Product review: Riviera for Skype

Photo cred: Zsolt Vajda

There's a lot of buzz in the blogosphere around the "blogger outreach campaigns" done these days by companies. Lots of them go totally wrong, generating nothing but bad PR for brands.

This is a blog post I decided to write mainly because I recently got a software product review offer on the email. Don't know exactly how they picked me, but it just happens that the product they're promoting might prove to be useful for me after all.

What motivates you !?

Photo cred: Jinx!

Hello world ! Yes, I've taken a short vacation from writing on this blog and this is mainly because my schedule looked like hell for the last months...of course this doesn't mean that the torment is over, or is it ?!

I came across an interesting video about what motivates us at home and in the workplace. To be honest with you, I'm surprised how much I can relate to what Dan Pink is saying about this.

20 Ways To Become The Best In Your Field

Photo cred: Leo Reynolds

Becoming the best in a certain field has always been the ultimate challenge. This requires determination beyond anything. It means not settling for "second best", not going halfway in your journey to success and fulfillment, surpassing yourself and all the others while you evolve and grow.

I received a list from Adrian Soare called "101+ Ways For Becoming The Best In Your Field". We will attach it to the blog post so you can download it and check it from time to time to remind yourself what can bring you results in your field of interest.

I consider the following 20 point to be the most important ones:

1. Offer 20% more than your average client expects. By doing this you will surprise your clients in the best way possible and most of them will want to repay you for this with a service, more money or with a recommendation.

The Difference Between a Boss and a Leader

Photo cred: nestor galina

Is a boss different than a leader ? I'd like to think so and I'm sure you'd agree. Keeping it clear and simple I'd like to point out the major differences between them:

A boss inspires fear. A leader inspires enthusiasm.

A boss uses words like "I", "Go". A leader uses words like "We", "Let's go".

A boss knows how it is done. A leader shows how it is done.

A boss's focus is on fixing the blame for the problem. A leader's focus is on fixing the problem.

A boss drives people. A leader coaches them.

A boss makes work a drudgery. A leader makes work...fun, like a game.

A boss depends on authority. A leader on good will.

A boss has people working for him. A leader has people working with him.

A boss will make you see your flaws. A leader will help you discover your potential.

How to attract attention to your products or services

photo cred: captcreate

Recent marketing campaigns are spread worldwide and all potential customers are literally bombarded with adds for all kinds of products. People have gotten to the point where it is all background noise. We let that which does not matter slide because we fear that our head will explode if we have to remember everything.

It's about time for smarter and more interesting marketing that captures the target customers' attention and interest. Here is a video that shows a few examples on how to get people out of their heads and fully interested in knowing more about a product they probably don't yet want or need. This requires creativity, but can show great results if applied correctly:

Guys Listen Up

When you say skincare you naturally think about women as being the right consumer. But isn't that just half of the equation. Why not focus also on the guys ? According to Garnier, a lot of Singapore's men think of skincare as being sissy.

See how Garnier Men got them to talk about their complexes by using a video of a couple breaking up over oily skin. Using their interactive site, girls could customize the campaign's video and send it to any guy they think needs to listen up.

5 Hints on How to Overcome Resistance and Get Things Done

 

Photo cred: edwardfilms

All people have encountered resistance and do so every single day. It shows up out of nowhere and it's always more powerful than expected. It can come from inside you or from a different person, but one thing matters in the end: how much and in what way do you let it affect you or even change your mind about an important goal.

In his book, "Do the work", Steven Pressfield says: "On the field of the Self stand a knight and a dragon. You are the knight. Resistance is the dragon." In order to win this fight you have to have a few important things in mind:

1. Start doing what comes naturally to reaching your goals without doing too much prior research. Start putting ideas on paper without criticizing your ideas. The ancient Chinese philosopher Lao-tzu said "A journey of a thousand miles starts with one step." We tend to get lost in preparing ourselves for the action. This can become addictive and ineffective because we feel like we're getting somewhere when we're actually just gathering knowledge.

Drive-in Theater by Coca-Cola

How can traffic jams can create good will among your consumers. Well, to do this right you need to have the right ingredients.

Let me see:

1. A traffic jam - something that will hold people long enough for you to take action.

2. Something that will make them feel good while being stuck in traffic (I know, that's just pure evil).

3. The right incentive to make them use your product.

Well that's exactly what Coca-Cola and Ogilvy Columbia did in Bogota, Columbia. How long has it been since you watched a movie from your car? Or, did you ever watched a movie from your car? I believe some of you, just like me, never did it.

Before watching the video, allow me to explain what they did.

The problem: a daily 4 hours traffic jam in Bogota. How can Coca-Cola turn headaches into smiling faces?

The solution: build a giant video screen for those stuck in traffic and invite them to tune their car radio to the local FM station so they could hear the audio.

Incentives: what could make this even better, but people walking up and down the rows of cars offering 250ml bottles of Coca-Cola, popcorn, nachos and other goodies.

3 Timeless Principles on How to Communicate Efficiently

Photo cred: Josh Fassbind

Even though we now have all these communication tools to our disposal it seems we've never been less effective at connecting with other people and passing on to them the right message. Sometimes we aren't even able to capture other people's attention.

Seth Godin wrote in his book, "What matters now", what he considers 3 timeless principles for efficient communication and they are as follows:

 1. Heart - This is something often shown in public speaking - When you're able to engage people around you with passion and make them invest emotionally in a cause, that is the moment when you really get to them. This is the fastest way to connect even to a stranger (always good not only at a personal level but also business wise).

6 Tips on Building Your Social Network Faster

Photo cred: Nazly Ahmed

The one thing we all want when using social media is to have interactions. Whether it's your friends, co-workers or clients, the fastest way of reaching out to those you're interested in, is thru channels such as LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace or Twitter. Starting to use one or more social networks comes with an "issue" for a lot of users: How do I build up my network of connections faster ?

Regardless if you're a business or just a private user, your presence on the web is a must. Further more, your account(s) and the way you manage them become your social media visiting card. It's nice to know that your message reaches more than just your close friends, thus increasing your online visibility or that someone quoted your idea, thus building up your social reputation.

Here are some great tips on how to grow your network of connections:

1. Join the right networks

This might seem silly, but if you're looking to connect with professionals in your area of expertise, then LinkedIn is definitely a better choice than Facebook for example.

2. Join groups relevant to you

I know, this is at least as silly as the first one, but think about it for a second. What's the point of using social media if you're not interacting. The best way of doing it is joining groups and getting involved in discussions that interest you.

3. Be interesting

Believe it or not, but posting relevant and credible information is a HUGE incentive for someone to follow your tweets or add you to their professional network connections. You don't know when a new opportunity arises through one of your social connections. In using social media frequently you do become a brand which can be a personal or a company brand. In both cases people will "label" you as being someone worth spending their time following or just someone that doesn't have much to say.

Heat MWC from Google at the Mobile World Congress 2011

Photo cred: JD Hancock

In February 2011 the Mobile World Congress took place in Barcelona. This event is a great opportunity to create new business connections, present new products and services and why not, make new friends.

The app created specially for this event was the Heat MWC from Google . The entire idea of the app is to make socializing easier for the users. It helps bring down boundaries making interaction more fun. Because of its settings you can search in real time for people with common interest and then go personally meet them exchanging contact info in the easiest way possible.

MINI Getaway Stockholm - a Social Media Success

Photo cred: Erik Mörner


I'm sure you will appreciate this post since it's going to be a bit different than the others. I've thought about starting to share with you some live examples on how social media works and what you can achieve using it.

I came across the advertising agency Jung von Matt from Stockholm. As Emma Hutchings wrote in this blog post, the creative agency won numerous awards for this creative and innovative modern-day brand building idea. I'm talking about the Getaway Stockholm campaign for MINI.

The prize - a brand new MINI Countryman.

The rules

To get in the race for winning the real car you needed to download an app into your iPhone. App users could then view the location of a virtual MINI on a map of Stockholm, and once within 50 metres of it, could claim the MINI for themselves and then run away from the other participants who could try to steal it. At the end of the 7 days campaign the person with the virtual MINI in his possession won the real car.

New Marketing and Transparency

 

Photo cred: Trey Ratcliff

Marketing campaigns have a very well established plan on what, when and how to present a brand or a product to the potential customers. Every company wants to fully control the process that determines how the people will see them in the future. Do YOU think this is the natural way of doing things?

What we see and what is

A very strong businessman once told me that "Facts speak louder than words". This makes very much sense because anyone can talk, but only the results really matter in the end.

Why should you use social media for business

Photo cred: Damien do Toit

How can social media benefit my business? I'm sure that you asked yourself this question at least once since you've first heard of social media.

Before going into details, I'd like to make it clear that a business who should use social media is not necessary a large or well established company. Everyone can benefit from using it. Even we, here at Marketing Affairs are going to use social media channels to reach out to you. There are a couple of points that I'd like to cover up in this post regarding the subject.

Why use social media in the first place?

Well, that's pretty easy to guess, since you are already have at least 1 account on the social networks. But, for a business this might be a good incentive:

• the costs are smaller comparing them to the traditional advertising methods;
• due to sharing specific words, pictures, videos or audio files your company gets a lot more VISIBILITY;
• you're not the only one that talks about your brand - social media is about INTERACTIONS between people, not to mention the speed to which these interactions take place.
• you can benefit from the snowball effect that can be created around your company. Remember that every user has Facebook friends or Twitter followers which can multiply your targeted audience.

Effective Management

 

Photo cred: lumaxart

A lot of focus has been put in the last few years on management styles or techniques. Management exists for the same reason a business exists: to better serve the clients and in the process to create revenue for the company. It isn't there to waste time and energy or to stress employees with authority manifesting methods.

A little freedom never hurt anybody

A very good type of management is one that enables freedom and empowers the employees. Only when a person becomes responsible for something does he really give it his best. It becomes his creation and responsibility. He knows the result will represent him.

Your Customer's Birthday - The Perfect Time For Marketing

What happens once a year and it has something to do with you personally. That's right, your birthday. We all know that birthdays are fun, we are the center of attention and above all we get presents.

It was my birthday this week and of course that I've received a lot of messages. Among the senders there were also these messages from the top 3 recruiting sites in Romania: eJobs.ro, MyJob.ro and Bestjobs.ro . Now, I don't know how much do you know about these 3 companies but a study made 2 years ago showed that eJobs had back then a market share of 46 %, BestJobs 25 % and MyJob 10 %, the rest being other recruiting sites.

Since they all sent me email messages wishing me all the best, I thought to share them with you as well. You'll see why being the number 1 in the business isn't always something good. I'd like to start in the same order as I mentioned them since it reflects perfectly the podium (backwards).

Number 3:

This is a print screen of the birthday message eJobs.ro sent.

The good part: - they remembered my birthday

The bad part(s):

1. Well, for a company that claims to be the No. 1 recruiting website in Romania this is a message that should never be sent. It's way to short and above all doesn't make me feel special in any way.

I mean it's my birthday, if you really want me to appreciate you sending a message don't be lazy, get creative, give me a reason to recommend your service to others.

In any language you may translate this you'll find out that it says something like this: "Good morning Christian, We know it's your birthday so we would like to wish you Happy Birthday, lots of health and happiness and......good luck in your career !" If I had a talking dog, I believe he would do a better job than this.

What does doing business really mean?

Photo cred: Trey Ratcliff

This is a question that I've asked myself for some time now. The business world, the big corporate field seems very appealing nowadays for the young businessman or professional to be. It gives you a steady environment in which you can learn, grow and bring your personal contribution not only to the organization but to the business partners as well. I understand that any company wants to have better and more customers in order to raise capital and profit. The question I have is "Why are people and corporations acting like there is no limit to natural resources?" Without falling into the Greenpeace environmentalist spirit I simply ask you, the reader: "Is the way things have been going for the last fifty years sustainable?"

Leaving the Earth's resources issues aside it's important to speak about the other item on the list, which seems absolutely necessary for conducting business and obtaining profit: humans. On numerous occasions creating a life-time connection with clients has proven beneficial to companies. Sometimes all they had to do was care a little bit more, not going directly for the person's money, but looking to enrich his personal life and experience, finding a solution to his concerns.

What matters now

In one of his many books, Seth Godin asks this even without the question mark, maybe showing us that indeed questions are answers. He reminds us one of the basic things in the business world. The fact that in order to get what you want you first have to help a lot of people to get what they need and want for themselves. Offering value to others will make them want to return the favor in the future. Honestly caring for them as if their problem would be yours could really bring the best solutions for customers.

Common mistakes marketers do when using social media

Photo cred: rutlo

More and more businesses are using it to get more visibility for their brands or products. But as easy to use as they seem to be, as likely you are to make mistakes that can cost you big money. What differentiates a small business from a big business? Or, better yet, what are the common mistakes your company doesn't want to do when using social media as a marketing tool?

Here are some useful tips for you to take into consideration:

1. Master the basics

There are a lot of companies that are in their infancy using social media channels to promote their business. Just because you have a personal Facebook account with 1.000+ friends or there are 200+ followers on your Twitter account doesn't make you a social media guru. Set up a your companies goals, create a clear marketing strategy and establish the role of social media in it. These are the bricks that stay at the foundation of every successful marketing campaign.

Keep yourself informed, observe what's happening around you and learn from other marketing campaigns that went wrong.

2. Don't just talk, put it into practice !

A lot of marketers talk about how you should use social media to promote your business, what you need to do, where and when to do it. How many of them put it into practice? Change the "I should do" with the "I must do".