’s gotta be something about her demeanor, her message or something that people seem to expect it. She needs to check in with what she’s doing first to see what it is about the impression or perception she’s giving off that’s creating that result. She can’t control others but she can certainly control what she does.

In my business, I don’t get a lot of this. But I hear it happening with other women a great deal.

I recently had someone start up a chat with me on Facebook. She was singing the blues about her financial situation – most of which I know is a result of not this recession but very poor decision making. She has a husband and two kids from a previous husband that are in her parents custody. She wanted money from me. She wasn’t even trying to sell me something just wanted a donation as if I’m some kind of patsy or something. I said, “Please, don’t ask me.”

She shot back, “Okay, I’ll just tell others you don’t care about mothers with children.”

Wow!

We need to learn what it truly means to support other women business owners. It means BUYING their product/service and paying for it. Not expecting freebies all the time That’s one way we can really step toward getting out of the pink collar ghetto of struggle and financial dependence.

Here’s the deal: you aren’t a charity. The women you know who are business owners – they’re not a charity either. No matter how much you may be struggling at the moment and would like someone to just write you a check. It’s not going to happen because you’re not a charity and you’re not a victim. Stop expecting others to treat you like one. Start learning how to market and sell effectively. Treat your business like a business and set the intention that others do the same.

I give money to charitable programs all the time. I give a monthly donation to public radio. I give money to efforts that help the homeless. I gave ten percent of the proceeds from my workshop last week to the charity Dress for Success helps women entering or re-entering the work force with training and a business-appropriate wardrobe. Occasionally, I’ll give money or help to someone who doesn’t ask for it but I can tell really could use it.

Last week I had someone offer to do a professional makeover on me: she’s a makeup artist. It was fun, I learned some great new tips and tricks that made my face look better. When it was done I purchased $100 worth of her cosmetics from her. They’re pretty high end so $100 didn’t buy everything but it’s a good start and an empowering way I could show support for her business. Click here to see Lisa Monette’s line of amazing OLA products. I supported her by buying her product – and when I’m ready I’ll buy more.

Many women have the mistaken notion supporting other women means offering a hug and a listening ear. Well, it does. But if you do only that – and then stop at the Estee Lauder counter to buy cosmetics – it’s not enough. Buy products and services from other women business owners. Tell other women to buy their products, too. When you do you’re setting up the Universal flow of prosperity and abundance so people are more likely to buy from you. If you’re a cupcake marketer and always expect freebies – the Universe gets that your mindset is in lack. And you get to have more lack. Don’t let it happen. Don’t be a cupcake marketer. Or, do things that attracts other cupcakes, too.

Denise Michaels is author of the business bestseller, “Testosterone-Free Marketing.” Get your copy by clicking here. And, get Denise’s weekly empowerment and marketing tips by clicking here. Come join Denise Michaels in a movement to empower women business owners like you to be all you can be and to have more joy, more fun and more success in your life.

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Market Trend Watching: November 2009

Tuesday, November 10th, 2009

This article comes from http://www.TrendWatching.com

As the future is uncertain, and the past is, well, the past, instant-gratification seeking consumers are embracing the ‘now’ with more passion than ever before. And despite this trend’s seemingly ephemeral character, it is rich in solid, applicable trend examples.

In our June 2009 Trend Briefing, we covered FOREVERISM. But even then, we pointed out that the need for everything that is (right) now/current/real-time, is being satisfied in numerous novel ways, with (wait for it) the online world showing the way forward.

Dubbed ‘NOWISM’, this mega trend has, and will continue to have, a big impact on everything from your corporate culture to customer relationships to product innovation to tactical campaigns. And yet you probably only have a few minutes to spare on it so we’ve done our best to keep this Trend Briefing digestible.

Let’s start with a definition:

NOWISM | “Consumers’ ingrained* lust for instant gratification is being satisfied by a host of novel, important (offline and online) real-time products, services and experiences. Consumers are also feverishly contributing to the real-time content avalanche that’s building as we speak. As a result, expect your brand and company to have no choice but to finally mirror and join the ‘now’, in all its splendid chaos, realness and excitement.”

*In the end, just like all our other trends, NOWISM represents a case of consumers jumping on something the moment they actually can. So, the need is never new, the new ways to fulfil it are.

Key trend drivers – Instant

Bloomsberry Chocolate

The power of all things ‘NOW’ can be traced back to the eternal lure of instant gratification and our current consumer societies handily accommodating and encouraging this relentless pursuit of instant information, communications, pleasure, if not indulgences. En passant reducing the ‘now’ to mere minutes, if not seconds.

It’s been a steady build-up: Abundance

In an age of abundance, with a reduced need for non-stop securing of the basics, and physical goods so plentiful (and/or ecologically harmful) that the status derived from them is sometimes close to nil, only consumption of the experience* and thus the now, the thrill, remains.

In fact, many ‘fixed’ items run the risk of becoming synonymous with boredom, hassle (Maintenance! Theft! Going out of style! Repairs!), eco-unfriendliness, and sinking a large part of one’s budget into one object (which impedes spending on multiple experiences).

* Trends are never ‘or’, they’re always ‘and’. There is, of course, always a need for roots, for non-transient relationships, for shelter. People, consumers, still need a base, and still need to be sure the basics are at least available at all times . Owning does imply a certain level of security, something that others can’t just take away from you.
Experiences

This focus on experiences, this living in the now, instead of in the future, this lust to collect as many experiences and stories as soon as possible, is addictive. Take travel: these days, it’s more of a basic consumer need than a luxury. It’s about detachment, fractional ownership or no ownership at all, trying out new things, escaping commitment and obligations, dropping formality, and of course collecting endless new experiences. No wonder tourism is and will remain one of the biggest industries in the world. For more on transient lifestyles, see our TRANSUMERS briefing.
Online

In the still rapidly expanding online world, instant gratification is even easier to obtain: ‘digital’ has become synonymous with ‘instant’. Furthermore, if something digital/online is too slow, too cumbersome, too poorly written, or too boring, a substitute is only a search term and a click away. And yes, this is indirectly setting consumers’ expectations for the ‘real’ world, too.

P.S. For a broader view on NOWISM, please (re-)read Zygmunt Bauman’s (a Polish sociologist) musings on what he has dubbed Liquid Modernity. Here are some snippets to get you going:

“Liquid Modernity” is Bauman’s term for the present condition of the world as contrasted with the “solid” modernity that preceded it. According to Bauman, the passage from “solid” to “liquid” modernity has created a new and unprecedented setting for individual life pursuits, confronting individuals with a series of challenges never before encountered. Social forms and institutions no longer have enough time to solidify and cannot serve as frames of reference for human actions and long-term life plans, so individuals have to find other ways to organize their lives.

Individuals have to splice together an unending series of short-term projects and episodes that don’t add up to the kind of sequence to which concepts like “career” and “progress” could be meaningfully applied.

Such fragmented lives require individuals to be flexible and adaptable — to be constantly ready and willing to change tactics at short notice, to abandon commitments and loyalties without regret and to pursue opportunities according to their current availability. In liquid modernity the individual must act, plan actions and calculate the likely gains and losses of acting (or failing to act) under conditions of endemic uncertainty.”
Caffeinated soap, anyone?

In the past, both in our free Trend Briefings and our paid Annual Trend Reports, we’ve spoken about phenomena like ‘FSTR’, ‘HYPERTASKING’, ‘BOOST’ and ‘SNACKONOMY’. These trends illustrate how more activities are being crammed into ever diminishing timeframes, how convenience is king, how products and services are literally becoming smaller or more fragmented so budget conscious and/or time-poor consumers can collect as many different experiences as possible, how caffeinated drinks, shampoos and chewing gum provide consumers with energy to prolong the ‘now’, and so on.
For your amusement (or perhaps it’s ammunition for your next innovation session?), a handful of stats and signs of the times all paying tribute to a world in which currency truly is the new currency:

* A Datamonitor consumer survey in April/May 2009 established that less than half of consumers across 17 countries are satisfied with their work-life balance. Various commitments and demands from work and personal/family life have contributed to the feeling of time-deprivation. People are looking for speed and convenience and anything that allows them to feel more in control of time. (Source: Datamonitor, August 2009.)

* Nearly half of all women (47 percent) said the big stress in their life is the demand on their time. 45 percent said they don’t have “enough time for me.” (Source: The Boston Consulting Group, August 2009.)

* “The Checkout” report found that 28 percent of June 2009 shoppers describe themselves as “preferring to spend more if it saves them time.” This was up from 23 percent in May. Additionally, the number of customers (28 percent) who responded that “saving money by shopping around” was their top preference fell from 33 percent the month prior. (Source: M/A/R/C Research and Integer, August 2009.)

* More than 30 percent of the people who visit a business for service expect instant attention – in some cases even if they do not have an appointment. (Source: Beagle Research Group, August 2009.)

* According to Mintel’s Global New Product Database, new energy drink product launches increased by more than 110 percent from 2004 to 2009, boosting sales in that sector during the same time-frame by more than 240 percent. (Source: Mintel, August 2009.)

* Office furniture manufacturer Details’ Walkstation is an electric, height adjustable work station attached to a commercial grade treadmill with a maximum speed of 2 miles per hour, and is designed to allow office workers to burn up to 100 calories per hour without leaving their computer screens(!)

* Expected to go on sale in December 2009, gScreen’s dual-screen Spacebook laptop features two 15 inch screens. Last year, Samsung launched the SyncMaster 2263DX, a 22″ monitor with an additional 7″ screen that can be attached to chat, browse the web, view photos etc.

With everything from drinks to shampoo now coming with a caffeine boost to help consumers make even more of the now, its no surprise anti-energy drinks are popping up, too:

* Launched in August 2009 and claiming “euphoric relaxation”, Mary Jane’s Relaxing Soda uses Fijian kava extract, which the company claims mirrors the effects of alcohol without the negative side effects. The soda also contains passion flower extract, a calming herb used to treat anxiety and insomnia. Similarly, Canadian Slow Cow is positioned as a “relaxing, anti-energy drink”, promoting the benefits of de-stress rather than speeding up.

Three developments to watch

Enough theory and signs of the times: let’s get organized. Here are (just) three distinct NOWISM developments ready for you to run with: the emergence of the real-time web, the growing value of events and performances that are ‘live’, and the many ways commerce is going truly ‘instant’.

1. ONLINE (IM)PULSE
2. LIVING THE LIVE
3. INSTANT COMMERCE

1. ONLINE (IM)PULSE – Internetmap

A visualization of (gigantic) global online traffic from The Internet Mapping Project

For NOWISM on steroids, look no further than the burgeoning ‘real-time web’. As netizens are insatiably lusting after (and contributing to) up-to-date info on other people, products, events, news and so on, they are thus obsessed with real-time publishing, real-time search, real-time reviews and price-comparison, real-time news, real-time conversations and more.

And yes, Twitter is the current, deserved poster child for this phenomenon. It’s no wonder that even Google founder Larry Page stated that “Twitter has done a great job of real-time search. I think we’ve done a relatively poor job of… things that work on a per-second basis. I’ve been telling our search teams for some time, you need results for every second. They laugh at me. I don’t think they understand this. I think we will do a better job of some of these things now”. (Source: Wired, August 2009.)

Tweets

Total number of tweets, in real-time

The Twitters of this world of course offer a truly real-time snapshot of what the world is thinking, doing, protesting (if not fighting) for and against, loving, reviewing, buying, feeling, attending, traveling to, donating to, gossiping about, asking for, hating, wearing, watching, eating, reading, drinking, listening to… need we go on?

Brands obviously can and have to tap into this GLOBAL BRAIN and its ONLINE PULSE of unheard scale and scope (never before has business intelligence been so in your face), but they then also have to become part of it, engaging in (and initiating) conversations*. And not only are these conversations visible in real-time, they’re visible to everyone. To all one’s existing customers, potential customers, employees, competitor’s employees, journalists, and so on.

For dynamic brands, living in sync with NOWISM, this will mean a world of real-time customer service, real time (price) offers, real-time product and advertising testing, real-time Q&A, real-time feedback, real-time co-creation. For static brands, NOWISM will mean a painful, lifeless future.

* For more about ongoing customer conversations, co-creation and beta-mindsets, (re-)read our FOREVERISM briefing.
Tell a Friend
MOBILE INFOLUST
Mobile

Until recently, ‘mobile’ was NOWISM’s missing link: everyone is now online when at home, in the office, or near a hotspot, it’s hard to check or contribute to real-time information if individuals are offline while truly on-the-go. No longer. Count on consumers’ INFOLUST (including lusting after knowing what friends, family, celebs, colleagues, foes and so on, are doing/saying/thinking right now) to go completely mobile. Some numbers:

* Globally, mobile data traffic will double every year through 2013, increasing 66-fold between 2008 and 2013. Mobile data traffic will grow at a CAGR of 131% between 2008 and 2013, reaching over 2 exabytes per month by 2013. (Source: Cisco, 2009.)
* The number of Orange 3G mobile broadband customers had increased to 21.7 million at 30 June 2009, compared with 13.4 million in June 2008, an increase of 62% in one year.

* The overall number of individual mobile users in Western Europe is set to grow to 344 million at year-end 2014. By 2014, a third of Western European consumers will own internet-enabled phones compared with 18% in 2009. Mobile Internet adoption is set to grow to 39% in Western Europe in 2014 from 13% in 2008.(Source: Forrester Research, August 2009.)

Expect all the usual NOWISM suspects, from Twitter to Facebook to Google, to intensify the battle for dominating screen space on the iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Booklet 3G, Palm Pre, Apple Tablet and every portable device that is online 24/7. We ain’t seen nothing yet ;-)
Logos

Don’t have a finger on the online pulse yet? Take your pick from the following random list of real-time search engines, content aggregators, alerting services, friend finders and so on:

* Almost.at. An online application that aggregates news from sites such as Twitter, Flickr, Youtube in real-time. The site then allows viewers to tag messages from users who appear to be actually witnessing an event, and that user’s future posts will be given prominence in search results.
* Collecta. Claims to be one of the fastest real-time search engines on the web, gathering photos, videos, status updates, tweets, news articles, and blog entries as these items are posted.
* CrowdEye. A real-time social search engine that allows users to see a snapshot of Twitter activity related to their search term, it also analyses tweets, retweets and links to determine important topics.
* Facebook (Real Time) Search. Facebook’s search facility is capable of real-time search, allowing users to view public posts from the site’s vast collection of members around the world.
* FriendFeed (owned by Facebook) is an online platform that allows members to aggregate shared content in real-time. A users’ feed can be populated with content such as links, images and video, which can then be shared within groups or be published to websites, blogs or Twitter.
* Google latitude. Allows users to share their current location with their Google contacts via their browser or mobile device.
* Google Wave. Allows users to create and edit rich-media ‘waves’ in real-time, with changes immediately visible to all participants.
* Google Real Time Search (well, kind of, as reported recently by Omgili).
* Happn.in. Collects and aggregates the most popular phrases used on Twitter within 20 miles of major cities around the world.
* Livestream. A live broadcast platform, available in both free and premium packages, that allows users to stream live video anywhere on the web using a player widget.
* Picfog is a real-time image search engine that monitors tweets for image links and then provides continually updated thumbnails of the latest pictures; these can also be searched by category, keyword, user or location.
* Scoopler A real-time search engine that constantly indexes live updates from services such as Twitter, Flickr, Digg and Delicious.
* Socialseek. Through an aggregation of data from keywords, the application analyses news sites, blogs, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, and more, to give an overarching and geographically segmented perspective of consumer sentiment. See also Viralheat and Peoplebrowsr.
* Topsy. A search engine that indexes results based on the frequency that they are mentioned in real-time, also taking into account the influence of the people that are talking about them.
* Trendsmap. An interactive world map that displays currently trending topics on twitter, presenting recent tweets and links for each topic.
* Tweetdeck is a browser that users can download to view and interact with multiple real-time social networking feeds from their contacts on Facebook, Twitter and MySpace.
* TweetFeel. TweetFeel gathers recent tweets mentioning a search term and evaluates those tweets for positive and negative sentiment.
* TweetMeme. A service that analyses tweets in real-time to determine the most popular links that are currently being shared, also allowing users to search and share links.
* Tweet on the Street. Searches tweets in real-time to provide the latest rumors regarding both technology and celebrity news.
* Twendz. Analyses posts on Twitter, using a keyword-based system to determine the real-time sentiment regarding trending topics.
* Twitter Search. Twitter’s own search facility, which enables users to filter real-time information using search terms and a variety of advanced search operators.
* Twitvid. A service that allows users to post videos to Twitter by creating a dedicated URL that will be included in their posts.
* Yahoo’s Friends on Fire. A Facebook application that allows users to share their location with their friends, posting updates and invitations directly onto a map. It is powered by Yahoo!’s Fire Eagle location-based social service.

Sure, there are dozens more: a good list to continue your real-time explorations is ReadWriteWeb’s Top 50 Real-Time Companies. And by the time you’re done checking those out, plenty of new real-time start-ups will have popped up, no doubt reported on by other real-time firms.

For more insights on the Real Time Web, make sure you read JWT’s ‘The Now Web’, and ReadWriteWeb’s ‘Primer’ on the topic.

On our end, we’re already working on a NOWISM-meets-ONLINE PULSE update that will include (among others) more examples about NOWISM and GPS / location-based services (as well as the interplay between NOWISM and LOCALITY at large), and the possibilities to form real-time, one-off communities for anything, which in some ways is the ultimate in ephemeral in NOWISM. So, yes, we’re asking for your patience here ;-)
2. LIVING THE LIVE

Madonna

Here’s an easy prediction: all things ‘live’, anything that even has a hint of ‘performance’, will continue to rise in value in a NOWISM world. We’ve dubbed this LIVING THE LIVE; a NOWISM sub-trend that thrives on:

* Experiences trumping physical possessions, especially when the one-off factor (uniqueness!) and limited access get thrown in as well.
* The online world acting as a giant copy machine of all things digital or prone to digitalization (the COPYCONOMY), leaving only the experience (and related STATUS STORIES) of a live performance that cannot be copied.
* The fact that even with rampant individuality and virtual relationships, human beings do have a deep need to occasionally congregate with other warm bodies in real-world venues and to share and wallow in communal emotions such as enjoyment, sorrow, longing, or anger.

A (pleasant?) side effect of LIVING THE LIVE is that ‘live’ cannot be edited, controlled or censored and therefore offers the possibility of boredom-beating surprises. And surprises, excitement, controversy, scandal, realness, and rawness is exactly what many consumers are openly or secretly craving. Top ratings and top traffic for anything ‘raw’ that slips through in a sanitized, traditional corporate and media environs are easy proof.

So, in the next 12 months, anything that is live (Concerts! Election nights! Parties! Tastings! Football Games! Musicals! Festivals! So You Think You Can Dance!), tied to a specific place and time will be a brand booster, or a direct revenue source, or both. If you execute these well of course ;-)

Some easy-to-digest LIVING THE LIVE examples, mostly from the entertainment business:

* US reality TV show So You Think You Can Dance launched a live tour in September 2009. Fans of the show can see the top 10 finalists performing live on stage at 40 venues across the US.
* Madonna’s “Sticky and Sweet” world tour (2008-2009) made USD 408 million, making it the highest grossing tour ever for a solo artist. Madonna toured 32 countries and performed 85 shows.
* In September 2009, Scotch single malt Laphroaig and Kentucky bourbon Maker’s Mark hosted Distillery LIVE 2009, which aimed to celebrate the relationship between the two whisky brands. The live interactive online tasting was hosted at the Maker’s Mark distillery in Kentucky, where distillers from both companies educated consumers about their whisky and offered advice such as food pairings.

There’s a market for semi-live performances, too:

* New York Metropolitan Opera’s Live in HD uses HD satellite technology to broadcast opera performances to theaters and cinemas for a global audience. The 2009/2010 season comprises nine shows commencing in October 2009 and screening over 40 countries worldwide.
* Through the NT Live initiative, which began in mid 2009, London’s National Theatre films performances live and in high definition, then broadcasts them via satellite to 50 venues across the UK, along with 100 more in the US, Canada and Europe.

P.S. Check out this recent LIVING THE LIVE advertising example from American Airlines. Remember, when applying trends, one of the easiest ways to get going is to use your trend insights to speak a particular audience’s language. In this case, linking flying to live experiences, as opposed to downloading them, is at least trying to incorporate an element of digital lifestyles. However, as those living a digital lifestyle are unconditionally passionate about doing so, we would always opt for avoiding even the slightest negative undertone when squaring off the real world to the online one. But that’s just us.
Never miss a Trend Briefing again

3. INSTANT COMMERCE – Soup

NOWISM is responsible for a spate of instant (e)commerce concepts: who ever said retail was dying? Learn from NOWISM initiatives that revolve around alerts, pop-ups, vending machines, and linking instant info to instant buying. And that’s just the beginning.

URGE ALERTS – Krispy

An effective old-school URGE ALERT: Krispy Kreme’s neon Hot Light sign

Alerting is the new searching. No wonder that real-time alerts aimed at stimulating impulse buys (if not urges) are taking off:

* Launched in San Francisco in early August 2009, Curtis Kimball’s mobile Crème Brûlée Cart has attracted more than 8,000 Twitter followers, who rely on his tweets to find out exactly where he’ll be, and what flavors are on the menu.
* The Warm Cookie Radar from Specialty’s Cafe & Bakery sends customers email alerts when batches of just-baked cookies have rolled out of the oven.
* Kogi Korean BBQ sells its Korean/Mexican fusion food primarily through two trucks that are always on the move to new locations in the Los Angeles area. To know where to find them, customers must follow Kogi on Twitter.

* Designed by creative agency Poke in London, much-publicized BakerTweet allows bakers to keep their customers informed of what’s cooking. Because bakery kitchens don’t tend to be hospitable to electronic devices, BakerTweet uses a specially designed box that can withstand the messiest kitchen conditions. Bakers begin by creating an account online with BakerTweet, detailing all the baked items they want to Twitter about, along with the body of the Tweet that will be sent out for each product. The wall-mountable BakerTweet box captures that information, allowing bakers to turn a dial to select which item they want to Tweet about at that moment and then push a button to send the full Tweet wirelessly to Twitter. Customers following the bakery then get updated immediately.

SEE/HEAR/BUY – Phones

SEE/HEAR/BUY thrives on (mobile) NOWISM technologies that allow consumers to quickly find out more about an item, a song, or anything else they hear/see, and then buy it. This short overview of experience-and-buy services should get you going:

* Shopsavvy, an Android app, allows the user to scan almost any barcode using the phone’s camera, and it will then search over 20,000 online and local retailers to find the best price. Once the best deal has been found, users can either purchase online, or use the phone’s built-in Google Maps feature to find their way to the store.
* Californian SnapTell says half a million iPhone and Android users have downloaded its application (which, unlike Shopsavvy, allows users to photograph a product using cameras in their handsets, and then upload it to the website for reviews, recommendations and best prices), resulting in more than 1.5 million image queries so far. More than one in three buyers click through to an online retailer, earning SnapTell commissions.
* SnapTell is owned by Amazon.com, who recently also released its own, free, Android mobile application. This allows users to take photos of an item on their phone, or scan a barcode, and then have Amazon search for the same product online, enabling immediate comparison with the physical-retail price. If the price is right, users can purchase the item securely from their mobile device.
* SEE/HEAR/BUY pioneer Shazam, which was launched in 2002, offers a mobile app that allows users to identify tracks by recording a small clip of music. The app “tags” the track with a name and artist, and then allows users to purchase the music through an online store. The company just announced that more than 50 million people around the world have used the service; an increase of 15 million users since February of this year.

Related: Midomi’s iPhone app offers a variety of ways for consumers to identify music. They can record a clip of live music, hum, sing or say the name of the song and Midomi will name the track and provide links to online content such as music videos and lyrics. Users can also click through to buy the song immediately.
* ColorSnap is a free iPhone application developed by US paint brand Sherwin-Williams. Launched in 2009, the application allows consumers to match the color of a photo taken on their iPhone with over 1,500 colors listed in the Sherwin-Williams database. This color and the complimentary color pallette is then sent to the phone. Next: a ‘buy now’ link to a DIY retail chain?

So… Who’s going to build similar SEE-HEAR-BUY services in 2010 for looking up movies, television shows and even commercials by just saying a few lines? And how will these instant gratification services further shape expectations among infolusty shoppers?

Vending Fun

Leave it to NOWISM-loving marketers to come up with vending machines that sell more than snacks and beverages. Some random examples of how anything can be made instantly available 24/7:

* Barcelona company Lof (short for ‘Lo Fresco’) has developed a range of vending machines that only dispense healthy food, from prepared fruit and ready meals to gazpacho soup.
* Redbox specializes in the vending of DVDs via self-service kiosks. Redbox kiosks are located throughout the US in fast food restaurants, pharmacies, grocery stores and convenience stores, leasing out DVDs from USD 1 per night.
* Launched earlier this year, US based U*tique bills itself as the world’s first interactive, automated luxury store for “life’s little emergencies and indulgences”. Debuting at Los Angeles retailer Fred Segal, U*tique lets consumers learn about selected luxury and personal-care products and have them dispensed with a swipe of their credit card. Only 50 products are available at any given time, and all have been handpicked by product specialists with backgrounds in global beauty, trend-hunting and innovation. The technology features a touch-screen interface, interactive LED lighting design, and a behind-the-scenes robot that delivers products from secure storage into consumers’ hands.
* German farm ‘Peter-und-Paul-Hof’ has begun selling its fresh produce in vending machines. The specially designed Regiomat machines sell milk, eggs, butter, cheese, potatoes and sausage in thirteen German towns and communities.
* The Standard Hotel chain in the US has introduced a retail concept by placing vending machines stocked with designer swimming trunks in their hotels. Quiksilver and André Balazs’ have partnered to fill the vending machines in the New York, Los Angeles, Hollywood and Miami hotels.
* Bike manufacturer Trek set up a prototype Trek Stop Cycling Convenience Center in Madison, Wisconsin. Located outside (and operated by) bike shop Machinery Row, the Trek Stop is a convenience center for cyclists. The vending machine is stocked with bicycle products such as spare tubes, patches, tire levers and more, along with food and cold drinks.
* InstyMeds have developed vending machines to dispense medication. The machines are designed to be placed in doctors’ offices, clinics, emergency rooms and other healthcare facilities. Each holds 100 of some of the most often used medications, ranging from pills to drops to creams and so forth.
* Two British companies now sell their version of portable ballet flats in vending machines at nightclubs: Rollasoles sell for about GBP 5 and come in four colors: Hi Ho Silver, Gold Digger, Back to Black and Pink. Afterheels are similar rollable ballet flats which have the added feature of being recyclable.
* Last year, US Electronics retailer Best Buy installed vending machines at 14 major US airports as part of a successful pilot program for the company’s new Best Buy express kiosks. The kiosks are large vending machines that carry cell phone and computer accessories, flash drives, MP3 players, headphones, gaming devices, travel adapters, and other items that are likely to appeal to customers on the go.
* Kosher Vending Industries in the US operates “Hot Nosh” vending machines that deliver hot kosher meals in 90 seconds. The company originally launched with more than 50 locations in New York City and has expanded nationwide through partnering agreements and regional licensing.

POPUPPING – Icecream

The Icecreamist pop-up store in Selfridges until November 2009

What can we add to a ‘trend’ that, ever since we coined* it in late 2003 (“If new products can come and go, why can’t the stores that display them do the same?”), has gone from a temporary example of temporariness to a NOWISM fixture on every marketing-strategy-to-do list? POPUPPING aka pop-up stores, pop-up shops, and pop-up retail, now encompasses all temporary brand manifestations that add an element of surprise, urgency, and must-have/must-see to shopping, dining, entertaining, lodging, exhibiting and so on.

Three developments within this sub-trend to watch:

1. Due to the recession, an increased availability of affordable retail space has made it easier and more attractive to set up pop-up stores and manifestations in some of the most prestigious (and high-traffic) shopping areas around the world.
2. With pop-up stores being so abundant, and thus the surprise factor for consumers greatly diminished, expect brands to focus on more outrageous manifestations.
3. Also expect a shift in their attention from merely selling or introducing new product lines to turning pop-ups into centers of learning, having consumers try out (concept) products, and, above all, having conversations with customers. In other words: real-world manifestations of CUSTOMER-MADE strategies (pop-up labs, anyone?)

As the number of recent POPUPPING examples is endless, and rapidly available, we’ve highlighted just one (but it’s a tasty one!):

* The Icecreamists is a UK ice cream brand that has positioned itself using premium, X-rated flavors. The Sex Pistol is the most recent flavor, which is available exclusively at The Icecreamists’ shop, which opened in London’s Selfridges department store last month and will close in November. Mixed into ice cream is ginkgo biloba, arginine and guarana – all promising to increase blood flow and energy level. Before serving, The Sex Pistol is doused in La Fee Absinthe. This is administered from a drip-bag into a pink water gun and then fired at a heated sugar cube, which drops into the ice cream. The Sex Pistol is deemed so potent that sales are limited to one per customer, and retail at GBP 11.99 each serving.

* We’re not sure whether this is something to be proud of, or deeply ashamed

Logos – YEA OR NAY?

Remember Walter Mischel’s marshmallow experiment?

The rise of NOWISM will no doubt be accompanied by endless fretting about how civilization will succumb to the lack of delayed gratification. Expect NOWISM for many to become synonymous with (and blamed for) shallowness, short attention spans, exploding credit card debts, excessive focus on instantly satisfying urges, an unwillingness to face (and build) a better and sustainable future, indifference to the past (and all its lessons).

While all of this warrants serious attention, the pro-NOWISM camp will point to the dissemination of crucial information, the leveling of the playing field for individuals and organizations, the potentially beneficial effects on the environment of a consumer society shifting towards ‘now’ experiences (including virtual ones) versus consuming resource-heavy physical goods, and so on.

Family

NOWISM enthusiasts will also point out that traditional, much praised preparing-for-the-future attitudes are often obsessed with avoiding any risk in (bourgeois) life: the sole focus is on securing financial wealth (bigger houses, bigger bank accounts, bigger cars) at a forever-postponed later point in time. In many cases, the virtue of waiting is nothing but an effective way to kill any kind of creativity, joy, daringness and spontaneity. Which is not to say that NOWISTS don’t care about the future, but future priorities may differ.

As always, as a brand and as a professional, the best thing to do is to look for what works (NOWISM can offer transparency, communications, joyful experiences, convenience, while NON-NOWISM can offer self-restraint, peace of mind, care and reflection). Dismiss the excesses, instead of opting for a black-and-white approach to what is an inevitable societal shift (never forget: one generation’s indulgence always becomes the next generation’s necessity.)

OPPORTUNITIES – Rosa

Embrace the now, and learn how to make it work for you, too!

The NOWISM trend is as big as they come, and we had serious challenges not letting this briefing balloon into dozens and dozens of pages.

The bottom line: while the appeal and influence of ‘now’ has been building for years, societal attitudes, sky-high consumer expectations and new technologies are currently converging in such a powerful way that brands truly have no choice but to go ‘real-time’: in their business intelligence processes, in their customer conversations, in their innovation labs, in their distribution, sales, marketing and branding departments…

The many examples above (from new ways to monitor the arena to how to engage customers to clever new products and services catering to infolusty, instant-gratification loving consumers), should provide you with enough ammunition.

Time to (finally) get real & go with the zeitgeist ;-)

Denise Michaels is author of the business bestseller, “Testosterone-Free Marketing.” Get your copy by clicking here. And, get Denise’s weekly empowerment and marketing tips by clicking here. Come join Denise Michaels in a movement to empower women business owners like you to be all you can be and to have more joy, more fun and more success in your life.

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The Perils of Cupcake Marketing Strategy

Monday, November 9th, 2009

By Denise Michaels, Author, “Testosterone-Free Marketing”

Last week I had an amazing workshop with a roomful of women dedicated to creating success in their business and in their lives. There’s been a terrific buzz all over town since. Attendees have called to say the information I shared is helping them increase their business income already. I’ve gotten offers for more speaking engagements and it just goes on and on.

Which is great but I keep thinking about the women who said “no.” It seems like some women declined out of fear. I wonder how far these women will ever grow with their home-based businesses?

Let’s be honest. A lot of women say they’re dedicated business owners but they really have an expensive hobby. So, when asked to consider a small investment to discover easy, testosterone-free ways to grow, they’re not interested because they don’t want to grow. They take mincing steps forward and question spending ten bucks on flyers. But they spend hundreds on a new outfit or purse. They drive a great car. It’s all about priorities.

I call it Cupcake Marketing Strategy.

You know how women used to always get asked to bake cupcakes for the bake sale for their kid’s school, the church, the library or whatever? They were asked to bake, so they did. Some women still do – every time. Many women always comply when asked – and never ask for anything in return. Then the organization sells their hard work and ingredients, the cupcakes, for a dollar each. Eventually, many get a little peeved that they’re always asked. But they wouldn’t dare say “no.” After all, they want to “be nice.” Nice is more important than their time or their money.

Pitching in and giving everything away is admirable when it comes to helping out in the community. However, it can spell disaster in business when we use that same penny-pinching thinking and don’t speak up for ourselves.

I’ve met women who seriously undercharge for their products and services because they lack the marketing skills and confidence to charge what they’re worth. They think they’re “being nice.” However, “niceness” results in a constant squeeze for money. To compound matters, they end up having a tough time getting new customers because people mistake “niceness” for incompetence. They think, “Gee, you don’t charging the going rate. Must be because you’re not be as good.”

Being “nice” is a totally different thing from being “pleasant” or “polite.”

Here’s the crazy part: instead of learning to politely decline, they keep doing it. Einstein said, “Insanity means doing things the way you’ve always done them and expecting a different result.”

Next these ladies try to figure out ways to get things free or discounted from other women – because they’re financially strapped. They wouldn’t DARE ask a man to discount his prices. He’s a man! This results in even more women with financial challenges. They feel they can’t say “no” because they want to be nice. Maybe they’ll gripe to someone else – but never the person who asked them. After all, they don’t want the other person upset.

Oh, puh-leez… can we all just grow up a little?

The whole thing has spiraled out of control like an over-sized swirl of buttercream frosting on top of a Red Velvet cupcake. We are held to a totally different standard of “how to do business” from men. In so doing, we’ve created a pink collar ghetto of women entrepreneurs struggling to avoid getting a real job. Women who say, “everything is great” when they meet others. Most aren’t thinking about thriving – they’re too busy just surviving. In my experience these women believe someday:

* I’ll be able to charge full price
* I’ll gain the respect I should have
* People will see my true worth
* I’ll make enough money to end the struggle
* I’ll stop working like crazy with very little reward

It’s like believing someday your Prince will come. He’ll sweep you up in his strong, muscular arms and take you away from all the financial stress. If you’re really nice it’ll all work out and you’ll be rewarded for that. Well, yes karmically I believe that what goes around comes around – but if there isn’t a focus on financial gain – it won’t necessarily come back as financial good.

Someday is today. Nothing will sweep your stress away if you don’t figure out effective, testosterone-free ways to create more business income. There are three ways to build more business income:

* Get more customers (new and repeat business)
* Charge more for what you do
* Get customers to make larger purchases when they buy

Prince Charming in your business is about increasing your confidence, your marketing and your testosterone-free selling skills.

Stop waiting for people to notice your worth like you waited for the cute boy you passed in the hall in high school to notice you. That’s okay in dating – but will spell disaster in your business.

Shift your thinking, level of “deserving-ness” and marketing skills, chances are you’ll your business income will increase. No one taps you on the shoulder and says, “Okay, the coast is clear. You can now charge $XXX per hour instead of $XX per hour.” No one gives you a raise or permission. You must give yourself permission. Validate yourself. Take yourself seriously.

If you have the intention and you’re willing to do what it takes to make it happen – then you’re dedicated. If this describes you send me an email at mentoringwithDenise@gmail.com and I’ll put you on my list of people interested in possibly attending my next workshop. It’ll be held in Las Vegas sometime in February or March of 2010 and it’ll probably be a two day event. Worth traveling to if you don’t live here already.

The point is I’ve watched enough victims of cupcake marketing who don’t even realize they’ve fallen prey to it’s perils. If you’re ready to stop struggling and live an abundant, financially prosperous and deeply satisfying life say, “ENOUGH!!!”

Denise Michaels is author of the business bestseller, “Testosterone-Free Marketing.” You can get your copy by clicking here. And you can get Denise’s weekly empowerment and marketing tips by clicking here. Come join Denise Michaels in a movement to empower women business owners to be all that they can be and to have more joy, more fun and more success in your life.

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