What Does Pixar Know About Simple, Compelling Storytelling that Most Marketers, Advertisers, and Brands Don't?
A Lot! But, Skype and Google are Damn Good Pixar Storytelling Students Based on Their Viral Reunion Videos. Skype and Google recently published these two (2) brilliant, moving, and emotional stories on their respective YouTube Channels:
Which Pixar Storytelling Rules Do You Recognize in the Skype and #googlereunion Videos?
Let's compare notes. I see:
Rule #1: You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.
Rule #2:You gotta keep in mind what's interesting to you as an audience, not what's fun to do as a writer. They can be very different.
Rule #4: Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day, ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally, ___.
Rule #5:Simplify. Focus. Combine characters. Hop over detours. You'll feel like you're losing valuable stuff but it sets you free.
Rule #6:What is your character good at, comforatable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?
Rule #7: Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard. Get yours working up front.
Rule #13:Give your characters opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likeable as you write, but it's poison to the audience.
Rule #14: Why must you tell THIS story. What's the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? That's the heart of it?
Rule #15: If you were your character, in this situation, how would you feel? Honesty leads credibility to unbelieveable situations.
Rule #16:What are the stakes? Give us reason to root for the character. What if they don't succeed, stack the odds agains.
Rule #21: You gotta identify with your situation/characters can't just write 'cool'? What would make YOU act that way?
Rule #22:What's the essence of your story? Most economical telling of it? If you know that, you can build out from there.
The Art of the Pitch: Simple and Economic Equals Competitive Advantage
I, Marketers, Advertisers and Brands Fail 95% of the Time on Simplicity. Rules #5 and #22 are highlighted for a reason because I believe "simple" is a MASSIVE Differentiator.
Listen to Mitch Joel and Peter Coughter's Conversation and Invest in Art of The Pitch. If you're in the business of selling ideas (as I am), your career depends on reading/studying The Art of the Pitch. I'd selfishly prefer others in the professional services industry don't read Peter's book.
Why? I want the competitive advantages he teaches all to myself.
Peter Mentions "Simple" or "Simplicity" in The Art of the Pitch Almost 30 times. Here are key quotes reinforcing the importance of "simple":
(page 133) "Simplicity is what we seek. In the visual as well as the oral expression of our ideas."
(page 157) "Your presentation should be so simple that you can boil it down to just a few sentences. And notice that I said simple, not simplistic."
(page 32) "The audience's ability to assimilate and retain information is limited. You're only going to be able to make two or three kepy points. So make them and make them memorable. You need to this in as simple, spare and elegant a way as possible."
"As my buddy Tim Washer and I espouse, the number-one rule for video is to Keep It Tight. In other words, respect the audience’s time, and don’t expect them to invest more than 60 to 90 seconds in your online video."
"But in the case of this particular video, the story of Sarah and Paige was so compelling that I sat through the whole three minutes of it."
"As you know, an Internet minute is like a dog year… so a 3-minute video is really seven times as long."
The filmakers captured the essence of that complex, historical context simply. Understanding the context of that history lesson is one of many reasons why we root for and identify with the #googlereunion characters.
"If we don't make you cry, we fail. It's about emotion,which is bizarre for a tech company."
Emotional Connection. If Skype and Google continue creating and publishing these compelling, simple stories, we'll watch them. These brands may even earn our long-term trust about the roles they play in our everyday lives.
Writing to summarize results and convey information
Writing to communicate ideas or explain informaton clearly
Incorporating information to develop strategic insights
57 Resources to Land that First Marketing Job
There's Hope, If You're Willing to Put in the Work. These various resources are categorized to aid recent college graduates who majored in marketing and communications (or current students majoring in these fields) during their full-time job search (or an internship search for current students).
These resources (along with resources from previous posts in this series) can give recent graduates ideas, strategies, and tactics providing a competitive advantage not only in the job search but also in developing several of the requisite skills and knowledge employers say recent graduates lack.
The categories are listed below with a make-shift table of contents:
Resource 1: Your Online Portfolio, Evan Kirsch and FolioMatch.com
Resources 2 – 9: Resources / Ideas from Tom Peters, Seth Godin, Mitch Joel, and David Meerman Scott
Resources 10 – 18: Career Success Ideas from Dan Schawbel for Young People and Millenials
Resources 19 – 20: Job Search 101
Resources 21 – 28: Interviewing 101 (and Beyond)
Resources 29 – 30: Using Twitter's Real-Time Capabilities to Power Your Job Search
Resources 31 – 46: 21st Century Marketing and Communications: Walk-the-Walk and Talk-the-Talk
Resources 47 – 49: LinkedIn
Resources 50 – 51: Preparing Your Resume
Resources 52 – 57: Inspiration on Demand
Resources 2 – 57 are in no particular ranking or order. I included numbers to track the number of items and subsequently group them with some logic.
Addressing Unmet Needs. FolioMatch.com fulfills HUGE unmet needs for young people who may have recently graduated, will graduate in Spring 2014, or are current college students seeking internship opportunities while in school:
Providing a living/breathing, on-demand online portfolio capturing all relevant projects, class assigments, internship deliverables / work products, accomplishments, awards, etc. throughout a college student's four-year college career
Making it easy to manage and deploy this online portfolio in a one-screen world
Devoting a career-focused, portfolio-centric, social network for a narrow audience (college students AND ambitious high school students)
From the Video."We started FolioMatch to be a one-stop resource for a student to keep track of all the projects they've completed over the years. Since then we have started sponsoring educational challenges so that we could help boost the content of students' portfolios."
Required Full Disclosure / Am I Receiving Any Money / Am I Receiving Any Equity / Am I an Advisory Board Member and other Boilerplate B.S. I Have to Write For Speaking So Highly of Evan and FolioMatch.com. I receive zero, nada, nothing, and any other cliche, etc. in financial compensation for talking up Evan and FolioMatch.com.
If you're a parent who's worried your son/daughter who graduates from college in Spring 2014 may face difficulty in this brutal job market (because the odds are he/she will), go to the FolioMatch.com site and register.
2.Tom Peters / Fast Company: The Brand Called YOU: This August 1997 article is the original classic highlighting the rising importance of personal branding. Mr. Peters was ahead of his time in publishing and describing these timeless career management principles.
Bonus.David Meerman Scott — Inbound Job Search: David published this video on December 2nd. He shares five (5) inspiring stories about people publishing creative and remarkable content to win dream jobs. One of the stories is how his daughter, Allison Meerman Scott, leveraged her personal blog to differentiate herself from thousands of outstanding Columbia University undergraduate applicants to win admission!
I do. And, even though he's 20 years younger, I believe his teachings apply to any age group or professional experience level. He's the epitome of entrepreneurial hustle
These Mashable articles do a great job in describing the basics AND the things to do to stand out. The common theme here is "put in the work." No magical formulas. Just get to work.
The common theme throughout these articles: Prepare. Prepare. Prepare. Do this and you'll eliminate 50% – 60% of your competition before walking in the room.
When it comes to real-time news and responsiveness, there's Twitter and then there's everybody else. Leverage its real-time capabilities to your advantage. Finding out about that open, entry-level position before other candidates is a competitive advantage.
You don't have to memorize vocabulary lists by rote. But, you have to credibly demonstrate your awareness of how marketing, communications, and public relations are constantly changing.
51. LinkedIn Labs Resume Builder: This handy app transforms your LinkedIn Profile into a PDF resume. Therefore, fill out your LinkedIn profile with as much detail as you can.
Inspiration On Demand
52. to 55. LinkedIn Influencers — My First Job Job Series: If you're getting down on yourself during the process, GO HERE IMMEDIATELY. Everyone had to start out somewhere. That includes some of the world's most influential movers & shakers in every industry.
My First Job. I started out as an unpaid, summer laboratory tech intern / dishwasher at The Washington University School of Medicine. Luckily for me, the department's head researcher paid me that fall because my boss said I was a good guy.
56. Jonathan Fields — The Good Life Project: Jonathan is an A-List entrepreneur and a person driven to help others succeed personally and professionally via entrepreneurship. His video interviews are inspiring.
57. Video: Best Day of My Life (Dog Version) by American Authors: Trust me, this video will make you feel soooooo good after watching it no matter how bad you feel. And, it's probably why American Authors are my new favorite band and why this song is now my all-time favorite.
Closing Thoughts
This is post five (and the final one) in a series to help new college graduates and current students land full-time jobs or internships.
If you're a college graduate looking for work, a concerned parent, a worried relative, or a current college student, please let me know in the comments if the content here helped (or if it didn't).
What should be kept on this list? What should be taken off? What resources did I miss? What should be added?
Please help me in continuously improving this page as a helpful resource to others.
Members of the Social Media ReInvention Blog Community know I'm a HUGE Mitch Joel Fan. I'm currently studying his latest book, CTRL ALT DELETE. I love this book because it's typical Mitch Joel:
Visionary / Forward Thinking
Entertaining / Great Writing
Thought-Provoking / Cites Tons of Other Great Books I Need to Read
I still need to finish Part 1 of the book describing five (5) current/future business drivers. As soon as I get the "story structure" better organized, I'll ship and publish the full book review. Until then, here's a glimpse of what I've learned from studying CTRL ALT DELETE:
CTRL ALT DELETE'S Seven (7) Reboot: You Triggers
1. A Digital First Posture (as defined by Mitch Joel, page 124 of CTRL ALT DELETE). "A digital-first posture means that the first place your consumers go when making a business decision is to their computers, smartphones, and/or tablets. This should be your default posture as well.
2. The Long and Squiggly Road (e.g., Embrace the Squiggle) Career paths are forever-changing because the "career escalator is jammed up" especially in large, Fortune 500 companies. Careers no longer follow a linear trajectory. If you want to continue developing valuable and marketable skills, you have to embrace the squiggle and adapt to pursuing multiple careers (not just multiple jobs) during your lifetime. It's permanent beta personafied.
7. Embracing the Next. Longevity in a productive, rewarding career requires a continuous ability to adapt, iterate, and spot game-changing trends. Mitch lists and describes six (6) of these trends in this chapter. If you want to learn what they are, buy his book.
Thank you for generously sharing your art and patiently coaching people like myself to “dance with confronting fear and the pain of vulnerability”
Ask you to re-read Reason #1 because your passion, leadership, and teaching will continue to make a lasting impact on my life
When I wrote that Tribes* review, I was going through a challenging professional period. Four years ago, I was looking for the “usual 10 steps to get yourself out of a tough work situation quickly in a crappy economy.” When I read Tribes, I kept searching for “that map” (which of course, wasn’t there).
So, I took out my frustrations on you. And, I’m genuinely sorry I wrote that review.
After re-reading Tribes at least three or four more times (along with your other important works multiple times), I finally understood that the beauty and wisdom driving Tribes (and all of your important art) is making sure someone like me finally wakes up to the all-important realization that those maps don’t exist in a book …
… because I’m the one who has to write the map.
“Those maps” reside within us. We are develop / sketch them out each time we create and ship our art. How we choose to reach our individual destinations / write out those maps is our own business. That’s what makes my map special (along with anyone else’s when she/he raises their hand to become their own mapmaker). Producing “those maps” requires our emotional labor (e.g., the daily joy and pain linked to creating and shipping our individual art).
And, if you’ve said it once, you’ve said at least 67 different times: “High-speed Internet access hooked up to our laptops, tablets, or smartphones gives us all an equal shot at ‘changing the world’ in our own unique, and meaningful way.
If we have the heart and guts to continue thrashing, failing, “poking the box*” and winking at the resistance (even when it’s mocking us, breathing down our necks and staring us square in the face), then we ALL have a puncher’s chance (regardless of the current economy).
I amended that Tribes review in September 2013, but left the original review intact. Why? I want to remind myself of what a publicly-displayed version of petty, lame-ass, “easy out” excuses looks like. I hope others will see it too so they can learn from my mistakes.
For 47 years, I would beat myself up when I’d try something different or try to learn something new. So, I’d thrash around for what seemed forever (especially in the beginning). I’d keep screwing up and it seemed like I couldn’t get anywhere. The resistance convinced me I was wasting precious time.
But, I wasn’t wasting time — I was learning.
Yet, somewhere along the way, I heard the resistance laughing (and relishing in my struggles). I could hear it f**king taunting me.
That’s what stopped me from following-through and shipping. That’s why I stopped trusting my instincts.
But, you, woke me up. It took me 47 years to conclude that the journey to creating genuinely, memorable, remarkable art isn’t supposed to be easy. I’ve finally learned after 47 years of beating myself up (and subsequently complying) that my instincts were trying to inform me to take calculated, intelligent risks at various stages of my life.
And, this time, I’m actively listening to those instincts …
Picking oneself to create really inspiring, emotional labor-driven, memorable and remarkable art*, means taking risks and accepting and dealing with pain, humiliation, embarrassment, and failure.
Most importantly, you’ve made me realize that the pain, humiliation, embarrassment aren’t bad things. Yes, these things hurt and wound our pride (at times very deeply) but that’s part of the contract if I want to live the life of an artist. Yes, I will take these failures and embarassments personally. Yes, it’s going to hurt (but it’s not as painful and life-threatening as the resistance wants me to believe).
The beating myself up ends now. The obsession for perfection ends now. How the hell am I supposed to create remarkable art if the only thing remarkable about me is a unique ability be my own, worst enemy.
Thank you for waking me up to realize that the dirty work / crap work / stuff that gets zero glory / the shit I resented doing is a true linchpin’s bread and butter. Because, I see now how that shit holds a team together, and it enables me to move the team towards the goal line and score in difficult situations (where others can’t).
Thank you for teaching and constantly reminding me “that risky is safe and safe is risky.”
Thank you for giving me the courage and commitment to do this:
Tony Faustino Commits to Being an Artist
Lastly, I’d like to leave you with the same thought that I’ve shared in my public fan letters to Mitch Joel and David Meerman Scott:
One day, I hope to have the privilege of meeting you face-to-face and shaking your hand.
Until that day, please travel safely Seth (wherever you may be),
I am not a member of the Amazon Affiliate Program. I provided hyperlinks to the Amazon landing pages of Seth’s books because I want others to be inspired by his important art.
Note: Austin Kleon’s book, Steal Like an Artist and Mitch Joel‘s public fan letters inspired this post. Pages 108 to 109, “Write Fan Letters,” and Chapter 2: “Don’t Wait Until You Know Who You Are To Get Started” from Austin’s book are amazing. After reading Austin’s book and Mitch’s public fan letters, I made a list of my heroes.
Please indulge me as I periodically publish these fan letters on this blog.
From page 109 of Steal Like an Artist: “Maybe your hero will see your work, maybe he or she won’t. Maybe they’ll respond to you, maybe not. The important thing is that you show your appreciation without expecting anything in return.”
Your Turn
Please let me know if you agree or disagree with my thoughts in the comments. I would love to hear from you. I’m here to read, listen, and learn from YOUR PERSPECTIVE. Comments are open. So let’er rip!
If You Enjoyed This Post, Please Share It and Subscribe to My Blog
"A bachelor's degree on its own no longer conveys intelligence or capability."
Suggested Authors / Books to Help Undergraduate Marketing Majors Land that First Job After College
These suggested authors / books are not of the "cookie cutter" or "10 easy steps on how-to land your first job out of college / summer internship in a lousy economy" variety. They share creative ideas to show a potential employer "you're more than a resume and the grades on a college transcript". Their teachings maximize the Internet's global reach and leverage search engines to your advantage.
In my opinion, if you graduated with a marketing and/or communications degree (or are currently studying these undergraduate majors), the following authors and books are REQUIRED READING.
Note: I am not an Amazon Affiliate Program Member. I respect the following authors because of their invaluable advice on how to develop a credible and professional online presence.
David Meerman Scott is a marketing strategist, advisor to emerging companies, bestselling author of eight books including three international bestsellers, and a professional speaker on topics including marketing, leadership, and social media.
Why The New Rules of Marketing & PR Matters
The New Rules of Marketing & PR is in its 4th Edition, has sold 300,000+ copies, and is translated in 25 languages.
Marketing and communications students will learn from this book the value of:
Thinking Like a Publisher (e.g. managing and creating content as a valuable asset)
Tactfully and Skillfully Informing the World About Your Expertise
Creating Varieties of Content Demonstrating That Expertise
Building, Understanding, and Targeting Your Audience Via Buyer Persona Profiles
Commenting on Other Blogs to Build Online Credibility and Relationships
Giving Away Your Expertise by Publishing and Distributing Free E-Books
Here's David discussing the latest release of The New Rules of Marketing & PR:
"An e-book is a PDF-formatted document that identifies a market problem and supplies an answer to the problem. E-books have a bit of intrigue to them — like hip younger sibling to the nerdy white paper."
If you click on the image captions, the hyperlinks will take you to the respective, eBook PDF download pages.
If I've said it once, I've said it 43 other times. Ann Handley is the best writer and storyteller in the New Media Business. Her writing and storytelling makes you:
Ann and C.C. share clear, actionable advice built on two (2) governing principles:
Thinking and Acting Like a Publisher
Publishing Helpful, Remarkable Content
Content Defined. Words, images, videos comprise content and can take the form of:
Web Pages
Videos
Blogs
Photographs
Webinars
Whitepapers
eBooks
Podcasts
Presentations
Social Outposts (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, etc.)
Learning Through Great Storytelling and Writing. Great writing makes reading Content Rules enjoyable. And, studying it helps you ask the right questions about content strategy execution:
Goal Setting: Who is Your Audience? What Metrics Will Determine You're Succeeding (or Failing)?
Defining: What Content Type(s) Should You Publish?
Publishing: How Often to Publish (by content type)? What are the Platform Considerations (i.e., blog posts, tweets, Facebook updates, LinkedIn Group discussions, etc.)?
Promoting: How to Share Content (without the cologne of a used car salesman).
More importantly, they share practical advice for budget-constrained marketing teams wondering:
How Do We Start?
What's the RIGHT Content Strategy for US?
Pages 22 to 24 to the Rescue. The Content Rules of Why & Who (or Grab Your Colleagues, Tons of Sticky Notes, Lots of Paper, and Thrash Through the Following Questions):
Whom are you trying to reach (e.g., your audience, clients, customers)?
What does your audience crave (e.g., content that informs, entertains, something else)?
What do you want your audience to do (e.g., motivate it to do X, figure out the calls-to-action)?
What content do you already have (e.g. take a content inventory)?
Wake Up (because this is a long post, and I can hear you snoring)! How about re-imagining those boring bullets into something differentiating and remarkable:
Content Rules Video Update with C.C. Chapman and Ann Handley. C.C. and Ann made this September 2010 video before the book's release. It's a great example of practicing what they preach and seeing the human side of great content marketing.
Walk-the Walk and Talk-the-Talk.Inbound Marketing is the second book I studied about digital marketing strategy (The New Rules of Marketing & PR being the first). If you're a serious marketing and communications graduate (or current MAR-COMM undergraduate) and want to "rock it" in your interview, you have to study and learn Inbound Marketing's principles COLD. Published in 2010, Brian and Dharmesh's teachings preceded much of the current and future implications of marketing and digital strategy:
Foundation principles and relevance of inbound links, SEO, Google Authority, Page Rank so potential customers/clients find you (instead of you interrupting them)
The underlying principles behind “closed loop” marketing (CLM)
Inbound Marketing provides clues to what a genuine, 21st century digital-driven organization looks for in employees. Hubspot utilizes its DARC framework when evaluating potential hires:
D = Hire Digital Citizens
A = Hire for Analytical Chops
R = Hire for Web Reach
C = Hire Content Creators
If you can'tanswer the following HubSpot interview questions while simultaneously providing real-time "show-them-the-money" on-screen, digital evidence, YOU'RE HOSED. Here are example interview questions from pages 170-171 and page 173 of Inbound Marketing (within the context of your interviewer verifying your answers on her/his laptop, tablet, or smartphone):
Interview Questions Evalutating Depth of Digital Citizenship:
What RSS reader do you use? Can you show it to me?
What blogs do you read?
Do you rank first for your name in Google?
Do you have a blog? Can you show to me?
Do you use Facebook or LinkedIn? When was the last time you updated your profile?
Do you have a channel on YouTube? Can you show it to me?
Interview Questions Evaluating Web Reach:
How many subscribers to your blog? Do you talk about our industry on your blog or about personal stuff?
How many Facebook followers do you have? Do you talk about our industry at all on your Facebook account?
How many LinkedIn followers do you have?
How many Twitter followers do you have? Do you talk about our industry on you Twitter account?
Closing Thoughts
My apologies for not finishing / publishing this post by the originally stated timeline. My "day job" is crazy/hectic especially as the 2013 4Q ticks away. That's okay (because that's the job).
Please tune in for the this series's next post: a comprehensive list of online resources (i.e., websites, blogs, blog articles, etc) to help recent college graduates and current college students land full-time jobs or internships. The HUGE list will easily comprise "20+ Resources."
Please give me a couple weeks to consolidate this list, provide context, and hit "publish."
Your Turn: What is your opinion of the books listed here? Have you read any of them? If so, how did the book(s) content create an opportunity for differentiating yourself either before, during, or after the interview? What books did I leave off? What additional books would recommend?
Please let me know. It would be great to hear from you!
Note: This is post four in a series sharing resources to help new college graduates and current students land full-time jobs or internships. If interested, here are links to other posts in this series:
"It's no longer enough to simply have a resume. Students now need a professional online presence." – Holly Paul, former US Recruiting Leader, PriceWaterHouse Coopers (now Chief Human Resources Officer, Vocus).
Do You have a Professional Online Presence? Is Your Professional Online Presence Differentiating? If you said no to either of these questions, I hope you'll continue reading a little longer. Developing a professional brand / presence requires work, time, patience, and discipline. If you make the commitment, this investment increases the probability a company recruiter (or your first boss) will:
Find you online
Select you for that crucial first interview
Seeking a Job in Marketing, Public Relations, or Communications? Majoring in these Fields)? If you nodded "yes," the authors / books described in this two-part post are MUST READ content. These gurus are driving the future landscape of digital marketing, public relations, and communications.
Note: I am not an Amazon Affiliate Program Member. I tremendously respect the following authors because of their invaluable guidance in developing a professional online presence.
Turn Your Non-Working Time Into a Competitive Advantage
Read. Read. Read. The following suggested authors / books are not "cookie cutter" or "10 easy steps on how-to land your first job out of college / summer internship in a lousy economy" resources.
"For the last sixty or so years, the job market for educated workers worked like an escalator. So long as you played nice and well, you moved steadily up the escalator, and each step brought with it more power, income, and job security."
"But now the escalator is jammed at every level. Many young people even the most highly educated, are stuck at the bottom, underemployed, or jobless."
The Start-Up of YOU's principles describe the entrepreneurial strategies and career tactics traditional liberal arts undergraduate classes overlook. Understanding and applying these entrepreneurial strategies and career tactics can guide you in the current job market.
Dan Schawbel wrote Me 2.0 and Promote Yourself. The New York Post selected Me 2.0 as 2009's Number 1 career book. Promote Yourself (his latest book) is a current New York Times bestseller. Dan's also the Managing Partner of Millenial Branding, a Gen Y research and consulting firm. He is the personal branding authority for millenials.
Great Insights Relevant to All Professional Ages. In my opinion, Dan's professional branding teachings apply to ALL professionals and job seekers. I studied the 2009 first edition in my early-forties.
Why Me 2.0 Matters
Me 2.0 provides easy-to-understand suggestions for creating a professional brand online by:
Evaluating blog hosting options (if I could go back, I would select WordPress)
Starting, writing, and marketing a personal blog
Participating wisely in social networks
Developing relationships with influential bloggers in your targeted industries
Understanding search engine optimization's (SEO) impact on your professional career
Key content generously shared in these chapters include:
A Personal Brand Questionnaire (for evaluating your personal brand and how well you are digitally communicating it)
The Essential Components in Building a 3D Personal Brand: Giving Abundantly, Helping Others, and Building Relationships
A Personal Brand Audit of Online Tools (such as a personal blog, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Search, and Google Alerts)
Building and Targeting a Niche for Your Professional Online Presence
A Bonafide Visionary. Here's a direct quote from Mitch Joel in Six Pixels of Separation "predicting" why a professional online presence matters more than ever for new college graduates (this was in 2009).
"The most compelling statistic of all? Half of all new college graduates now believe that self-employment is more secure than a full-time job. Today, 80% of the colleges and universities in the U.S. now offer courses on entrepreneurship; 60% of Gen Y business owners consider themselves to be serial entrepreneurs, according to Inc. magazine. Tellingly, 18 to 24-year-olds are starting companies at a faster rate than 35 to 44-year-olds. And 70% of today's high schoolers intend to start their own company, according to a Gallup poll."
(from Mitch a few paragraphs later):
"Here's what he's really saying (e.g., Mr. Malone): Without noticing it, we have once again discovered, and then raced off to settle, a new frontier. Not land, not innovation, but ourselves and a growing control over our own lives and careers.
Mitch Joel's Latest Book is Ctrl Alt Delete. My biggest personal mistakes/regrets in understanding and building a professional online presence are:
Not publishing this personal blog at least 10 years earlier.
This concludes post three on helping recent college graduates and current undergraduates build a professonal online presence. I hope you'll return for post four (e.g., Part 2) sharing six (6) more authors and their respective books. Post 4 should be published in two weeks.
Your Turn: Have you read any of these books? If so, how useful do you think they are to recent college graduates and current undergraduates. Are there other books you think would be helpful? Please let me know in the comments.
Note: This is post three in a series sharing resources to help new college graduates and current students land full-time jobs or internships. If interested, here are links to other posts in this series:
Your book, The New Rules of Marketing and PR, had such a profound influence on me. And, it continues influencing my thinking today. Your thoughts about how content and ideas spread via the Internet forced me to question everything I learned about traditional marketing tactics and strategy from my MBA business school training in the late 1990's.
Your book is why I started my personal blog. If I had read this important book when it was first published in June 2007, I would have started blogging much sooner (because I didn't read it until December 2008). Blogging is the most creative and fulfilling process I've ever enjoyed in my life. And, I'm so far behind because I didn't start sooner.
In pages 50 to 53 of The New Rules of Marketing and PR you shared how the best way to start blogging is by reading and commenting on other blogs. You described a two-part learning process: (1) reading blogs teaches you blogging and commenting etiquette and (2) commenting is a great way to learn how to get your viewpoint out there.
Three and half years ago, I wrote my first-ever blog comment on your post, What We All Really Want Is ATTENTION. I still remember all the negative thoughts after posting my comment. I feared my contribution was uninsightful, long-winded, and self-indulgent. I thought the worst — that I detracted from the conversation (instead of adding to it).
But, you responded with a kind, acknowledging response (literally hours later). Your response made me feel validated (and relieved) that I properly applied your teachings. You gave me self-confidence.
And, you made me feel like I was welcome at this cool party involving the smart and engaging people who are consistently part of the Web Ink Now Community. From that point on, I couldn't wait to receive your latest post on my RSS feed so I could learn more about how you think (and continue participating in the conversation by writing more comments).
I've been eternally grateful for your kind comments on my blog posts reviewing one of your books (or when you retweet one of my tweets). Your generous acts in sharing my book reviews of Real Time Marketing & PR and Newsjacking made me feel so great!
Why? Because I look up to you! I consider you a New Media Hero! I view your comments on my blog (along with your responses to my comments in your blog) as a form of coaching or mentoring (even though we've never met in-person). It's so meaningful and generous when someone you look up to, takes the time to acknowledge something you wrote or contributed and says "thank you."
It surprises me how so few people recognize and acknowledge the power of these simple, kind acts.
When you mentioned my name and linked to my blog in your post titled: Newsjacking Via a Real Time Kindle Book, it remains the biggest thrill in my brief online career as an amateur blogger. You have no idea how much this wonderful gesture means to me — Thank you David!
I hope one day to meet you in-person and shake your hand. You're the reason I passionately pursue and continuously learn about how marketing and PR strategies continue changing at Internet speed. Every opportunity to read your books, blog, or study one of your videos, is a new chance to learn.
Thank you David for being such a great teacher and mentor. Your work and art inspires me.
And, this video conversation created by Lindsey Kirchoff demonstrates how you continue inspiring and teaching the next generation of marketing and public relations professionals.
All the best,
Tony Faustino
Note: Austin Kleon's book, Steal Like an Artist and Mitch Joel's public fan letters inspired this post. Pages 108 to 109, "Write Fan Letters," and Chapter 2: "Don't Wait Until You Know Who You Are To Get Started" from Austin's book are amazing. After reading Austin's book and Mitch's aforementioned posts, I made a public fan letters list of my heroes.
Please indulge me as I periodically publish these fan letters on this blog.
From page 109 of Steal Like an Artist: "Maybe your hero will see your work, maybe he or she won't. Maybe they'll respond to you, maybe not. The important thing is that you show your appreciation without expecting anything in return."
The admiration, respect, and friendship expressed to people who've meant so much to your professional career moved me. You wrote those letters with such honesty. And, you had the courage to publish them online.
A professional colleague gave me your book, Six Pixels of Separation, as a gift around four years ago. She knew I wanted to learn and understand the impact of new media in marketing. Your book and David Meerman Scott inspired me to pursue blogging and to participate in social networks.
Two concepts from your book continue influencing my approach to blogging and social networking:
In Praise of Slow
The Golden Rule (e.g., Saying Thank You)
Whenever I write about blogging or personal branding, I usually describe and cite the relevance of these concepts.
I remember my fear of promotingmy book review of Six Pixels of Separation on Twitter (because I included your Twitter handle in the tweet). It was one of the few reviews I'd written at that time.
Self-doubt consumed me. Negative thougts ran through my mind like "if Mitch reads this post, what if he thinks it sucks." Or, "what if he thinks I'm misrepresenting his work."
But, you wrote the nicest comment on my post. And, you shared the book review with your Twitter followers.
Your gesture and generosity meant so much. It gave me confidence to keep blogging. I started believing I was on the right path. It reinforced I was doing things the right way (e.g., the approach you described for building a credible reputation).
And, the books and articles you read and share — Wow! I love how you share your love of reading (especially the diversity and number of books you annually consume).
I can't wait till you publish Ctrl Alt Del in Spring 2013. I know it will be great. I love the ironic play on words (because I and your legions of fans know how much you love writing with your MacBook Air). When you to made the full conversion to Apple products, that was my tipping point to invest in a MacBook Pro.
My biggest regret: not discovering, reading, and studying your book and your blog sooner. I'm not making that mistake twice. I read and study your blog every day. It's required reading in my continuing education to understand where marketing is heading.
Plus, your podcasts demonstrate why you're "the Charlie Rose" of New Media. The conversational insights and your access to New Media's A-List are beyond compare. My personal favorites are your recent conversations with Seth Godin and Ken Wong.
Your writing teaches and inspires me how to write. Every time I read your blog, I say out loud: "Man, I wish I could write like that. I don't care how long it takes — I'm going to learn to write like that."
Letterman described how "he needed a target" (because he needed something to shoot for). His ideal was Carson.
When I write, you're my target. You're the standard I shoot for.
Thank you for inspiring me (and countless others).
All the best,
Tony Faustino
Note: Austin Kleon's book, Steal Like an Artist and Mitch Joel's public fan letters inspired this post. Pages 108 to 109, "Write Fan Letters," and Chapter 2: "Don't Wait Until You Know Who You Are To Get Started" from Austin's book are amazing. After reading Austin's book and Mitch's aforementioned posts, I made a public fan letters list of my heroes.
Please indulge me as I periodically publish these fan letters on this blog.
From page 109 of Steal Like an Artist: "Maybe your hero will see your work, maybe he or she won't. Maybe they'll respond to you, maybe not. The important thing is that you show your appreciation without expecting anything in return."
"The third thing I did differently with this book, which I guess is not so different anymore, is that I used blogging and other social media to experiment with my ideas before I commited them to a book."
"For a writer, what's great about the Web is that it allows you to experiment with language, to tell stories, to tease out lessons, and to see quickly what material strikes a chord with readers, what really engages them."
Showing up and doing the work is everything. It's not glamorous. It's about repetition and discipline.
3. Iterative Design RULES (Especially in Digital Media)
Dan and Chip Heath took a design approach to writing latest book, Switch:
"We were much more iterative in writing Switch–we went through many drafts and many cycles of feedback. Chip and I have both been inspired by the "design thinking" that's taught at Stanford's D-School and elsewhere, and the more iterative writing approach was our way of moving in that direction."
Ship Your Work — That's What Counts. There's nothing wrong with tweaking and modifying after pressing "Publish." Take advantage of digital publishing's "permanent draft mode."
Get your work out there. Get your art out the door. Publish it. And, don't look back …
I finished reading Hugh MacLeod's latest book, Freedom Is Blogging In Your Underwear. It's his love letter to blogging describing how this influential medium changed the trajectory of his personal and professional life.
Highlighting a few key quotes:
"My blog gave me everything."
"My blog gave me my freedom."
I subscribe to Hugh's blog, gapingvoid.com, which is how I learned the book was released this past week. Here's his video describing why he wrote the book:
Freedom Is Blogging In Your Underwear is filled with Hugh's motivational, irreverent,and rebellious point-of-view. It's his call-to-arms "to create stuff" by using the Internet to transform and reinvent our personal and professional lives. Because of the Internet, laptops, and broadband access, he reminds us we live in a world where "cheap, easy global media is here to stay."
The Book's Governing Question. So, why not use this global phenomenon to our advantage? It's the book's governing question linking personal and professional reinvention to blogging:
"So in my typical way, I'll ask you, are you a beacon? If not, don't you think you should be."
So without further delay, here are the Three (3) Themes I enjoyed most from Freedom Is Blogging In Your Underwear.
1. "Crofting" Is the New World of Work
A Croft Is a Smallholding. It's our digital identity (direct quote):
"Thanks to the Internet, we all have a little electronic "croft" — an electronic smallholding — to call our own: what is commonly referred to as our own digital identity, which we can cultivate, like a small farm, however we see fit."
Our Individual Points-of-View ARE the New Light. And, that fundamental theme cuts through all the typical how-to advice on developing a credible blog (i.e., post length, number of internal links versus external links, starting with a question, ending with a question, etc.).
There's nothing wrong with being influenced and informed by:
But, trying to be a carbon copy or an imitator highlights how you're a pretender. Those folks acheived their blogosphere status by bringing (and continuing to bring) new light.
Our blogs can bring new light to what life might be by:
Writing about what individually moves us (what makes us want to write at 5 AM)
Recognizing there's room for all of us to cultivate and lead our own tribes
Having the courage to initiate and participate in digital conversations (blogging, commenting, tweeting, sharing, etc.)
Blogging Is a Conscious Choice. You can't be a player unless in you're in the game. Hugh says it best on page 54:
"Not everybody believes this. Not everybody acts on this. That's fine; it's their life, their choice. However, if you DO have that capacity within yourself and you DON'T act upon it, then everything around turns to desert."
3. The Internet Eats the "Ignorance Premium" for Breakfast
If You Can Google It, You Can Find It. There's so much published online that we can use to our competitive advantage (both personally and professionally). Hugh describes this concept as the end of The Ignorance Premium (direct quotes from pages 66 and 67):
"The Internet makes it harder for us to know more than the other guy."
"The Internet erodes the "Ignorance Premium."
"Because knowledge is now so much easier to share with the Internet, you're in trouble if the only reason you can make a living is because somebeody is too lazy to easily find out what you know with just a quick click of a mouse."
Our Opportunity With Blogging Is Promoting Our Individual "Intelligence Premium." The Internet and blogging makes it easier than ever to self-publish "what you know." Google makes it easier than ever for someone to find you. That sounds like opportunity to me.
Why not turn this unique opportunity into a career advantage?
My Take on The Internet's Ignorance Premium: Make Your Blog Your Intelligence Premium. A personal blog demonstrates your individual, "Intelligence Premium" (e.g., what you bring to the table) by showcasing:
Your knowledge about a particular subject or industry
It's Time To Find Our Freedom. Those (4) aforementioned reasons are why blogging is more important than ever. They're why blogging represents individual opportunity.
That's the freedom blogging brings. Whether we do it in our underwear (or while wearing something else).
It's a freedom Hugh summarizes better than I can:
"The Freedom to be who were born to be — the artist within us all."
