Puff Up Their Chests

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 This past week, I was recognized in a couple of different posts for online activity and influence.  It was beyond humbling.   The first was Dale Denham’s Online 18.  Each year Dale puts together a list of the people he deems as the most influential online in the Promotional Products industry.  He has his own criteria, which outlines at the top of the list, and he spends a lot of time putting it together.  Other than me, it’s a veritable Who’s Who of online and content in the industry.  Check it out here.  Oh…and here is the podcast about this I did yesterday. The second post came from Commonsku.  Commonsku is a service provider in the Promo World and created this list of their favorite Podcasts.  It includes some newer podcasts and some old favorites…and we made that list too.  That post can be found here. So why am I bringing this up (other than a blatant Humble Brag)?   I mention this because it’s amazing how much recognition matters…to everyone.  The Hasseman Marketing team and I create content on an every day basis.  Our goal is to provide value.  Our hope is that someone gets something out of each piece of content that either educates or inspires.  And for the most part, it happens quietly. But when something like this happens, it’s hard not to take pride.  It makes you want to puff up your chest.  It is great to know that what you do matters…to someone.   The lesson, I think goes back to this blog post about Fixing the Appreciation Gap.  Recognition matters to everyone.  Many of us would like to think we are above it.  We “do the work” regardless of what anyone thinks.  And maybe we do.  But when we get called out for our good work…we take pride. Guess what?  So do your employees.  So do your customers.  Make sure you are taking the time to “make a list” of the people doing great work in your life and your organization.  Give them a chance to “puff up their chest.”   And if you want to make sure you never miss any of this “recognized” content, feel free to sign up for our VIP newsletter.  You can do that here!  Or if you want to head to our site and shop for cool Promotional items to recognize your team, you can do that here. 

Lessons from the Online 18

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The Delivering Marketing Joy Podcast is back!  Our goal here is to attack 2018 with a vengeance!  The Delivering Marketing Joy Podcast will provide some inspiration, motivation and education to make it happen!  Consider this your 10 minute “kick in the pants” to get your week started off right!

Today on the podcast we take a look at the recent Online 18 from Dale Denham.  Dale recognizes his list of 18 Online Influencers (you can find the list here).  This time on the Podcast I take a look at some lessons you can learn from the folks on this list…and how you can apply them. 

Once again, special thanks to Dale Denham for putting together this list.  It’s great for discussion…and pushes me to do more (and better) work.  And congrats to my buddy Bill Petrie for being Numero Uno on the list this year!  Awesome stuff. As always, make sure you never miss an update.  We are posting new content every day.  So sign up here for our VIP newsletter to make sure you get the best of the best!

The Next Big Thing

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 Everyone wants to create (or be) the “next big thing.”  We want to start off with a #1 hit.  Or at the very least, we want to have some level of success right away.  But when it comes to sales, building a business or creating content, most of the time, it doesn’t work that way.   It’s done by making small, almost unnoticed steps, each day.  Seth Godin talks about this in this blog post “Two Simple Secrets to Good ideas.”   Secret #1 is the biggest one: More bad ideas. The more bad ideas the better. If you work really hard on coming up with bad ideas, sooner or later, some good ideas are going to slip through. That’s how I feel about creating content and building an audience.  You need to be willing to live through the times when it feels like nobody cares.  You have to keep showing up.  You have to keep providing value without getting anything in return.   Oh, and as a side, note, I “keep” saying “keep.”  Before you can keep doing anything, you have to start.  So if you want to build a business or a personal brand, you have to actually start.  Seth Godin would say you have to “Choose Yourself.”  The bad news is, it will take time.  Most of the time it takes a long time to create a real audience.  But the good news is, that lack of audience gives you time to hone your craft and get better.  It gives you time to make mistakes and not be perfect.  You won’t be.   But start.  As Seth says, start creating a bunch of bad ideas.  Sooner or later a great idea, video, podcast, blog, or business will come. Speaking of people who “chose themselves,” congratulations to the people recognized on the most recent Online 18.  Dale Denham has created this list for the last several years.  It recognizes people that put themselves out there online, hopefully, to the betterment of the marketing community.  Keep it up! We will keep putting this “out there!”  Make sure you never miss a podcast, video, blog or special.  Sign up for our VIP Newsletter here.  

Let The People See You

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see the people in sales

It turns out my first sales manager was half right.  When I first got in sales, I was told “When in doubt, go and see the people.”  It was an over-simplification, of course.  On the other hand, it’s always seemed to work for me.  When I was waiting for the phone to ring or waiting for the sales to come in, I hear that voice.   “Go and see the people.”

In Jonah Berger’s book “Invisible Influence” I am starting to learn why this works.  In multiple studies, Berger explains that familiarity and having the “people see you” works. In one study, pictures of female students were judged on their level of attractiveness.  (Cringe all you want, it was the study).  It turns out that if the female students were seen in the class, they were judged to be more attractive.   Other studies showed that “being seen” more often could make your more likable and trustworthy.

From my perspective this brings powerful insights into the world of sales, brand building and more!  So here are a few takeaways…

See the People 

Though the script has flipped a bit, the adage still holds water.  When you are feeling reactive in your business, get out of your office and go “let the people see you.”  And if you can add value in some way (or just to say thanks like this post suggests), even better.

Social Media 

This is one of the reason great social media works.  We are giving people a chance to “see us” on a regular basis.  Some people would say this can be overdone.  Maybe.  But the science from this book suggests otherwise.

Consistency is Key 

This is also a bit of science to back up my belief in consistency.  Whether we are talking about social media, content marketing or sales, you need to be consistent in your efforts.  We all have that voice in our heads that tells us we need to stop...it’s too much.  But we need to push through that and continue to “show up” with your prospects and clients.   Let them “see you” over and over again. Make sure never miss the opportunity to “see us!”

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Want to be exceptional? Be unreasonable.

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If you want to be exceptional be unreasonable

What do these three have in common?

Each of them are leading voices in their respective spaces and professions.  Here is a super quick background on each.

Gary Vaynerchuk grew his family’s wine business from $3 Million to $60 Million before leaving to start Vaynermedia, a leading digital agency in the world.  He is a best selling author and sought after speaker.  Gary began his journey by creating a wine show on YouTube and created over 1000 episodes of Wine Library TV.  Now he has a team of people that follow him around and create the “Daily Vee.”

Casey Neistat is a filmmaker and world-class vlogger.  Casey has pioneered how many view vlogging and has over 9 million YouTube subscribers.  (That’s about the same as Jimmy Fallon if you were counting).  Casey grew this amazing following by creating a daily, high quality vlog series that highlighted his adventures and his life.

Seth Godin is one of the pioneers of modern marketing.  He is a best selling author many times over and is one of the minds that introduced us to “permission marketing.”  Seth grew an amazing audience by writing a blog each and every day…for years.  Each and every day, Seth “shows up” to share his thoughts on marketing, business and more.

These three are people I admire in business today.

They are the top of their game.  And each of them, in their own way, push me to work harder and do more.  Each of them is totally unreasonable…and that is why they have succeeded. Every time I start to create a goal to raise the exposure of my personal brand or my business, I start with a big idea.  I think of a goal that gets me excited or fired up.  I think “why not?”  That could be me!  And I even start to think of the possibility of what might happen if I head down the path.  And then I think, “ Maybe I should be more reasonable.”  I start to create the internal debate that goes like this… “You have a lot going on.  You have a family and you want to have some time off!  You know you need to think about your quality of life.  You need to be more reasonable.”

And that, my friends, is where exceptional goes to die.  It’s the reason I am excited about creating content every day.  It’s exciting.  It’s scary.  It’s even kind of fun.  But it’s not reasonable! If you want to be exceptional, you need to be unreasonable.

If you want to make sure you never miss an update, make sure to sign up for the Hasseman Marketing VIP newsletter!  You can do that here.  It’s not unreasonable.  🙂