Different is good.

It’s a great path to take in your marketing and maybe even in life. We all get caught up in what someone else will think of our campaign, what if our competition does something or learns too much info, or whatever that risk is that is holding you back from being different… or even wonky…  I’m willing to bet if you think through a worst case scenario of what would happen if you were ever so brazen to be so strange that you arrive at a place that’s really not all that bad. Give yourself, your company, your brand a chance to be unique, strange, funny, wonky; whatever name you want to call it, and see where it goes. You may make yourself more remarkable than you ever dreamed.

This chair is a little strange, but I love it and took the snap for just that reason.

Keeping a reader’s attention and making an impression can’t happen if your story has no legs. But oftentimes, the hardest part is recognizing the angle or detail that gives it those legs. OK, enough anatomy talk.

Part of my strategy when approaching any subject is seeking out what sets it apart to make it interesting. It can be something quirky (a farmer who modified a clothes dryer to ready hundreds of pounds of organic lettuce for sale at local markets), colorful (a restaurateur who turned a rundown biker bar into a thriving dining spot) or exclusive (a behind-the-scenes tour of a marble company showing how craftsmen perfect countertops).

Despite what you may think about your product or service, your story has legs that will attract a range of audiences. Here’s an example. Your company makes paintbrushes. Think about where the paintbrushes are sold, who’s buying the brushes, what they’re painting, how that painted item is being used to enhance a community or neighborhood. Think about all of the different parts that make up one brush, how the brushes are manufactured, who are the people behind the scenes — are you finding legs in those stories?

As a businessperson, take a step back and try to see what an outsider would find interesting in your product or service. When you find it, you can treat yourself to that nice glass of wine.

A special thank you to everyone who posted a comment on our blog this past week.

We started out very similar as young kids, albeit my parents were much less structured. We both played multiple musical instruments, we were both told to practice. I think I recall my parents saying an hour a day; Tony had an hour per day per instrument. Of course, I love how he just decided to record himself practicing and played that each day. Nice one.

We were both also in search for the next big project. I was very often finding my mom and telling her… I’m bored. Her typical advice was that I could do whatever chore was needed at the time, usually dusting/cleaning the house. Anyone who knows me well today will laugh at how that has lacked in my adult life. Any day of the week you will be sure to find ample amounts of dog hair, superhero toys, books, hot wheels and milk spills all throughout my lovely house. Tony never really said he was bored because he just did. He found all sorts of ways to entertain his money-making, thrill-seeking self. I love how he grabbed Boys’ Life each month like it held all the answers (of course today my oldest, four-year-old Kiehl, grabs My Big Backyard each issue and tears through it cover-to-cover) because at the back of this magazine were the classified ads where he would run an ad for his latest business venture.

I can also relate to Tony in his first job experience, but you can add about four first job experiences for me. My first job experience was much like his at Oracle; I went through the training for about three or four weeks, got to the real job and thought, this cannot be it. Once I realized that WAS it, I left. I didn’t know what I was going to do, where to work or how to make money just yet; I just knew that wasn’t the job for me. I worked at a local PR agency for one day. Yes, one day. For good or bad, I’ve always gone with my gut on where I’m a fit and where I’m not. Again, Tony took more initiative than me and started his own path. I continued with multiple, consistently bad jobs before I landed at a few places I liked, then ultimately started Silver Square.

Lastly, I can relate to Tony and his desire to build something greater than himself, something where people come to work and genuinely love what they do (I have a thing about being happy on Mondays) and creating an envionment that has a very fuzzy line between hobby, work, fun, play and growth. His writing about creating a culture book inspired me to have our first culture book at Silver Square. You’ll have to stay tuned for that.

What was your first job? What did you learn from it? Enter our contest to win your own copy of this book and share your own story.

Delivering Happiness:  A Path to Profits, Passion and Purpose is the first book by Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh. It’s a wonderful tale about how Tony started out looking for ways to make money at an early age, and how those same passions live through him today in a company called Zappos.

We want to give you this book for free just for entering our very simple contest. Here’s how you enter to win:

1. Comment on our blog between now and the book’s official launch date, June 7th. This simple step earns you entry to our contest.
2. We may give you extra love if you comment on our video where I talk about culture books.
3. You must live in the United States to win.

Join us in the fun in promoting this wonderful book and enter to win a copy for yourself while you’re at it!

1. If you recall our post on the Social Media Landscape, you may remember that handy guide that lists out the top social media mediums and what they do best. YouTube had three green boxes, meaning it was a very good medium for customer communication, brand exposure and SEO.
2. Have some fun! Video is by far one of the more easy ways to add some fun to your marketing. Our video of me doing 25 push ups is our most viewed video. That obviously has nothing to do with marketing and a lot to do with fun. Clay’s April 1st video still has people laughing and talking. Fun is good.
3. Shoot for a “B”. When you’re starting out with a new medium, don’t set expectations that you’ll be perfect. Especially today and with video use. It’s totally acceptable to jump out of the gate with some less than professional production. Have a purpose and start your video. Accept that you will learn as you go.
4. Do buy the basics. We have learned that a camera with a mic is probably necessary for what we want to do with video. In the beginning, we just bought a flip and started out. We have learned a Flip works pretty well for the basic stuff, but if you want to interview others like we do on our Intimate Invasions, you’ll want to have an external mic to help boost sound.
5. Make friends, subscribe to others on YouTube and stay up on the new features YouTube has added to get the most out of your videos. This means checking in a few times a year at minimum, not that you have to commit to daily use. Just make sure you’re keeping up.

1. Problogger – This blog is for beginning bloggers, advid bloggers, money-making bloggers… you get the picture? If you’re looking to read up on how to improve your blog, this is IT! So check out the blog, get yourself subscribed and start working on your blog posts. If you’re really committed to improving your blog, consider his guide 31 Days to Build a Better Blog. I have looked through it and it has quality material.
2. Mashable – This blog has a slant toward technology and social media, but it’s still a groundswell of amazing information. How-to guides, the latest news on the iPad, what Google is up to and what videos are trending on the Internet are just some of the topics you’ll find.
3. Seth Godin’s blog – This is just another daily read on my list. He keeps his posts short and to the point, which makes it easy to keep up with yet adds a bit of zing to your marketing day. Typically inspiring, always informative.

1. Discount codes. Special offers sell. When you want to fill a room, it’s incredibly helpful to be able to tell someone that you are giving them a unique code they can enter for a discount. It also gives influencers a reason to promote your event if they can offer their audience a unique discount. If all that wasn’t enough, it sends a message that you are big enough to be taken seriously.
2. Different ticket types. You can easily create different types of tickets at different price points. If you have an event with balcony and orchestra seating, create different prices. You can offer an early bird discount by creating a less expensive ticket that is only available during a certain date range.
3. Recurring events. If you have an event that happens each week or month, you don’t have to keep creating it over and over again. Create the event once, set the schedule (or even custom dates), and people can buy tickets for each date.
4. Built-in waitlist. Eventbrite can manage your waitlist automatically for you. When your event is sold out, people who want to come get put on the waitlist instead. As people cancel (or you move to a bigger room) you can release tickets.
5. Affiliate program. Although we’ve never used it, what I’ve seen of the affiliate program (where someone gets a cut for promoting your event through a unique link created for them) looks simple to use.
6. Custom order confirmation. You can send someone an email automatically when they register. Edit the text that shows up on their confirmation page, or just send them to a custom thank you page on your website.
7. Less paperwork at the event. Eventbrite also makes your job a little easier in those last rushed hours before the event. Since they already have all the attendee information stored, you can print out a check-in list and name badges.
8. Description formatting. You also have a lot of flexibility in the description area. The same fomatting and image placement you find in most content management systems is built into Eventbrite. We are using Eventbrite for our next event, ReTHINKING Your Pipeline. Compare our landing page with the description in our Eventbrite registration page.

Beyond just making these features available, the Eventbrite interface makes it surprisingly easy to manage. The learning curve to find everything is relatively small – which is perhaps the slickest feature of all.

Clay can share all the easy, wonderful programming things Eventbrite does (Ed: Clay’s take on Eventbrite here.), so I’ll stick with the marketing reasons I like…

1. Look professional. It makes you look like you are running a professional event. You know what I mean. Often you want to have a workshop or hold a free session to help you prospect, but you just don’t have the skills or know-how to make your own website. This is where you’ll love Eventbrite because it will easily help you look organized, professional and help your attendees feel like they are headed toward a great session.
2. Payment Processing. If you decide to charge a fee for this service, they doesn’t kill you with fees. You can easily hook it in to your pay pal account and  keep everything nice.
3. Market your event. See all the social media icons up at the top of this event page below? Your attendee (or even you) can just easily click one of those and it connects to your profile, imports your contacts or posts on your profile exactly what you want to say about your event. It’s so easy! You can even set up your event to tweet once someone has decided to attend, or, let all attendees see who else is coming. It’s very social.
4. Now for Non Profits. Gather for Good:  Eventbrite for Causes launched earlier this year. It helps non profits do all this stuff really well too.

Give Eventbrite a try or tell us why you like it, or don’t, in our comments section. Join us at our next event:  ReTHINK YOUR PIPELINE The marriage of marketing + sales.

In real estate, you know there is that saying:  Location, location, location. In this presentation, you need to keep in mind the three “R”s…

1. Be Real
2. Be Regular (I typically use the word consistent, but as you know that word doesn’t start with an “R”!)
3. Be Relevant

In your Facebook fan page marketing, actually any marketing, being real, being regular and being relevant is key. The presentation goes ahead and shares ideas that could help you be real, regular and relevant.

If you would like a specific presentation for your organization or business, just ask us. We would be glad to help. Browse our list of services and see if we fit your needs.