Category

inspiration

Ted Murphy
In inspiration

Do you eat your own dog food?

I was looking through some old videos today and noticed one that really caught my attention.  About seven months ago IZEA responded to a dog food RFP (request for proposal). The RFP wasn’t really geared toward sponsored conversations… or social media for that matter. But, I am a dog lover and I wanted this company as a new client. Even though it wasn’t a perfect fit I decided to swing for the fences and go for it anyway.

When it comes to winning new business I am a big believer in creativity. You can’t just submit the same boring response as the next guy or you will never stand out. You have to be original, passionate and offer a unique value that isn’t easily replicated.

I preach this constantly to my team at IZEA, but I also practice what I preach. For this campaign we came up with the idea of a dog food taste test (with humans instead of dogs). Not only did I volunteer to make the video, I also volunteered to be a taster. I eat my own dog food….literally.

So…did we win the business? No. Not on that pitch. This particular client (which is not Pedigree) was still figuring out what they want to do with social media and opted for good old display ads. However, seven months later we are still in collaborating with them and it has turned into a great relationship. The lesson here is that a extra effort can go a long way.

How about you? What was the most original business proposal you either gave or received? Are you pumping out templates or customizing to meet your clients goals?

Ted Murphy
In inspiration

Do it with Creativity

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.

Howl-O-Scream

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.

Creativity is a Force Multiplier

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.

Information About the Event Itself

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:

Ted Murphy
In inspiration

Wake Up Taco Bell!

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!

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Ted Murphy
In inspiration

Team Building Exercise : Team Storyteller

As CEO of IZEA I am always looking for fun, low cost activities to build teamwork and communication. Sometimes its hard to come up with team building ideas, so when I come up with something that works I like to share it with others. This one is very fun, simple and only costs paper and tape. I call it Team Storyteller.

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Team Storyteller Overview

  1. Find 50 pictures from around the Internet and your companies own photos. Be sure to pick photos that are diverse, unique and interesting. (Flickr is a great source for cool photos)
  2. Import the photos into your favorite word processor and add a small area to write underneath each photo.
  3. Add an instruction page.
  4. Print out packets for each team.
  5. Assign teams and distribute packets.

The instructions for this exercise are very simple. Here is a sample of what I created for IZEA:

  • You have 30 minutes to write a story with your team about IZEA using the provided images.
  • You must use at least 40 images in your story.
  • Each piece of the story should be written below the corresponding pictures.
  • You will tape your images to the wall and present your story at the end of the 30 minutes.
  • The company will vote on the best story.

I would suggest teams no larger than 6 people and no smaller than 3. Put people on teams with other people they don’t normally work with. I turned on some loud techno music to add a little to the chaos. Thirty minutes sounds like a long time but the teams struggled to finish within that allotment. I wouldn’t change that though, a little pressure is a good thing.

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The energy created from Team Storyteller is amazing. People smile, laugh, communicate and create together. The participants absolutely loved this team building exercise and we will be doing it again. Here is a video from one of the teams telling their story.

There are some questions you can ask after the stories are shared. Here are a few ideas:

  • Who were the leaders in the group? Why?
  • What type of real life activities are similar to this one?
  • What was the hardest part of this exercise?
  • Why did you discard the pictures you did?
  • Are you happy with the story your team produced? How could you have made it better?

If you decide to try Team Storyteller please be sure to leave a comment here. I would love to know how it works for other organizations.

Ted Murphy
In inspiration

Start generating more bad ideas

People like to think good ideas are some how formed by immaculate conception. Have you ever said to yourself “I wish I would have thought of that”? There is a reason why you didn’t. Most good ideas don’t just pop into someones head out of nowhere. Good ideas are part of an active and iterative process that can take days, months or years to get right. The big idea you envy wasn’t the first idea its creator had.

Whether you are an inventor, an entrepreneur or a photographer it all comes down to numbers. How many prototypes have you created? How many ways have you looked at tweaking your business? How many pictures have you taken? Rarely do we get it right the first time. Those that think they have nailed it early on are often just settling. Voltaire said, “Good is the enemy of great.”

Q: How would you make a flying car?

Add wings to the car? How about a couple of jets? Yeah. I thought about those too. The big ideas aren’t the first ideas. Those are the ideas everyone can think of. Those are the average, practical ideas.

If you want to have more homerun ideas you have got to swing the creativity bat more often. Don’t be afraid to think beyond the obvious, let your imagination run free. Sure, you will generate a ton of bad ideas, but you also have a better chance of having a truly big idea.

Let’s try that exercise again, but this time force yourself to write down 15 ideas in the comments of this post. I bet you get beyond wings and jets.

Q: How would you make a flying car?

Ted Murphy
In inspiration

AdTech Sidewalk Rally with Gary Vaynerchuk

Those of you that know me also know I am a huge fan of Gary Vaynerchuk. He is loud, passionate and dead on in my opinion. When I heard about a Mashable event featuring Gary after AdTech yesterday I was all over it. Apparently the bar wouldn’t provide Gary with a microphone, so Gary convinced everyone to take it to the sidewalk. He stood on a bucket and shared his thoughts with a crowd of about 50 people standing in light rain. It was awesome.

This video has a decent amount of profanity… suck it up… it’s worth it. I encourage you to snag the video and share it with friends, especially entrepreneurs. This is some inspirational content! Here is my question to you…what are your three take-aways from this video? Please share.



Sidewalk Rally with Gary Vaynerchuk from Ted Murphy on Vimeo.

Big ups to the guys at Mashable for putting this on. I really enjoyed it.