I am taking Tara to the Dominican Republic for her 30th birthday today. I was kind of hoping for better weather but we will make do. We are going to the same resort that Sponsored Tweets is giving away a trip to in the Supatweeta Referral Challenge. Expect some pictures and video over the weekend!
I had some time to do a little cooking this past weekend and decided to make a video for my magic ribs. Unfortunately I got so excited that I forgot to film a proper ending… but I can assure you that these things are fall off the bone pork-awesomeness.
Easiest directions ever:
Jeremy Schoemaker. Gary Vaynerchuk. Zac Johnson. All names you know or should know if you read this blog. But have you ever thought about why? The reason you know their names is that these marketing mavens have taken the time to build and maintain a personal brand. You know them because they want you to know them. They work at it. They invest in it. They view building their personal brand as an integral part of their business endeavors.
Personal brands are powerful. In many ways they can be more valuable than a product, service or corporate brand. Want to sell more wares? Slap Trump’s name on a building, have Britney Spears front a perfume… or leverage the Shoemoney name to sell a set of Internet Tools. People identify with people. Marketable people with solid personal brands can sell almost any product.
I believe every affiliate marketer should invest time and money creating his or her personal brand. Whether you are working for yourself or an employer a personal brand can be an incredible long term asset that can open doors and create wealth. You aren’t going to be a rockstar overnight, but if you start now you can build over time.
Define Your Brand Promise
What are you all about? What are your interests? What are you good at? Successful branding is about promoting your natural strengths, whatever those may be. If you are a geek be a super geek. If you are good looking show off that pretty mug of yours. List out your assets and determine what will appeal most to your audience. Create a simple statement that defines your brand promise. A sample promise might read “Creative disruption of the marketing industry with a smile”.
Own Your Name
If you don’t already have your own personal domain go out and get one. Your domain should either be based on your real name or on a persona you plan to go by. Any persona you create should complement your brand promise. Whatever domain you choose you should try to lockup the name throughout the socialsphere. Don’t be @johndoe on twitter and have the domain technojohn.com. Try to be consistent whenever you can to avoid confusion.
Make Your Mark
Every notable brand has a distinct logo mark, color palette, font and style. If you are not a designer don’t try to create these elements of your personal brand on your own. Just because you have Photoshop doesn’t mean you should be designing your website or business cards. Hire a real designer with experience in branding. Share your brand promise and collaborate to create a professional graphic identity you like.
Share and Promote
Your new domain should serve as the hub for all things you. Update your content on a regular basis and use social media tools to start spreading the word. If you really want to grow you are going to need to invest some cash or other currency. Consider having custom swag made, attending industry events, and buying ads to get your name out as much as possible. If you want to be perceived as a rockstar you have to promote like a rockstar.
I wrote the above article I for last month’s FeedFront Magazine. You can download the entire magazine free. Special thanks to Missy Ward and Shawn Collins for the opportunity to contribute.
What if you could rock out your business, event or blog and do something great for the community at the same time? This is your chance. I am working with Rock For Hunger to end the cycle of hunger and poverty through education, life style design and career development solutions. This is the same organization that I helped with the bathtub full of cereal earlier in the year.
I have put a day of my time up for auction on eBay. The entire proceeds of the auction will be donated to Rock For Hunger. You can use the time as you see fit. Whether you want some consulting, a blog design, logo or speaking I am up for it. I am happy to talk about any of the following topics:
– Entrepreneurial business advice
– Social media strategy
– Internet marketing strategy
– Web design and usability
– Personal or corporate branding
– Corporate culture development
– Raising venture capital / business funding
– Disrupting your industry
– General awesomeness
I will fly to any location in the world. Transportation and lodging needs to be provided by the winner of this auction.
You can use the time virtually or in person. If you use it in person you get me for one day, one shot (9am-6pm), unless you live in Orlando. If you ask me to work with you virtually we can do that in 1 hour increments.
Can you spot the difference between these two Microsoft sites? Sure, one is from Poland and one is from the US but if you look closer you will notice something else that is different. If you are having a problem figuring it out then open both sites up in two tabs.
First rule of Photoshop : don’t get caught changing out peoples heads. Props to Matthew Schultz for pointing this out.
If you know anything about me you know I put a premium on creativity. It’s not just what you do…it’s how you do it. Yesterday my good friends at Busch Entertainment knocked my socks off with one of the most creative event invitation I have ever received.
This freaky-looking bleeding dress form (I had to look that up) is an invitation to an early preview of Howl-O-Scream at Busch Gardens. It was unexpected, unnecessary and strange, exactly why it already has a permanent home on my desk. I intend to use this invitation to inspire me when my own marketing solutions are lacking creativity.
Busch Gardens could have sent me a standard paper invitation, called me or dropped me an email but they didn’t. They spent the time (and money) to go above and beyond to capture my attention. It worked. Big time. Not only did I show this invitation to everyone in the office, I liked it so much I am writing a blog post about it. A standard invitation would have got the job done, but this invitation multiplied the effect and inspired me to spread the word.
Whether your marketing efforts are online or offline don’t ever forget the element of creativity. It can be the difference between a huge success or miserable failure.
Howl-O-Scream is a month long event where they transform the park for Halloween complete with haunted houses and scary surprises. If you are going to IZEAFest you are in luck, we are already hitting the event on Thursday night (included in the price of your ticket). You can see a commercial for the event here:
I still can’t believe that none of the major fast food restaurants have taken advantage of their enormous supply of on-food media space to drive buzz through Twitter. This isn’t rocket science guys. Spend a little bit of money reworking your packaging and it can pay huge dividends.
I have put together a quick mockup. You could even use stickers to make it easy!
Last week I was chatting with my friend Aloha Arleen about IZEAFest at SeaWorld. She told me she was really excited to be speaking and asked me if there was anything she could do to help get the word out. I went down a list of all the things we had hookup up since we launched the site. She had no idea and told me I should do a blog post with an update about the event… so here goes….
If you can find an event that packs a bigger bang for the buck I want to go. We have done everything possible to make this affordable for everyone during these tough times.
A four night, three day social media event with speakers including Aaron Brazell, Chris Brogan, Chris Heuer, Brian Clark, Joseph Jaffe, Julia Roy, Sarah Austin, Sarah Evans and more. Mingle with the big dogs of social media and learn from the best and brightest.Save 20% with discount code “tedme”. What the heck are you waiting for? This is the best deal out there.
Today is off to an awesome start! I got in a 6 mile run. Tara hooked me up with a new set of luggage. My IZEA peeps trashed my desk. I did an television interview. My article in Fast Company came out (thank you @LydiaBreakfast and @ChrisBrogan)… and it isn’t even 10am yet.
All was going great…. until my brother sent me this video to remind me what he made for me last year. Update : the video he sent me has been taken offline : (
Presents are great, but I am content with my worldly possessions. All I really want is pictures from the people that read this blog and follow me on twitter with their tongues out like. I am going to do a follow up post with all the pics sent to me, along with links to the creators. Leave a comment here or @ me on Twitter.
