How do you market your business in this age of social media? There is no denying the impact of online marketing and social media but I think many companies are doing it wrong. The best social media strategy in the world is not going to help a poor quality business. On the other hand, companies that deliver amazing service probably don’t need to invest much in social media because their ardent fans will market their business for free. I think the Canadian printing company JukeBox Print Shop is one of those fantastic companies doing everything right.

I just ordered a rush order of business cards from JukeBox Print Shop and was completely amazed at the quality of service at every stage of the ordering process. This level of customer service and quality were so out-standing that I sent an email to thank them. Here is the text of that email:

Hello,

I am thoroughly impressed with the entire process of getting my rush order of business cards.

1. Your well designed and clearly organized website was the first surprise. There are so many graphic design companies who don’t even bother to maintain an appealing and updated website.
2. Your customer service staff were  very knowledgeable and helpful. I needed the cards quickly so I called several times to see what my options were and that it was possible to deliver by my short deadline. Your staff knew your product very well and clarified everything. It is so rare to find customer service reps that actually know and care about their company’s products.
3. Despite sending in my designs just before closing on a Friday, I still received the PDF proofs for verification minutes later.
4. Your email notifications and website kept me updated on exactly what stage my order was in. A minor misunderstanding was corrected in my order within minutes online.
5. The cards were delivered on time, exactly as promised, for half the price of local printers. Even the card stock you offered was thicker at this already discounted price.

You have a fantastic company. I have no doubt that you will be very successful. Congratulations on everything you have accomplished.

A very happy customer,
John Bardos

I was already extremely satisfied with my order of 250 of their inexpensive business cards, however JukeBox Print took it to the next level. In order to thank me for my email, they have offered 1,250 premium business cards for free.

I told my story with JukeBox Print in a presentation in front of 80 people, I have written this post, I have told everyone who will listen and I tweeted about the company several times with more to come. Is my promotion worth 1,250 free business cards? I am already planning my next order and several of my contacts are interested in using JukeBox Print in the future. I think their generous offer will pay off many times in the near future.

The key lesson is that social media is about the conversation. Real support from dedicated fans can be invaluable promotion and it can’t be faked. Companies should focus on delivering great products with exceptional customer service, then the online marketing will almost take care of itself.

Now go order some business cards or other print products, you won’t be disappointed. Of course, I am not getting paid to say any of this. JukeBox Print Shop is that good.

What do you think; should companies invest in great customer service before social media?

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Here is a fascinating video by the BBC called The Century of the Self. It is about public relations master and nephew of Sigmund Freud, Edward Bernays. Bernays was instrumental in creating our consumerism culture, invented PR, advised governments and was a key influence on the propaganda of Nazi Germany.

Edward Bernays took Freud’s ideas about the primitive aggressive and sexual forces driving people and used them to manipulate the masses.

He showed American corporations, for the first time, how they could make people want things they didn’t need, by linking mass-produced goods to their unconscious desires. Out of this would come a new political idea of how to control the masses. By satisfying people’s inner selfish desires, one made them happy and thus docile. It was the start of the all-consuming self which has come to dominate our world today.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here are some high-lights of the video.

• Sold World War I to Americans.
• ‘Propaganda’ was the word used by Nazis so Bernay re-named it as Public Relations.
• He persuaded women to smoke by branding them as ‘torches of freedom’ and linking smoking to the suffrage movement.
• Helped link products and services to emotions and feelings and how people wanted to be seen by others. It was a shift from purchases based on needs to desires.
• Created the idea of cars as symbols of male sexuality.
• Started the shift from the notion of active citizens to passive consumers.
• Helped popularize President Coolidge by linking him to movie stars.
• Popularized Freud’s ideas in the US.
• Key influence to  Joseph Goebbel, the Nazi propagandist.
• Created the vision that democracy was only possible in a free-market capitalist society in the 1939 New York World Fair.

Here is a link to a free PDF version of  Edward Bernay’s 1928 book, Propaganda. (You may have to right click and save as to download to a PC.)

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What does it take to find a job in this economy? Does sending out generic emails out to hundreds of companies work? How about using the popular employment sites and applying for all jobs vaguely interesting? You can’t differentiate yourself by doing what everyone else is doing.

$6 on Google Adwords to Get Your Dream Job

Alec Brownstein landed two job offers for his dream job with a $6 investment in Google Adwords advertising targeting the names of top New York creative directors. Watch the short video to see.

Create your Own Dream Job

Any sane business owner will happily offer employment to anyone who can prove they can offer more value than they cost. Unfortunately, larger businesses are not particularly sane. Focus on smaller, entrepreneurial companies and you just may be able to create any job you want. Check out Charlie Hoehn’s free SlideShare ebook to see how he managed to work with Seth Godin,  Ramit Sethi of Iwillteachyoutoberich.com, Tim Ferriss of The Four Hour Workweek and movie director Tucker Max.

Forget a Resume

Seth Godin wrote in his latest book Linchpin

Having a resume begs for you to go into that big machine that looks for relevant keywords and begs for you to get a job as a cog in a giant machine.

Godin goes on to say,

If you don’t have a resume, what do you have?

How about three extraordinary letters of recommendations from people the employer knows or respects?

Or a sophisticated project an employer can see or touch?

Or a reputation that precedes you?

Or a blog that is so compelling and insightful that they have no choice but to follow up?

Some say, “Well , that’s fine, but I don’t have those.”

Yeah, that’s my point. If you don’t have these things, what leads you to believe that you are remarkable, amazing, or just plain spectacular?

It sounds to me like if you don’t have more than a resume, you’ve been brainwashed into compliance.
Great jobs, world-class jobs, jobs people kill for – those jobs don’t get filled by people e-mailing in resumes.

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Here is a fantastic hand drawn animated explanation of Dan Pink’s latest book Drive by the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA)

I have selected some excerpts of the animation but I highly recommend the 10 minute video for the content and the entertainment of watching the artist illustrate in fast motion.

For simple, straight forward, rudimentary tasks, bonuses work as expected; the higher the pay the higher the performance.

When a task gets more complicated, requiring some conceptual, creative thinking; larger rewards lead to poorer performance.

Money motivates people only if you don’t pay them enough to want to do the work.

There are three factors that lead to better performance and personal satisfaction:

• Autonomy – our desire to direct our own lives
• Mastery – our urge to get better at stuff (Like playing a musical instrument.)
• Contribution – making a difference (Linux, Wikipedia)

More and more corporations have a transcendent purpose. Partly because it makes coming to work better and partly because it attracts better talent.

We are purpose maximizers, not just profit maximizers.

I think we are all looking for more meaning in our work and lives but the research that Dan Pink offers is somewhat counter-intuitive on the surface. Money turns out to not be a very good motivator for more creative and cognitive work.

The question for each of us is whether or not we can create inspiring projects and businesses that attract talented employees and volunteers while giving everyone the freedom to choose what they want to work on. Could you create the next Wikipedia or Linux?

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How would you like to create your own TV commercials and have them played on National TV? With Google TV Ads it is possible to find low cost times to place ads that can deliver traffic to your site.

SlateV.com has a great video about how they  created their own commercial that got 1000 visitors to a landing page for a total spend of $1300. While this example is not an overwhelming success story, it does show the potential to connect to an offline audience.

With low cost late night advertisements matched with appropriate TV programs, it is possible to cost-effectively drive traffic to a landing page and generate business leads. Blogging is very incestuous; it often seems that other bloggers are the primary readers and the only ones to write comments. TV ads may be a good way to extend your reach.

There definitely could be a lot of publicity for the first big blogger TV ad campaign and it probably won’t cost you more than a few thousand dollars. Does anyone have any video ads with the potential to go viral?

(This idea and video is via Direct Creative Blog)

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Forget PowerPoint, presentations are getting a lot more fun. Prezi.com is taking those boring linear presentations to a new level. Watch this short video and take a look for yourself.

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Book publishing is an archaic industry long over due for a revolution. In this Internet age, when information is instantly available from anywhere on the planet, it doesn’t make sense to go through a long publishing cycle only to have a product that is already dated. Books should be a work-in-progress of constantly enhanced and updated material. Books need to be a community, not a static product. While there are many experiments with the new model of publishing, Leo Babauta of ZenHabits, latest book Focus is most likely going to be one of the early large scale successes.

What is an Unbook?

Dave Gray and Jay Cross believe that unbooks are a ‘living book’ that ‘accelerates the path from idea to object’ and the ‘evolution of the living’ object. Watch the full ShareShare presentation below.

Focus, the Unbook

Babauta’s current book, Focus is a perfect example of Gray and Cross’s idea. Here is how Babauta describes his book model:

Write just the core content, in short chapters.

Publish this on the web in “beta” form. Share it with a small group of readers, for free.

Ask them to comment and even make contributions. I’ll decide what goes in, of course.

I’ll revise and expand on the book, based on input from early readers. Will publish new versions as they’re done.

More readers will be invited, and more feedback welcomed. More revisions will come out.

Finally, the book will be done, freely available on the web to read. Credits included for contributions from readers.

Will turn into an ebook, also freely downloadable, encourage people to spread it widely.

Will get a publisher to publish and distribute the print version, or failing that, self publish. Will sell this for a fee.

There might be some additional info in the different versions, to encourage people to check out all versions if they like.

When a Book Stops Being a Book

In a previous post, I wrote about what I think the future of books should be.  Babauta’s Future is one of those books, but there still is another dimension in the evolution of books and that is multimedia content. With the rapid adoption of Apple’s iPad, it shouldn’t be long before our concept of books as a container of text morphs into an experience complete with audio, video, animations, discussion forums, on and offline events and meet ups. Some books should be a service, not a product. Connecting people to people is the real value of ideas.  Reading is great but there are so many more possibilities on the horizon.

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This is another brilliant idea via Seth Godin, PDF Micro-Magazines.

Here is what Seth Godin wrote:

While there are still people hoping to make a living writing a blog (not as a tool for something else, but as an end into itself), that’s awfully difficult to do. Micro-magazines, on the other hand, feel very different to me. They have elements that make them very attractive to advertisers and readers.

I’ll define one as:

• Being digital (probably a PDF), that’s free to ‘print’, fast to make and easy to share. (Newsweek spends seventeen million dollars a year on paper.)
• Having subscribers, either by email or RSS
• Focused on issues that appeal to some, but not all
• Having a very specific audience (call it a tribe)
• Enabling that tribe to connect by sharing the ideas in the magazine among them, as well as supporting it with a forum or blog
• Containing ads that are relevant to that audience
• Being longer than 140 characters or even a blog post, so significant ideas can be exposed in detail

Godin also has found a perfect example of one of these Micro-Magazines, Fear.less. The PDF magazine has a beautiful design and professional quality articles. Truly a fantastic business model for so many niches.

RSS feeds and blogs are a good fast way to get information but there is definitely a need for professional level content somewhere in the middle between magazines and blogs. This is a great opportunity for aspiring publisher/ entrepreneurs. This format is also likely to reach a much larger audience of readers who are not comfortable with social media yet. It is a familiar magazine format, except it is delivered digitally. Advertising definitely makes sense for targeted publications like this.

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I have just finished reading Seth Godin’s Linchpin for the second time. It really is a fantastic book with insights into what it takes to be successful now.

I have to say that I find most business books underwhelming. Virtually all just regurgitate common sense ideas or follow popular trends.  Linchpin is NOT one of these books.

I love Godin’s take on how we have all been trained from childhood to conform and consume. Our societies have produced armies of people who follow the rules and produce only what is required. It is no wonder that so many jobs are lost to automation or outsourcing. If you are just following procedures and policies in your work or business then don’t be surprised if your job disappears.

Godin’s antidote for our economic malaise is to become an artist. He uses the term ‘artist’ in a broad sense;

Art is an original gift, a connection that changes the recipient, a human ability to make a difference.
Art isn’t a painting or even a poem, it’s something that any of us can do. If you interact with others,
you have the platform to create something new—something that changes everything. I call that art.

This is a great book that I highly recommend for anyone interested in personal development and success. I felt the book spoke to me personally on many levels and many of the ideas are similar to the topics I am focusing on my blogs. Here is a video I recently did for Untemplater.com covering some of the same concepts.

Seth Godin gave a great talk about the ideas in Linchpin which you can listen for free on his blog.

There is also a related ebook called Brainwashed that Godin wrote on ChangeThis.com.

Do work that matters.
Four words available to anyone. They’re here if you want them. The economy just gave you lever-
age—the leverage to make a difference, the leverage to spread your ideas and the leverage to
have impact. More people have more leverage (more chances and more power) to change the world
than at any other time in history. What are you going to do about it? When?

The99Percent.com has a great video of Seth Godin talking about overcoming the resistance that stops people from executing their ideas.

Go and buy the book! Then take action to become an artist. If you are not trying to connect and contribute to the world, then what is the point?

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