I’ve been making time lately to read everything I can on digital and social media as it applies to small business marketing and branding. Trust me, it is like scaling Everest — one step forward and twenty steps back. For every creative, well-written and informative post you find, there are hundreds that simply re-gift it.

Most of it is just recycled. People blogging about same old/ same old or, in Twitter language, re-tweeting other people’s stuff. I have no problem with re-tweeting — in fact, it is great to be able to share the really original and useful bits of information one finds floating around in the cyber sphere.

This morning I happened upon a blog post that truly stands out, one that I’d like to tie my clients to a chair and make them read. In the always-interesting Hubspot blog, there’s a piece called, “Ten Ways a Start-Up Can Use Social Media to Market Itself.”

While each of the ten points is well worth taking to heart, here is the first, to which I say, hallelujah!

Craft a brand position rooted in a customer benefit.

An awful lot of young companies do a good job of describing a product’s features rather than synthesizing them into a single benefit. A simple handle, either expressing what a brand stands for or declaring its point of difference, will serve you well in everything from appearing in search results to being remembered.

If you read nothing else today, read the whole article. And then start applying it to your small business.

Technorati Tags: branding, marketing

That’s certainly the take-away for many people dipping their toes into the raging Twitter current.

According to a recent study out of Penn State:

The researchers examined half a million tweets during the study. The team looked for tweets mentioning a brand and why the brand was mentioned — to inform others, express a view on the brand or something else — and found that people were using tweets to connect with the products.

There is a trend when it comes to micro-communication and what it is used for, according to study author Jim Jansen.

“Businesses use micro-communication for brand awareness, brand knowledge and customer relationship,” he said. “Personal use is all over the board.”

That is putting it mildly. The urge to self-purge is so great in micro-blogging (Yawn, another day…Just grabbed some coffee….Gotta get home and let the dog out….) that The Wall Street Journal asked yesterday, “What Kind of Twitterer Are You?”

Are you a an Informer or a Meformer? Citing a new Rutgers University study, the Journal says:

“…..four out of five Twitter users are the [meformers], posting updates mainly about themselves. The remaining 20% are “informers,” tweeting information, such as links to news articles.

They coined the term “meformers” to describe users whose tweets could frequently be categorized as “me now” — what they were doing or how they were feeling. These updates do serve a purpose, they said. “Although the Meformers’ self focus might be characterized by some as self-indulgent, these messages may play an important role in helping users maintain relationships with strong and weak ties.”

I’m trying not to choke with delight on my Cheerios.

As evangelists of our own brands, we should strive to be informers — giving and sharing information, responding to others with more information, commenting on relevant postings and the tsunami of information coming at us every day. While it may humanize me in my followers minds to learn what kind of dog I have and whether I believe Starbucks can really make an instant coffee that tastes like fresh-brewed, at the end of the day it none of that really matters.

It’s like the small talk before the meeting begins.

Necessary, hard to do well, but not the real business at hand.

Technorati Tags: branding, personal branding, tweets, twitter, twitter and branding, twitter for business

Branding yourself is critical when looking for a job –whether you are just out of college, in mid-career, or transitioning later in life. I find in my consulting practice that most people spend way too time on their resumes and almost no time at all thinking about how they want to be perceived. How you are perceived is everything in this game; it’s the “what can you do for me” question that all potential employers are asking.

It’s your job to tell them!

Another way to ask this question is: what problem am I the answer to?

It is a pro-active, rather than a passive, approach. It does the hard work of synthesizing all of your experience for the person sitting on the  other side of the desk. In doing this, you appear confident and independent, two important qualities in any new hire.

So, how do you begin to formulate your personal brand? Start by asking yourself: (1) what makes me different from everyone else competing for this job? (2) How do you want potential employers to perceive you?

Armed with those answers, review your resume and make sure that it supports your brand. Now is not the time for modesty.

Technorati Tags: job search, personal branding, resumes

What’s in it for you? Make an introduction for me to an HR manager of your choice and in return you can choose between a 45 minute individual brand coaching session with me or a personal resume critique. Your choice!

Just drop me an email and I’ll take it from there!

Technorati Tags: personal branding. human resource managers

None other than the Harvard Business School has designed a tool to help you with The Art of the Pitchcraft.

I even like the word PITCHCRAFT — could we take a vote and ban the phrase elevator speech entirely? Please?

Not known to give anything away for free, or heaven forbid, to anyone who didn’t go to the “B” school as it is known around here, this, wonder of wonders, is free! No password, no shopping cart. Free!

Whether you are trying to raise capital, promote your business, or promote yourself, this mini-site tells us, YOU HAVE ONE MINUTE TO SAY IT ALL.

And that’s what it does–in a series of screens, drawing out key words and concepts, putting them together, and then saying, OK, that was 15 minutes / Go back…..or, that was 3 seconds/try again. You get the idea.

Check it out, if for no other reason than it is the only freebie you’ll likely ever get from Harvard.

Technorati Tags: branding, elevator pitch, elevator speech, harvard business school, harvard business school career services

That’s not a word I use very often, but in this case it is the only way to describe what I’ve seen of late. I sent out an offer to my email newsletter subscribers to take a look at their resumes for free–to give them a quick diagnostic on what’s working and what’s not.

Suffice it to say that very little was working. Here is a list of the most egregious (and simple to fix) errors:

1. Too much information

Why do we feel we have to throw-in everything but the kitchen sink? It doesn’t matter what you did in high school or the fact that you enjoy reading and bungee jumping. Stick to the brand you are trying to convey. Remember that all great brands convey a single message. What’s yours? Then build your resume around it.

2. Not enough “white space”

I mean, how many places can your eyes goes at any one time? Give me a clean, well laid out, organized precis that leads me to a single conclusion: you’re the person I MUST hire.

3. Lack of a compelling theme or brand

How should I think about you? How do you want to be perceived? Once you’ve answered this question, choose words that support your message.

4. Too many/ not enough use of bullets

Show me that you can write in full sentences, but give me bullets under the major headings. Packing in too much dense narrative studded with buzz words only gives me a headache.

5. Lack of confidence

You are your own best evangelist. Remember this. No one else is going to promote your unique skills and talents better than you co. Don’t be afraid to use words like “experienced” and “leading.” Take credit for your accomplishments.

Want a quick take on your resume? Just send it along……..

Technorati Tags: careers, job hunting, resume

According to The Daily Beast’s Christopher Buckley in a piece entitled Bonfire of the Inanities,

Shows like Leno’s have been de rigueur venues for politicians for almost two decades now, so there is no point any longer in wringing one’s hands about that. I remember in the ’90s watching Vice President Al Gore go on the Letterman show with a top 10 list of why it’s fun to be vice president. Reason No. 1—drum roll, please—was: “Secret Service code name: Buttafuoco.” (I’ll let you Google Buttafuoco; it’s too depressing to explain.) I laughed at the time, but I remember thinking, “OK, but let’s not hear any more from you about ‘Respect for the office.’” Indeed, by the end of the Clinton administration, that phrase was pretty much dead on arrival.

But Obama’s appearance is the first time a sitting president has made the late-night show rounds. His comment about being a Special Olympian bowler was just one of those things, and he duly, and ritually, apologized. If any deeper good comes of the gaffe, it would be a cessation of such appearances. It seems as good a time as any to ask: Ought a sitting president be cozying up to late-night comedy show hosts?

I know, I know—I feel like a fusty old crank merely posing the question. (Maybe it’s this darned flu.) But it’s hardly as though the president of the United States lacks for venues, and such appearances have a way of trivializing any issue. Try, if you will, to imagine Dwight Eisenhower or JFK or Lyndon Johnson or, for that matter, Ronald Reagan chin-wagging with Jack Paar or Johnny Carson. Richard Nixon did, famously, go on Laugh In in 1968, but as a candidate; and to his credit, he rued the day and hated every second of it.

I, for one, am tired of reading about Michelle’s biceps. I am, however, all for a transparent presidency. Just not too transparent, OK? I still want to be awed by the office, by the supreme being-ness of it, which means that you can open the kimono just so far.

Technorati Tags: jayl eno, obama

It’s one of the hardest jobs imaginable and I admire anyone who takes it on, the Marlin Fitzwaters of history not withstanding. The incoming press secretary, Robert Gibbs,  went to work for Obama’s Senate campaign in 2004 and was communications director while Obama was in the Senate.

One critic called Gibbs “the bland face of brazenness” when he said Obama’s decision to resign from his church amid the controversy over the Rev. Jeremiah Wright was “a deeply personal decision, not a political decision.”

Others were surprised when he called Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly a “bully” and asked Sean Hannity, “Are you anti-Semitic?” in response to the TV commentator’s questions about Obama’s relationship to William Ayers, a 1960s radical.

A former roommate who worked with Gibbs on Capitol Hill said Gibbs has been a successful press secretary because he combines top-notch political skills with a quick wit.

Compare this to outgoing WHPS Dana Perino,the fourth and final Press Secretary for the Bush 43 Administration who appeared on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart last night to say goodbye to her fans

Technorati Tags: cj craig, dana periono, jon stewart, martin sheen, white house press secretary

Is it any wonder that the article “The Secrets of Marketing in a Web 2.0 World” in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal topped their list of the most emailed articles?

Full disclosure: one of the authors, Bentley Professor Bruce Weinberg, is a pal of mine. He is one of the world’s leading authorities on the online consumer experience and, as you might imagine, has a great deal to say about how marketers must now approach marketing in the age of wikis, wifi, twitter, facebook and the rest of the growing online community pack.

“Web 2.0 tools can be used to do what traditional advertising does: persuade consumers to buy a company’s products or services. An executive can write a blog, for instance, that regularly talks up the company’s goods. But that kind of approach misses the point of 2.0. Instead, companies should use these tools to get the consumers involved, inviting them to participate in marketing-related activities from product development to feedback to customer service. ”

“How can you do that? A leading greeting-card and gift company that we spoke with is one of many that have set up an online community — a site where it can talk to consumers and the consumers can talk to each other. The company solicits opinions on various aspects of greeting-card design and on ideas for gifts and their pricing. It also asks the consumers to talk about their lifestyles and even upload photos of themselves, so that it can better understand its market.”

Click here for a video of Bruce talking with WSJ reporter Erin White about what to do when your website gets negative customer feedback.

Technorati Tags: Bentley University. Web 2.0, Bruce Weinberg, wall street journal

Folks are beginning to question what exactly President-elect Obama means by his campaign promise of “change” as he makes public his choices for key cabinet and White House posts. Aren’t these the same old faces, some ask, just more of the same around a different table?

But as Newsweek’s Howard Feinman points out in the current issue of the newsweekly:

It will soon fall to Obama to restore the world’s shattered confidence in the United States—in its ability to govern itself, revitalize its economy and lead the planet. Without that confidence, investors foreign and domestic will remain reluctant to plunge back into the American market. The consensus of the financial experts is that there is perhaps $3 trillion in cash sitting on the sidelines, much of that money in sovereign wealth funds in China, the Persian Gulf and Scandinavia. “We need a lot of that money back here,” says Robert Hormats, vice chairman of Goldman Sachs International. “By hiring and associating with well-known, well-respected figures, Obama is saying to investors: It’s safe to come back. America knows what it’s doing.”

Brand Obama has been lauded and well documented. Point to a picture of our new president and ask people what one word comes to mind (the sign of a solid brand). The answer, 100% of the time, will be “change.” But change need not mean a changing of the guard or a game of decision-maker musical chairs. It can also mean a change in perception. Fineman calls this perception shift a move towards “rock solid competence,” a realignment of the perception of the United States as once again being a source of strength and stability, both at home and abroad.

Now that’s real change, change I can believe in.

Technorati Tags: brand, brand obama, change, obama