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NOW is the time to…BUILD YOUR BRAND

Blaine Millet — Thu, 03 Sep 2020 21:46:40 +0000

"NOW is the time..." Series

Given our current set of circumstances in business, this NOW series is designed to help you take a leadership role in your industry…regardless of what your industry may be. This series doesn’t sell anything…it simply HELPS your business stand out and rise above your competitors. These are practical, actionable, quick-acting, and proven ways to elevate your business above others and make you “top of mind” to your customers. I guarantee they will make a difference in your business. I hope you will find this helpful. I hope you will share them with your fellow business owners and leaders. And I look forward to hearing about how they helped you in some way. If you missed any of the previous articles in the NOW Series, here they are for your reference…

BUILDING YOUR BRAND...is absolutely, positively critical today in our noisy, crowded, and commoditized world. A differentiated Brand that stands out to your audience is worth GOLD!

Do you have a Brand that is clearly differentiated from your competitors? Do you have a “Brand Message” that is easy to understand? Does your audience talk about your Brand in a way that is what you want and consistent with your Brand Message? Do your employees communicate a consistent Brand Message in both their words and their actions?

In today’s commoditized economy, everyone “looks the same” to the customer. Customers have a hard time distinguishing between companies other than through commodity items such as price. And it is much harder to communicate a consistent Brand Message in a commoditized world.

I don’t have to tell you that having a consistent Brand Message is more difficult today than it has ever been in history…you’re living it. Audiences are more confused than ever. And to make things worse, everyone in our audience (customers included) has a “microphone” today and can say whatever they want about us. All this has led to one major issue for just about every business…BRAND CONFUSION.

Let’s step back a bit and see how all this happened. Life was easier in the Industrial Revolution…before the Internet. Companies had control of just about everything, including their Brand Message. What they said was what people heard about them. And they repeated it a lot so it was burned into our memory. I’m probably giving away my age, but I still remember some of the jingles that these behemoth companies put out to get us to remember their products and services. It was all we had.

Then the Internet came along and all of a sudden, we could hear what “other people were saying” about these same products and services. Almost overnight we had many more voices telling us about these same products and services. And they were trusted and credible voices because they were customers who were actually using them. They were believable and we listened. We still listen…more today than ever before. The world has changed…we are squarely in the Customer Economy (according to Forrester Research). The customer is firmly and completely in control of the messages in the market.

Building Brand today is more difficult than ever...or is it?

There are millions (if not billions) of dollars being spent by businesses today to build their Brand. Is it worth it? I believe the money should be spent…but not on building Brand the way most believe it should be built. I disagree that your Brand is built by pumping more ads, social media posts, and other propaganda into the market with the intent of trying to shape how your audience views your company. This doesn’t work. I’m sure I’ll get some hate mail from the “branding experts” on this one, but I think you might just agree with me.

Brand today is WHAT YOUR AUDIENCE SAYS ABOUT YOU, not what you say about yourself.

Here’s a simple test you can try for yourself to prove my point. Randomly pick 20 customers that would represent your ideal audience(s). Then simply ask them one simple question, “What do you believe is the “Brand” of our company and our “Brand Message”? My guess is you will get close to 20 different and varied responses…maybe no two the same. And when you do get these responses, how close are they to what YOU believe your Brand and Brand Message to be? I think you will find a great deal of misalignment.

Which one is right? Are any of these Brand Messages right? The surprising answer is, all of them!! That’s right, they are all the right Brand Message to the person who believes it to be the Brand Message. To them, it is accurate. To them, this is what you stand for, your purpose, what you do, and how they would label your company. It might not be what you want them to say, but to your audience, it is truth.

Your Brand and Brand Message are your ACTIONS, not your WORDS.

Let me cut to the chase…Branding is simple. Creating your Brand is nothing more than “what you do,” not “what you say.” If you tell everyone you always deliver the best product on time and you don’t have the best products or you don’t deliver on time, it won’t ever be your Brand Message, no matter how hard you try. It is what you “demonstrate” consistently to your audience that creates and builds your Brand Message. Nothing complex about it…it’s your actions that determine your true Brand.

Your audience tells thousands (or more) people about your Brand…the Brand they understand.

Brand is all about leverage. You demonstrate something to one member of the audience and they tell a thousand people. That’s leverage. You do something over and over again (consistency rules) and your audience tells others this is who you are and how you operate…your Brand Message. Your audience is your “hidden marketing force” that works for you or against you. If they are telling everyone the Brand Message you want, you win. If they tell others a Brand Message that isn’t what you want, you lose. The key is to get your Brand Message in alignment with your audience.

5 Steps to quickly Build your Brand and Brand Message in the market...

As I promise with all these articles in the “NOW Series”, I want to give you something you can do quickly, like in 30 days or maybe a little more. You can change your Brand quickly with some focused efforts. Here are 5 steps you can take to transform your Brand and Brand Message quickly…

Step 1 - Analyze your Audience

Start with the exercise I described above. Get 20 customers and find out what they are saying in the market about you. Know what messages are currently in the market so you understand what you are currently “demonstrating” with your actions.

Step 2 - Decide Who You Are

Hold a planning session with your leaders to specifically identify (or determine) who you are, your purpose, why you do what you do, and why you believe you are different. This will be a tough meeting. Give yourself a few days for this one or get a facilitator to help you through it. You will truly understand what your Brand and Brand Message should be.

Step 3 - Identify Aligned Actions

Take an in-depth look around your organization at the processes and your customer-facing activities and see which actions actually support your purpose, what you identified in step 2. At the same time, identify the actions that don’t support your purpose.

Step 4 - Identify your Promises

As with step 3, identify what Promises you are making to your audience and see if they are in alignment with your purpose (and ultimately your Brand Message). At the same time, identify the Promises you are making that work against your designed purpose and the ones that support your purpose. Write all these down…they will come in handy for helping you change the processes that fight against delivering your purpose.

Step 5 - Change your Actions

This is the biggest and hardest step of all…changing the way you act and talk. If you truly did your homework in the first 4 steps, you have all the information and ammunition you need to change what you are doing. I won’t lie, it isn’t easy…but nothing incredibly rewarding ever is easy. You will be changing the processes, interactions, and Promises to be in alignment with what you want your Brand Message to be in the market.

You will be eliminating the Promises that detract from this Message and emphasizing the ones that support the Brand Message. In essence, you will be changing your “actions” to be in alignment with who you are and your purpose. Then you show your audience, through your actions, who you really are and they will (rather quickly) see you differently and change the Brand Message they had in their mind. They will make the transformation based on your changed actions.

Your audience is a quick learner. If they see you doing something consistently different and throughout the organization, they will believe you are something different. If they see if often enough, they will believe you are something different. You will have changed your Brand Message because of your Actions. Now, if you asked your audience again to tell you what they believe your message to be, you will get a different answer. And your audience is the only one that matters when it comes to your Brand Message. What they say goes and it is what they will tell others.

I talk about helping organizations become “REMARK”able all the time. It is all about getting your audience to do your marketing for you…tell others (remark) about how incredibly awesome and amazing you are. To make this work, you want to arm them with the “right” Brand Message so they can tell everyone what it is you want them to say. This is how you leverage your audience to tell thousands of others who you really are and back it up with action. This will change your Brand and Brand Message in a much shorter time than any ad campaign or new messaging in the market. Show your audience who you really are. And they will reward you with massive marketing on your behalf…in the right direction…for free.

My GOAL for YOU...

As with this series, my goal is always the same…help you be more CUSTOMER OBSESSED so you can become “REMARK”able, where your customers (and others) are doing your marketing for you and acting as your “Advocates and Marketing Agents.” Everything I share with you has this underlying purpose and goal attached…I want you to “light up” your audiences so they can become your Advocates and Marketing Agents. That’s it. If you want the same, keep reading this series. Thank you…

My NEW Book

I referenced earlier that I have a new book coming out. It is in the final editing stages right now so you should hopefully see it as early as August but most likely in September. It will change your business…forever…guaranteed. This series of “NOW is the time to…” focuses on some of the components that I will talk about in-depth in the book. And, unlike I can do here is a brief article, I share specific ways for HOW to make it happen in your organization. It’s transformative. Keep your eye open for the announcements of it’s upcoming release. If you want to be on a list to know about it exactly when it comes out, shoot me an email at blaine@WOM10.com and I’ll make sure you get on the early announcement list.

Tell me when it is released

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Disgusting…Preying on FUD is Just WRONG

Blaine Millet — Wed, 25 Mar 2020 19:28:36 +0000

While doing my normal morning reading, I happened to jump on to Facebook to check in and see if anyone I know was in trouble or having a difficult time. Something I hope someone is doing for me as well so we can all help each other. Then I came across this…

In times of fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) people make emotional snap decisions. Now is the time to capitalize on this to grow your business.

Seriously?!? I’m not going to tell you who it is…it probably pertains to more than this one person or company, unfortunately. I get that they are trying to capture new clients and give you “a model” to help you improve your business during this horrendous time…but capitalizing on FUD? I don’t know about you, but this is just plain wrong in my opinion. This is disgusting…

When I think about the thousands of business owners out there struggling right now and trying to figure out any way they can survive and possibly stay in business, this is NOT the time to prey on their weakened emotional state of mind. This is not the time to swoop in with pipe dreams of utopia and promise to get them out of trouble if they follow a certain “system.” This is not the time to prey on hard working business leaders when they are struggling, confused, and mentally down. Actually, it’s exactly the time to do just the opposite…

If you have a system that can turn someone around quickly, that’s awesome. I don’t. My model is one that takes some time and effort to build and transform a company into being Customer Obsessed. My model won’t work for a two-week turnaround…and I know it. Yours may not as well…that’s OK in my book.

However, there are parts of every model or approach that can have some immediate impact on a business or help the leaders get their heads pointed in the right direction amidst all the FUD going around today. We need to help them…for FREE. That’s right, we need to offer whatever we know from our experiences that can help give them a boost and help them think more clearly about how they can survive. I think we owe it to each other during this point of time…not trying to figure out how to create “Panic Buying” of our products and services. As I said, that’s just disgusting.

You might also be saying, “Yes, but what about me? I’m a business owner as well and I’m experiencing the same issues with my business slowing down or going away based on the services I provide…what about me?” And you would be correct, this is about you as well. It is about ANYONE who is struggling right now to survive and needs some help…whether they need advice, some guidance and direction, or some of our tools doesn’t matter, we should give it to them and help them out.

This is all going to work itself out sometime in the future…we know that. But what we do right now, as experts in our own areas can really help keep people positive and moving forward. Think about it for a minute…if everyone who has a great model or system to help grow a business can offer insights and advice to help keep others in business, we all WIN. We all get to keep going after this is all over…and isn’t that what it’s all about? Isn’t that the “right” thing to do. For me, it is what God would want as well.

So as disgusting as the statement is that I shared in the beginning, let’s do the opposite. Let’s look at what each of us have and see what we can do to help everyone else survive. Let’s use our massive (and I mean massive) intellectual training, knowledge, and experience to suggest ideas to others that could help them keep on keeping on. Let’s not let anyone whither on the vine…let’s build them up and offer whatever we can to help them move forward. Are you in?

I would ask each and every one of you to think about what you have to offer that could help someone you know (and others) hang on and survive over the next 2 -4 weeks. Here are some questions to ask yourself and see if there are some ways you could help...

What short term ideas do you know of based on all your experience that could be helpful and valuable to other business leaders if they could do it?
What solutions do you know of that can stop the bleeding in a company?
What solutions do you know of that could endear them to their customers even more today so they don’t all disappear?
What systems could you put in place that would slow their burn rate down so they can weather the storm?
What financial tools could you share with them to help them get a better handle on where they are and how they can control the current situation?
What measures can you suggest they take immediately to keep their employees and give them hope for the next few weeks?
And more…what can you offer to help a fellow business leader survive?

What To Do Next...

As a member of the Business Advisory, Consulting, and Speaking Industries in our business community, I hope you will all rally around this and brainstorm what your best, short-term ideas could be…write them down…write a blog post with these ideas…post it on LinkedIn…do something with them. They may not all be awesome…but many of them will…and if one, just one helps a business leader, you have helped! And unlike the person preying on the FUD emotions, we get to help create positive, hopeful emotions in people who may have very little if any hope.

This won’t solve everything…I know that. It won’t eliminate the COVID-19 virus, I know that too. But it might just help someone suffering from these effects to survive. I do know that…and that is all I am suggesting…let’s save one, then two, then more. Are you with me? If I can help you in any way, please don’t hesitate to ask…

If you are, THANK YOU. You don’t have to comment on this or do anything for me to see it…I just want action. Take action…we will all benefit from it in the end. Thanks for taking the time to read my rant…it just really set me off today seeing how others are preying on the misfortune of others. And I didn’t want to see that happen. Take care…be safe…say isolated!

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Blaine Millet — Tue, 12 Apr 2016 12:55:26 +0000

Why don’t Apple users like Android phones? Why don’t Zappos customers like shopping for shoes in department stores? Why will customers pay a premium price to shop at Nordstrom instead of others who offer the exact same merchandise? And why are people willing to pay $5 for a cup of coffee at Starbucks when it’s cheaper at other coffee shops?

There was an article published in the Puget Sound Business Journal last week about this very topic relating to the recent acquisition of Virgin America by Alaska Airlines, “Virgin America founder, flyers, fans voice dismay over Alaska Airlines’ takeover.” While I am not and airline industry insider, one area I can speak about is the core reason why people are upset with this acquisition…

Their CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE.

It’s actually quite simple to understand. When a company builds a “cult-like” following of loyal customers and fans, they don’t want to see that change. Customers (and founder Richard Branson) have grown to love the EXPERIENCE they get when they interact and fly with Virgin America.

It doesn’t mean Alaska Airlines doesn’t give a great experience (they generally do in my opinion and I fly them quite a bit) it’s just that they have an awesome experience with Virgin America and don’t want to see this change…because like everyone, they fear the unknown. What if their new experience isn’t as great? What if they have to learn a bunch of new things about flying with Alaska Air they didn’t have to know when flying Virgin America? Lots of uncertainties…and the greatest of these is “what is the experience going to be like in the future, because it was awesome with Virgin America?”

As you read all the articles that are being published about this acquisition, very few talk about the actual “product or service” from Alaska Airlines. The customers of Virgin America aren’t asking questions about whether they have a good online system, or whether they have a high percentage of on-time departures, or how they handle baggage…they are talking about changing from an awesome experience to something unknown.

In today’s “Customer and Trust Economy” we live in, product and service are secondary to experience. People can find a better price anywhere…this is the commodity aspect of this new economy. They don’t THEY WILL BE TREATED and what will be THEIR EXPERIENCE with the new arrangement.

This is where the focus is today and for the right reasons. When we can find a lower price, price doesn’t become the driving force of what makes us happy and what creates enjoyment. This is easy. What people are looking for is who treats them special, shows them they matter, and gives them a truly AWESOME CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE.

Alaska Airlines will be fine…as will the customers of Virgin America. It just won’t be the same. Fortunately, Alaska Airlines does offer a “better than most other airlines” experience so once the Virgin America customers give them a chance and experience this for themselves, they will most likely be fine. It will take some time and effort by both the customers of Virgin America and the team at Alaska Airlines to make this transition work. But one thing is for certain, Virgin America customers will still be caught saying, “Alaska Air does a pretty good job, but they still don’t do it like Virgin America did…they really were awesome.”

If I was a business owner, I would be thinking about this for my own company and asking one simple question…“How can we get our company to a level like Virgin America where our customers are always going to think we are something special and will be up in arms if we ever get acquired by someone else because of the experience we give them?” Answer this question and you have created a REMARKABLE AND MEMORABLE business that will last a very long time and be worth a lot of money.

The post first appeared on WOM10.

“Why” McDonald’s added FIRST Customer Officer…5 Things to Learn

Blaine Millet — Wed, 17 Sep 2014 15:13:40 +0000

Believe it or not, McDonald’s has just added its FIRST “Customer Officer.” Whether you feel like this should have been done a long time ago or applaud them for realizing the customer is important enough to have an executive position, there are some key messages and learning’s we can get from this move.

I always start by asking “Why” to just about everything…it really helps get me to the core reasoning behind something. So I asked myself, “Why did McDonald’s choose to add a customer officer and why now?” Their head of marketing, Deborah Wahl, (who is new in the position after the departure of their top marketing officer) offered up a couple of comments on the topic of “why” in a recent interview from AdAge, “McDonald’s Names First VP-Customer Officer.”

She said, “Mr. Ehle will be focused on customer insights and enabling us to engage with our customers in a more powerful and relevant manner. Among his duties will be improving “McDonald’s overall customer experience and driving segment-driven customer experiences under the McDonald’s brand.”

This didn’t exist before? I find it fascinating that a company as big as McDonald’s didn’t feel the customer was important enough to have some type of officer focused on this pretty important element of their business…in fact the only element that gives them revenue. Either they didn’t think they needed it or they felt like they knew everything they needed to know about them to make decisions on their behalf. Guess what…they were wrong. In fact, one of the key reasons (it appears) that they added Mr. Ehle was because they have had declining sales and numbers of customers. And their new focus is going to be based on “segments” (another name for customers) rather than “products”…with a huge focus on millenials, which represents their largest growth segment.

There are 5 points I would offer up from this that any company can learn from…

Move from a “reactive” posture to a “proactive” posture…don’t wait until something like declining sales triggers your need to become more customer centric
Reconsider your “product centric” approach to your business and start thinking about a “customer centric” approach
Listen to your customers constantly…they are always talking (with others or on social channels) but are you always listening…there is a gold mine of information in these conversations
Reprioritize your list of what to do to grow your company…put the customer first and let the rest of it support the customer
Design a “customer experience” that is “over the top” so your customer actually sees how much you care about them…anything less will be ignored

From my 20 years of working with companies to help them understand the incredible value of the customer experience and why it is so important to become more customer centric, the above list is something very few organizations do today. And if you’re honest with yourself as a leader, you probably don’t do these either. That means you have an incredible OPPORTUNITY in front of you today…your choice is whether you take advantage of it now or wait until the sky is falling in like McDonald’s.

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Even SI.com can’t beat Google…but WOM can

Blaine Millet — Sat, 12 Jul 2014 16:25:38 +0000

If you are into sports at all, you probably heard the breaking news that LeBron James is returning to the Cleveland Cavaliers. If you don’t, now you know. But that isn’t the real story…it’s about SEO, WOM, and Google.

As the story goes, SI.com scooped everyone else and got an exclusive essay from LeBron titled, “I’m Coming Home.” It’s a great piece from a great athlete. But that’s not the story here…I don’t do sports blogging. I talk about how you get found and how you become successful using social media…the right way. This is about the battle that goes on between SEO (search engine optimization) and WOM (word-of-mouth). In this story…like more and more every day…WOM won.

Allow me to share a quote from SI.com that if it doesn’t shock you, should at least wake you up to the fact that you are not in control of SEO but you are in control of WOM…

“Unfortunately for Sports Illustrated, Google News is rewarding other publishers for their own rewrites of the magazine’s scoop, with search results for “LeBron” turning up stories from local news sites, ESPN and even Slate ahead of Sports Illustrated. A search for “Sports Illustrated LeBron” didn’t even turn up the magazine’s essay among the top results.

Mr. Fichtenbaum said this is a point of ongoing frustration. “If you want the only story that matters, you go to SI.com,” he added.

Sports Illustrated attracted nearly 20 million unique visitors to its desktop and mobile sites in May, a 49% boost compared with May 2013, according to ComScore.”

So at the end of the day, someone else had better SEO or was rewarded because they placed more Google ads or something than SI.com. The one with the “exclusive scoop” didn’t rank above others in Google search. But you will notice they had an increase of almost 50% on their mobile sites. How did that happen…not from search most likely…but from people telling others about the story…on their social networks.

Not many of you are SI.com…you are a leader or a business owner. If SI.com can’t capitalize on SEO with their original story why do you think you can with your business? It’s a tough game to spend the time and resources trying to get to the top of page 1 on Google. Maybe it’s time to think about an alternative that is more in your control…your own customers (and others) spreading the word about you to their friends, colleagues, and networks. At least that is in your control…

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Ladies Home Journal is GONE…How this Relates to YOU

Blaine Millet — Fri, 25 Apr 2014 16:38:23 +0000

Having been a very early entrant into the world of Social Media, I have seen incredible change in the world…both good and bad. Things we grew up with, came to expect, and were considered the norm are fading or are gone. The world has changed…

During many of my speeches I speak to this “Revolution” taking place in our world. Sometimes it seems like it is easier to tell about it, give some eye-popping stats, and shock the audience into the reality of the current times. But sometimes, it is just sad to see many things that have “always been there” gone. Today is one of those days.

While it wasn’t a magazine I read or really knew much about, it was a stalwart in the industry, one of the “Seven Sisters” of Women magazines…Ladies Home Journal. I asked around to a bunch of people and every one, men and women, knew about the magazine. It had reach. It had credibility. It had a long run. Now it is dead and gone as of this coming month!

After 131 years…it is ceasing to be a subscription magazine…only printed occasionally and sold in some of the traditional newsstands. From a heyday of 6.8 million subscribers it is now ceasing to exist. There was a good article on this in AdAge you can check out called, “Ladies’ Home Journal Ends Monthly Publication, Lays Off All Staff.” It gives a great description of the rise and fall of an incredible icon in the world of traditional media.

Business leaders…think of this in regard to your own business and how you are trying to communicate your message to your prospects, customers, and interested audiences. Any similarities? I hope you find some…such as the eyeballs are redirected today, time is more critical, priorities have changed, everyone is connected and wants information…NOW. Sending something that happened a week ago, a month ago, is no longer tolerated…think of your company newsletter and brochures and advertising.

Who do you know that spreads “word-of-mouth” about “old news/information” today…no one! Do you go to a party and say, hey guys/gals, let me tell you something great that happened last month. Suddenly the bad bean dip looks pretty good to them and they disperse. This is what happens when you send old information/news/updates. NO ONE TALKS ABOUT IT. And if no one is talking about it, you aren’t being talked about and your “Word-of-Mouth Index” is at zero.

I share this story so you can compare your own leadership of information to that of stalwarts falling. It is happening everywhere and in every industry. The exceptions are becoming extinct. There is a much better way today to create Word-of-Mouth and get your audiences talking about you on an active level…it just isn’t in the format of the Ladies Home Journal any longer.

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USA Today suggests a choice…”Easy” or a “Relationship”

Blaine Millet — Wed, 02 May 2012 05:25:45 +0000

I lost count of how many people either sent me or handed me a recent article in USA Today titled, “More companies quit blogging, go with Facebook instead.” There’s no mystery to why…they all know I am a HUGE fan of blogging and believe a blog represents the core of “engagement” in Social Media. So why are companies aborting blogging and moving to facebook, or twitter – did we miss the mark? Is blogging dead or dying? Is your blog a thing of the past because facebook is here to save the day? Rest assured, none of these are true…but let’s get below the surface and see what’s behind the USA Today article…

If you look at the numbers they discussed in the article, they say the number of blogging companies has dropped over the past year – as much as 13% from 50% and only 23% of the Fortune 500 companies had a blog in 2011. They also cite the statistic blogging dropped a whopping 2% in the 18 – 33 year old age group. But perhaps what was most interesting, is after they cited all these statistics, they said, “Blogging requires more investment. You need content regularly. And you need to think about the risk of blogging, accepting comments, liability issues, and defamation,” says Ganim Barnes, a professor at Dartmouth. They also added, “It’s a tool and content you own, which was a big benefit.”

When we dig a little deeper…the examples they cite are primarily B2C rather than B2B, but that’s OK. However, after all this talk of people aborting blogging, Lou Hoffman, CEO of The Hoffman Agency said something profound, “Many corporate blogs fail to attract readers because they exist solely to pitch products and are badly written! Companies don’t understand that the content on the blog shouldn’t be “about me” – such information tends to be dull.” AMEN. I couldn’t have said it better myself.

In a world where there is more and stronger competition, pressure on prices, fewer customers, increased operating costs in all areas, wouldn’t you want to find a way to DIFFERENTIATE yourself and become more MEMORABLE than your competition? As a business strategist, this is the first thing I explore with a company. Having a blog that “helps your customers” instead of “Pimping your products” is a HUGE differentiator today! Being able to have a “dialog” on your blog with customers and others who are interested in how you can help them solve their own issues and problems makes more sense today than ever before. Companies saying they want to “turn off” blogs because they don’t want to deal with comments is just like telling your customers to stop talking to you and let you shove your information at them instead. Your customers are asking to have a dialog with you when you are not in front of them and talk in front of the world…what if they are saying great things about you???

My advice, STOP BLOGGING if you are set on wanting to “Push” content and “Pimp” yourself or your company! Lou was exactly right, why would anyone want to read more advertising being thrown at them over many “channels” (social media tools) when they didn’t really care about your brochure the first time? We need to get over ourselves. The customer doesn’t want to hear this from us. What they want to hear is how we can “HELP” them be better at what they do. I you can help them do this, they will “PULL” you, your content, and your blog into their world and THANK YOU for it! Anything else will fail – regardless of which tool you use. So I completely agree, if you are going to “Pimp” over the airwaves, don’t bother. And you might as well not write a blog because it is just more work producing something that won’t get read, so stop blogging!

If you decide you want to HELP your audience and give them content and stories and perspectives to grow their business, then the blog is absolutely, positively the best social media tool to communicate this to your audience. And if you’re still on the fence, just consider this final thought. Considering all the social media tools available to a business today, if your customer wanted to SHARE something with a prospective customer, would you rather have them share a bunch of stories you have written that would help their business or 140 characters? Answer the question from your own perspective, “what would YOU want to get?” I think you just found the answer to whether or not you should blog…

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EBRT embraces Social Media…

Blaine Millet — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 06:12:53 +0000

Last Wednesday I had the distinct pleasure of speaking to one of the most influential and well respected business groups in the area – Bellevue Chamber of Commerce’s EBRT (Eastside Business Roundable). This group is comprised of some of most well known business leaders in both Seattle and Bellevue.

Why was I there? They were interested, like many other CEO’s in the area, in learning more about the Social Media Revolution and how his new phenomena of communications could impact their businesses. They were eager to hear my message about what the “tools of Social Media” are and how they fit together to become this powerful business communications force.

I shared the concepts and advantages of blogging, social networking (myspace, facebook, LinkedIn, and twitter) and the other elements that make up this powerful suite we call Social Media. By sharing a number of examples about how companies are using these today, they were able to understand how Social Media will be changing the landscape of how we communicate, build relationships, improve the customer experience and achieve business goals faster and cheaper than ever before. The group responded very favorably and asked some excellent questions.

The Bellevue Chamber of Commerce, led by Betty Nokes, CEO and President, is really looking ahead to how they can personally use Social Media to build even more value for their members and the businesses in the Bellevue community. I commend Betty for her willingness to allow us to share a somtimes shocking message about how dramatically this landscape is changing. I also want to personally thank Jim Frank of Human Capital Resources, a human capital solutions company, for introducing me to Betty and the Chamber. Jim attended one of our early seminars and became “enlightened” and felt this was an important message to share with his fellow EBRT members – thanks Jim, the members are all a little better off today because of your willingness to share our message.

I also wanted to recognize a few of the members of EBRT that I had the opportunity to talk with at the event. Donna Shirey of Shirey Contracting, sponsors of the Zero Energy Idea House (check this out – way cool), Nancy Cho, President and CEO of Oki Golf, Dave Ferguson, CEO of Click Engineering, Jim Hebert, Hebert Research, John Parkey, and George Bartell of Bartell Drugs – just to name a few. What a great group of people. I would encourage anyone to join the Chamber and in particular the EBRT group. Definitely call Betty if you are interested. This group will definitely make things happen in our area…

Blaine

Blaine Millet

Customer Experiences Inc.

twitter: @BlaineMillet

The post EBRT embraces Social Media… first appeared on WOM10.

Seattle Executives Association

Blaine Millet — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 18:08:53 +0000

I had the opportunity to speak to a great group of small and middle market business owners and executives yesterday that were part of The Seattle Executives Association – what a great group of people!

This is an executive networking group that has been around for 90 years and has a very rich history and heritage for helping the members build new relationships in the community and help each other out in growing their businesses by sharing opportunities. The executive Director, Glenna Thomas, was really looking out for her members by allowing us to come in and talk about a very leading edge and yet at times controversial topic – Social Media and Social Networking. My hat goes off to her and Dennis Tyler of DialPro Northwest, for taking the chance on having us speak to their members and introduce some leading edge information.

The group seemed to really enjoy being exposed to how Social Media is the next REVOLUTION in communications and how it can be used to help them in their businesses. This was our 7th seminar on the topic of “Social Media for CEO’s” in the past few months and as usual, much of the information was very new to the audience. I was very encouraged at how receptive the owners and executives were to how this could transform their businesses.

If you are in the Seattle area, I would strongly encourage you to contact Glenna and get more information about the group. While we didn’t get a chance to meet everyone, we did meet a few great people afterwards, some of which were: Peter Frix of Frix Technology Group, John Kane from Kane Environmental Inc., Jim Conway from The Farwest Group, Diana Ehli, Dexter Barnes from Seattle Dental Associates and Linda Bianchi from both Windemere and the Vashon Island Chamber of Commerce – just to name a few.

Again, THANK YOU Glenna, Dennis and The Seattle Executives Association for allowing us to crash your luncheon – much appreciated and very enjoyable.

Blaine

Blaine Millet

Customer Experiences Inc.

twitter: @BlaineMillet

The post Seattle Executives Association first appeared on WOM10.

Joe, way to go – you ‘da man…

Blaine Millet — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 20:46:08 +0000

I wrote an entry a little while ago referencing how parasitic the media is right now and how they are literally preying on the bad news to keep themselves alive – it sucks. I can’t say it any other way than that. It is also why I am telling everyone I come in contact with (in business, in my seminars, in my personal life) to boycott the media – turn it off, throw it out – it’s creating Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD). Who needs it – no one. Who out there doesn’t know times are bad.

What we need is for the media to point out all the things that are RIGHT and GOOD for a change – where are those journalists and media people when you need them. Well, I found one and I wanted to dedicate this post to him and his publications/media. His name is JOE KENNEDY, publisher of EastsideBusiness. I just read his column, “Words from the Publisher” and I was so pleased and excited I wanted to CONGRATULATE him and HONOR him for taking a stand and leadership in this area – WAY TO GO JOE!!

Allow me to quote some of what he says directly from this column.

Despite the type of news you may be getting from other media outlets, Eastside Business and Eastside Life newspapers are choosing to stay positive – it sure beats the alternative! in fact after almost 4 years in print, I finally made my first company policy – we will not use the “E” or “R” words in our publications. We will stay positive and want you to as well.

Joe, I can’t compliment you enough – this is AWESOME. Does this mean everything is fine and all the bad will go away – certainly not, nor is he saying it will. But while we are sitting in all the muck, why not look up at the sunshine and the sky and enjoy the beauty around us – that is what I believe Joe is saying. None of us will be better off for continuing to talk about the problems – only the solutions. I, for one, will be the first one to walk behind Joe. Attitude is everything and we have shown that as a nation we don’t let this kind of thinking and talking take us down. So to ALL the other media sources out there – GET A LIFE AND GET THE MESSAGE – we don’t want to hear about it any longer. Thanks Joe.

Blaine

Blaine Millet

Customer Experiences Inc.

The post Joe, way to go – you ‘da man… first appeared on WOM10.