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How To Build Your Own Leads Group

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 14:08:23 EST

How To Build Your Own Leads Group

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

How To Build Your Own Leads GroupThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing Leads groups have been around for quite some time. They differ from networking in that they are all about passing active leads to members of the group. There are many formal leads networks, such as BNI, and many informal local breakfast groups that [...]

Home Insurance and Pipes that Go ‘Pop’ in the Night

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 13:00:28 EST

This is a guest post by Suzanne Clemenz, who writes for Insure.com. Suzanne designed her passive solar home and remodeled two others. She worked with architects and contractors on floor plans, electrical work, painting, windows, flooring installations, flood prevention walls and stonework, major drainage issues, an irrigation system, and landscaping. It’s alarming to be awakened [...]

Runway Running

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 12:50:58 EST

When I boarded the flight to Nauru, I felt like I was going into exile. The airline that flies to

Did you agree with your performance review?

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 12:42:41 EST

There is no other workplace ritual that inspires dread and disdain like the performance review. For years, I’ve been hearing from employees and managers who just hate the process. According to a Workforce Management article, most of you don’t even agree with them. More than half (51 percent) of 631 respondents believe reviews don’t provide accurate appraisals [...]

Better Questions Bring Better Solutions

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 11:00:51 EST

When you ask better questions, you get better answers. Read More

www.stopstealingdreams.com is ready to read and share

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 10:00:00 EST

"What do you think we ought to do about education?"

My readers ask me that question more than just about any other. So here's my question back: What is school for? (Click the link to get to the free download).

I've just published a 30,000 word manifesto, totally free to read, share, translate, print and, most of all, use to start an essential conversation. It took a lot to get it to you, and I'm encouraging you to take a few minutes to check it out. After you read it, perhaps you'll write one of your own.

This is an experiment in firestarting--I'm hoping that removing friction from the sharing of this idea will help it spread. If you're interested in the topic (and I hope you are), please tweet or like the project page, download the files, post mirror copies on your own blog and if you can, email them to every teacher, parent and citizen who should be part of the discussion about what we do with our kids all day (and why). If just a fraction of this blog's readers shared it with their address book, we'd reach a lot of people.

If you get a chance, visit the page and give a shoutout to a teacher that's made a difference to you or your kids. Ultimately, our future belongs to a generation that decides to be passionate about learning and shipping, and great teachers are the foundation for that.

Brilliant Newsjacking alert - The Artistifier

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 09:55:20 EST

My friends over at Urgent Genius released a terrific little application last night during the Academy Awards called The Artistifier.

The Artistifier allows you to turn any YouTube video into an "award-winning" silent movie in the style the Oscar-winning film The Artist. You can even add your own captions before sending your finished black and white masterpiece via Facebook and Twitter.

I turned one of my speaker videos into Artist-style and it is really cool.

Fun with Newsjacking

This is a terrific example of Newsjacking. The idea of taking something that is being talked about in the news and drafting off of it in order to get media mentions and social sharing is a fantastic strategy for real-time PR.

However, the vast majority of PR people are still in campaign-only mode. They focus on what's important to them and not what's important to the media and the public. If you think in real-time and create content that is valuable for the moment you can use Newsjacking to get ink and shares. Sometimes you can get a lot.

If you're going to the South-by-Southwest interactive festival in March, you can hear me speak about Newsjacking. Stop by and say hello.

SXSW Friday March 9, 2012 at 2:00
Newsjacking: How to Inject your Ideas

In addition, the team behind The Artistifier will be at two SXSW panel discussions:

SXSW Saturday March 10, 2012 at 11:00
Real-Time Newsjacking & a Cold-Blooded Tweeter

Monday March 12, 2012 at 12:30
The Not So Allied Forces of Social TV Comedy

Bareface to save the hu-women race

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 01:13:31 EST

Tonight the starlets are coming out in full force. One TV commentator just commented on how flawless one actress’ skin was. Well folks, that ain’t the reality for many of us out there, including yours truly. I battled acne all my life, and the worst of it came when I was a naive teen trying to [...]

My second favorite Super Bowl ad of all time

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 16:16:27 EST

Last night I had dinner at my friend Brian Halligan's place. Brian is CEO of HubSpot and my co-author on our book Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead: What Every Business Can Learn from the Most Iconic Band in History.

Also at dinner was Joe Grimaldi, CEO of Mullen. We got to talking about my second most favorite Super Bowl ad of all time, which was created by Mullen Advertising: When I Grow Up (1999) for Monster.com.

This commercial tells a powerful story. It doesn't talk about the product directly. Yet there is no mistaking what the benefits of the product are even though they are not spoken. The spot uses humor but in a powerful way. It is memorable.

Ever since I first saw the ad in 1999, keep coming back to it as a model of what a good Super Bowl ad can be.

Others agree because "When I Grow Up" makes most “top” lists such as the number 18 spot on this 100 Greatest Super Bowl Ads Ever list.

Another sign of respect is that the ad has had dozens of parodies made of it. This one When I Grow Up I Wanna Work in Advertising is particularly good.

Don't talk about the product.

Okay, so what's my number one most favorite Super Bowl Ad? It’s Tabasco Mosquito from 1998. I spat up my beer when I saw it live. And I've watched it on YouTube dozens of times. It just works in all the ways that the Monster.com ad does. And it uses humor with no words spoken at all.

Ads like these get talked about.

The ongoing PR value, even a decade later, makes producing them worthwhile. I'm generally not a fan of big-budget ads, but with work like these, I make exceptions.

Converse All Star Is Stuff That Works

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 16:13:57 EST

Converse All Star Is Stuff That Works

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

Converse All Star Is Stuff That WorksThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing This is a new Sunday series that I’m calling Stuff that Works. Each Sunday I’ll pick an item that is for me a foundation elements in my line up of stuff that matters or as legendary Texas singer songwriter Guy Clark put it [...]

Reader Story: Home Haircuts Can Save Time and Money

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 11:00:40 EST

This guest post from Shannon D is part of the “reader stories” feature at Get Rich Slowly. Some stories contain general advice; others are examples of how a GRS reader achieved financial success or failure. These stories feature folks from all levels of financial maturity and with all sorts of incomes. My wonderful husband likes [...]

Stick to what you (don't) know

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 10:15:00 EST

One of the dumbest forms of criticism is to shout down an expert in one field who speaks up about something else. The actor with a political point of view, or the physicist who talks about philosophy. The theory is that people should stick to what they know and quietly sit by in all other situations.

Of course, at one point, we all knew nothing. The only way you ever know anything, in fact, is to speak up about it. Outline your argument, support it, listen, revise.

The byproduct of speaking up about what you don't know is that you soon know more. And maybe, just maybe, the experts learn something from you and your process.

No one knows more about the way you think than you do. Applying that approach, combining your experience, taking a risk--this is what we need from you.

Weekend Favs February Twenty Five

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 15:46:37 EST

Weekend Favs February Twenty Five

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

Weekend Favs February Twenty FiveThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. I don’t go into depth about the finds, but encourage you check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post [...]

Perfect and impossible

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 10:23:00 EST

The definition of a revolution: it destroys the perfect and enables the impossible.

The music business was perfect. Radio, record chains, Rolling Stone magazine, the senior prom, limited access to recording studios, the replaceable nature of the LP, the baby boomers... it all added up to a business that seemed perfect, one that could run for ever and ever.

The digital revolution destroyed this perfect business while enabling the seemingly impossible: easy access to the market by new musicians, a cosmic jukebox of just about every song ever recorded, music as a social connector...

If you are in love with the perfect, prepare to see it swept away. If you are able to dream of the impossible, it just might happen.

How to nail the content for your next presentation

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 19:24:44 EST

I wanted to share a secret that has really helped my students in Power Teaching create strong, effective classes and presentations. It has nothing to do with fancy slides or elaborate technology, it has to do with nailing the specific content that will be the most useful for your audience. Learn more in the video [...]

Friday Chicken #186: All over the map, and delighted about that.

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 18:44:17 EST

THAT is Rally. Nothing is an interruption or an interference. It is all part of your Rally. But I don't know how many Rallies it will take for this concept to take hold. And I guess that's not my problem. I would like to wave a magic wand and have the truths that I have learned through TIME and PROCESS be made available for anyone who was willing to receive them. Without me being attached to whether they land.

How Much Should You Spend on Marketing

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 17:47:02 EST

How Much Should You Spend on Marketing

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

How Much Should You Spend on MarketingThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing The question in the title of this post is one that I get quite often. It elicits the ultimate consultant answer of course because, well, it depends. In a perfect world I would say tell me how much you need to spend to [...]

An Autodidact’s Schedule

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 17:42:44 EST

Post written by Leo Babauta. While I’m not as big on goals as I used to be, I do get excited about learning new things. A single blog post I read about making bread is enough to set me off into hours of research about bread-making techniques, a week of experiments in baking and kneading, [...]

Some advice on taking advice

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 17:26:55 EST

A while back, someone was interviewing me and asked me if I’ve tried yoga. Right now a zillion people are thinking I’m writing about them. Because so many people, in the middle of an interview, decide they need to recommend to me that I do yoga. The person tells me that yoga changed their life and they [...]

MyGreenlight Blog Roundup

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 16:45:15 EST

Check out a few of the great posts on the myGreenlight blog this week: The Secret to Making Even One Small Change -Keith challenges you with a mission to find an accountability buddy. The Greenlight Highlight: A Client Experience Director's Success with Relationship Mastery - How a myGreenlight alum achieved relationship mastery. Turn Your Volume [...]