…blog management company. Actually, I am sure that this exists already, but thats ok. I know a lot of people who feel like a blog would be helpful to their company. They probably have some good things to write about, and the discipline of blogging would be good for them. But they get a bit hung up on the technical stuff, need some accountability to get them started, and need some help learning to be creative. It seems like there would be an opportunity for somebody to start a company that specializes in helping people do this. You would help people plan a blog (why? what? who is if for? do we really need one or are we just trying to keep up with the times?). Then help navigate the technical aspects of a blog. As an on going role you would help keep them accountable to writing, and help them come up with content ideas. Perhaps they could even just send you text files and you could post it to the blog so the formatting could be good, it could be proofed, stuff like that.
part 2 in the musicians marketing series i guess…Recently a couple of musician friends of ours had a small show at our hose. We probably had 15 people here. I have been thinking about house shows a lot, and how they can fit into a musicians overall plan to connect with fans. It seems like they can be really effective…but first some negatives. I guess the big negative is size. with only 10-50 people at the show its not like you are connecting to a lot of people…and your not going to sell very many albums to the people at the show. So, financially it is (short term) not very profitable. Especially if you have to travel a lot to get to the show. House shows are kind of style limiting to, its a lot simpler for an acoustic singer songwriter type to pull off then a metal thrash band with 2 guitars, 3 percussionists, bass, keys, a cow bell and speaker stacks 10 feet high.
now some positives I have been thinking about:
having a house show forces you to find one true fan, somebody who will host
The host has to find people to come, so they are doing some work for the artist, but more important then that the people they bring are filtered. The host will pick people who they know will like the artist (the host’s reputation is on the line after all)
The small venue makes it so the artist can talk to each person…more connection, hopefully more committed fans.
That’s it, just some quick thoughts. Making a connection is still the key, and giving those new fans ways to continue to follow, find new music, etc is still important just like a big show.
The other day I hung out with some friends at a pizza place during open mic. My friend is a musician, so he played a few songs. It was great. People responded well, he had the crowds attention, a lady even sought him out to tell him that she liked his music. I wonder though, from a pure marketing perspective was their any value in it? Nobody really knows who he was, they don’t know how to get his CD, his web site, or probably even his name. So, I have been thinking, how can you turn people at an open mic into fans? How do you find a way to reconnect with them? Some ideas, not all good, but still ideas:
At the most basic, say your name and web site
Have some business cards or postcards to give people who you get to talk to
wear a shirt with you web site on it so that people will see it
collect email addresses
give away a demo to everybody who wants one
give away anything that will identify you
be so good people have to notice
play the same place a lot so that people get some repetition of your name.
give people money
get to know the owner of the place so you can come back and play your own show
be really intentional about talking to people who respond well
do something crazy so people have to remember you
take pictures and tell people they will be on your website (then put them on your website) so people will want to see themselves.
pick one person who responds well and do everything you can to connect with them, block out everybody else, make sure they leave as a super fan.
There are lots of things i could enjoy doing with the rest of my life, but if i could have a dream job i think i would want to be an idea person…also known as consultant. Here is how it would work: I would work either for an organization doing interesting things, or work independently for several organizations. Whenever somebody had an problem to solve they would come to me, and i would help them figure out the solution. Then, if the solution sounds interesting then I would get to help implement the solution. If not, they get to find somebody else (hey, its a dream job remember!).
I think that often the most interesting part of design is solving the problem. I like the process of trying to come up with new ideas and new ways of looking at a situation. I like trying to see the big picture and pulling unrelated things together. I like coming up with lists of solutions and then trying to pick the best one. But sometimes I get a bit stuck on the implementation part.
Dear Republicans, Tea Party, and other Conservatives,
Your mad, we get it. I don’t blame you for standing against something you truly oppose…I probably even agree with some of your concerns. But you’re not scoring points with me. If you want me to buy into what your doing this is what you should do:
Start saying you have some concerns about the current legislation, that you think its a bad idea, give your reasons. Then, move on, acknowledge that for now whats law is law.
Focus on one of your concerns: how much this is going to cost and that it will raise insurance rates in the long term. Let us know that you are going to try to find a solution for this part of the problem by figuring out how to deal with the cost of health care.
Right now, today, start figuring out a way to start working on the next issue in health care: costs. Bring together a diverse group of people from lots of backgrounds to start coming up with some new ideas. Do something big and innovative. It can even line up with your values. Find new ways to make market forces work in heath care to do what markets do: lower cost and increase quality. Find innovative ways to deliver health care, focus on preventative care. Do something great. Work with everybody, prove you can rise above your party affiliation.
Now, you have something to stand on. Instead of just retelling a story of fear (of course it would come back to story and marketing right?) you can tell the story of how you did something great, and how you want to take a new crack at insurance reform. Repeat step 3 with insurance reform, we might even end up with something better.
The other day i tried to make a drinking glass out of a glass coke bottle. Kind of like this. Its super easy, all you need is a bottle, a blow torch, something to score the glass with, a sink full of water, and some sandpaper. I have seen them sold for up to $45 for a set of six. So, this seems like another opportunity for some micro finance. It would be interesting if somebody could develop a business that is based around a coop type model for making and selling various upcylced glass products and use it as an economic development tool at the same time.
Yesterday I happened to wake up to a conservative talk show on the radio. As I was listening I was struck by how much the host leaned on fear as the story he was telling. So I had been thinking about the effectivness of using fear as the story to sell your idea, position, brand, or whatever (Then of course later that day the RNC’s fear strategy document came out, so i was thinking about it even more).
If the future belongs to the story tellers like so many say, then we have to be able to tell an effective story. The fear story can be effective of course, but I would rather be sold something positive then negative.
So, I was thinking, if somebody is going to use a fear story on me what does it take for it to be effective? The talk show host was 100% ineffective on me, if anything he convinced me not to listen to him again. To be effective on me he would have to:
not be sensationalist. Your sensationalism only convinces me your prone to exaggeration.
tell me what I should be afraid of. Be specific. I’m not really afraid of this nebulous idea of “America changing”. There might be some things that should change. Give me some specific things that I should be afraid of, and why (and to the shows host..”it’s un-american” does not count as a reason)
give an argument for why what I fear is likely to come to pass
acknowledge the possibilities that you might be wrong, or partly wrong. If said talk show host had said “the current administration is doing X. This has the possibility of leading to scenario A, which is bad because 0f Y, or scenario B which is less bad because of Z” I might have listened.
Just some thoughts. By the way, conservative talk show hosts are not the only ones that do this, everybody does (see global warming and Hell House). He just happened to be the one I heard that morning.
I have been thinking about this post a bit. The basic idea is that if you feel the need to apologize for an email you send, phone call you make or blog post you write that you should just not call/send/write.
Generally i think this is true. But, I think that if a mistake on my part made the sending necessary it is OK to apologize. For example I recently sent an email to 10 or so people I work with. I needed to send it, it was relevant, etc. However, after I sent it I noticed that I had done something crazy to the formatting and it was basically unreadable. So, I fixed the formatting, added a “sorry to send twice, here is why, here it is again” note at the top and sent it.
I think that it was good to acknowledge my mistake and the annoyance I was going to cause.
The other day I used a 3M Headlight Restoration Kit to polish the headlights on my car. It worked amazingly well:
I was thinking this might be a business opportunity. What if you restored peoples headlights while they were at work? The system is completely portable, so you could go to the parking lot. It would only take a few hundred in start up cost, and some savvey marketing. You could probably charge $30, and I think it would take around 20 minutes to do the whole process once you got good at it. You would have to factor in some travel time as well…and of course all the normal business expenses like insurance, replacing worn out gear, etc.
I’m not sure the status of micro finance in the United States, but it seems like the amount of money it takes to impact an individuals ability to generate wealth is much higher here then, say, on the African continent (this is pure speculation). A business like this could be funded through some sort of micro finance or peer to peer set up, and might be a viable option for somebody looking to start a low cost business.
So, I have been challenged. What is the single story I have in my mind about the poor? The Rich? Muslims? Artist, Hipsters, the young, the old, that guy who cut me off in traffic?
