This coming week I will again be heading to one of my favorite places on the planet, NYC. I will be attending Ad Tech on Wed and Thur, and will also be speaking on a panel at Graham Lawlor’s Ultra Light Startup’s on Thursday November 5th at 6:30 at Sun Microsystems. The event is dubbed “Email Marketing for Startups”.

I am looking forward to it and I will be joined by some incredible folks who I can’t wait to meet. The panel looks like:

Moderator:

* Maisha Walker, President of message medium and e-commerce columnist with Inc. magazine

Panelists (alphabetic order):

* Greg Cangialosi, CEO of Blue Sky Factory
* Neil Capel, Founder and CEO of SailThru
* Lisa Klieman, Vice President, Business Development at Innovyx, Inc.
* Adam Rich, Co-founder and Editor-in-chief of Thrillist

If you are coming let me know and lets be sure to link up. If you are going to be at Ad Tech and want to link up as well drop me a line. I will be roaming the exhibition floor most of the time. See you in NYC!

This coming Tuesday at 1pm EST, I will be doing a webinar with Brian Halligan, CEO of Hubspot. Below is the overview of the session. Hope you can join us!

Get leads to come to you, then turn them into customers.  Sound too good to be true?

It’s not, and it gets even better.  No more cold calling, telemarketing, or spending tons on print and radio ads.

Enter inbound marketing.  This (more recent) style of marketing allows you to get found by potential customers online.  The key is retaining these leads, building a relationship with them, and turning them into clients.  Enter email marketing.

Join us for “Inbound & Email Marketing: So Happy Together” on Tuesday, October 13 at 1 PM ET as Brian Halligan, CEO of HubSpot, and I discuss the inbound marketing landscape and how email marketing complements this method of attracting customers.

Attendees will learn:

• Inbound vs. outbound marketing
• Strategies for using inbound marketing to attract new customers
• How to build a relationship and retain leads through email marketing
• Tips for making the most of inbound and email marketing as complementary channels

There’s only one week left to register, so sign up today!

This post is about relationships, and specifically how important they are within the fiber of the social web. While much of the business world continues to figure out how “social media” plays into their organization’s marketing communications strategy, I’d like to take this opportunity to remind everyone about one of the simple truths about  social media and social marketing, and that is that:

Community + Relationships + Engagement = “Social Media Integration”

This is the culmination of social media in its purest form. All of the tools in the world, are just that, they are tools. As I mentioned during my talk at Social Fresh, social media is not about twitter, or LinkedIn or facebook, or whatever tool you are using to connect with your base. Its about real people, & real relationships.

I am both honored and humbled to be highlighted in Chris Brogan and Julien Smith’s new book “Trust Agents.” (Which by the way if you haven’t heard is officially on the New York Time’s Bestseller list. Congrats guys!). One of the themes that I am highlighted within is the notion of “being there before the sale.” Chris came up with this slogan a long time ago, and it couldn’t be any more right on.

So, in the end what does “being there before the sale” mean? It means building true, genuine, relationships, the kind that are built over time, not over night, and never having the sale in mind. It means being human, building relations, and discovering and understanding that leads /sales / business development, are simply a by-product of participation within your community.

When you think about it, a referral from your network is one of the greatest compliments you can ever receive in business. However, in order to receive that referral one must feel as if they can trust you, your company and your brand. That is done by what Chris and Julien refer to as “building army’s.” You can call them army’s of influence and trust. Building a GENUINE army of advocates & evangelists for your product, service or brand, is something that there is no shortcut for.  This process takes time, effort, and lots of resources. Remember, the tools are only that, they are tools….

At the end of the day this is a PEOPLE thing.  Not a social media thing.

To me, one of the key factors in manifesting the true gem of social media is incorporating the simple concept of face to face. This is where the game changes, when you bridge the digital world into the physical world. Its been said many times before, by those of us who have experienced this. The tools have simply allowed us to connect, generate dialog and engagement with our base, in more ways than ever before, but still  in the end nothing digital can replace or duplicate true face to face interaction.

Real World = Real Relationships

The importance of meeting people face to face is what “social media” and “social marketing” continue to reinforce to me, and its one of the messages that I try to tell marketers every chance I get. It’s also why you see my company, Blue Sky Factory at events all over the country, sponsoring, speaking, exhibiting, etc.. sure we are there for the branding and promotion, etc but more importantly we want to connect with YOU. It’s about the hallway and booth conversations, sharing a coffee or a beer, maybe even a meal, and being able to talk about non-business related topics… and just being human. The importance of face to face is just another an old truth being reinforced through new mediums…..pretty interesting when you think about it.

The takeaway here is that though I do believe companies should utilize the social web to build community, establish relationships and engage with them, more importantly they should continue to invest in any activities that get them face to face with their base. I think everyone reading this post will agree that there is a distinct difference between the pure online / digital relationships that we have and the ones where we have met face to face. The difference being that the relationships we have with people we have actually met in person, and spent some time with tend to be stronger all around. Companies need to build their armies around these types of relationships, and as I mention in the title of this post, there are no shortcuts. Get out there and meet and build your community, face to face.

As always, I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. Thanks for reading.

Brandon Uttley of Wray Ward did a brief interview with me at the Social Fresh conference, on the topic of converting community to subscribers and email’s role in the social web. Its a brief 1:48 video, check it out below:

I just returned from Charlotte, NC where Blue Sky Factory participated in the first Social Fresh conference put on by the one and only Jason Keath (@jakrose). We sponsored the event, and I was happy to be among a great group of featured speakers.

First off, major kudos to Jason and his incredible volunteer team headed up by Katey Dietz (@kateymarie) for running what was a great event. The event sold out well in advance with 230 attendees, and featured an incredible line up of content. Thanks to everyone who attended my session, “Social Media Integration,” I have provided the slides to my presentation below from Slideshare. Enjoy!

We just put out our latest client testimonial video. Our superstar marketing intern Julia Ruess went around and interviewed several local clients here in the Baltimore area ( 1st Mariner Banks, US Lacrosse & the Greater Baltimore Technology Council), and captured their thoughts about working with BSF. Check it out:

Great job to Julia and our team of account managers who keep our clients happy and make them better marketers!

This morning I was inspired to write about some tips for the business traveler, fittingly enough on my flight out to Dallas, TX. The question I asked myself was how does one stay sane with a business travel schedule that just won’t quit? I’m actually not sure that’s possible, but I can share with you the following 10 tips (In no particular order) that help me stay as close to a state of travel zen as I can. I hope these help you when you get ready to jet set again:

1. Show up ready to board. Always check-in and have your boarding pass in hand before you get to the airport. This allows you to skip the crowded counters, eliminates a potential delay, and allows you to head right for the security line when you get to the airport.

2. Never check luggage. I mean ever. As long as you can avoid it. I realize this can be tough for some people, but I can easily go 5 days on the road with a carry on suitcase and a separate carry on shoulder bag. This is key for travel flow, as it allows you to get right on the plane, and right off the plane then get on your way. More importantly, you never have to worry about losing your luggage, something that happens way too much these days.

3. Choose the right airline. Depending on where you are going you should give serious thought to which airline you choose. For business, Airtran & Southwest go almost everywhere for a decent fare, but if you are going cross country, Virgin America is the only way to go. They’ve got flying down.

4. Buy good luggage. Don’t take this one too lightly either. I have had a ton of luggage over the last few years and its all been beaten & broken. Nothing is worse than when the zipper on your suitcase breaks! If you travel a lot don’t skimp on the luggage. I finally upgraded to a nice set of Tumi luggage, a wheeled carry on and a shoulder bag. I can’t believe the difference its made in my travel experience and its only been a month.

5. Stay hydrated. Drink a LOT of water when you travel. Although you should drink water all of the time, drink it even more of it when you travel. Its easy to get dehydrated when you are at 30,000 ft. Stay hydrated it helps all around.

6. Boost your immune system. I try to stay healthy in general, but prior to flying I always go for that extra immune system boost of vitamins and nutrients with Airborne. Let’s face it, airplanes are pretty much germ central. Giving your body that extra boost can’t do you any harm at all. I try to do it before every flight, it’s easy and it doesn’t taste bad at all.

7. Always sleep in a good bed. This is probably one of the more important ones to me. Anytime business takes me away from home, I make sure I am comfortable. Fortunately, a lot of hotels these days have good beds and plenty of other amenities. I am personally a fan of Kimpton Hotels, they offer a good selection of hotels in almost every major market, and they have a great loyalty program (plus free wi-fi).

8. Make time to exercise. This is sometimes hard to do on the road, but I always bring work out clothes with me when I travel. I try to hit the gym at the hotel or hit a local yoga class if convenient. When you travel, sometimes a good sweat makes you feel great and completely rejuvenates you.

9. Pace yourself. Depending on your travel itinerary, you may, like I do, often find yourself faced with back-to-back activities day and night. Take it easy and find a pace. Watch your alcohol intake, and make sure you get enough sleep every night. You know what your body needs to be on point. Try to keep that balance (easier said than done, I know).

10. Eat well my friends. Yes, we all know it’s VERY easy to go off of your diet when you are constantly traveling. But it is possible to eat healthy and stay on track when on the road. I’m a pescatarian (I’m vegetarian but eat fish as well), so my diet is usually limited. I try to research decent restaurants and food establishments before I head out just to get a sense of what’s out there. This is hard with groups of people, etc, but do your best and try to eat well.

Have a tip you would like to add? Please do so in the comments, I’m always looking for more travel tips to streamline the process! What works for you?

Below, is an excerpt from the Maryland Chamber of Commerce Digital Marketing event that took place on Thursday May 14th. In this video, taken by Will Burns, I talk about how to jump start your social media community with your email database, and how to build email subscribers through social media.

I am really excited about Bootstrap Maryland. When Jared Goralnick first asked me to be a part of it I hadn’t even realized he had been working on such an interesting and important event. I’ve always thought an event that brought together similar entrepreneurs who have experience building businesses outside of the most common routes, (ie. raise friend and family money, raise angel investment, raise VC, etc) would be extremely valuable to the next generation of entrepreneurs. Our region is ripe with talent, ideas, and products that are already in “the lab” and just waiting to officially “launch.”

I look forward to sharing my story and advice around building businesses with little to no funding at all. It certainly isn’t easy, but it can be done with, as Jared states “drive, brains and little creativity.” Details on the event are below, or you can click here. If you are thinking of starting a company, or already are out of the gate and are looking for some additional inspiration. Hope to see you there on May 2nd.

Bootstrap Maryland brings together young entrepreneurs and the necessary tools for running a lean and successful technology business.

At the Bootstrap Maryland Conference on May 2, 2009 you will learn how to turn your web or technology idea into a business. The presentations will cover topics such as:

* What you need (and don’t need) to get your business off the ground.
* Most products fail due to lack of marketing, not failed technology. How to get the word out inexpensively with social media, events, and creative PR
* The most relevant technologies people are using today, and ways to get the technology right the first time
* Stories, lessons learned, and discussions from young people who have built successful businesses

I rarely do this, but somehow the stars aligned where I actually spoke to 3 entirely different groups of people, 3 days in a row about social marketing and macro level trends that are happening in the marketing communications space. The audiences were as follows:

1. Technology Council leaders of North America
2. A global provider of testing & certification centers.
3. A large law firm.

This proved to be very interesting for me, because 99.9% of the time I speak to marketers. So, taking essentially the same message and applying it to the non-profit, testing & education, and legal professions proved to be interesting, and it worked.

The one nugget that I found to be the most interesting of all was that EVERYONE GETS IT (for the most part). I started every presentation with 4 key MACRO trends, the first one being that marketers finally understand, and get the fact that we are now in a two way media landscape. The batch and blast mentality of one way media is so old school, and so foreign to the modern marketer. I feel people are starting to get this on a broader level, and they are embracing it.

Why do I feel this way? There wasn’t anyone in the room at ANY of the three talks I gave that challenged or countered some of the statements and trends that clearly outline a shifting landscape of communication for organizations and businesses. In the past someone always didn’t agree, or there was big push back on some level, once we got into the details. I actually always look forward to it, because a healthy debate / friction is always good. The closest we got on a debate was the whole personal vs. company profile, mixing the two together, or not, etc. Good one for sure.

Maybe it was just that the folks I spoke with were primed and ready to hear more. Either way, as a person who goes to a ton of events and speaks to a variety of audiences, in my mind companies are beginning to adapt. More and more marketers and organizations are applying more social marketing tactics and mediums to their outreach programs. Its not just marketers that get it either, the “organization” as a whole is starting to get it. This is good, because as many of you well know, it is happening. We are in a world of dialog marketing, so embrace it.

Would love to hear your thoughts below.