We all strive to be perfect.
None of us are.
And frankly,
perfect people are annoying.
They aren’t real.
They’re fake.

In today’s media environment,
fake is NOT an image
any brand wishes to have.
No one trusts a fake brand.

So what do you do
when you make a mistake?
You own up to it
and you try to make it right.

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone
shares
“I think vulnerability is essential.
For so long,
companies and brands thought
they needed to seem bulletproof.
I think when a brand uses Twitter,
they’re able to communicate
when they make a mistake.
I think when you do things like that
you reveal you’re open and honest
and willing to change
and admit to your mistakes.
I think brands are using it
to really build trust with consumers.”

Mistakes are not a bad thing.
How you DEAL with the mistake,
however,
is important.

Mike Michalowicz has a great post
on The 5 Ways To Make Yourself Memorable.

If you’re building
a long lasting brand,
I think #5. Be Genuine
is the most important.

“Show who you really are.
Let people see your flaws,
as well as your triumphs.
Be open about how much
effort and hard work
was put in to get you
where you are today.
Offer advice, and take advice.
Don’t be a know-it-all.
Be a person that other people
will feel comfortable around
and not feel as though
they are not “good-enough”
to be in your presence.”

Why is it most important?

Because it is damn hard
to maintain a fake personae
over a long period of time.

Be memorable
and be genuine.

In a mini-interview with Space,
Marina Sirtis
who played Counselor Troi
on Star Trek: The Next Generation
said when she sees actors
being rude to
or having no time for their fans,
she wants to punch them in the nose.
THAT is how strongly
she feels about treating fans well.

Kelley Armstrong,
a New York Times Bestselling author,
is known for always responding
to readers.
Always.

I saw Richard Branson once
in an airport.
A young entrepreneur wanted
to talk to him.
Richard Branson missed his flight
to make time
for the complete stranger.

Fans, readers, customers
are important.
They pay your bills.
They’re the reason
your business exists.

Make time for them.

An ad by
O.B., yes, the tampon company,
is circulating Facebook and Twitter.

Why would women
forward a tampon ad?

Because it is damn clever.

Apology
is a music video
which women can customize
for their own name.
The lyrics are customized.
The graphics are customized.

It doesn’t work for every name
and it certainly doesn’t work
for male names
but it works
for enough women
that we’re… well… excited.

THIS is the new advertising expectation.
THIS level of personalization.

And it also proves
that if the marketing is clever enough,
it WILL go viral,
no matter what product is advertised.

When I approach a new publisher,
one of the first things she does
is pull up my website
and look at the stories
I already have released
AND when they were released.

When a blogger approaches me,
I first look at her blog,
noting how long she’d been blogging
and the quality of her posts.

When an entrepreneur pitches
to a venture capitalist,
she’ll be asked
what companies she has started.
The V.C. will confirm
these companies did, at one time, exist
and her involvement
with the company.

Doers do things
and in today’s environment,
that doing creates a trail.
Why make that trail difficult
to follow?

Seth Godin has a great post
on visible bodies of work.

A 30 second spot
during today’s Super Bowl
costs a whopping
$3.5 million.

Many commercials have released early,
to tremendous success,
and there’s worry that
viewers, having seen the ads,
will skip the commercial breaks.

WTF?

Folks having SEEN your ads
is a worry?
To whom?
Not the advertisers.

To the networks
certainly.

Because if 10 million of the
100 million expected viewers
have already seen your ad,
does buying a commercial slot
make sense?

Does it make more sense
to spend the $3.5 million
simply creating a great ad?

I recently was joking around
on a reader chat.
From beginning to end,
I made jokes and teased people
and had a great time.
I also posted excerpts and buy links
and added friends to my Facebook account
and readers to my newsletter list.

At the end of the chat
(and the readers didn’t want it to end),
readers said that wasn’t a chat.
That was fun.

In other words…
that wasn’t marketing
because it was fun.

On another writer loop,
I announce new releases by members.
With every new release,
I ask the writers what they learned.

Recently there was a ban
on promotion/marketing
with the exclusion of new releases.
Because members learned things
from the marketing,
they didn’t consider it marketing.

So when you hear
from customers
that they don’t want you marketing to them,
that’s bullshit.
What they really are saying
is that they don’t like the way you’re marketing to them.

If your marketing is entertaining
or educational
or ???,
it will not only be tolerated
but requested.

With small businesses
(and authors starting out),
I often see mission statements
(and themes)
used in marketing materials.

(winces)

Don’t.
Please don’t.
Your customer doesn’t care
about your mission statement.
Your mission statement is about you.
Customers care about themselves.
What is in it for them?

One of my author brands
stands for tolerance.
I don’t communicate this theme to readers.
EVER.

Why?

Because readers don’t buy romance novels on tolerance.
They buy love stories,
interesting character and worlds,
light-hearted entertainment.

Themes and mission statements
are for internal use only.

We all are dealing with information overload.
Our brains deal with this overload
by filtering information.

One filter is by the source of information
and whether or not
we trust it.

If I don’t trust someone,
I discard the information
they’re sharing outright.
I don’t investigate it.
I completely erase it from my brain.

On the flipside,
if I trust the source completely
and I’m in a rush,
I’ll act upon that information.

Turns out…
other people do that same thing.

A study performed by Martin Lindstrom
for his book
Brandwashed
shows that
“Deep trust is communicated
subconsciously.
It’s rarely expressed explicitly,
nor is imparted loudly
or didactically.
To trust deeply
not only can change our minds,
but it has the power
to alter our most ingrained behaviors.”

If you’re a trusted source,
people will act upon your information.
Think before you speak.

At the American Express Open booth,
the giveaways
included popcorn and cupcakes.
These weren’t branded with American Express logos.
They were branded with the logos
of the small local companies
supplying the giveaways.

The unspoken message?
American Express puts small business first.

Which is what the brand stands for.

They didn’t have to say it.
They didn’t have to advertise it.
The people who cared
about that branding
noticed.

Walk the talk.
Be the company
your brand proclaims you are.
People WILL notice.