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Knock, Knock, Knock!

January 15, 2010 By davidebowman 27 Comments

When you hear that bang on the door of life, it is important to check it out. Sure there are a fair share of times when you pull the door open to find nobody on the porch, but every now and again something special is waiting on the other side of the door. Why am I talking about doors? Well that is my not so subtle way of announcing that I am making a career change.

A few weeks ago, opportunity came knocking – actually it called my iphone. It was a call from a Walter Ohlmann, President and CEO of Penny / Ohlmann / Neiman, Inc. – an advertising agency based here in Dayton, Ohio. Turns out that Walter has been looking for someone to help him bring a more modern approach to their service offering. In particular, while the firm has a great depth of traditional public relations, strategic marketing and creative resources, they were looking for someone with experience in developing marketing strategies that incorporate the use new media and social technology. He had been given my name by a mutual friend, and out of the blue, gave me a call. (Knock, Knock, Knock)

After a few conversations, an offer was made, and I said yes. So, starting February 1st, 2010, I will take on the role of Chief Marketing Strategist at Penny / Ohlmann / Neiman, inc.

There are a number of reasons why I am excited about this opportunity. First, I am going to get to share my creativity, knowledge of marketing strategy, and passion for social technology with businesses in Dayton, Ohio and beyond. I have been exploring this area for some time now, and really look forward to delivering these services with the capabilities of an agency behind me.

Second, the fact that this will be a new service offering for Penny / Ohlmann / Neiman means that I will get to build the practice from the ground up. Make no mistake, this is going to be a big challenge. I realize that success will involve a great deal of work both internally and externally, but I know that I am up to the task. It is going be very rewarding to see this come to life over the coming year in the form of happy clients and a reinvigorated agency. We will practice what we preach, and our results will be testament to our understanding of what modern marketing is all about. We will face the same challenges our Clients face, and ultimately we will use passion, time, dedication and talent to steadily evolve into something remarkable.

Third, it is exciting to be a part of a company with such a rich history. Penny / Ohlmann / Neiman has been around for a long time. My job is to make sure the company is around a long time from now. The agency has a good reputation, exceptionally nice people, and has worked with just about every business in the Miami Valley at some point in time. The primary weakness that I heard when asking people about the firm was that they really needed to update their service offering. My hiring should send a strong signal of the intention to do just that. I plan to make the firm far more progressive in what it can offer to clients, while not losing site of the fundamental services that have made it successful. It is not about just slapping on some social media, but rather taking a modern view of what a marketing services firm can offer to Clients. Hopefully, my hiring is merely the first of many, as the agency adds Clients, services, and ultimately more people in the years to come.

I am also excited to be back with a company based in Dayton, Ohio. This is the place where I was born. Most of the professional connections and personal relationships I have are in this community. While I have done my best to maintain these relationships since departing for Cincinnati two years ago, it will be great to once again call Dayton my professional home. Cincinnati is amazing, but there is no place like home. It will be great to once again be able to get involved with projects, programs, and organizations that are working hard to make Dayton prosperous.

I am also looking forward to giving my friends at Hafenbrack, the talented folks at RealArt, my friend David at The Next Wave, and others around the city some friendly competition. They have set the bar pretty high, so I know I am going to need to bring my “A game” in order to succeed. Ultimately competition helps to drive innovation, so hopefully we all engage in what I like to call “coopetition.” I look forward to taking part in our collective success, and the collective success of our clients – the businesses and people of the Miami Valley.

There are a bunch of other reasons I could list, but you get the idea. It is a big change, and one that I am very excited about making.

As for my former employer, LÛCRUM, I want to thank the company for giving me so many opportunities to succeed. I have enjoyed my time with the firm, and was given the freedom to explore a lot of new marketing territory. I made so many friends, accomplished some great things, and enjoyed the ride thoroughly. With the new direction of the company focusing on delivering Business Intelligence, Data Warehousing, Data Visualization, and Data Strategy Services, I anticipate much success for the firm in the years ahead. I learned so much about the transformative capabilities of technology while at LÛCRUM, and I hope to apply that knowledge to drive success for Clients in my new role.

So in the coming days, I have a lot of loose ends to tie up, a lot of calls and emails to answer, a lot of updating to do, and a lot of preparation work to accomplish so that I can hit the ground running. Come February 1st, if you are looking for an innovative approach to marketing strategy, please contact me.

Finally thank you to my family and friends who have supported me over the years. Life is an adventure. Your love, kindness, and generosity have helped me to realize great success. Without such support this opportunity would not be possible. I hope to make you proud to be a part of it all.

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Get Brainwashed

January 14, 2010 By davidebowman Leave a Comment

Whether through his books, his blog, his speeches, or his actions Seth Godin seems to constantly inspire, challenge, and motivate me.  Demonstrating this ability once again, Seth has written Brainwashed – a brief and brilliant manifesto about overcoming fear, rethinking work, and living life.  It is free to download, takes under 5 minutes to read, and it might just change the way you think about your life.  Visit changethis.com (which Seth created in 2004) and download Brainwashed, or any of the other great manifestos on the site.  If you do download and read it, let me know what you think by leaving a comment.

P.S. The manifesto is a teaser to Seth’s next book, Lynchpin – which comes out on January 26th.  I can’t wait to talk about that soon.

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Snow Job

January 5, 2010 By davidebowman 2 Comments

I heard a great story by Jeff Brady on NPR while on the way home yesterday.  It was about the work of two researchers from Dartmouth who found it odd that ski resorts seemed to report more snowfall than surrounding areas and and steeper increases in snow amounts on weekends.  They also found that resorts close to major population centers exaggerated figures even more.  These scientists were skeptical about this “weekend snow” effect, and started collecting data about it.  Turns out that ski resorts were in fact inflating the snow fall amounts quite a bit, falsely using extra snowflakes as a marketing tactic to get people to come out and hit the slopes.

Michael Berry, President of the National Ski Areas Association, said that ski resorts had often been “optimistic” with their past reports.  However, he went on to say that this practice is quickly dying.  Why?  Two reasons  – the iphone (or any mobile device) and social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.  These tools and technologies are rendering snow reports obsolete, as users report conditions to their friends in real time.  The researchers stated that the number of exaggerated snow actually reports dropped off sharply with the release of numerous iphone apps enabling users to document conditions.  Mobile and social technologies are growing fast and empowering people to better understand the world.  Many of the techniques and tactics that “optimistic” marketers could get away with in the past, are now becoming problematic.  If you are not working on building trust as a core part of building your business, you are simply lying to yourself about your future prospects.

Berry had a great quote in the piece – one that transcends skiing.  “If you try and create a reality that you perceive to be the truth, it had better be consistent with the reality on the ground, because the consumer will remind you of it instantly.”

Service truly is the new marketing.  Every consumer is a researcher.  Every customer is a journalist.  Everyone is now what Mike Wallace or Consumer Reports once was – armed with flip cams, iphones, and 24 x 7 communication networks.  People trust the advice of their friends. so work hard to make friends, earn trust, and dazzle your customers.  Real people and their tweets, posts, and updates either represent your next great new ad campaign or a damaging expose on the truth about your company.

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2010 by the Numbers

January 1, 2010 By davidebowman 6 Comments

One of the best things I discovered in 2009 was Nike+. The ability of this tool to track and then present data about my running thoroughly captivates me.   It actually makes running interesting. How far? How fast? How often? How can I do better?  Every time I run, Nike+ is adding insight to all if these questions and more. So in 2010 not only will I be using Nike+ to help me train for my first full marathon; I am also going to copy the idea and start gathering data about other parts of my life as well.

Exercise:
I want to continue to exercise more in 2010.  2009 was a good start, but in 2010 I am going to push much harder.  There are 3 numerical goals that I am going to attempt to reach with regard to physical exercise.  They are doing 50,000 push-ups, 50,000 sit-ups, and running 1,000 miles.  That amounts to about 137 push-ups and sit-ups per day and about 2.8 miles per day.  I know that there will be days that I don’t exercise at all.  To compensate for this, my approach will be to do at least 200 push ups and sit ups daily, and running a minimum of 3 miles – allowing for the occasional off day.

I am going to track all of this activity by creating a form using Google docs.  I will put a link to the form in my gmail inbox using the quick links feature, and then complete it daily with all of my activity.  This information will then feed automatically into a spreadsheet where my results can be measured.

Can I do it?  As of right now, I have 49,800 push ups and sit ups to go, as well as 996.8 miles to run.  I also hope to do more yoga, weight training, bike riding, and just being more physically active overall.

I am not just going to track my exercise, there are other things I want to track as well.

Diet:
If I am going to take time to log information into a form, I might as well make it worth my while.  One of the things I want to track is what I eat and drink every day.  I am going to track what I eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, the number of  beers, sodas, coffees, and waters I drink, as well as any snacks that I much on throughout the day.  I am not looking to track everything precisely.  I am not concerned with capturing everything exactly.   What I want is to get a general idea  of what I am putting into my body, and gauge it against my overall health.  Perhaps I will find that I need to eat more fruit, drink less soda, or drink more beer.  It will be interesting to find out.

Sleep:
Sleep is important to health.  Everyone knows it.  I have never tracked exactly how much sleep I get every day, but I know it is not enough.  In 2010 I plan to roughly track when I go to sleep, when I wake up, and how soundly I was able to sleep.  If I stick with the exercise program, I have a bunch that sleep will not be a problem. My hope is to get at least 8 hours a day – hopefully this is more than a dream.

Television:
I watched less television in 2009 than in 2008, but still watched more than I needed to.  I am going to watch less television, especially mindless television in 2010.  I have no problem with tv, but sitcom re-runs and TMZ are doing nothing to enrich my life.  I like watching sports, and will continue to do so within reason.  Not having cable television helps to limit my choices.  I will also will continue to watch a lot of PBS, as it brings so much entertainment and education to my life.  I will also watch other select programs that I enjoy.  Still, I am going to be much more quick to hit the off button and find something else to do.  I don’t want my life story to be about me sitting around in a catatonic state staring off into the abyss.  I would rather do things.   I plan to track how many hours of television I watch, and plan to be stunned with how much of my life is still being wasted.

Reading:
One of the activities that add tremendous value to my life is reading.  I know it.  Still, as Goethe said “to know and not to do is not to know.”  Thus my goal is to spend over 5,000 minutes reading books in 2010.  If I  spend only 15 minutes a day reading, I will beat this goal by almost 500 minutes.  Hopefully I will be able to beat it by even more.  I know that I want to read at least 25 books on Creativity, and Seth Godin, Garr Reynolds, and Dan Pink all have new books either out or on the way.  To get all these books read is going to take effort.  I am certain that I am up to the task.

Writing:
In 2010 I want to write 150 blog posts.  That amounts to about 3 posts per week.  These posts will force me to write and will also include more podcasts, videos, and photos too.  I look forward to applying my creativity and creating some interesting content for those of you who are kind enough to spend time visiting my site.

2010 is going to be a great year.  I have a lot to accomplish, and a lot to track.  I will keep you posted on my progress.  Wish me luck.  Happy New Year!

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Social Media In Crisis

December 4, 2009 By davidebowman 1 Comment

Yesterday I was asked by my friend and former colleague Natasha Baker to help with a video project for Sinclair Community College.  I was interviewed and the video will be used with videos of other respondents in an upcoming presentation to academic leaders from around the country.   I was asked to answer a question about the role of social media in academic institutions, particularly in crisis situations.   While this is not precisely what I said (I was speaking extemporaneously yesterday, and did not take notes) it is very close.

Social media can be extremely important in managing crisis situations.  There are several ways in which it can improve an academic institution’s ability to better understand situations, communicate information, and manage unplanned challenges associated with crisis situations.  Here are some of the ways that social media can be useful.

Awareness
Part of managing a crisis well involves having knowledge that something is happening early on.  With news increasingly breaking through social media channels like Facebook and Twitter, (Jet Airplane landing in Hudson River, Earthquake in China, etc…) monitoring social media channels for relevant conversations is critical.  Colleges and universities should consider monitoring the social web as a full time job, so that when a problem arises, the institution is able to identify a problem quickly and respond to it properly.  Using simple tools like google alerts, twitter search, google blog search, google news, igoogle, and google reader can help these institutions to stay informed about breaking news and emerging crisis situations.

Distribution
Once aware that something is happening, it is important for institutions to assess the situation and then to distribute important information.  Social media makes it possible for institutions to distribute this information immediately, without having to rely completely on traditional broadcast sources to disseminate the details.  Certainly broadcast media is still helpful in getting the word out, but no more do institutions have to rely on news cycles and broadcast schedules to notify the public of a crisis.  Another key is in the fact that in social media platforms members can play the role of both receiver and transmitter.  Because of this, messages can spread more quickly, and can be tracked as they move across the social web.  It is possible to follow the conversation as it evolves, discover who is receiving information, and who is sharing that information with others.  Additionally, it is extremely simple to set up web pages to answer common questions, post links to important information, and notify people as the crisis situation changes.

Feedback

Because social media enables much of the conversation on any topic to be tracked, it is possible to see who is getting the message.  It is also possible to see who is only getting parts of the message or misinterpreting the situation entirely.  In these cases, institutions can use social channels to address misinformation both directly and indirectly.  Predicated on trust, this ability to engage in the conversation and understand public perception is a vital part in keeping a crisis situation under control.

Continued communication
As a crisis situation changes, the plans for response change.  The ability to continually communicate a clear plan of action is vital to managing a crisis situation properly.   Social media enables this, not just during the crisis itself, but also in the time following the crisis.  Once the television cameras and reporters have left, there are still people who want answers.  Social media can better equip an institution to continue the conversation if necessary, address public concerns, and restore a sense of trust and order.

Conclusion
Crisis situations can never be completely avoided, but social media can help institutions to manage them much more effectively.  Social media should play a central role in how colleges, businesses, and even individuals manage these situations.  This technology offers an unfiltered, accessible, direct and fluid channel for communicating important facts and gathering relevant feedback.  Increasingly people are turning to social media as a means of entertainment, information, and communication.  As this becomes the norm, it is important to get a grasp on how social media works, build a trusted network of friends and followers, and know how to use these tools before a crisis situation takes place.

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Trick or Treat

October 30, 2009 By davidebowman Leave a Comment

photoWith Halloween just one day away, Trick or Treat is definitely on the brain.  So in the spirit of the season ask yourself this question.  Metaphorically speaking, what are you giving your customers these days? Tricks or Treats?  If you are offering treats, are they like those old, stale, home-made popcorn balls or are they delicious, sugary surprises.  Do you know who is allergic to what?  Do you know who likes chocolate and who likes sweet-tarts?  Technology combined with a little inquiry and a lot of listening can enable you to have the ability to hand out precisely the candy your customers want.  Don’t let your business be remembered for handing out junk that nobody wants, be that house that everyone talks about.  Know your customers and give them what they want – word will spread and the people will beat a path to your door.  Happy Halloween.

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Summing Up SummitUp

October 21, 2009 By davidebowman 6 Comments

Two Thumbs UpYesterday I got to celebrate my birthday by having my very own social media conference – SummitUp.  I highly recommend this as a way to celebrate your next birthday.  (actually this was purely coincidence, but a nice one none the less.)  The day was simply amazing.  To give you an idea of how well things went, at least from my perspective, my biggest gripe for the day was that the coffee cups were roughly the size of shot glasses.  Now, 15 years ago shot glasses would have been a big part of my celebration at the very same Wright State University where the event was held, but now I am older, wiser, and much more dependent on caffeine.  Next year I am voting for 64 oz tumblers for the coffee.  Still, the fact that I am yammering about something as trivial as small coffee cups is a great sign that the important parts of the day went very well.  What was so great about it you ask?  Well here is my little highlight reel from the day:

  • Kevin Dugan – This guy is a pro.  His great intro video did not load, no problem.  I have seen more than one presenter implode from such an event.  Not Kevin.  He simply laughed it off and went on to deliver an amazing presentation on the importance of story-telling in our digitally enabled world.  He covered topics like the role of earned and paid media, the importance combining fact with emotion, and the important role that stories play to humanity.   He went on to provide specific examples of companies doing this, including Union Terminal in Cincinnati, Sharpie, Starbucks, The United Way, and Best Buy.  He then closed with 12 action steps that anyone could use to apply the concept of story telling to social media.  This was a perfect lead in for the stories that would be told throughout the remainder of the day.
  • Artie Isaac -  Following Kevin Dugan is not an easy task, but one that Artie Isaac did masterfully.  In fact, Artie customized his opening slide on the fly to incorporate Kevin’s presentation as a set up for his own.  (They both cited Charles Dickens as well, which I did not know until today after viewing Kevin’s video.)  The presentations dove-tailed into one another perfectly with Kevin articulating the importance of story-telling and Artie then talking about how to use creativity to tell those stories.  Artie may have stolen the show for the whole day.  He addressed the need for us produce higher quality content by more frequently exercising our creativity.  His presentation had the audience laughing out loud and thinking deeply at the same time.  He is simply a masterful presenter – using a combination of great timing, compelling use of visuals, wonderful humor, simple advice, and rich wisdom to captivate 275 people for an hour of time.    Among Artie’s suggestions were, get sleep, breathe, feed the “creative pet”, make a to-don’t list to go with your to-do list, turn off the television, explore new domains of knowledge, know the difference between message and medium, understand generosity yields creativity, and make time for the things that are important to you.
  • Breakout Sessions – Because I was only able to attend part of one breakout due to emceeing and presenting duties, I have less to offer in the way of reviews in this area.  I saw about 1/2 of Brian LeCount’s presentation on blogging, and loved it.  He spoke of the important role that blogs play relative to search, and backed it up with tons of data points.  Well done Brian. That said, I would love to have some reviews of the break-outs.  If you attended SummitUp and went to the break-outs, share your reviews in the comments section.  From the feedback I got, people really loved all of them.  Thank you to Lara Kretler, Roger Bora & Kerianne Acra, Brian LeCount, David Esrati, Debba Haupert, Kendra Ramirez,  Ali Margello, Jennifer McClure, & Steve Phillips for offering up your time and talent.
  • Bob Garfield – Bob was provocative, insightful, snarky, and funny.  Admittedly I am not someone who is easily offended.  I did hear people express some dislike with some of the verbiage Bob used and slides he presented, but to me, it was spot on, funny, and relevant.  It wasn’t as if he was on stage doing an Andrew Dice Clay routine.  He was simply pushing the envelope a little to make a point – like putting a little Tabasco on eggs.  Overall, I felt he did a great job of framing up the dilemma facing marketing professionals today as a result of the collapse of old media channels.  They say that no one wants to be the bearer of bad news, but I thought Bob did a nice job filling such a role.  I also agreed with his prescription for solving the problem, which was rooted in doing a better job of listening to customers.   I am excited to read his book, The Chaos Scenario, and will be happy to accept his challenge to talk more about it in the future.
  • Lewis Howes – Lewis had fun presenting, and I had fun watching him.  He started his presentation by telling a story about his experience pole-vaulting in the decathlon in college for the chance to become an All American athelete.  He was totally into the story, and used it as a way to set up the idea of pushing yourself to do what it takes to realize your dreams.  He then went on to offer up some great suggestions on how to maximize the results you get through using LinkedIn.  He spent a good amount of time speaking about the ability to be found when someone searches for keywords or topics on the site – an SEO style approach that I have not heard before with regard to LinkedIn.  He offered up some very useful information in a very entertaining way – and did so coming off of a  wicked illness.  I picked up a number of tactical tips that I am going to incorporate into improving my LinkedIn profile.
  • Chris Brogan – Awesome!  Just Awesome!  In the same way that Kevin and Artie worked so well together, Bob Garfield and Chris Brogan seemed to be perfectly paired.  Bob’s presentation on the demise of the old way of doing business was the perfect lead in to Chris’ advice about the new way.  It was sort of like boot camp.  Bob broke us down, and then Chris built us back up anew.  Chris did not use any slides, but rather just hit go, started in, and occasionally referred to a little moleskine cahier notebook with “6 point font” scribblings to guide the show.  He opened with a story about a Japanese swordsman (whose name I will not attempt) and the need for experimentation and change relative to survival.  He spoke passionately from the heart about the importance of trust in a digitally networked world.  He talked about making your own game, and not waiting around for someone to save you.  He went on to discuss the fallacy of security, the resistance people have about change, and the difference between an audience and a community.  Chris was captivating throughout.  I must have written down 15 pages of notes and ideas from his presentation, all of which will likely surface here and elsewhere in the coming weeks.  I can’t imagine a better way to complete the day, than with Chris just bringing it for 90 minutes.  My thanks to him for closing the day out strong.

I can’t say enough about the many people who helped put SummitUp together and make the day run so smoothly.  It seemed like I got a lot of credit for work that a whole lot of other people did, so let me pass that on with my sincere thanks to planners, volunteers, promoters, sponsors, speakers and attendees.  You had everything to do with the event being so much fun.  I was just along for the ride.

Even better than SummitUp, was the fact that when I got home shortly afterward, I was greeted by my loving family who surprised me with a great dinner and the gift of a brand new bass guitar for my birthday.  Not only did SummitUp rock, but now I am more enabled to do the same.  (Condolences in advance to my neighbors.)

Again, thank you to all who made yesterday so much fun.  The happy birthday song was the icing on the cupcake.

What did you think of the event?

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