If you’ve been marketing on the internet and into email marketing at all in the last several years… you’ve probably noticed that it is getting a bit more difficult every year to keep those open rates up… and even more… get those click throughs where we need them to be. People are getting so many emails... most of the pure junk… that they really need to have a compelling reason why they should spend their valuable time opening your email and reading what you have to say.

I believe heavily in the “history repeats itself” philosophy, and just like everything else… history once again is repeating itself. You can equate the current state of email marketing (i.e. – lower open rates, higher spam counts, lower interest in email) to how direct mail marketing was after the “newness” wore off.

When direct mail marketing first started, people gobbled up every piece of mail like it was candy because it was so darn exciting getting mail… from anyone… even if they were selling something. Now, direct marketers need to be pretty damn creative to get their pieces opened up… and even more so to get the prospect to respond in the desired way.

That’s Exactly Where Email Marketing Is…

Email marketing had it’s day in the sun too when open rates were crazy high simply because people were so excited when they heard the “You’ve Got Mail” ping. It was something new.

People look forward to hearing from their friends, finding something funny or amusing in their email to bring out a chuckle, and learning things that genuinely help them improve some part of their life or business. That’s what email started out being… and that’s what people really want from email at their core.

Getting At Peoples Core Is SO Important To Marketing In Today’s World…

People don’t like to be marketed to.

Plain and simple. If I walk into a car dealership I dread it when I see a salesman coming my way because I know their ONLY mission is to get me to overpay for a car… and drive that car out of the lot TODAY. I go on the defensive immediately.

However, what if the car salesman stigma changed overnight… and car salesman were instead seen as delightful people who have MY BEST INTERESTS genuinely in mind? They provided valuable information to me without pushing a sale… actually made me feel a bit happy when I saw them walking my way (I know, ya right!).

Wouldn’t that make you way more likely to walk into a car lot just to browse and see what they are all about? Wouldn’t that in turn make you more likely to head back to that car lot once you were ready to buy a car? I know it would make a huge difference to me.

That is what I really want in an ideal world of buying a car. That’s my core. If car lots marketed to me in that way… they would have huge success because they would be marketing to MY CORE.

Now, what if we translate that to email marketing? How can that affect your open and response rates? From experience, I can tell you that it DOES affect them hugely!

Increasing Email Open Rates By Talking To Your Prospects Core With Humor

Everyone likes humor in some shape or form. Deep down in our core beings we all like to smile, laugh, and enjoy ourselves. That’s just human nature.

A few months back I helped a client of mine start an email newsletter to their target audience of attorneys (I know, not the easiest market to target). This email newsletter has been hugely successful for my client for several reasons. Over the next month or so, I will break down different aspects of the newsletter that have made it successful so you can implement similar elements into your email marketing campaigns.

A Bit About The Market… and The List

To put everything in context, I want to describe the list a bit. Here we go:

• Market – Attorneys (specific niche within this market)
• Relationship w/ List – No prior relationship w/ 95% of the list
• Email List Size – Started at a bit over 700… and is currently a bit over 2,000 (and growing). By May the list will be right around 4,000 targeted attorneys.
• Our Objective - To build a relationship w/ new prospects by being real, and providing them with actionable information and resources that can help them protect themselves and their clients. No sales pitches, no solicitations, just content.
• Email Frequency - We chose to send the newsletter out approx. every 2 weeks.

Our Unique Approach With A Tough Market

Getting your emails opened is the first hurdle in email marketing. If the email doesn’t get opened your message doesn’t get read… if your message isn’t read… your offer can’t be acted on.

Even more difficult is getting your emails opened on a consistent basis and actually building a solid relationship with your target audience.

So, when developing the structure and content plan of the email newsletter we knew that we had to do something a bit differently than the company had done in the past (i.e. – send out boring semi-generic newsletters focused on their services).

Here’s what we came up with to roll out: (not scientific… just sat down and thought up things that we would like to see if we were the prospect… we got in their “core”). Following is the exact format of the newsletter… in this order.

• 1 short (3-5 minutes), main on-topic video of the company president (my client) discussing an important issue that he has come across in recent cases that is of interest to their attorney prospects. Basically, things that can help the attorney protect their clients better, and limit their own liability.
• 2-3 recent news articles that affect the attorney prospects business and their clients well being. Usually include a 1-2 sentence lead and a straight link to the article.
• 1-2 funny, amusing, or thought provoking resources (articles/videos) that have NOTHING to do with the clients business. Just something to entertain them and pique their interest for future emails from us… but that is targeted at the overall demographic of the target market. Be sure to place these at the bottom of the newsletter so the prospect has to read past the “on topic” resources first to get to them.

That’s it. We shot it out to a COLD list who has never received an email from my client before and wrote up a short intro to the newsletter explaining:

• who we are
• why they are getting the email newsletter
• what they will find
• how to unsubscribe if they simply don’t want another email in their inbox

The key to the whole intro and the entire newsletter is to let the personality of the company president shine through. Attorneys are people too and they don’t like to be talked to like robots… they like conversational tones like the rest of us.

The Results Of The Campaign

Email Newsletter #1:

Here’s a screen shot of the first email blast we did to this cold list. On the left you can see that 791 emails were sent, 166 opened (22.4%), and just 11 unsubscribed. One thing that surprised me was how low the click through rate was, at only 13.2% of those who opened the email. Once again, this is a cold list who had never received an email from this company before.

I almost half expected more people to unsubscribe from the list on the next few newsletters… we’ll see if that happened.

Email Newsletter #2:

You can see in this edition, we didn’t add any new contacts to the list and actually had an open rate of 23.2%, which is higher than our first edition. This time our click through rate doubled to 23.8% of those who opened, and only 3 unsubscribes. Once again, this is the 2nd email these people have even received from the company.

We were really happy with these results… and this newsletter actually resulted in 3 direct phone calls to my client from these attorneys for potential future collaboration (in addition to several emails as well).

Newsletter #3 was very similar to #2 so I’ll skip to #4. Actually, #3 had a similar open rate but the click through rate jumped up to about 29% of those who opened. Nice.

Email Newsletter #4:

For this edition we more than doubled our email list of targeted prospects (once again, first time contacts from my client) to about 2,127. Our open rate dropped a bit to 16.8% which we were expecting a bit since we dramatically increased the size of the list… and the click through rate also decreased a bit.

What we were very happy with though was the very low unsubscribe rate as a result of our tweaked intro message. This time we only had 7 unsubscribes out of over 2,100… pretty good in my book for a very cold list to a very stiff and time poor market.

The bounce rate is pretty decent for a cold list like this… so we weren’t too concerned at all. Especially since this is NOT a purchased list… I used some list building NINJA techniques (just kidding, shoot me an email to discuss if you want) to build this list without purchasing a single contact… or using the company’s current database.

Email Newsletter #5:

This is the most recent issue of the newsletter. We tweaked the format of the newsletter a bit after the last one and actually added a 2nd amusing/funny resource at the bottom of the newsletter. Issue #4 only had one… and we didn’t write a very thought provoking headline that referenced the funny piece. In this issue, we made sure to reference the funny piece in the email subject line.

Open rates jumped back up to over 20% and almost 30% of everyone who opened clicked on a link. Once again, the unsubscribe rate stays low.

What Does All of This Mean?

Yes, these screen shots are pretty cool to look at and they do show pretty good statistics for a cold list.

As a whole, what they do show is that this newsletter has built a bond with the list and the list is choosing to repeatedly click through to see what we have to say. If our format wasn’t working… I’d expect open rates to steadily drop and unsubscribes to steadily increase. In both instances however, the statistics are actually improving.

Even more… I’m going to give you some great statistics to prove that the humor is a big part in the success in the newsletter. Below describes which type of information is clicked on the most in each issue of the newsletter:

• Issue #1: Humor videos/articles were the number 2 and 3 most clicked on resources out of the 6 included… and accounted for almost 35% of the clicks.
• Issue #2: Humor was the 3rd and 4th most clicked on out of 6 accounting for just over 35% of the clicks.
• Issue #3: Humor 3rd and 4th most clicked on again and accounted for 25% of the clicks.
• Issue #4: Humor was the 2nd and 5th most clicked on for 28% of the clicks.
• Issue #5: Humor was the 2nd most clicked on for 17% of the clicks.

Now, at first glance you might be saying… “Why would you want all of those clicks “wasted” on humorous articles that don’t sell the prospect anything at all?”

In my mind, these articles are obviously popular… and are playing a big role in getting these attorneys to open the emails in the first place.

In addition, for ALL of the humorous and amusing articles/videos… we are hosting these resources on back pages of the clients website… so when they click on the teaser copy from our email newsletter they are taken to our website where they can then see the humorous resource.

What’s right next to that video or article?

Several calls to action and more information about how my client can help the attorney protect their client better. Everyone wins.

What I’ve Learned From This Test

This email newsletter project has taught me a ton about getting to the core of the prospect… especially in email… and to markets that are time poor such as attorneys.

More than anything, no matter what your market is… you need to come up with ways to compel people to WANT to open your emails… even if those reasons have NOTHING to do with your services/products. I can tell you from experience that overtly soliciting business and not using every possibility to benefit your prospect in EVERY WAY is pretty much a waste of time nowadays.

So, no matter what market you are in… please… please find a way to better relate with your prospect through your emails. Look beyond how you can help your prospect as far as your services and products go… find ways to benefit your prospect in their everyday lives. Inject some humor into your newsletters, personality, and make your newsletters something worth looking forward to…

… and more than anything… make your newsletters something WORTH OPENING.

Wow! That was a bit longer than I expected. In the next few weeks I’ll go more in-depth about the specifics of the newsletter campaign.

If you want to chat about your newsletter and how you can use it to better improve your bottom line… shoot me an email or give me a ring.

I’ve heard it a time or two… “In the end, the best product will win out every time“.

Hmmm… while this sounds all warm and fuzzy… and when looking it at completely logically it SHOULD be true…

Does the best product REALLY win out in the end??

In a perfect world where everyone gets the same chances, all variables are the same, you can predict successes and failures of products, and people only take into account their own personal beliefs and needs when deciding to buy a product or to do something… I think that the best product would win out pretty darn near every time.

But…

What happens when it’s not a perfect world?

• What happens if people not only listen to their own beliefs… but they listen to the beliefs and actions of others too?
• What happens when variables are different and even the slightest change in variables can have huge effects on entire markets, product successes, and the direction of an entire culture?
• What happens when a product/person/ or company somehow gets an edge (because of a variable) even though their competitors have a superior (or even identical) product to offer?
• What happens when the exact same product (or very similar) is a huge success today… and the company uses the same criteria and formula to launch another product… and it’s a complete failure?

What happens is that the superior products don’t always rise to the top… and often we can’t predict with a whole lot of certainty that something will be successful or not.

Now, I know… I’m going to have some critics reading this saying “when I launch a product, I know pretty darn well that it will be a success“. Okay, some products and markets can be launched with a degree of certainty; however, let’s look at mass markets and huge successes that generate millions of customers (i.e. – Record albums, social media websites, the next “clapper”, real estate, software, etc.).

Where’s the certainty now?

Do People Really Buy What They Want… or What Is Best For Them?

In marketing we’ve all heard that “the consumer doesn’t really know what they want… we have to tell them what they want and why they need it to solve their problems”.

When you really look at that statement, it’s pretty damn true.

Do you think that millions of people thought that they needed Facebook, while at the same time Myspace had tens (maybe hundreds) of millions of users already?

I’m thinking not. So, why did Facebook become a hit? Really there’s no real solid and quantifiable reason why Facebook has done so well and the hundreds of other social networking sites have absolutely flopped.

Yes, Facebook has some unique features and it’s much different than Myspace… but so are a bunch of other social networking sites that have failed miserably (some that are just as good or better than Facebook).

Many people joined Facebook because it was a great way for them to solve some of THEIR problems with staying in touch with their friends…

… but, the vast majority of people have joined Facebook not necessarily because it is truly the single best use of their time… but because they saw the craze about this “Facebook thing” (myself included) and thought… “Facebook must be the best social networking site for me because ALL OF THESE PEOPLE have already joined, therefore… it’s gotta be the best“.

Enter… The Network Effect

First of all, I didn’t coin the term “Network Effect”. It’s been written about many times and is a pretty well known philosophy in the marketing and sociology world.

In essence, the Network Effect is simply:

“The phenomenon whereby a service becomes more valuable as more people use it, thereby encouraging ever-increasing numbers of adopters. “

In simpler terms that even I can understand, people like to do things that a bunch of other people have already done (the majority of us think this way anyhow).

Your brain reasons that if something is used by more people than something else… it must be the best… therefore it is a prudent to go with that service.

The Network Effect On Products/Services/Brands

Today’s world is a complex and ever changing world. It’s pretty damn tough keeping up with everything and having the time to fully research every buying decision we make.

Can you imagine the time and effort it would take to do OUR OWN full research based ONLY off of OUR OWN personal experience and opinion about whether or not that product is really best for us? I would go insane.

So, to help streamline things for us, our brains have developed a clever little thought process that makes us feel safe when we are confronted with decisions.

Here is the thought process according to my brain:

1. First, find out what I “think” I want or need
2. Find products/services that look like they might fit the bill
3. See if anyone else has used this product and what they think about it
4. Usually go w/ the highest rated and most popular
5. Find the best place to buy it for the best overall offer (price and everything else that goes with it)

That’s it for me anyway.

Notice #3 in my thought process? “See if anyone else has used it and what they think“(the Network Effect at work).

General intuition should say that the more people using something, the better the product must be. Right? I mean, when I go to download a song or piece of freeware software… if there’s a “download” counter on the page for each product… I’ll usually pick the one with the most downloads. I’d be willing to venture a guess that most people act this way.

I know, you’re way ahead of me here... but that statement isn’t always right. Let’s think of a few very popular products right off the top of my head that challenge this statement:

• Microsoft Windows (is it REALLY the best operating system in the world? Hmmm…)
• Is Justin Timberlake really the best singer and entertainer out there? Not likely. Or, even better… Britney Spears?
• McAfee Anti-Virus… please, do I need to go into this one?

All of these products have huge followings… but are they really the best at what they do? So, why did the crowd say it is?

The Network Effect and First Adopters or Promoters

Yes, we’ve already determined that people like to make it easier on themselves when making decisions… and a lot of the time will place trust in the crowd that the crowd has picked the best product.

But, also as we’ve determined… the crowd isn’t always technically correct on judging the “best”… and this still often leads to inferior products/services ending up on top.

The reason for this is simple (or so it seems

If people like to trust the “crowd” this means that people are at the whym of the crowd… and the person or people who started the crowd in the first place.

So, if the person that “started the crowd” is absolutely correct on which product is truly the best (the best for them anyway), the people joining the crowd with similar likes and dislikes will also be correct in choosing that product.

However, if the person who “started the crowd”:

• Chose randomly and made the wrong choice
• Has unique likes/dislikes and is actually part of the minority
• Is an influencer and helps the product/service/brand along in the early stages (this one is important)

… the crowd may not necessarily be choosing the truly best product to fit their needs. But, they are choosing a product based off of the likes/needs of the early adopters/influencers and the crowd of people before them who have also followed that initial jump start.

Okay… where am I going with this?

How does this directly relate to marketing and the success of a product/service/brand?

After you finish this article, head over to read this great article on the subject. It goes in-depth on actual scientific studies on the Network Effect and shows mind-blowing results that are extremely simple when you really drill down to the core of the Network Effect.

In essence, the article goes to show that in mass market products (software, music, movies, Web 2.0 websites (social media), etc.)… the success of these products are really at the whim of the Network Effect and how well the products/services grab hold with a core of influential users. Even though some products may not be the best… they are still a huge success because “their number was called” and the market happened to go their way.

If we were to replay the past over again, a completely different set of companies, people, and products would dominate our culture depending on how the Network Effect took hold in the beginning stages of the product.

Here’s a great passage from that article:

“…while in some sense these markets do reflect what people want, that is true only of what they want right now. If markets not only reveal our preferences but also modify them, then the relation between what we want now and what we wanted before — or what we will want in the future — becomes deeply ambiguous.“

So, long story short (way longer than I was planning , we can’t always predict the success of a product/service/brand when you look at the past… or even when you look at the quality of the product.

We as marketers need to utilize the tools available to us including:

• Advertising
• PR (huge one)
• Social Media and Web 2.0 (and beyond)
• The blogosphere
• and on and on…

… to give our products and brands the best chance of capitalizing on the Network Effect to propel its success.

Yes, quality is hugely important and will play a big factor in the success of the Network Effect. However, if we don’t do a good job of getting our products to the influential early adopters in our markets (and across other markets), someone else will and our companies will be the one that was lost in history as a result of the Network Effect at work.

How Do We Do This?

There is no real formula for ensuring the Network Effect goes your way. However, with the tools we now have… it’s important that we do a few things:

• Build a community around your brand/product/service
• Enable your users to be evangelists for your product and spread the word to everyone else
• Create a solid offering that speaks to the core of the user… from your own core… basically, be who/what you are… don’t try to be something you’re not
• Make it easy for users to share their experiences and questions with you and the rest of the world (online communities, company blogs, community outreach, etc.)
• Find the influential early adopters in your market and make them a user of your product/service… then promote the hell out of that
• Whenever you can, use social proof and social proof by numbers during the marketing and sales processes

And more than anything… create your own luck and just make sure you utilize every tool you can to get your message, product, and offer to the people who can benefit from it the MOST.

Finally, Think About This…

Next time you go out and buy a CD (download on Itunes), sign up for a new social media website, or even go to a movie… think about how the Network Effect has affected the product… and how you can apply that to your business.

Question:

Have you been able to capitalize on the Network Effect? If so, how much easier was it for you to spread your brand once it took hold? My guess is waaaaayyyy easier.

Let me know.

Facebook has been on it hard for the last couple months to create a platform for it’s users that let’s us chat back and forth in real-time.

Like I wrote in my last post about Twitter vs. Facebook… people like REAL-TIME… and I really believe it’s a huge key in the success of any type of communication tool.

I’m sure if you could send someone a package through FedEx in “real-time” (i.e. – some type of teleporter for packages… “When you absolutely have to get it there in 5 seconds”), you’d rather do that than send it by FedEx overnight… which would take 8 hours to get there.

We are an impulse and instant gratification nation… and Facebook has finally done the right thing to quench this thirst that people have.

Facebook Chat Launches This Week…

Thanks to Mashable and DoshDosh (via Twitter) for the heads up on the Facebook Chat announcement. Basically, the Facebook blog says that the new Facebook Chat will be a bit like this:

• A 1 to 1 chat (not 1 to many like Twitter) similar to AIM or Gtalk
• Easy collapsible frame so you can get it out of your way when you’re not using it
• Does not save your chat convo’s for very long… and you can immediately delete the chat history if you want
• Cool updates right in the Chat Bar of the mini-feed of the friend you are chatting w/ (kinda cool sounding… let’s see how useful it is)

There are a few other things. Head over to the Facebook blog to learn a bit more.

Overall…

Overall, I’m excited that Facebook is getting with the trend and going real-time with some of their things.

Where the Facebook chat will be cool is now you can go to one place to have an instant 1 on 1 chat with your friends. Nowadays, most of my friends and those in my network are on Facebook… but it sometimes sucks trying to instant message them because some use AIM… others use Gtalk… others use MSN Chat… and on and on.

I simply don’t want to have 3 or 4 chat clients up and running all of the time… pain in the ass. But, now I can chat w/ my friends all right there in Facebook… and can get rid of my other chat clients one by one (maybe… we’ll see .

Leading up to this launch people were speculating what the Facebook chat was going to be about… and so far it doesn’t seem like it will really directly compete with Twitter in the 1 to many “crowd convo” style.

So, I’m excited to see what the Facebook chat has in store… and see how I can integrate it into the rest of my overall Social Media toolbox to build and maintain better relationships with my friends and network.

Hey, shoot me a message in Facebook Chat once it launches… I’d love to hear from you and see what you think about it… and whether you like it or not.

Friend me up <<

What is social media all about?

No really… what is social media all about at it’s core?

That’s right… it’s to help people like you and me connect with each other, catch up with each other, communicate in 2 way conversations, find like-minded people… and build a community around ourselves (online and OFFLINE) of people we want to associate with.

Simple as that.

Facebook as a Way to Build Bonds with People

Facebook is an awesome platform… way better than Myspace (in my opinion) at really building bonds with people that are more than just voyeuristic attempts to see peoples profile pictures and sell music (you know that’s a huge part of what the myspace crowd is about… don’t kid yourself).

The whole Facebook idea is modeled to “connect people with friends and others who work, study and live around them.”. That idea inherently is a better model to build strong bonds than the Myspace model of, “MySpace is an online community that lets you meet your friends’ friends.“.

So, Myspace is like the cool nightclub where you go with a few of your friends. It’s cool… a bit edgy… is as much about impressing other people as it is about being real w/ who you are… and is the hang out for people looking to just have some fun.

To me, Facebook is quite a bit different (hold on… I’ll get to the Twitter thing in a bit). Facebook is more like the networking event, conference, or fun gathering with friends that you go to so you can catch up with old friends… be introduced to new like-minded people… and be the real you.

Myspace is kinda like the immature and less serious version of Facebook (don’t get me wrong… there are huge marketing opportunities on Myspace… just stay with me here)… and Facebook is a place that you can come hang out and find like-minded people and share your world with them.

Facebook is more centered to your current networks, interests, and those of your friends. More targeted you might say.

With this environment… better bonds with your Facebook friends are more inherent and you are reminded every time you sign in about what your friends recently did on Facebook through the updates section. Cool stuff.

Where Facebook Misses The Boat…

Like I mentioned, Facebook is an awesome application and is a great way to build a network of LIKE-MINDED people and easily keep up on what people have been doing on Facebook.

But… just like the evolution of every other type of media… 2 way communication in a time delayed format isn’t as powerful and “sticky” as 2 way communication in a REAL TIME format.

I don’t know about you… but I live in real time.

1. When I go to the grocery store I talk to the person standing in front of me in line in real time.
2. When I go to the gym and chat with some workout buddies… talking in real time.
3. When I go to a networking event (like Young Professionals of Portland… great networking … once again… talking in real time.

If human beings really enjoyed time delayed communication more than real time communication wouldn’t we all just pass notes to each other all day… and spend our lives on email?

Hmmmm…

Picking Up Where Facebook Leaves Off… Forming Huge Bonds w/ Twitter

Okay, imagine this. Bear with me because this can either be cool or way corny.

You are in a bar… and you have two groups of friends.

One group is sitting in a booth with name badges, they have some pictures of things they just did on the table, a cool white board that you can write messages on to them, some fun little games that they ask you to play with them… and a pile of paper airplanes that you both write private messages on and fly back to one and other. This group of friends can’t talk and they don’t have fancy dancy phones that have internet.

All of the stuff you need to keep in touch with your friends and keep that bond there… right?

Okay… in another booth you have another group of friends who are in a normal and natural conversation. They’re talking back and forth (no paper airplanes or white boards) telling each other what they’ve been up to… showing you funny videos on their Iphone right there in front of you… you bring out your Iphone and show them a great article you just found… basically you guys are having a natural conversation about everyday stuff.

You stay in that bar for a couple hours and bounce back and forth between the two groups of friends. After a while you have 45 paper airplanes sitting in front of you that you need to open… and you’ve already spent like 15 minutes writing messages on paper airplanes and flying them back to your FB friends… not to mention all of the messages on the white boards that you need to answer back.

Building quite the bond huh?

Delayed time communication coupled with multiple ways to communicate back and forth with your friends

So… you get fed up… leave the 45 paper airplanes there and tell your friends to join the other table… the one that is just sitting there talking naturally in real time. They do… and you have a real conversation with them (in real time) and actually get to build a great bond with your friends because now communication is so easy that your friends are telling you little stuff that they wouldn’t have told you before…

Fancy Dancy Formula Time…

Easy Real Time 2 Way Communication = More Long-Tail Communications = Greater Bond

 

Easy Real Time Communication Is Where It’s At…

Just like the little formula I whipped up says… the easier you can communicate… and the more like a natural conversation your communication is… the stronger the bond you are able to grow with someone.

Ya… instant messaging has been around for a while and is a great form of instant two way communication.

But…

That’s 1 to 1 communication… and it would take up way too much of your time to shoot off a message to all of your 432 friends to see what the heck they are up to… so you can keep building that bond with them.

Right now, Twitter is the next evolution in easy two way real time communication… 1 to many.

You can see what people are doing right now… and let other people know what you’re doing right now. The simple fact that you get to learn what your friends are doing “between the conversations” gives you an inside look into their lives… and you mind says, “well, if I’m important enough to know that he just got a hair cut… or is walking through LAX right now and wants to have a beer w/ me… I must be cool!”.

Also, don’t forget the fact that inherent in real time communication is the fact that there are more messages being sent between the people talking… than there is with delayed communication.

More Messages = More Top of Mind Placement of YOU = Better Bond

Not to mention the subliminal message that comes across when you click the button to “Follow” someone on Twitter… versus simply “Add as a Friend” in Facebook. I mean… the definition of “follow” is… “To go in the direction of; be guided by”… what kind of message are you sending your subconscious when you choose that you want to FOLLOW someone… pretty powerful as far as creating and building a bond.

So… Follow Me On Twitter…

… and let’s figure out the best ways to DO GOOD on the internet… build better bonds… and help more people.

A last note… Twitter is only a stepping stone to something better… and Facebook will surely build something Twitterish onto their platform. Humans are social beings by nature… and the closer we can get to being able to intimately interact with people (both 1 to 1 and 1 to many) in a “real world-like” setting so we can build stronger bonds with more people… the more the entire social media and internet marketing game is going to change.

Just be sure you evolve along with it… and don’t get stuck in the delayed communication mind-set in your marketing, brand building, and LIVING.

Oh ya… really… one last note. Follow Me On Twitter

Good morning on this beautiful holiday!

Yep… that’s right… HOLIDAY. What holiday you say?

Well… today is National “Good People Day” 2008… as appointed by Gary Vaynerchuk, one of the net’s truly Good People (for real… great guy and as genuine and passionate about life as it gets!). I met Gary in Orlando in February and spent 4 hours chatting business and life w/ him and a few other entrepreneurs one night… a guy that I’d love to have a beer with any day of the week.

Anyhow, while Gary is one of the “Good People” out there… I’m sure a ton of other people will take it upon themselves to appoint Gary V. “Mr. Good Dude of the Day”… so I’m gonna pick someone else to focus on today.

It’s kinda funny... but the person I’m self-appointing as “Good Person of the Day” is a guy that most people probably wouldn’t think of first when you think of a good guy. I guess it’s because of his aggressive (but soooooo passionate) personality… or it could be that he is a sore loser (aren’t we all though… really??) … or that he simply so damn honest… people either love or hate this guy.

Guessed who it is yet?

Here’s a few more clues:

• He’s an internet millionaire (might be billionaire… not sure… let me know
• Get’s fined big bucks all of the time for voicing his opinion to the “zebras”
• His last name is like the best cigars in the world (bare w/ me here… I’m stretching far here)

Okay… this is just getting corny.

My Good Person highlight is for Mark Cuban… Mr. Maverick himself.

Seriously, Cuban is a dude who people either love… or people totally hate with a passion. And, to me… that’s the sign of someone who has opinions… voices them… and is generally a really honest guy.

Seriously, think about it… if someone is doesn’t polarize people… they probably aren’t being honest with people (or themselves) all of the time. No one can appeal to everyone… and if they are… you better take a hard look at them to see where they are fudging a bit so they can not tweak some people the wrong way.

Polarization is a good thing… and in Mark Cuban definitely polarizes people because he has opinions and isn’t afraid to be honest and state his opinions.

I came across a video of a speech he did at BlogWorld… and really you can see that at his core he is a “Good Person”. He’s honest (whether you like it or not), does the right thing, and doesn’t take the easy way out.

Check out the video… it’s pretty long… but a great listen.

So, what does it mean to be a “Good Person”… to me anyway?

To me… the definition of a good person is a pretty simple thing.

• They do the right thing
• Speak from THEIR core and don’t sell out for anything
• Like to have a good time in life and business
• They like cool people… but aren’t afraid to call out people who are being idiots
• Work to help other people anyway they can

Sure, there’s a ton more that goes into being a “good person”… but those points are ones that explain good ol’ Mr. Cuban pretty well.

Like I said earlier... you might think I’m an absolute idiot for thinking Mark Cuban is one of the good guys… I’ve never met him so I couldn’t tell you for sure what he is like behind the scenes.

But, the main reason I chose him as a good dude is his honesty, his passion, how he speaks from his core, and how he goes after everything he does 143% (yep… I said it… 143%).

So, check out the video above… check out his blog… and let me know who you think is a good person. I’d love to hear from ya!

It has taken me quite a while to learn this simple of the simplest of things in life and business.

But… once I started to pull my head out of my @$$ and realize that I had a whole heck of a lot going for me… things really started to turn around in a big way.

For me it’s simple…

Whatever the heck is good about your life… show big ol’ amounts of gratitude each and every day for what you have… and what you will have.

I’m not really talking about THINGS. Ya, you should be thankful for the car you drive, the house you live in, and all of those other little luxuries of life (ya… your house is a luxury… think about how people live in Africa and other places like that… yes… your house is luxury).

What I’m really talking about is to be thankful for the stuff that is here when all of the extra stuff (car, money, nice house, etc.) is gone.

We as a society need to be way more thankful about our family, friends, health… and if we’re a business owner… about our customers and the fact that they are placing their trust in us to help them get from where they are to where they want to be.

That’s what it’s all about. People helping people live better lives… and people being thankful for what they have and grateful for the important things in life.

Gratitude + Attitude = Latitude

That little formula above is one that really works… and in a big way. As far as I know… I invented that formula (I haven’t seen it anywhere else anyway)… so don’t go claiming it as your own or I’ll send some internet voodoo your way (just kidding).

But… I made that formula up to illustrate a point and to give myself two main points to work on each and every day.

1. Gratitude: Please… please… please… be grateful for what you have. Be grateful for the talents you have been blessed with, the health for you and your family, the food you have to eat, the friends you have, your customers, your competitors… be grateful for simply being around to experience your life to the fullest. Without gratitude life just sucks… and you really get wrapped up in the things that really don’t mean a whole lot in the whole scheme of things.
2. Attitude: For me…success and having fun is all about attitude. If you think life sucks… I can guarantee you that life surly will suck. If you think it’s impossible to make $1,000,000 a year (if that’s a goal of yours)… it most definitely will be impossible for you. However, as soon as you start to take a positive outlook on things and look for the good in everything… you’ll see things begin to change a whole lot for the better. By nature I’m a pretty positive guy. People actually get pissed quite a bit about how positive I am and just doesn’t understand how I can always turn “bad” things into something positive for myself. I guess it’s just how I’m wired. But, for me… it’s simple. We only get one spin here on this earth… and every second I spend with a negative attitude or with thoughts that don’t make me feel happy… are seconds wasted out of my life that don’t get me 1 inch closer to where I want to be. Negativity is cancer. So, I make the conscious decision to be positive about pretty much everything… and find a way to feel happy all of the time. Hey, why not?
3. Latitude: To tell you the truth… I picked the word “latitude” because it rhymed with the other two words. But, when you really think about it… it fits in quite nicely. For me, latitude is freedom… it represents choices… the ability to basically do what you want. Who doesn’t want that? To me, that’s what life is about. The only thing is… I never really was able to have freedom and to do what I wanted to do until I started to be grateful for what I had and to until I really made sure I looked at things with a positive attitude. If you think about it… this same formula works pretty darn well if you use the opposites of these words.
   

Ungrateful + A Bad Attitude = Restriction

As soon as you start to be ungrateful about things and have a crappy attitude… your options start to close up and you don’t let yourself see the true picture of the kind of life you can really lead.

Hmmm…

So, how grateful are you of the people in your life?

How grateful are you for the skills you’ve been given?

How grateful are you for your health?

How grateful are you for your business and your customers?

Do me a favor and at least for today out loud (or in an email, IM, or over Twitter) let the people in your life (including customers) know how grateful you are to have them in your life.

And… to whatever higher power you believe in… express your gratitude for what you’ve been given and for what you are going to be given.

It feels so good and always comes back to you 10 times more in the end.

Oh… big props to Gary V. for inspiring this post in this video. If you’re not hooked on to the Gary V. train… get going so you can learn from one of the best.

Have you ever heard the saying that “bad habits are hard to break”? I’m sure you have… haven’t we all?

I can tell you from personal experience that bad habits are incredibly hard to break (still find myself chewing my nails from time to time… putting dishes in the sink instead of right in the dishwasher… forgetting to get a receipt for everything so I can write it off… etc.).

But…

What’s even harder in my opinion is creating good habits and getting those good habits to stick.

Is this you?

When was the last time you made a new years resolution?

Probably a few months ago huh? Well… have you stuck with that resolution? I mean really stuck with it and have it ingrained so deeply as a part of your life now that you can’t imagine living any other way?

If you’re like 95% of the rest of the population… I’d place my money on the line and bet that you dropped that good habit not too long after you started it.

Am I right? Hey, I do this too. There are a ton of good habits that I wouldn’t mind picking up… but it’s not as easy to put into action as it is to flap your lips about.

Here’s how I stick with my good habits… and make sure they stick

I’m the first guy to say that sticking to good habits and getting rid of bad habits takes a bit of work. When I was in high school, I remember my baseball coach telling me that I had a flaw in my swing that needed to be worked out.

For a couple weeks I did the drills like mad every single day… and kept finding myself slipping back into my old ways ever now and then when my body would forget about the new good habit I was trying to work into my swing.

I kept getting pissed at myself every day because I thought I’d be able to change my swing forever in that first day…

… I was wrong.

After about the 3rd week… my coach told me something that I never really thought of.

He said, “From my experience, the human body and brain don’t ingrain something into everyday practice until you do that thing 70 times in a row the RIGHT WAY. ”

So, what he was saying was that it takes time and a consious effort to make a lasting change… you can’t do it overnight… your body and brain just don’t change that easily when it comes to changing or adopting a new behavior.

Let’s translate that to real life…

Okay, you know I’m a baseball nut (it took up 22 years of my life!)… so for me that example I just told you is a good analogy… but hey… you may hate baseball and want it related to real life a bit better.

Recently a good friend of mine and fellow Portland marketing guy, Eric Albertson wrote a great newsletter on this same topic.

In short, his newsletter spelled out the same things I just said… but he put a different number on it… and I completely agree w/ him and have noticed it in my life time and time again.

Eric says, real lasting change usually doesn’t take place until you have practiced it religiously for 90 days.

The 90 Day Rule…

Think about it for a sec. Think of any big change you made in your life or business that has stuck until today… then think of the ones that you hoped would stick but didn’t.

Of the ones that didn’t stick... how many of those goals did you give up on before 90 days of religious execution… I mean day in day out without fail…??? My guess would be that if you truly did execute on your goal every single day for 90 days… and didn’t stray off course… that thing would be sticking like duct tape on a hot barbecue (I just made that up… don’t tease me too much about how corny that is .

And…

If you didn’t stick to it for 90 days… you subconsciously told your brain that you really don’t give a crap about that goal enough to stick with it… so your brain followed your subconscious lead and gave up.

The rule is pretty darn basic:

• Stick with something for 90 solid days… and odds are that it will stick and be ingrained in your everyday life from then on.

Think about it… can you imagine making it past the 30, 60, and 90 day marks doing that activity each and every day… and being able to give up on it? I can’t. If you can go for 90 straight days… it would be a bit time bummer to give up on it now… wouldn’t it?

30 days is a good barometer too. If you can do something everyday for 30 days straight… odds are that you’ll probably stick with it. For most people, if you do something everyday for 30 days and you start seeing good results… wouldn’t it be crazy to stop doing something that you’ve already proven you can do?

It sure would.

But, for me… the 30 day mark isn’t all that powerful because in most anything worthwhile… you probably won’t see huge measurable results in just 30 days. It usually takes more time to see life changing measurable results… like between 60-90 days.

So, while 30 days is a great feat… many people will not see the results they were expecting and give up saying, “this crap doesn’t work… I’ve been doing it for 30 days and this is all I have to show for it!”.

So… 90 days it is.

Yep, simple as that. Just do something for 90 straight days and you’ll be set.
… Ya right!

Simple, Yes. Easy, Not Always.

Why most people give up almost every time…

There are a billion reasons why people rationalize giving up on their goals… or even on small things that will help them improve their business or lives.

But, in my opinion most people don’t make it to 90 days because of a few things:

• They expect miracle results in just 30 days… and if they haven’t seen those results in 30 days… “this crap just doesn’t work”.
• They don’t pick the things that they can see the most improvement on to work on first.
• They aren’t clear on what the heck they really want… why they want it… and how important to their life it is that they get it.

So it all boils down to clarity, low hanging fruit, and realistic expectations coupled with long-term vision.

How to make your goals and “good habits” stick…

Here’s a simple little formula that I use to make my good habits and goals stick in business and in life.

1. Choose the 5 most important changes you want to make in your life and business
2. Write down the steps that it will take to make those changes/reach those goals… and the timeline you think you can reach the goal in
3. Use the 80/20 rule to pick the 1 to 3 goals/changes that you can see the most improvement over a 90 day period in. For instance, what activities will provide the most bang for their buck (time and energy investment)?
4. Build those 1 to 3 things into your life each and every day… and even set reminders for yourself multiple times a day to do those activities that will help you get there.
5. At the end of every day… look at your journal (if you don’t have a journal… get one… trust me!) and write down what it felt like to move toward your goal and what you can do better tomorrow.
6. Do that for 90 days… and after a while it will become second nature and you won’t even have to remind yourself to do it. It’s now ingrained in YOU… and you can concentrate on improving another part of your life or business for the next 90 days.

To me, things should be done in time chunks. 90 days is a great length of time for many goals… and most activities or behaviors can be easily ingrained in your day to day routine after 90 days of religious execution.

The disclaimer…

I don’t want to be a late night infomercial guy and tell you that all you have to do is sit on your ass, do this thing one time, and your life will change for ever (but if you buy now… I’ll give you your second miracle for free… you just have to call within the next 4.5 seconds .

Any lasting change that is worthwhile will take a bunch of time and effort on your part to make it happen.

But hey…

If it’s really worth it… don’t you think that you should find any way you can to stick with something for just 90 days? Imagine… 90 days from now you can completely turn your life or business around if you just focus on 1 to 3 areas that you want to see improvement on… and work on those every single day for 90 days.

Crazy stuff what focus and clarity does. Try it out. If you stick with it for 90 days and it doesn’t work… I’ll refund everything you paid for this advice.

Let me know your strategies for making things stick? What do you do?

Oh… before we go.

Think about this for a second. 99% of your competition won’t make the effort to use this 90 day rule. They might fudge and go 30 or 45 days… but only 1% of YOUR COMPETITION will actually follow through with something for a full 90 days.

This is your opening… you are either 90 days away from a totally different life or business… or 90 days away from looking back at today wondering why the heck you didn’t listen to this dude yap away on his blog.

Where will you be in 90 days??