Dig Deep Thinker

Should you be a Com, Net, Org or Me?

Posted on June 25, 2009 by marketing veep

A flash of creative entrepreneurial brilliance nearly knocked me off my feet this morning, resulting in a rush to GoDaddy.com to search for a matching URL. I could have gnawed my nails off in anticipation as GoDaddy’s database churned through 110,173,702* active domain names (I know, because I’m a freak).

Yeah, baby! That sweet, magical word “Available!” appeared before my eyes, and I nearly wet myself.

(Author’s note: this story is part True Confession, part Business, and if you’ve ever tried to buy a domain name, you know it’ll make you more jumpy then a spot at the big wheel on The Price is Right. Give me the latitude to reference a biological function this once).

Looking over my shoulder, as if some cyber-criminal might be ready to steal my domain name masterpiece, I clicked “Add to Cart” with credit card in hand.

“That’s a nice .com you’ve got there, but wouldn’t you like to have that URL in all of theeeeeese other flavors?

GoDaddy, ever the crafty purveyor of internet possibilities, stopped me long enough to ask, “That’s a nice .com you’ve got there, but wouldn’t you like to have that URL in all of theeeeeese other flavors? .net, .info, .org, .mobi, .me and .us” (Yes, I swear that’s what I think it said).

Here’s a little about me: I am a spontaneous, high energy, go-get-em type of person. I’m decisive when I want to be, and (above all) I’m curious. I’d say I’m four parts curious to one part decisive (a trait my husband swears I concealed from him before marriage).

This morning, I REALLY wanted to be decisive…until GoDaddy started to upsell me. I made the mistake of reading ‘why you need multiple domains‘ which triggered a whole cascade of curious questions about a topic that I rarely discuss before 3 pm: Top Level Domain. Read more »

Filed under: Branding, internet | Tagged: .com, .info, .me, .net, .org, GoDaddy, internet, top-level domain, URL, vint_cerf | 5 Comments »

Bad Things Happen When You Ignore the Competition

Posted on June 23, 2009 by marketing veep

Fade in…

A 20-something sales person and his manager sit across from Joan, a new prospect who holds the decision-making and spending power at her Fortune 1000 company. Joan agreed to the meeting at the request of a colleague who knows the sales manager.

Unbeknownst to the sales duo, Joan has just finished a crisp, pointed conversation with a vendor that had screwed up for the last time. Her pain, though, is the sales guys’ lucky break. The vendor is a competitor.

Despite being overbooked and juiced on anger, Joan offers her full attention to her visitors. Fifteen minutes into their slide deck, Joan cuts to the chase and asks the question that turns their golden opportunity into a burnt crisp: “Who’s your competition?”she asks.

She catches that classic flash of panic in the rep’s eyes — you know the kind…when the prospect asks a question that is to be answered with a well-rehearsed, canned response. To his relief (and their opportunity’s demise), the sales manager swoops in with this response:

Great question, and I’m glad you asked. We don’t have any direct competitors. In fact, we believe that we don’t have any true competition. What we do and how we do it is distinct from anyone out there.”

Ignoramous Interruptus.

You know where I’m going with this, right? Joan had lobbed the proverbial slow pitch, and the sales manager not only struck out but swung like a rookie. He insulted an executive-level prospect by wasting her time with his answer. Read more »

Filed under: Branding, Marketing | Tagged: Business Strategy, CI, Competitive Intelligence, LinkedIn, New Business Development, Positioning, Research, Selling, USP | 1 Comment »

Practical Resources for Self-Employed Professionals

Posted on June 22, 2009 by marketing veep

At last, the self-employed worker goes mainstream. It’s too soon to look fondly at the recession and give it credit for accelerating the process, but give it time. Until then, let go of the resentment and put your skills to work.

The freelance life is exhilarating, thrilling, and stimulating. It can also be frustrating, maddening, lonely, and shocking (at tax time). If self-employment is new to you, take a deep breath and shore up your resources (in this case, information and people). Here are some practical websites for starters:

Getting Started and Staying Viable

Hourly Rate Calculator — this hourly rate calculator helps you arrive at a sensible hourly rate based on your costs, number of billable hours and desired profit. It is a simple and time-saving way to look at what you should charge. (NEW)
Business.gov — Specifically geared toward self-employed citizens, this U.S. government site provides critical information if you’re contemplating self-employed status or already headed down that path.
Small Business Administration (SBA) — Free, online courses (each are 30 minutes or less) cover every stage of conceiving, launching and managing your(self and) business.
National Association of the Self-Employed (NASE) –Admittedly, this one is new to me, but it’s been thriving since 1981. NASE wants to be the go-to source for micro-businesses and the self-employed.

WebWorkerDaily — The knowledge worker’s happy place. Tips, trends and advise on how to be more efficient, productive and successful. Everything from how to find freelance clients, build your brand, maintain work/life balance to dealing with isolation.
Brazen Careerist — You’ve got to think young to stay young! This Gen Y-powered social site transcends the notion that a paycheck, or a corner office, or a fancy title, will ever lead to a passionate life.
Women Entrepreneur — From the folks at Entrepreneur Magazine, a female-centric ezine. More down-to-business content than Pink.
Guerrilla Freelancing — The website dedicated to helping every freelancer still in the trenches, working as hard as they can to build up a solid freelance business. (NEW)
Freelance Radio Podcasts — Tune in for tips, tricks and news about freelancing. Downloadable through iTunes, FreelanceRadio won the People’s Choice for Best Blog Podcast of 2007. (NEW)

Managing Yourself and The Business

Online Bookkeeping for Freelancers (That Won’t Cost an Arm and a Leg) NEW

Copyright and Trademarks

Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS) — Thought of a snazzy new business or product name but wondering if it sounds just a little too familiar? Start here to see if someone already staked his claim and owns the legal rights.
Creative Commons — One of the most promising (and productive) ideas to come along. This is a must-see site to learn how to share and build upon the work of others while honoring the rules of copyright.

Writing, Design, and Communication

Graphic Leftovers — A marketplace for designers, illustrators and other creative souls to sell their “leftover” artwork on the web (so that folks like you and me can buy it on the cheap).
Language is a Virus — Widgets (and more) to cure writer’s block!
The Writing Lab — Over 200 free (online) writing resources, from Purdue University
Ragan.com — Never fancied yourself a communicator? I assume that since you’re self-employed, you’ve since realized you ARE the mouthpiece of your company. This website will keep you just close enough to the cutting edge of communication strategy and tactics.

Promotion

Blog Talk Radio — Check this out, if only to tune in and learn! This is a social radio network that enables anyone to create free, call-in talk shows using an ordinary telephone and computer. Cooler yet: each show is automatically archived and made available as podcasts.

And now for some articles:

Filed under: Office Life, Self-Employed | Tagged: business finance, Business Strategy, Career, Freelance, Job, LinkedIn, MarCom, Marketing Operations Management, Self-Employed | 1 Comment »

Powerful Clicks: 5 Great People, Causes or Concepts

Posted on June 10, 2009 by marketing veep

Here are the people, articles or topics that stopped me in my tracks this week.

Threads of Love

This weekend, my mother-in-law was knitting a baby’s cap, small enough to cover the tiny head of a 2 1/2 pound premature infant. She doesn’t know the name of the baby who will wear the cap, nor whether the premature infant is struggling to live or has died from complications.

None of that matters, because Katie does it out of love as do the other women in the local Threads of Love chapter.

Threads of Love, a non-denominational organization, began in Baton Rouge, La., in 1993 to provide handsewn clothing, blankets and other items for tiny premature and sick infants. Today, there are 162 chapters across the United States, Canada and Europe.

As you’ll see from their website, this is a simple group without a lot of bells and whistles. Everything is donated, and if you can count to five, they can put you to work. Threads of Love simply extends the priceless gift of comfort (and prayer) during a time of uncertainty for parents who have just lost, or may lose, their newborn.

When I asked my mother-in-law if she prayers while she knits the little pastel-colored caps, she smiled and said, “Oh, of course I do.” Knowing what a faith-filled woman she is, I have no doubt that the parents of that little 2 1/2 pound baby will sense the unconditional goodwill tucked into every stitch.

Dan Caro

You’ll think twice about uttering another wimpy, ridiculous excuse after you encounter Dan Caro. A freak flash fire engulfed Dan at the age of 2, and it burned 80% of his body and took both of his hands and feet.

His harrowing treatments and rehabilitation didn’t deter him from fulfilling his dream of becoming a musician and drummer. I dare you to “meet” Dan without shedding a tear. You’ll resolve to look differently at the challenges at your doorstep.

P.S. I discovered Dan while watching Dr. Wayne Dyer’s latest PBS program called Excuses, Begone. If you see it, stop and watch it.

Carolene Mays

Indianapolis Woman

There are no chance encounters, so when I met firecracker-of-a-woman Carolene at the June 4 Whale Hunting Women Summit, I took notes. Mays choreographed the turnaround of the Indianapolis Recorder as the CEO/Publisher of the nation’s third oldest African-American publication.

Impressive? Yes. But that’s the least of her story. Mays survived life-threatening domestic violence, which fuels her efforts to tighten domestic violence legislation. See her influence in Indiana Senate Bill 32.

Every year, 5.3 million women are abused. This isn’t just a dark horror for the victims; domestic violence creates a costly ripple across society. The health-related costs of rape, physical assault, stalking, and homicide by intimate partners exceed $5.8 billion each year. Carolene inspired me to learn more and pass it on.

Sharp Brains

SharpBrains is the leading research group that focuses on cognitive science and neuroscience, specializing in the areas of education and health care. Their brand new book about brain fitness shot them to the top of my Top 5 Click List.

Even if you aren’t reading it as a parent, educator or trainer, you’ve got your own brain to think about — and you’ll be amazed at how much influence you have over the health and longevity of your noggin.

It is simply impossible to walk away from this book without seeing an exciting glimpse of what’s possible for everything from attention disorders, the aging population, to Alzheimer’s patients and brain-trauma recovery.

Ten Rules for Being Human

I found this thanks to a tweet from Tim Ferriss (author of The 4 Hour Work Week).

Filed under: Citizenship, Communication, Inspiration, Leadership | Tagged: Domestic Violence Legislation, Inspiration, Leadership, LinkedIn, Newspaper, Philanthropy, Premature Infants, Threads of Love, Turnaround, Volunteerism | 1 Comment »

A Mishmash of Little Known Websites (You Help Fund)

Posted on June 1, 2009 by marketing veep

Over the weekend, I journeyed through cyberspace to look at the programs that are funded with U.S. tax payer dollars. Let’s just say there aren’t enough weekends in my lifetime to get through that list. I felt like Alice in Wonderland with my never-ending twists and turns and hyperlinks.

My mission revealed a dizzying (and sometimes disappointing) discovery of resources and sites that I’d never heard of. Here are some of them which held my attention (in no particular order): Read more »

Filed under: Citizenship, Research | Tagged: government, Grant Money, Humanities, Library of Congress, LinkedIn, National Biography, National Endowment of the Arts, Public Diplomacy Council, Research, Summer Reading, United States, United States Department of Homeland Security | 2 Comments »

Are You a Compelling Case Study?

Posted on February 4, 2009 by marketing veep

If you’ve lost your job during this economic spasm, join the club. You are now bobbing in a sea of hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of other talented high achievers.

This new brotherhood of the jobless makes for supportive online chatter, but on the other hand, you will drown in this ever-growing talent glut if your job search looks the same as it did even 18 months ago.

So you have a resume, a LinkedIn profile, and that Monster.com account from years ago. Perhaps you’ve even gotten a little fancy with Visual CV. Great — but how do these things set you apart from the throngs of people who use the same adjectives to describes themselves? Read more »

Filed under: Career | Tagged: Career, Case Study, Job, LinkedIn, Marketing effectiveness, Recruiting, Writing | 1 Comment »

5 Things Keeping Your CFO Up at Night

Posted on January 28, 2009 by marketing veep

I’m not sure who sleeps less these days — the CFO who is micro-managing cash flow for survival or the CMO whose role, let alone budget, is discretionary. Regardless of what marketing role you play, you need to understand the mission-critical metrics that your CFO is watching.

Below are 5 questions your owner(s), bank, or board members expect your CFO to answer. Read the full article, 5 Quick Questions for your CFO, at the BoardSource website.

Are our cash equivalents truly liquid?
How many days in cash do we have?
What’s our current ratio?
What’s the status of our line of credit?
Are we going to make a profit this year?

Related Articles: Read more »

Filed under: Career, Marketing Operations Management | Tagged: business finance, CFO, LinkedIn, marketing budget | 2 Comments »

Despair Has Its Lighter Side

Posted on February 3, 2009 by marketing veep

How can you not like a person’s whose Twitter bio reads “My job is to make you happy that I’m robbing you.” Read more »

Filed under: Branding, Retail, e-commerce | Tagged: Brand, Career, Despair Inc., e-commerce, Humor, LinkedIn, Pessimism, Valentine's Day | 1 Comment »

5 Websites Every Marketer Should Visit

Posted on April 23, 2009 by marketing veep

Marketers are dogs, aren’t we? Come on now, that’s a metaphor, but think about it. Marketers, regardless of rank or function, have a lot in common with those lovable, energetic canines. We need to get out of the yard sometimes. Run in a few goofy circles; see what the other dogs are doing; sniff out the competition.

In order to think outside of the (proverbial) box, marketers have to get out of the box altogether. Even if you’re on a tight leash because your budget got a hatchet job, you need to breathe some fresh air and spark those neurons.

If nothing else, head to a coffee shop with your laptop and surf the web. Here are 5 sites that have now become regular stops on my route when I need to break away from the pack:

Ragan Communications

What it is: Ragan.com covers corporate communications (inside and out) and serves up its content in a host of ways. The site is just one of the ways the company delivers relevant information to communicators, writers, and marketers.

Publisher and CEO Mark Ragan walks the walk and talks the talk with social technology including Twitter (publishers of major media outlets should take note).

Why I love it: Titles and business cards come and go, but I’ve always been and always will be a writer. This is the website I’d choose if I had to forsake all others. Ragan.com exudes confidence and authority, and its coverage of our industry (and craft) has teeth. For those days when your company has either chucked corporate communications under the bus or over the fence, this site will stoke your fire about the value you offer.

BusinessBalls

What it is: BusinessBalls is a no-frills, resource-packed site related to business training, organizational development, and career (to name a few). Everything on the site is FREE: the materials, exercises, tools, and templates.

Built by Alan Chapman, BusinessBalls.com began as an experiment. Today the website attracts about a million people each month. (Tip – visit the site for the origins of his website’s name.)

Why I love it: BusinessBalls feeds my insatiable curiosity about leadership and development. The site is hardly just for marketers, so pass it along to managers, trainers, educators, HR pals or anyone else who is a lifelong learner.

SlideMagnet

What it is: SlideMagnet is an online portal and magazine for presenters (and people who support them). Brand-spanking-new, it’s the brainchild of Scott Schwertly, CEO of Nashville-based Ethos3 Communication. This site has tips and advice on presentation development, design and delivery, plus it gives the skinny on new technology and tools.

Why I love it: Schwertly is out to rid the world of hideous powerpoint presentations. His passion is so strong that he’s willing to educate the rest of us, so we save ourselves, one slide at a time. If you are guilty of powerpoint torture, or if you’re too chicken to tell your boss he sucks the life out of the room with his company meeting slide decks, check this one out.

Marketing Charts

What it is: MarketingCharts.com is just that: a site that serves up metrics from the marketing, advertising and publishing worlds. The site covers the gamut from the top 10 online retailers to marketers’ top social media tools. The site updates its major datasets at least once a month plus keeps charts from previous periods.

Why I love it: So shoot me – I have a fixation with charts. Truthfully, I use these charts to bedazzle my analytical counterparts, especially the ones who glaze over when I talk. Marketingcharts.com is my go-to source when I need marketing and media benchmarks.

In addition to the charts, the site provides me with the data in downloadable Excel format. In a hurry? Search Google Images for the type of metric you’re looking for along with the word chart.

Mashable

What it is: Officially, mashable.com is the world’s largest blog focused exclusively on Web 2.0 and Social Networking news. It reviews new Web sites and services and publishes breaking news on what’s new on the web. Unofficially, it’s the site responsible for my sleep deprivation. There is simply not enough time in the day to soak up its content quantity and quality.

Why I love it: Mashable.com is my social technology bible (the lower case “b” will keep me out of confession). Here’s the beauty: I don’t have to visit the site to find something useful. On any given day, great links appear right before my eyes (via Twitter).

Ahhh, social technology really is the circle of life (yep, that one means I’m going to confession).

It’s your turn now. Share your favorite sites! My mom reads my blog, so I’m looking for sites that won’t get you fired or put me in the doghouse. (totally unintentional pun, by the way).

Filed under: Career, Marketing, Twitter | Tagged: BusinessBalls.com, Ethos3, LinkedIn, MarketingCharts.com, Mashable.com, Ragan.com, SlideMagnet.com | 1 Comment »

How much time do you invest in your blog?

Posted on July 1, 2009 by marketing veep

There’s no way around it — blog content takes time to create. Writing has its process, and good ‘ol process requires time.

How much time does it take you to create a single blog article? Chime in (as a comment) about the challenges you’ve encountered if you’re writing blog content for the first time.

Bonus Reading for Bloggers

Filed under: Polls, Writing | Tagged: Blogging, Communication, Journaling, LinkedIn, Marketing effectiveness, Writing | Leave a Comment »

Blogging Workload: a Poll

Posted on June 25, 2009 by marketing veep

If you are a leader, then you ought to be blogging.”~Hugh Hewitt,
author of Blog, Understanding the Information Reformation

That sounds good (and it’s true), but how much time does it really take to write a single blog article? I’m guessing that most people underestimate what it takes.

Weigh in on how much time it takes you to write any given article!

Quote Parking Lot

Posted on June 10, 2009 by marketing veep

“Whenever I see an old lady slip and fall on a wet sidewalk,
my first instinct is to laugh. But then I think, what if I was an ant,
and she fell on me. Then it wouldn’t seem quite so funny.”
— Jack Handey (Deep Thoughts)

7 DEADLY SINS

Wealth without work
Pleasure without conscience
Science without humanity
Knowledge without character
Politics without principle
Commerce without morality
Worship without sacrifice.”
— Mahatma Gandhi

“It has always seemed to me extreme presumptuousness on the part of those who want to make human ability the measure of what nature can and knows how to do, since, when one comes down to it, there is not one effect in nature, no matter how small, that even the most speculative minds can fully understand. ” — Galileo Galilei

Filed under: Quotes | Leave a Comment »

Do Your Office Gossips Have Free Reign? A Poll.

Posted on May 4, 2009 by marketing veep

Filed under: Office Life, Polls | Tagged: Communication, Gossip, HR, LinkedIn, Poll | 1 Comment »

Listen to Kelli

My Camera Lens

Blogroll

Honorable Causes

Ignoramous Interruptus.

Getting Started and Staying Viable

Managing Yourself and The Business

Copyright and Trademarks

Writing, Design, and Communication

Promotion

And now for some articles:

That Twitter Thing

If you’ve lost your job during this economic spasm, join the club. You are now bobbing in a sea of hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of other talented high achievers.

Bonus Reading for Bloggers

Related Reading in the MarketingVeep Vault:

“Whenever I see an old lady slip and fall on a wet sidewalk, my first instinct is to laugh. But then I think, what if I was an ant, and she fell on me. Then it wouldn’t seem quite so funny.” — Jack Handey (Deep Thoughts)

7 DEADLY SINS

Recent Posts

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“Whenever I see an old lady slip and fall on a wet sidewalk,
my first instinct is to laugh. But then I think, what if I was an ant,
and she fell on me. Then it wouldn’t seem quite so funny.”
— Jack Handey (Deep Thoughts)