Last Monday, The Coca-Cola Company announced that it would be killing off the consumer end of its corporate website and would be slowly working to do the same to its “press release PR.”
Can you find the Coke bottle?
In the place of these vehicles for the Coke message, they’re hoping their year-old online magazine Coca-Cola Journey will step in. Here’s what Director of Digital Communications and Social Media Ashley Brown says Coke learned after launching this social-driven twist on public relations:
Stories that are bright, fun, and brilliant are hits. Readers voted for more Coke-focused stories than un-branded content. They gravitated to stories that focused on Coke’s rich heritage, innovation, careers, and our marketing programs. Virtually all of our coverage of Coca-Cola’s business is a winner. Our readers turned out to be newshounds, travel buffs, photographers, cooking enthusiasts, technology early adopters, sports fans, and music lovers. They left us thousands of comments, and shared our stories tens of thousands of times. We are positively stunned that nearly two-thirds of them are under 34, and that millennials are our most engaged readers.
Last week, I interviewed Bruce Poon Tip, founder of travel company G Adventures and author of the new book Looptail: How One Company Changed the World By Reinventing Business (Business Plus, 2013).
Tip’s book is a deeply personal story of his long journey from fired McDonald’s employee to the founder of one of the most innovative travel companies of all time. The book is a New York Times best seller and is being lauded by CEOs and business thinkers across the board. And yet, the glowing forward to the book is written by none other than the Dalai Lama. I’m not sure many books can claim both those distinctions at once.
The interview itself was so interesting and wide-ranging that I thought I would give Book Scan readers a special sneak preview of the full article, which will appear in our Last Word section at REALTOR® Magazine online. So here are two questions from the interview that have a little more to do with the new book, though it’s clear the driving force behind Tip’s success is pretty uniformly inspiring across the board. And stay tuned for the full interview on REALTOR® Mag online very soon.
What advice do you have for real estate professionals who want to tell their company’s story with authenticity?
That’s a big part of leadership, and another part of my book. I’m trying not to shamelessly promote my book [laughs], but as you know, in the book I talk about how the best leaders of our time are always the best storytellers. For me, I’m laughing because I’ve spoken at all these literary festivals, but I’ve never fancied myself a writer by any stretch. But here I am, talking to you about a book I wrote. I’ve always said I’m a good storyteller, but that doesn’t mean you can write a good book. Continue reading »
I’ve been working on my review of Jay Baer’s Youtility: Why Smart Marketing is About Help, Not Hype (Portfolio/Penguin, 2013) for several weeks. It’s not that it’s overly long or difficult; really, my problem has been the opposite. It’s so packed with great anecdotes and insights that I’ve been slow to pick out just what I want to say about it.
Credit: Matt Brown
Enter Chris Nichols. Literally. Nichols walked into our offices last week as the guest editor for the September/October issue of REALTOR® Magazine, and he came in to share some thoughts about the upcoming publication and the real estate industry in general. And he turned out to be just the kick in the pants I needed to write up my thoughts on Baer’s book.
In addition to being active in real estate, Nichols is also running for mayor of Orem, Utah. As a result, he had some interesting thoughts on using social media to achieve marketing goals both from a political and business perspective. So it’s no wonder that when Jay Baer spoke at a real estate conference Nichols attended this year, he was pretty pumped about the author’s message.
See, Baer’s whole theory on social media marketing is that people are not going to listen to your messages unless they are useful to them personally. He suggests that companies package information in a way that consumers appreciate:
“What if you decided to inform, rather than promote?” Baer asks in his introduction. “If you sell something, you make a customer for today; if you help someone, you make a customer for life.” Continue reading »
OK, I realize it’s bowl season, so let’s just get this out in the open right now: I love watching football; I’m just not that into college ball.
Credit: Alfred Benway
Maybe it’s because during my undergraduate career I worked at a bar that was stumbling distance from a dry, but very popular football college stadium, whose team was mired in scandal that my tuition helped pay for.
Or maybe it’s the professionalism of NFL players, or the closer games, or the fact that I always seem to be busy on Saturdays. Regardless, I was a little worried I wouldn’t “get” Jeff Beals’ new book, Selling Saturdays: Blue Chip Sales Tips From College Football.
On the contrary, I really enjoyed learning more about college ball (without having to actually watch it). Beals’ first five chapters are almost exclusively stories from the gridiron and the recruitment trips that back it up.
While the stories are interesting, the initial advice Beals pulls from them lacks the specificity that leads to inspiration. “Adapting to unfamiliar surroundings” and “keeping up with the changing game” are vague action items that lack the “easy-to-implement sales and marketing techniques” Beals promises in his preface. Later in that same preface, Beals encourages readers to picture themselves in the situations he describes throughout the book and “imagine how the situation relates to the marketing and sales work you do.”
Wait. If coming up with my own brilliant analogies of how your sports stories relate to me is my job, I’d rather read a Vince Lombardi biography. Continue reading »
Are you sick and tired of the prima donna sales rep who cherry picks the best leads and leaves the hard work for someone else? Well, Marketo President and CEO Phil Fernandez suggests putting this supposedly bad behavior at the center of your revenue performance management process.
This bold idea is one of many in Fernandez’ new book, Revenue Disruption: Game-Changing Sales And Marketing Strategies To Accelerate Growth. In this excerpt, Fernandez explains how a simple shift can help marketing and sales teams work together to create a more efficient, cost-effective process that better reflects the new realities facing the modern sales team. Continue reading »
Real estate is experiencing an evolution where traditional marketing may no longer be effective. REALTOR® and first-time author Michael J. Maher sums up an emerging entrepreneurial philosophy as a move from the “ego era” to the “generosity generation.” Maher lays out this business and life strategy in (7L) The Seven Levels of Communication (AuthorHouse, 2010), a narrative-style novel telling the story of Rick Masters, a fictional salesperson who learns the transforming lessons of selflessness.
Maher spoke with the Weekly Book Scan to talk about 7L, the generosity generation, and the power of word-of-mouth.
Your book starts out with a very intense moment – your own cardiac arrest. How did that event motivate you to write this book?
Maher: Well there’s “motivation,” and then there’s “MOTIVATION” in all caps, bold letters, underlined and italics. There’s never a moment where you really see or think about your legacy more than when your mortality is in front of you.
My father passed away from cancer in 1992. I had the opportunity to hang out with him during the final three years of his life. I learned more in those three years than I had in the previous 19. He was the father of five, and also a coach and a teacher, so he was busy all of the time when I was younger. But at the end of those last three years, he said his one regret was that he had not written his memoirs. They would’ve been very powerful memoirs because he was a very influential and highly respected man in our community. I can just imagine reading those memoirs to my son Max. That thought crossed my mind as they were wheeling me to the surgery room to put in a temporary pace maker — that night in ICU I started writing. I just thought, I’ve got this information in my head, I’ve got this system that is producing business for me, and I need to share it.
Can you describe the main character, Rick Masters? Continue reading »
By Erica Christoffer, Multimedia Web Producer, REALTOR® Magazine
Make a New Year’s resolution to focus on social media platforms that work for you and your business. When I say work, I mean platforms that you’re comfortable using, enjoy updating, and that help you make authentic and meaningful connections with your sphere.
For author and communications coach Carmine Gallo, that platform would be foursquare.
Gallo became a believer when he was introduced to the app by his publisher about two years ago. Gallo has an insatiable interest in all things that improve communication. He’s also the author of The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs and The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs.
Gallo started using the foursquare while on a business trip in New York after a presentation in Hoboken, N.J. He was searching for a place to have dinner, so he opened foursquare to see if it could help. Just around the corner was a restaurant called the Energy Kitchen offering free coffee. “Foursquare opens up a whole new world for you because businesses are using this mobile medium to attract you with incentives,” he said. “I walked into Energy Kitchen — had never been there before, never heard of it before — and it was just fabulous!”
After traveling home to California, Gallo ended up calling the marketing director of Energy Kitchen to pick her brain, and it became the first interview for his book, The Power of foursquare: 7 Innovative Ways to Get Your Customers to Check In Wherever They Are, which was released in November.
When planning for the year ahead, Gallo says think mobile. Foursquare is a good place to start — especially if many of your clients are using foursquare, too.
Gallo chatted with the Weekly Book Scan to provide a window into his foursquare evangelism. Here’s what he had to say:
Can you explain how foursquare works? Continue reading »
By Erica Christoffer, Multimedia Web Producer, REALTOR® Magazine
The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Who, and, of course, the Grateful Dead. Classic bands that transcend time and genre; beloved far and wide by many.
How did they do it? How did they achieve and maintain such an inspiring level of success? There are many lessons these bands can teach real estate professionals and other entrepreneurs.
In the same vein and a great piggy-back to our video interview with “Come Together” author Richard Courtney, this short documentary features David Meerman Scott and Brian Halligan at the Gathering of the Vibes Festival last year. It offers a captivating (and musically delicious) inside look at their recent book “Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead.”
The Dead knew how to get in front of people, as is pointed out in the book and this short film. They toured nonstop throughout their career, reaching out to their fans, creating personal connections and lasting relationships. Plus, they had a recognizable brand that they stuck with. Sounds like key elements real estate practitioners can implement in their careers.
Check out the book, check out this video, and share your thoughts: How can you be more like the Grateful Dead of real estate?
Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead mini-documentary from David Meerman Scott on Vimeo.
By Erica Christoffer, Multimedia Web Producer, REALTOR® Magazine
“
Honesty is the best policy.” — An old saying that rings truer today in real estate than ever before.
REALTOR® and author Mario Jannatpour, a sales associate with RE/MAX Alliance in Louisville, Colo., is making honesty his mission in his recently-released second book, “The Honest Real Estate Agent: A Training Guide for a Successful First Year and Beyond as a Real Estate Agent.”
“Honesty is what our clients want today from us as REALTORS®,” says Jannatpour. “Combine honesty with knowledge, expertise and skills — this completes the profile.”
Jannatpour spoke with REALTOR® Magazine about his new book and the power of honesty in business:
Can you talk about the importance of honesty in agent-client relationships?
Jannatpour: In preparing to write this book, I did research on Twitter and Facebook. I spoke with people who were never my clients, asking them what they believed was most important when working with a REALTOR®. “Honesty” just kept coming up as an answer. It’s honesty in that you’re always doing the right thing for your clients, even maybe at the expense of killing a deal. You should always have the mindset, regardless of the deal, that you tell the truth because that’s what your clients need to know. Let them make the decision based on the information you present.
I’ve been in sales all my life and I’ve experienced situations where the sales professional holds back information. In real estate, you can’t do that. The house that people live in is the most important purchase of their lives.
How can real estate professionals break the stereotype of dishonesty?
Jannatpour: I actually have a chapter titled “I Hate Real Estate Agents.” That’s a thing we all deal with as REALTORS®, especially throughout the past decade in light of foreclosures, short sales, and the mortgage industry meltdown. Some real estate agents played a part in that, unfortunately. And we have an industry that includes a lot of people – over 1 million members of NAR – so there are going to be a few bad eggs. I think the way you counteract it as a real estate agent is by simply doing the opposite of the stereotype. Focus on the needs of your clients, be honest to them, and be honest to yourself. Some of my best clients are people who had bad experiences with other real estate agents in the past. When you show them you can do a good job and be honest, they really appreciate that.
What are some of the biggest mistakes new agents make? Continue reading »
The most popular marketing-related books this week from Amazon.com.
1. Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, Kindle Edition (MacMay, Apr 25, 2009) Originally published by The Ralston Society, 1937.
“Think and Grow Rich is a motivational book written by Napoleon Hill and inspired by a suggestion by Scottish-American billionaire Andrew Carnegie. It was published in 1937 during the Great Depression. At Andrew Carnegie’s bidding, Hill studied the characteristics of the high achievers from past and of his day and developed 15 “laws” of success intended to be applied by anybody to achieve success. Think and Grow Rich! condenses these laws further and provides the reader with 13 principles in the form of a philosophy of personal achievement.”
2. The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell, Paperback (Back Bay Books, Jan 7, 2002)
“The premise of this facile piece of pop sociology has built-in appeal: little changes can have big effects; when small numbers of people start behaving differently, that behavior can ripple outward until a critical mass or “tipping point” is reached, changing the world. Gladwell’s thesis that ideas, products, messages and behaviors “spread just like viruses do” remains a metaphor as he follows the growth of “word-of-mouth epidemics” triggered with the help of three pivotal types. These are Connectors, sociable personalities who bring people together; Mavens, who like to pass along knowledge; and Salesmen, adept at persuading the unenlightened. (Paul Revere, for example, was a Maven and a Connector). ” –Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information Inc. Continue reading »
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