Posts Tagged ‘“a community of interest”’

Fathers Day—Richard Geller

Monday, June 21st, 2010

Fathers Day

In moments of unbridled
Optimism and hope
Where his son was concerned,
My father would utter his
Standard pronouncement,
“You’re finally on your way, Dick.”
(I was Dick back then.)

He meant well—encouraging one
Short-lived impulse of mine after another
To attempt a more grounded
Pragmatic approach towards life.
Trust me, if you should ever have a child
Who’s a dreamer, for such a person
Dreams trump practical considerations

Nonetheless we are all always “on our way.”
Arrivals and departures
Like beginnings and endings
Being constraints language imposes, not reality
Where no one can with any accuracy locate
The precise beginning or ending of anything
And what we are belongs to a realm where there are no words

What’s important is that my father loved me
And I him and wished for me the very best.
He viewed the world differently than his son—
My odd view of things providing him
With reason for doubts and concerns.
In the end, though, it all works out, Dad.
Happy Fathers Day

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Marketing Means Engaged Conversation – Richard Geller

Wednesday, May 19th, 2010

I’ve mostly earned my living doing corporate training and instructional design for global corporations. And, in the last five years, I developed and explored a somewhat different approach to sales training—specifically for pharmaceutical sales reps. Now, the content of any professional sales training program will usually cover, at a minimum, the basics of what all salespeople need: how to ask good questions, listen, introduce relevant features, handle skepticism, indifference and objections and, of course, close. There were some new curriculum wrinkles in this course, but the essential new idea was to focus participant attention on the conversation itself and how “engaged” it was. Because, while it’s necessary to master the individual communication skills, what’s ultimately important is whether or not you’re having a truly engaged conversation with the other person. If you’re paying attention, you absolutely know when it’s happening and when it’s not. The signs…the signals of an engaged conversation are just that different. You totally know when you’re both into it…having a great time…fully engaged and when it’s just not happening. Bottom line: the very best salespeople are able to engage their customers in such conversations more consistently.

So what does this have to do with online marketing. We build a fantastic website and think we’re marketing, but we’re not. All we’ve done is create a context for marketing to begin. At least in the early stages of building a platform, marketing doesn’t happen unless conversations develop between visitors to the site and you; online marketing is actually all about those one-on-one conversations to find people who might become fans. And being good at what you do is just table stakes—necessary but not sufficient.

So if you want to see and hear not only a virtuoso violin performance of the Beethoven Romance for Violin by Ann Fontanella, but also an absolutely brilliant piece of online marketing, check it out! Notice how Ann Fontanella provides brief commentary in the upper right hand corner of the screen about her interpretation—carefully explaining what she’s trying to accomplish at each point in the performance. She is engaging with and educating her audience. Look at the comments of her viewers. That’s online marketing. That’s engaging the audience, building relationships and a publishing platform for her classical violin music, which, by the way is not such an easy sale these days.

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Building A Publishing Platform—Richard Geller

Monday, April 26th, 2010

About nine months ago, give or take a few months, when we were about to launch aSiteAboutSomething, an intellectual property lawyer, who was truly kind, took some time to explain to me how things worked and introduced me to this term: publishing platform. And that I needed one. Essentially, a publishing platform is an established base of fans, who are interested enough in your work to not only purchase it but to talk about it with others. ….Makes sense. It’s one of the things publishing houses look for in considering an author, because marketing books is mostly uncharted territory today, and they really are not very accomplished at it, and they know it.

Here’s the problem with “building a publishing platform,” the term itself tends to take you down the wrong path. It’s visual and intelligent sounding, but it leads you to think in terms of constructing an actual thing (think: hammer, saws, nails).

What we indie artists need to do primarily, from a marketing standpoint, is to establish and maintain real relationships with individuals who truly respond to our work. We need to listen to them and learn what’s uppermost in their hearts and minds, and how our work fits in that context. If we nurture enough of those relationships, there’s your platform. (Personally, I think “publishing platform” is a term that was coined by folks who did not have or need one.)

Now where are these ideas coming from? Mostly from discussions I’ve been having with LinkedIn contacts. Some of them are other indie artists like myself; others are business people who understand marketing and are kind enough to give me some much needed advice.

I wrote this to one of them this morning—puzzling over the gap between site traffic and sales (conversions for those who prefer marketing-speak)

“We are, each of us, in the midst of a process of figuring out precisely how we can connect meaningfully with others online to build a global audience. No one can really tell us just how to do that right now, but my intuition tells me that it requires great patience and refining all the details. What is lovely is that the wired world is somewhat of an upside down world where collaborative behaviors really make more sense than older competitive paradigms. Of course that’s true of all worlds, but we just haven’t opted for that mostly.”

So, here’s what I’m doing starting today. Whenever anyone shows any real interest in what I’m doing or purchases something from me. I am going to take the opportunity to at least ask two questions (not necessarily worded exactly like this):

1. What could I do to make your onsite experience better or more satisfying?

2. Tell me a little about you, and what it is about my work that’s of particular importance or interest to you?

The better we understand what’s going on in the hearts and minds of the people who respond to our work, the richer and more satisfying the communication, the more solid our virtual “publishing platforms” will be.

I’ll let you know what works or doesn’t Let’s stay in touch and share the journey.

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LinkedIn Marketing, Part 3—Richard Geller

Tuesday, April 6th, 2010

So, it’s now been 54 days since I started to actively market using LinkedIn. I now have a network of 404 diverse professional contacts. Yesterday I sent out a message to everyone that I just uploaded some significant changes to http://www.aSiteAboutSomething.com —in particular a new “shortcut’ option with a direct link to my books and music. These changes include: a new book, Living On The Outskirts Of Heaven, a lighthearted collection of poems about achieving peace of mind, a “Testimonials” section, and a “Richard Who?” section with some short videos of me speaking about the site and its content. All these changes were the result of feedback I received from my various contacts including those on LinkedIn. Yesterday we also had 192 visits to the site—about double the number the we normally get. Coincidence? I don’t think so. I’m asking all my contacts for feedback (positive and otherwise), and I’m starting a list of the changes we’ll make next—all toward eventually having a global platform that earns the loyalty and support of its audience.

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But Will They Pay? Richard Geller

Friday, January 15th, 2010

Fast Company’s Kit Eaton quotes an interesting Harris Poll that suggests most people will not pay for online newspapers and magazines. The short article is definitely worth a look. I don’t buy it however.

I’m guessing I’m one of those “odd people out,” who would be prepared to subscribe to certain newspapers and magazines—not because I think of it as buying a new form of an old style paper and ink publication, but because I think of them as “communities of interest.” To me, it’s more like paying your dues, perhaps with the added privilege to express your opinion and post contact info and profiles; it’s more about contributing financial support, because you value the news and insights of the professionals, along with the commentary of the community and want to be part of it. It’s about participation, because you appreciate the community’s intrinsic value. I think the paper and ink guys still think of what they do as creating a thing (albeit a virtual thing) when what the net creates are communities or tribes or networks with information and opinion (informed or utter crap) as the social glue. I feel strongly if the decision-makers shifted their thinking along with their value proposition and positioned it to the market properly and fairly, people would be willing pay to participate, just as when they consider an online business proposition fair and reasonable, they will pay for content (e.g., iTunes). (I know, I know…I’m an optimist, despite everything.)

But how many will pay? In the beginning, perhaps only a small percentage of the readers will want to participate in the community. But if the stories and insights are good and the conversations around them are interesting and lively, more and more will want to become part of the scene. And the advertisers will follow; they won’t be able to afford sitting it out on the sidelines. Love it or hate it, the internet is where we’ll be—all 6.9 billion of us and counting.

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