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Blog Blip: Newsreader Showdown

More about RSS and Newsreaders? You bet. Why? Newsreaders…

• …help you learn new things, fast
• …save you time - feeding you information that you would never search for regularly
• …give you something to do when you have 5 minutes of time and can’t start a bigger project
• …allow you to ‘tag’ articles your way, for future searches
  
• …allow you to share articles with others, and read what others share
• …stimulate your mind in ways nothing else can
• …act as a holding bin for great ideas, without bogging you down with ‘projectitis’

What do I mean by that last remark? Well, I personally tend to take too many notes about ideas I have. Instead of creating a project folder for it, or building up a billion bookmarks, or printing out a bunch of information, I do a little searching on the web, find 1-3 RSS or blog sites that talk about my idea, then subscribe to them.

Case in point: I hate cables and wires running through my house or behind my technology. Doing a bit of searching I found a great website called Unclutterer, which has golden little tidbits of information on house improvements, mind hacks, etc.

After a while, I found this article in my newsreader inbox: Ask Unclutterer: Cable clutter and wall-mounted televisions. HOW COOL IS THAT? A couple of things to note:

• I spent no time searching for the article - it just magically appeared in my newsreader inbox
• I now get great tips about other uncluttering concepts
• I can find the article in the future very easily, share the article with others, etc. etc.
• I can relax with the knowledge that I haven’t lost another article

Now what?

Your next step is to find a newsreader that works for you. There are many, but I did find a great article called The Web-Based vs. Desktop-Based Newsreader Showdown, which you should now go to.

My job is done, here. Keep on truckin!

Gregory

LinkedIn Traffic Continues to Grow

Have a LinkedIn account already? Then review it, why don’t you. On LinkedIn, 6.3 million unique visits in December 2008 rocketed to 7.7 million in January 2009—driving up the average time on site by over 100%.

Read original article

LinkedIn continues to grow as THE tool for savvy business folk, because getting a good reference - whether looking for a job or trying to find your next programmer - is a powerful filtering tool in the fight against mediocre service professionals. And who wants to spend money on someone that won’t perform to your expectations?

If you’re more job hunting focused, LinkedIn is being used more than ever before. So if you’re job hunting, get to it!

- The Guru

p.s. link to me on LinkedIn

Every Individual Is Now An Entrepreneur

Funny how life goes round and round. Apparently, there are no employees anymore.

Reid Hoffman is the Chairman and CEO of LinkedIn.com, one of the most popular sites on the planet. He says that everyone is now an entrepreneur, whether you work for someone else or for yourself.

Why? Well, for one, the average employment length is not 2-4 years, depending upon who you talk to. But the point is social networking is becoming the new way to improve your life, even to survive.

Google is your new Watercooler

Tons of new tools coming out for Google.

One of the things that Google is really focusing is on the ability to share - photos, articles, news, questionnaires, files - it’s all there, in various products being developed by Google. If you already have a Gmail account, you already have access to many of these features.

Here are some highlights:

1. Photos with Picasa - manage both your images on your computer and online - and then share photo albums with groups of friends, colleagues, or family, or the world
2. Documents and files with Google Docs - now with the ability to create very easy forms for polling data. This has a myriad of uses. Need to get the opinion of a dozen or so colleages quickly? Create the form, then broadcast the form through your Gmail account
3. Manage your work and play schedule with Google Calendar -  you probably know this one already, but Calendar is evolving - and gaining speed. Share a calendar with a group of people, set permissions to view, edit, anything - then post that calendar on any HTML file you have. GCalendar also has syncing functions with many popular PIMs.
4. Collaborate with Google Groups - want to collaborate faster than ever before? Groups is the tool, and will allow you to upload files, broadcast post to interest groups, and search for other Groups to join.

Start sharing for free!

- The Guru

Branding 101, Part 2: Build Your Blocks

Let’s start building brand!

Part 2 of Branding 101 will show you the structure of how to build your brand.

So, what is necessary to build your brand? Is it awareness alone? No. The full spectrum of brand is far beyond initial consideration of ‘your brand over another’. It’s making your customers come to you through an emotional connection. These are the four steps, or blocks, of brand insistence:

1. Purchase consideration
2. Brand preference
3. Brand purchase
4. Brand loyalty

Having your brand considered is good, but you have to make your customers prefer your brand for some reason, they have to purchase the brand, and they ultimately have to be loyal to your brand. The last block, loyalty, creates buzz and word-of-mouth power, and that’s where the real money is. Let’s look at 8 major points that all successful brands have in common:

1. Brands promise customers something; a better life, a closer shave, peace of mind, etc.
2. Brands have consistent presentation. Therefore, identifying the brand is easy
3. Brands are owned by customers, but also by communities (this type of person uses that brand)
4. Your brand is different from other brands, and that can be identified easily- the color, the shape, or how it’s better than other brands.
5. Brands target specific customers - know your demographic, then sell to them, not everyone
6. Brands exceed expectations - if your product does not satisfy, why would your customer continue to use it?
7. A brand invokes an emotion - feelings of safety, satisfaction, power, etc.
8. Brands are avatars of companies, they serve the place of a relationship. You don’t know anyone from Schick, but you buy their razors and can identify strong points about the brand. The Mach III: POWERFUL SHAVING DEVICE. This is also why brands are often characters, like KFC’s The Colonel.

Your Homework:

Let’s return to the four blocks. Now, consider how your brand is viewed in relationship to these points, write them down:

1. Purchase consideration - can they find your brand? Is it along side other inferior brands, physically (product placement)? Can you associate more popular brands with your brand, and beat them through comparison?
2. Brand preference - why will they ultimately prefer your brand instead of someone other company product?
3. Brand purchase - how do you establish a buying pattern with your brand? Renewal is easy and value understood? Can order online quickly? Discounts for volume?
4. Brand loyalty - how will your customers ultimately explain your brand to others? What are the reasons they will continue to use your brand? They’re the same thing.

Next time: Common branding problems!

- The Guru

Branding 101, Part 1

You’ve all heard of branding, and kinda know what it is. But how can it help you? The question is: how can’t it help you?

This will be a five-part article explaining the basics of branding, and how you can start thinking about branding your product (and yourself) that rings out clear to potential customers. It will also help you start thinking of your intellectual property in new, exciting ways.

Part 1: Why Branding is Good, and Branding Insistence.

What is branding? At its roots, branding is nothing more than defining a clear message that allows…

1. You, the company, to take control of what you sell
2. Your brand to be associated with particular emotions, such as trust or value
3. Your product to be instantly recognized and defined
4. Your brand to virally passed (and that’s a good thing) from person to person, efficiently

Branding can be thought of the ultimate stamp of approval; a product that can be recognized by all with immediately understood benefits. Branding is not everything, it’s the only thing.

Brand Insistence

So, how do you build brand? Review these 5 brand insistence points and then ponder:

1. Emotional Connection: Does it convey, at a gut level, what your brand is about?
2. Value: Is the perception of value strong?
3. Accessibility: Is it convenient to use? Convenient to explain?
4. Awareness: Does the perfect customer think of your brand first?
5. Relevant Differentiation: HOW IS YOUR BRAND DIFFERENT THAN YOUR COMPETITORS?

Brand Insistence: Build the emotional connection.

There are many metrics you can use for branding, but those are the most practical ones. That’s enough for you now. But let’s give you some fun homework….

• Can you identify your brand on everything you send out - email, packaging, how people explain it’s benefits?
• Do you have a tagline for your brand? “BRAND X: A powerful tool in your marketing arsenal.”
• If you take ten people, would they, in one sentence or less, be able to sum up your product or service to others?

More soon!

- The Guru