Linking Up with LinkedIn Dayton

Today I was given the distinct honor of addressing the LinkedIn Dayton networking group at Champps in Centerville, Ohio on the topic of leveraging web based tools to build your personal brand.  I want to thank everyone who attended the event.  I hope you found it to be fun and informative. I know that I had a blast and made a number of professional connections in the process.

I was given this opportunity by responding to a call for speakers put out by Joe Durbin and Michael Morley, who organize much of the LinkedIn Dayton group’s actual face to face meetings.  This was the first breakfast meeting, and they sent out an email request for speakers, which I responded to immediately.  I thank them for allowing me to be the first, and hopefully not the last, speaker.

As for the content of the presentation, I offered my 2 cents on how to leverage the emerging web to build your brand and further your career.  I talked about my recent job changes, and the valuable lessons I learned about the importance of both knowing people, and more importantly, being known.  I have given similar presentations before, but have never related the personal history of how I even got into blogging and social networking relative to the crazy events of my life.

My message in a nutshell was this.  We live in a new age.  40 Years of “doing good work and getting a gold watch at the end” are done.  You have to take ownership of your life and your career.  Building a network plays a huge role in determining your ability to control your future.  This applies to all areas of life, not just finance.  The web makes it easier and more affordable to build your brand, and to leverage your strengths to create your future career.

I spoke about how individuals can leverage everything from Microblogs like Twitter and Plurk, to Blogs using Wordpress, Podcasts, Squidoo, Social Networks, and other free and easy tools to join the conversation and establish an area of expertise.  I tried to deliver enough explantion of these tools to make them understandable, without being too technical in how they work.  We discussed numerous ways to utilize LinkedIn, beyond just an online repository for contact information.  (Research Database, Employment Tool, Sales Information, Communication Vehicle, Information Source) In summary, it was a high level overview of a broad swath of web 2.0 tools that can benefit those who seek to leverage the web as a personal branding tool.

Blogging and social media have changed my life in so many ways.  They led me to my current job at LUCRUM - where we use blogs, social networks, wikis, and podcasts to build the company both internally and externally.  They have generated countless connections with other people around the globe, and put me in touch with some of the most brilliant minds on the planet.  I love what I do, and I am delighted that I not only get to do it, but that people are interested in hearing me talk about it too.

Thanks again to all who came to the event today.  If you have questions about anything I covered, or did not cover, in my presentation.  Please drop me a note.  I am happy to help in any way that I can.  I look forward to the next LinkedIn Breakfast, where I will get to eat, socialize, and enjoy watching the speaker.

David E. Bowman - LinkedIn

Voices Episode 4: Jimmy Vee and Travis Miller

Gravitational Marketing: It Ain’t heavy, It’s Just My Podcast.

Yesterday, May 20th, 2008, I had the opportunity to spend an hour talking to Jimmy Vee and Travis Miller - authors of the newly released book Gravitational Marketing. Jimmy and Travis found me through the Physics of Marketing posts series, and thought that it tied in well with their book. Thus, they asked if I would be interested in hosting a podcast to talk about Gravitational Marketing. I jumped at the chance, and I am glad I chose to do so. The experience was wonderful. I got to read a great new book. I learned more about smart ways to attract new customers. And, I made a new connection with a couple really smart, interesting, and all around great people.

About the book…

Gravitational Marketing is an easy read, and well worth the price. I knocked it out in under 2 hours, and must say that I picked up dozens of great ideas. The first half of the book is a discussion of Gravitational Marketing as a philosophy. They look at common misconceptions people have about marketing and attracting customers. Here are some key takeaways from the first half of the book.

• There are 3 key rings that create successful marketing. Market, Message, and Media. For marketing campaigns to be successful these elements must work together.
• The process of gravitational marketing is broken down into 4 key components - Gravitate, Captivate, Invigorate, Motivate
• To be worthy of attraction, or sensational, a business should be: interested, unique, fun, visible, credible, and spreadable
• Become an expert at something
• People buy because of a perceived high return on investment, emotional benefits, or believability, not because of chance, price, or advertising
• great marketing, effective marketing that yields results, does not have to be expensive and does not require an ad agency

So, if the first half of the book is the “What and Why” portion of the program, the second half is “How to” part. Jimmy and Travis offer 36 easy techniques to attract customers. From direct mail to radio, social networks, to networking, presentations to print, these guys cover the bases of what it takes to bring in the business. There are dozens of links to various vendors and industry experts and real world example of tips and tool that you can immediately put to use.
Please take a listen to the podcast, and let me know your thoughts. I would encourage you to check out Travis and Jimmy’s web site, and pick up a copy of Gravitational Marketing.

Here is a link to the podcast Voices Episode 4

LinkedIn - Sales, Market Research… and Networking tool

Many people think of LinkedIn.com as sort of an Online Rolodex. Others might describe it as MySpace for business people or Facebook all grown up. While these descriptions are accurate on some levels, they are not painting the complete picture of what LinkedIn can offer to business professionals. There are numerous uses for the site that go far beyond basic networking and contact management. Notably, the site is a great tool for Sales Professionals and Market Research. I got the opportunity to present this concept to the Dayton Service Marketing Professionals group today at a meeting which was hosted downtown at Brady Ware. It was an excellent discussion, and I think people found it to be informative. I wanted to share a little of what we discussed here in this post.

First, LinkedIn is just as much “Google” as it is “Outlook”. What does that mean? Well, it seems to me that most users of the site typically think of it as online contact management - which in and of itself has huge value. I use the brand names to illustrate that idea. However, I am here to tell you that if that is all you are using the site for, you are missing out on a wealth of information - free information. LinkedIn is a rich and dynamic database, which can be searched, mined, and yield insightful and useful information to you and your business. It is a goldmine of marketing information, all of which is just a search or two away from you.

With over 20 million users, the site has information about companies large and small. Who is growing, who is shrinking, who is looking for help? All important information for sales and marketing professionals. You can determine quite a bit about a company and its future plans by simply looking at who is adding people and examining the skills they possess. It is all right there for you to view.

How else can LinkedIn help you get the cash register ringing? As a sales rep, the worst thing in the world is having to talk about “The fish on the wall” at your initial meeting with a prospective Client. Still, good sales people know the importance of building rapport, and engaging the prospect in a dialog about something other than business. “Get them to like you,” is often how this is described, and it is 90% of selling. It is also damn hard, which is why people get stuck on “hey, where did you catch that fish?” Pretty lame. Enter LinkedIn. If someone has a profile on LinkedIn, you can find out where they have worked, where they went to school, clubs and social groups they are engaged in, who they know, and who you know that they know. All potential conversation starters. Better yet, if you have a common connection, you can make a call prior to the sales meeting to do some research in advance of your meeting. This could create a very memorable first impression. For example, say you discover that your prospect is from Urbana, Ohio. You could bring along a bag of Mumford’s Potato Chips as a small but thoughtful gift. Your friend might inform you that this person is on a heart smart diet, in which case you might want to opt for some strawberries from Michael’s Berry Farm - an equally thoughtful, and slightly healthier idea. These are the silly little things that might just make the difference in getting the business. They might also get your name mentioned to others - an added bonus. This was an especially appealing idea for using this tool in a room full of marketing professionals who work primarily in the heavily regulated industries of accounting, law, and wealth management. Great actions are often easier to pull off in these industries that are great brochures and web sites. In the end, thoughtful gestures are more effective anyway.

Yes, LinkedIn is a powerful networking tool. You probably already know that. Still think about it a little differently, and possibilities begin to emerge for its potential. I will post more on this later this week. Are you using LinkedIn? How?

Be Prepared to Sell Me Something

As a loyal Target customer, there is one thing that consistently frustrates me about the shopping experience - the consistent lack of readiness. When the doors are opened, the place should be fully stocked and ready to make money. Alas, almost every time I visit a Target store, at least one of the aisles is blocked by someone or something associated with re-stocking the shelves. Usually, there is nobody around to help, and I leave scratching my head as to how this is so. Why can’t stocking shelves be done at night or early in the morning? Just this past weekend, my family and I were at a Target store shopping for groceries, diapers, clothes, and other assorted items, when we came upon an aisle that was totally blocked. No one was around to move the slew of items blocking our path and blocking merchandise that we might have been interested in buying. Thus, we took the long way around, never to return to that section of the store. If this were an isolated incident, I would just brush it off, but it happens with such regularity, that I thought I should say something. I hope that this post finds its way to someone at Target who can do something to change this, as I think it would be a real improvement and ultimately lead to more sales for one of my favorite retailers. Please. Restock your inventory while you are closed. When you open your doors, be ready to sell me something. I came there to buy your goods, so make that process easy. If, due to unanticipated demand, you are forced to restock while there are customers in the store, please make sure that people are actually stocking shelves, and not just abandoning blocking your aisles with abandoned carts and pallets. I like shopping at Target. I spend a lot of time and money there. Please, make it easier for me to continue doing so.

The March Madness Myth

I recently read in the Dayton Business Journal that according to a recent study conducted by a Chicago based consulting firm, March Madness costs companies$1.7 Billion. Really? Does anyone really believe this to be the case. I don’t. I suppose if we all still worked on assembly lines, and then spent the day mindlessly consuming basketball instead of building widgets, this would perhaps be accurate. However, the assumption that we are still a mindless drones who would otherwise come to work, not talk about life with co-workers, and otherwise not have fun at work seems dated and flawed to me. Is March Madness a distraction? Potentially. Is it any more of a time waster than the 500 meetings you may have to sit through? Doubtful. Does it give employees something to talk about, share with one another, and potentially connect on level deeper than a shared source for a paycheck. Absolutely. March Madness, Brackets, and the fun that surrounds them are perfect for conversation - not just between employees but with Clients and strangers too. March Madness is an opportunity to connect. I wonder if that study considers just how many sales reps led off appointments this week with the question “how did your brackets hold up the weekend?” That question generally sparks discussion which builds rapport and potentially trust. People buy from people they know, like, and trust. Do the math. Is this part of the non-productive time cited in the study? For 16 days March Madness very effectively replaces discussion of “the weather,” at a time when the weather is actually interesting. Sure, people might be less productive in cranking out widgets while their favorite team or alma matter is on the court, but I want to see the study that shows how much business is helped, not hindered, by March Madness. What do you think? Is March Madness good or bad for businesses?

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March Madness to cost companies $1.7B - Dayton Business Journal:

Voices Episode 3 - Rod Sommer

One of the sharpest practitioners of marketing I know is Rod Sommer, a partner with LJB Inc - an architectural, engineering, consulting firm headquartered in Dayton, Ohio. Rod has a no nonsense approach to marketing. He defines his philosophy as attraction based marketing. He combines an open mind about technology and its potential with a critical eye on the goal of facilitating growth through person to person contact. Rod believes that while the tools have changed over time, the fundamental principles that drive sales remain consistent. People buy from people they trust, respect, and like. Technology should serve to further this as opposed to “getting in the way.” Rod also runs the sales organization for LJB, and he has a very unique approach to sales. No salespeople. How is that for innovative? Rod also serves as the chair for LJB University, the firm’s employee development and continuing education organization. Rod talks about why employee development is so critical, especially to his business. Additionally, Rod discusses his love for public broadcasting, Marshall Goldsmith, the daily commute, UD, and personal productivity. If you are a salesperson, marketer, or are involved in business to business services in any way, take 20 minutes and listen to what Rod has to say. I know I learned a lot from listening to him, and I bet that you will too. Thanks to Rod Sommer for taking the time to speak to me. I hope you enjoy this latest edition of voices - recorded entirely on my new MacBook Pro, which cut the process down by 80%. To say I am a convert would be an enormous understatement.

LJB Inc - Innovative Facility and Infrastructure Design