Adding Business Value: Amazon vs The Supermarket

I can remember getting furious the first time a supermarket forced me to have a discount card to purchase groceries at a reasonable price.

“Head over to the customer service counter and get yourself an advantage card,” the checkout lady told me.

“Can’t you just swipe your card so I can save time?”

I pleaded. I begged. I tried charm. I tried anger. No use. She wouldn’t budge and simply replied “nope.” I could tell there was no swaying this woman.

I toyed with the idea of holding up her line until she gave in. But I thought better of it after remembering a personal “sit in” at a Motel 6 where I demanded a refund for a nasty room. I was instead ushered off the property by the police who were promptly summoned.

So fearing the worst, I stomped over to the customer service counter to get my super special discount supermarket card. I was peeved beyond rational thought.

On the application I placed a false name, address and phone number. They may force me to get a discount card – but I’ll be a monkey’s left toe if they think they’re getting my real name.

Of course, this whole episode didn’t go unnoticed by the people in my life who are close to me and pointed out my behavior as childish and rude. But I feel it is rude to force people to give up their personal information.

I was steaming.

But then about a week later I ordered a book from Amazon and gladly gave them my credit card information (even stored it on their site), name, address, the name of my first born child – the list goes on. I began to tell Amazon what books I already owned. I shared with them my interests and created some wish lists.

I actually wanted Amazon to have my information. I love their recommendation feature where they suggest books and products based on my previous purchases.

So what is different between the supermarket and Amazon? Why does the lady in the checkout line peeve me off while I delight in having Amazon know who I am – what I like – and what I own?

I’ve thought about this a lot actually and came up with this conclusion…

I don’t mind giving my data away to companies that add value and are helpful.

I resist giving my info to the supermarket because I don’t see any value in it. Simple right? I don’t use coupons,  have no interest in weekly specials (I probably should) and don’t enjoy shopping for food.

But there are people – lots of them – that do care about coupons, discounts and deals. The supermarket adds value to their lives in a big way. I just don’t see it.

But I do see the value in getting recommendation and specials from Amazon. They cater to my interests. I see Amazon as being helpful. In my mind they haven’t abused the information I’ve given them. They seem more like a trusted friend and resource to me than my local supermarket and I’m happy to give them what they want.

So how can we translate this to your business? What is it that you do in your company or professional life to add value to your customers, prospects and clients? People will give you information if you return value to them. If you identify your business value proposition and deliver on it – folks will fall over themselves to let you peek in on their lives.

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This site, Joel-Mark-Witt.com, is where I ask questions while standing at the intersection of social media, podcasting, online video, marketing, PR, storytelling, life and leadership…. and what the heck this all means for my business and yours. If you like what you see – please subscribe to it for free. To join the discussion or to comment in real time follow me on Twitter.

Joel Mark Witt

*Photo by SFist

The Power Of Copywriting

If you are a marketing, PR, or communication professional then you understand the importance of great design. But copywriting is also critical to marketing. In fact I believe words are more powerful than images in selling.

Yes a picture is worth a thousand words – but graphics are subjective. With a picture you have no control over the 1000 words the viewer projects onto an image. With copy you have exact control over your message.

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This site, Joel-Mark-Witt.com, is where I ask questions while standing at the intersection of social media, podcasting, online video, marketing, PR, storytelling, life and leadership…. and what the heck this all means for my business and yours. If you like what you see – please subscribe to it for free. To join the discussion or to comment in real time follow me on Twitter.

Joel Mark Witt

Kodak Zi6 HD Pocket Video Camera Reviewed

Here is a quick video reviewing the Kodak Zi6 HD Pocket Video Camera.

I love this little camera. I use it all the time because of its convenience. This camera is great for quick web videos, parties, and traveling. It is literally easy to slip into your back pocket and records in HD or standard VGA.

You can see the full product specs here.

If you like this blog consider subscribing for free.

Social Media Oxbows

A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to give the keynote and facilitate several workshops at the Arkansas Festival and Events Association Annual conference in Fort Smith, Arkansas. I was also the invited workshop presenter for a day long workshop at the Arkansas Discovery Network in Little Rock. We spent the day talking about how to use social media in the non-profit organization.

I had a wonderful time helping people in both groups learn the fundamentals of social media and how to use online tools to market events and organizations.

I learned something new myself too. As I was flying into Little Rock, I noticed the Arkansas river winding its way through the countryside. It was traveling in a snake like pattern that most rivers follow. But then I noticed small half moon shaped lakes and swamps flanking the river on all sides. They looked to be remnants of a river long ago before it found an easier path with less resistance.

I came to find out these are called oxbow lakes and in fact they are exactly as I assumed. Here’s something interesting about rivers.

They are powerful and lazy.

Rivers are big powerful forces that bully their way to where they want to go. But rivers are also lazy and will always choose the path of least resistance – sometimes leaving behind small oxbow lakes of water and swampland.

I began to draw some parallels between the Arkansas river winding its way toward the Gulf Of Mexico and the stream of social media companies and people making their way to the future.

Both the river and social media will take the path of least resistance.

Both the river and social media leave oxbows in their wake. Some social media companies seemed great at one time when they had a “river” running through them. But now that river has moved onto an easy path.

I have this sneaking suspicion that more social media oxbows are coming. What do you think?

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This site, Joel-Mark-Witt.com, is where I ask questions while standing at the intersection of social media, podcasting, online video, marketing, PR, storytelling, life and leadership…. and what the heck this all means for my business and yours. If you like what you see – please subscribe to it for free. To join the discussion or to comment in real time follow me on Twitter.

Joel Mark Witt

Photo by Maitri

Andy Carvin Was Right About Twitter

Hey Andy.

You were right. I was wrong.

There I said it.

We were at Podcamp DC last year and I was leading the session on finding a place for new media. Andy began to talk about Twitter and the room broke into a huge tweetup discussion.

Twitter this and Twitter that.
Twitter was going to rule the world.
If you weren’t on Twitter you are invisible.

blah blah blah blah….

I remember thinking about the masses of people who had no idea what a tweet was and saying  that Twitter was great if you were in geek circles, but it had little practical use in the real world for marketing and public relations. I was somewhat right at the time.

Not anymore.

Andy disagreed with me then and pointed out how Twitter could be used for businesses, non-profits, and professionals. He explained how Twitter would become the next killer app for marketing, PR, and communications. I wasn’t buying it. He just seemed too entrenched in the application itself. I felt he didn’t see the forest from the trees.

Well Andy my friend – time has proven you right and me wrong.

Twitter is now on a course to rival email in its adoption, usefulness and marketing potential. Andy – you may have been ahead of the curve a year ago – but you were definitely on the right curve.

And I should have known. You’ve been using Twitter to get the word out about the place you work for a while now. And it’s a pretty big operation. I think it’s called NPR perhaps?

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This site, Joel-Mark-Witt.com, is where I ask the questions while standing at the intersection of social media, podcasting, online video, marketing, PR, storytelling, life and leadership…. and what the heck this all means for my business and yours. If you like what you see – please subscribe to it for free. To join the discussion or to comment in real time follow me on Twitter.

Joel Mark Witt

* Photo by andycarvin

Why I Admire Stephen King And Notes About The Amazon Kindle 2

What do you think about Stephen King and his embracing new technology?

Stephen King is one of those guys I really admire. He is a prolific writer. He’s an awesome storyteller. He’s been married to the same woman for over 30 some years and has raised three kids. He’s been forthcoming about his struggle with drug addiction. He’s survived a terrible car accident in which he was hit and almost killed by a van. King hasn’t moved to LA or New York and has chosen instead to remain in his home state of Maine.

I’ve only read three books by Stephen King – Bag Of Bones, Danse Macabre, and my favorite On Writing. He is obviously a gifted author and storyteller and has sold somewhere in the neighborhood of 300-400 million copies worldwide.

But what I really like about King is his willingness as a writer to embrace technology. He was one of the first mainstream bestselling authors to publish specifically for the web and make money at it. At the time it seemed like such a novelty to me.

And now he is part of the Amazon Kindle 2 launch happening today. King is already an avid Kindle user which again strikes me as progressive thinking from an author and former English teacher. Usually book worms don’t like to change their ways and embrace shiny new things. They typically prefer to relish in the old smell of dead trees.

But not Stephen King. He is one to embrace changing technology.

Walt Disney did the same during his time as Disney studio chief. He was the first cartoon producer to embrace color. When sound came on to Hollywood he also embraced it faster than any of the other studios. Stephen King seems to be cut from the same cloth. He has fully embraced Amazon’s wireless reading device.

To coincide with the release of the Kindle2 – King has released UR, a book written specifically for the new device. All of his other works are also available for the Kindle2.

What do you think about Stephen King and his embracing new technology? Do you agree that it is a good thing? Some fear the Kindle 2 may be the end of actual books  and we will miss some very important aspects of reading from paper. Thoughts?

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This site, Joel-Mark-Witt.com, is where I ask the questions while standing at the intersection of social media, podcasting, online video, marketing, PR, storytelling, life and leadership…. and what the heck this all means for my business and yours. If you like what you see – please subscribe to it for free. To join the discussion or to comment in real time follow me on Twitter.

Joel Mark Witt

* Photo by 24hourmoon

Secret To Making Money With Old Blog Posts

The secret….

….Pave over the path most traveled.

There is a story about Walt Disney just after Disneyland park was constructed in the mid 1950s. People were taking a shortcut through the grass at a particular point in the park. Disney’s staff was upset that people weren’t following the signs and staying on the concrete. When they confronted him with the news Disney surveyed the area and immediately ordered the makeshift pathway through the grass be paved. His staff was appalled. How could he ruin such a beautiful grassy area with concrete? Disney reminded his staff that he would rather see his guests happy. It seemed that this pathway made them happy. He was essentially watching where people already walked and placed a sidewalk in that location.

Find What People Are Already Reading On Your Blog.
The same idea applies when making money from your old blog posts. The goal is to find which posts people are already finding through organic search traffic. The best way to do this is to use a service like Google Analytics. It’s free and easy to install on your blog. Once installed, you’ll need to let it run for a few weeks to collect enough data.

Optimize Your Post.
Once you have several weeks of data – look through and identify the top landing posts. You will be able to tell what keywords people are searching  that drive them to your posts. Pick the top five posts and begin the process of optimizing these.

I recommend making sure the post looks good visually. Clean up any language that may not deliver based on the keywords searched. For example, if your post is titled “hooking an audience on your content” but you seem to attract “fish hooks” in keyword searches, you may want to craft your language differently. “Hook” might not be an accurate keyword to use.

Order Up Some Ads.
Find a place in the post to place some Google Adsense code. This is simply a code that will generate ads based on the keywords in your writing. These are typically contextualized ads that perform well with click throughs. Each time a reader clicks on one of the ads you get paid. While I’m not a fan of littering a site with Google ads in every post – if tastefully done a well trafficked post is a good home for a few ads.

Digg Your Delicious Post.
So now that we’ve tweaked the post for keywords and have added in the Google code it’s time to leverage an already popular post. Be sure to Digg the post. Also add it to Delicious and StumbleUpon. The idea here is to also Digg, Stumble, and tag other people’s content also. One, because you’ll look like a jerk otherwise. Two, it will help the search engines see your bookmarking as legit.

At the bottom of your post invite readers to tag, bookmark, and Digg the post. You may also want to ask friends to Digg, tag, and bookmark the post as well. Ask them if you can return the favor with one of their posts.

Be sure to send a Twitter update out about the post. Try to make the tweet interesting. It would be good to peak curiosity and drive traffic to your post. Rinse and repeat this process as you discover new posts that become popular with search engine traffic.

These are some quick tips to help you make some extra money with your old blog posts. The comment section is open below for questions or comments.

This post is part of an emerging series on this blog titled Folk Money. It is a project by Joel Mark Witt to discover and share the tools, techniques, and strategies behind making money online. Swing by Joel-Mark-Witt.com for more posts in the series, and if you have topic ideas, feel free to share them.

To see how to begin making money online as a beginner – check out the guys over at Internet Business Mastery.

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This site, Joel-Mark-Witt.com, is where I ask the questions while standing at the intersection of social media, podcasting, online video, marketing, PR, storytelling, life and leadership…. and what the heck this all means for my business and yours. If you like what you see – please subscribe to it for free. To join the discussion or to comment in real time follow me on Twitter.

Joel Mark Witt

* Photo by karenwithak

How long can you go without….you know….Tweeting

Tweet This Seinfeld

If Seinfeld was on the air today they would most likely write an episode in which the characters would bet each other on how long they can go without tweeting. Of course this would lead to hilarious dialogue and scenarios.

How long can you go without using Twitter? Are you an addict?

The five classes of Twitterland

As far as I can tell – Tweeters fall into one of five classes…

1) “I tweet therefore I am”

The issue: These folks identify so closely with their Twitter identity that they write only their @name on their name tags at conferences.

Key danger: You actually believe someone doesn’t exist if they don’t have a Twitter account.

2) “I am a compulsive tweeter”

The issue: These are the folks who just can’t stop Tweeting. Don’t have wifi or cell service on that long airline flight? Oh no – how are you going to tweet what you had to drink with your meal? Write 140 characters on the back of an airline napkin and then type it into Twitter when you land of course.

Key danger: Like any addiction – you tell yourself you don’t have a problem and this thing is manageable.

3) “I don’t have a #%@& clue what I’m doing on here. Someone said I should be using this so here I am.”

The issue: These people don’t know what they are doing and so begin to post without really understanding the toolset. They begin to post random complaints or thoughts that they think sound candid – but in reality – they sound very contrived.

Key danger: You look like a dork who doesn’t have a clue.

4) “I will post links to all my amazing and awesome offers and business opportunities and you will love them so much that you will visit my site and make me millions. Hehehehe.”

The issue: No one cares about you or your millionaire maker website. At least not until you engage us as humans and not masses of people who can make you rich.

Key danger: You give yourself false hope. You are building a reputation as “that guy.” What a sorry sap you are.

5) I am very manipulative with my tweeting by name dropping and hoping to be apart of the “in” crowd at conferences and events.

The issue: You are in need of friends and an ego boost. Instead of just developing relationships with people you come in contact with – you go after the big fish and expect them to reply to your @ messages every time. When they don’t – you are enraged.

Key danger: You are setting yourself up for disappointment.

My Advice For Serious Twitter Users

Get off Twitter.

Seriously.

What good is it?  What has it done for you?  How are you benefiting?

Actually – the best question to ask is…

How is anyone else benefiting from you on Twitter?
They probably aren’t – so just stop using this stupid and pointless service.

If you still are convinced that you need to be using this tool (like I am) then here are a few suggestions.

Be yourself. Be helpful. Be encouraging. Be interesting. A lot more can be gained by focusing on other people and their hopes, dreams, successes, and failures. It is rewarding and fun to help others succeed.

What are your thoughts on Twitter? Do you agree disagree?

Also check out my post over at Folk Media for thoughts on Twitter For Business.

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This site, Joel-Mark-Witt.com, is where I ask the questions while standing at the intersection of social media, podcasting, online video, marketing, PR, storytelling, life and leadership…. and what the heck this all means for my business and yours. If you like what you see – please subscribe to it for free. To join the discussion or to comment in real time follow me on Twitter.

Joel Mark Witt

* Photo by dailyclerks

My 2009 Blog & Podcast Predictions

I was interviewed by Scott Paton at Blogger & Podcaster Magazine today. He asked me to give my new year predictions for 2009.

The interview went well and Scott is a good guy to have a chat with about Podcasting and particularly direct response copywriting.

So here are my 2009 predictions for blogging and podcasting.

1) Podcasters will wake up to the power of blogs.
Many will abandon podcasting altogether and begin blogging instead. They will see that blogging is the force driving all new media its distribution on the web.

2) Bloggers will continue to be the power brokers.
They will begin using more techniques like email autoresponders and offline events to promote themselves and market their content. We will also see a huge spike in bloggers turning to affiliate marketing to monetize their writing and content.

3) Email will be the killer app.
You think I’m nuts don’t you? Just watch as more and more bloggers and podcasters use this tool to drive traffic and engage their audience. I’m right on this one.

What? No mention of Twitter taking over the universe?

Nope.

Too much spammy stuff going on there. I think Twitter’s best days are behind it. But we’ll see. I’ve been wrong once before. I’m sure I’ll have some disagreement on this one.

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This site, Joel-Mark-Witt.com, is where I ask the questions while standing at the intersection of social media, podcasting, online video, marketing, PR, storytelling, life and leadership…. and what the heck this all means for my business and yours. If you like what you see – please subscribe to it for free. To join the discussion or to comment follow me on Twitter.

Joel Mark Witt
* Photo by cuellar

Marketing Fundamentals For Social Media

My Rampage Against Traditional Media And Marketing

I am the kind of person who likes to be different than everyone else.
And it can be quite funny sometimes. Because it seems the harder I try to be different the more I realize how similar I am to the masses.

So when my eyes laid hold of social media, podcasting, and online video a few years ago, I jumped in with both feet. It was a way to be “different” as a media creator.

In my mind I was certain RSS would supplant email – online video would kill TV – podcasting would become the new radio – and blogging would cause newspapers everywhere to begin shredding paper for mulch.

In the marketing world, I looked at text based sales letters, TV ads, and traditional marketing campaigns with a smug eye of a cocky new media guy.

“I can’t believe these stupid foolish old school ways of marketing are still popular. What fools,” I would snort.

Of course these copywriters and marketers were making money.

I wasn’t.

Not then anyway.

But in my mind it was just a matter of time before podcasting and new media hit the stratosphere and I would be a millionaire.

Didn’t happen. At least not with podcasting and new media.

And you know what? The traditional marketers who use TV, radio, print, and sales letters are still making money.

And now they are starting to use podcasts, video, blogs, and Twitter to make money too.

What did I miss two years ago?

There Is Nothing New

“What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.”
- Ecclesiastes 1:9

The fundamentals of business do not change. When you strip it down – the basic idea of business is this.

A) You purchase something – add value to it – and sell it to someone else at a higher price than you paid for it.

or…

B) You make something of value or create a service and sell it to someone for a price that covers your time and effort.

That’s it.

Business is nothing more that these two options.

As media professionals we get caught up in all the bells and whistles of marketing, PR, advertising, and sales. We think that we have a better way since we have the leverage of technology on our side.

But the basics of business have been around for thousands of years. Modern sales and marketing techniques allow us to scale. And social media and the web multiply that scale in unprecedented and powerful ways.

But don’t jump to new technology too quickly until you look over the basics.

Those basics are:

* Be sure you are making a great product or service
* Focus on the customer’s needs
* Don’t forget the power of the written word. Sales letters and basic copywriting still work.

The Basics Are Key

Zappos is a great example of a company that had the basics mastered before delving into web 2.0.

Come on. Can you get more offline than a shoe store?

And yet Zappos is leveraging their brand online using Twitter and blogs.

Master The Fundamentals And Your Social Media Marketing Will Rock

If you really want the full advantage of Social Media marketing then you need to master the basics of marketing and sales.

Get yourself a good copywriting book. I recommend Dan Kennedy’s The Ultimate Sales Letter.

Next start into social media with a blog. A blog is the engine that runs everything else. It is a great tool for gaining new customers, building your brand, creating a feedback loop, and posting original content and information.

What other fundamentals would you suggest? Do you agree that these are important?

Let me know by commenting on this blog post. Or join the discussion in real time by following me on Twitter.

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This site, Joel-Mark-Witt.com, is where I ask the questions while standing at the intersection of social media, podcasting, online video, marketing, PR, storytelling, life and leadership…. and what the heck this all means for my business and yours. If you like what you see – please subscribe to it for free. To join the discussion or to comment follow me on Twitter.

Joel Mark Witt

*Photo By Inky