Make Time for Think Time

The content will never end

Don’t follow rules, follow rules, be on every channel, be selective, watch this video, buy my program, read my blog, see this new thing.We are constantly trying to find ways to filter through the stuff and find what's important. But how do we shut out the noise from out there and inside our own minds?

Take Digital Time Off
The Internet will be here tomorrow. Shut off your computer and your phone. Try it for 24 hours. It's okay, we'll be here when you get back.

Keep Things Simple
I start less and finish more. It’s not easy and it takes daily practice. Squirrel.

Listen to Your Voice
It’s fascinating how much weight we give others' opinions. Take the time to listen to your voice more often. It knows you better than they do.

Find Your Focus
This is like adopting a new exercise regimen. The treadmill in my basement has yet to get me in shape on its own. Weird.

Memes Can Be Dangerous
The human mind is a miraculous machine that can create whatever reality we wish and for some strange reason negative thought can infiltrate faster than positive. Our thoughts are just our thoughts and we can work on turning self-doubt moments into action items.

Give Yourself a Break
Take some time by yourself and list all of your strengths. No one needs to see the list, so be completely honest with yourself.

Step Away. Enjoy the Silence.

Kneale Mann

image credit: wickednox
Original post: Aug 2010

Virtual Malls and Other Fun Holiday Treats

If you celebrate Christmas and have had the pleasure of visiting one of your local retail outlets in the last couple of weeks, you know that you are certainly not alone with regards to leaving the shopping list until the last minute. It is crunch time, the last weekend before the big day and the race is on.


Stores and malls are crawling with people these days. Each purchase may not be as large as it was three years ago and the average shopper may not be spending as much overall, but that does not have much relevance as you are trying desperately to find a parking spot at the mall this weekend.

The Virtual Parking Space

Changes on the web happen faster than we can seem to measure but there is ample evidence to prove that those malls and shops would be even busier without the invention of online shopping.

Here are some highlights from a Statistics Canada report on online shopping from last year.

In 2009, Canadians spent $15 Billion in online purchases with an average of $150 a pop. 51% were aged 16-34, travel and events were the biggest sellers while men bought electronics online at a rate of 2:1 to women.

Search. Seek. Shop.

To think that online purchases are replacing in-store sales is not quite the case. In fact, almost 70% of those who search for an item online then buy it at the retail location. Which points to the necessity of a solid web presence and great customer service. As well, evidence is certainly showing that those numbers will be moving around for a while as we buy more large ticket items from the comfort of our sweat pants.

Zappos is an online shoe retailer that has been used countless times to illustrate how to build a successful online business. One critical element of their success is filling orders quickly and accurately.

They began with securing major delivery hubs so they could back up their promise. Zappos doesn’t discount, they don’t deal but they give superior service right to your door. And for that, millions have responded.

Consumer reaction is influenced more by peer groups 
than external persuasion.

Groupon was just named the fastest start-up to reach $1 Billion in sales in just two years. It has grown so quickly that Google recently offered founder Andrew Mason
$6 Billion for control of the company and he turned them down.

The online search has become the growing entry point which is why search engine optimization has exploded. However if you don't know what customers are searching for, all the tricks in said book won't help.

TripAdvisor, Yelp, FourSquare and many other social networking sites are tapping into the intersection of online and on-site buying habits but security, convenience, choice, return policy and proximity are all valid reasons why after some online research, most still head to the mall. For now...

Happy shopping!

knealemann | email


image credit: istock

Six Ideas to Silence the Chatter

We are overrun with content and it will never end.

Don’t follow rules, follow rules, be on every channel, be selective, watch this video, buy my program, read my blog, see this new thing.

We are constantly trying to find ways to filter through the stuff and find what's important. But how do we shut out the noise from out there and inside our own minds?

Take Digital Time Off

The Internet will be here tomorrow. Shut off your computer and your phone. Try it for 24 hours. It's okay, we'll be here when you get back.

Keep Things Simple

I start less and finish more. It’s not easy and it takes daily practice. Squirrel.

Listen to Your Voice

It’s fascinating how much weight we give others' opinions. Take the time to listen to your voice more often. It knows you better than they do.

Find Your Focus

This is like adopting a new exercise regimen. The treadmill in my basement has yet to get me in shape on its own. Weird.

Your Memes Can Be Dangerous

The human mind is a miraculous machine that can create whatever reality we wish and for some strange reason negative thought can infiltrate faster than positive. Our thoughts are just our thoughts and we can work on turning self-doubt moments into action items.

Give Yourself a Break

Take some time by yourself and list all of your strengths. No one needs to see the list, so be completely honest with yourself.

How do you silence the chatter?

knealemann
Create experiences not campaigns.

image credit: pfreefoto

The Social Media Shift

Seat belt on. Clutch in. Punch it.

Social networking is as old as humans have been able to draw on caves and grunt.

Despite some claims that Twitter is the Holy Grail, we are the essential ingredient.

If Twitter went under today, the conversation would move to another place and continue.

Wet Your Whistle

If you meet friends at a local and it goes out of business, you don't stop seeing your friends, you find a new local. It’s not about the bricks and mortar, it’s about the people.

We are discovering a new way to communicate that has not replaced face-to-face conversations or mainstream media, it has enhanced those experiences.

There is a palpable social media shift. We're still having fun and connecting but more collaborative business relationships are growing online. I can only speak from personal experience but I have met hundreds of people I would not have met otherwise - many who live in my city.

My Kind Of A Town

A few weeks ago, I attended SobCon2010 which was the best business conference I have ever attended. Everyone was there to learn from each other and attend every minute of the sessions.

We may have met online but had taken it a human business level.

Since getting back from Chicago, I have had deep conversations with fellow participants with more on the way soon. We are talking about how we can help each other grow our perspective businesses.

Find Your Own Way

The social media shift happens differently for everyone and it's not a drag race. This stuff takes strategy, time and care. And if that scares you, then your competition will blow right by you in third gear.

So get in and get to know people. It's work, just like the rest of your business.

The shift is on. You in?

@knealemann
Helping you integrate all you do with all you do.

photo credit: porsche

Are You Ready?

Don't Hide Behind Their Excuses

I have been in digital media in one form or another for about fifteen years. But only in the last few years I realized the need to define it, excuse it, defend it, explain it or convince someone about it.

I don’t anymore.

I know Hubble is above us and the rest of the iceberg is much bigger than the part I can see from here.

It’s not about the tools or the sites or the tweets or the blog designs or the interfaces or the anything else you want to point to, it’s about you.

Find The Quiet

Forget the noise; forget the blaming and the stalling. Are you ready to get to work? Are you prepared to put in the time it takes to build a human network of evangelists, customers, friends, advocates, colleagues and people you can literally call on when you really need another human being?

This is not going to be easy – in fact, there will be days when you think it’s just a big waste of time. Eliot Burdett who has been training sales teams for years, nails it when he says; “The best results come right about the time you think you are absolutely wasting your time.”

Unfold Their Arms

Most managers or owners who build the wall to stop the social media discussion are often the same people who are sleeping soundly at night because they have placed their media in newspaper, on radio and television and through the direct mail piece. All too often, we fear the unknown.

Some fear that getting involved - not tinkering with friends online - but involved with social media will require hard work and time. Their fears are well founded. But what part of your business is not work? What part is automatic? What part appears on a silver plate for your complete enjoyment void of effort?

Wait and See

In 1986, I asked my boss about getting a fax machine. He thought it was unnecessary. He quipped there was no need for us to get one until everyone else got one.

Can you be the internal champion that will convince the boss to at least open her mind to possibilities?

Will you remind those who like the good ‘ole days that the average age of users on Facebook, MySpace, FourSquare, Twitter and LinkedIn is about 35 and it's not just a bunch of bloggers and cool kids?

If you get his attention, will you remind him that ‘placing media’ and ‘engaging with other human beings’ are two different things and you can do both?

Are you going to stand up to her and agree that this activity takes time, there are no easy instant automatic cemented home runs with any activity and that includes her current media spend?

Are you now ready to fight for it before everyone else gets one?

@knealemann
Helping you integrate all you do with all you do.

photo credit: pmstudent

We Can't Convince You

Protocol and guidelines, policies and business strategy, tweet this and blog etiquette that can be exhausting. And like this space, it's all just opinion.

If you don’t know why you should have a LinkedIn group or how the content delivered to cell phones is going to help you, don't do it.

If you think Flickr is spelled wrong and Blip just sounds silly, no worries. Or if you don't understand why people are talking about four square when you know you will never lose weight if you eat that much, that's okay.



What Do You Have To Lose?

If you don't understand it, others can't convince you. What we can do is show you options and you can pick the ones that make the most sense to you and your situation.

As part of my job as a strategist, I help clients with business, marketing and social media plans. There are two questions you need to ask through the process - how and why.

Pick A Card. Any Card.

But with digital channels there is no one answer, site, background theme, writing style, logo color or font choice. Pick one, experiment, pick another one, experiment, throw stuff against the wall, collaborate your brains out and have some fun.

The best social media policy I've heard of yet: Don't be stupid. Keep your company or personal brand's best interest in mind, then experiment.

Remembering

One of the most gifted music minds in history was killed twenty-nine years ago today and his music still lives on. He didn't follow the rules, he didn't ask for permission. John Lennon | Oct 9, 1940 - Dec 8, 1980

And it is with that in mind...

Just ask yourself two simple questions: How? Why?

Then one more: Why Not?

@knealemann
marketing and social media strategy