Before you delete that “junk mail,” you may want to reconsider…  And here’s why…

I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t get a lot of email through my Studio 24 site. I rarely look at it and it’s grossly out-of-date. When I do get email from there, it’s usually SPAM.  So, out of habit, I hit “delete” – without even reading!

REALLY BAD IDEA…

Recently, I almost messed up a HUGE opportunity for the Brand Chef blog to be included in some pretty heavy company.  It was a simple oversight, but looking back on it, I realize what a monstrous gaffe it would have been.

***

On a quiet Sunday morning, over a bowl of Grape Nuts and a cup of coffee, I decided to weed out my in-box – after over a MONTH of negligence…

You know how it goes…  Facebook notice…  delete… delete…  Twitter…  delete…delete…delete…  SEO Guarantee…  delete…delete… I was in a pretty good groove!  “Special” offer…  delete… delete… “Need a Date?”…delete… delete…

and then…  BrandManagement.com… de-HUH?… I had to pause.

I read it again. “A Message from BrandManagement.com”

Edward Mance, Co-founder and CEO of BrandManagement.com sent me an email.  Odd. But odd because of the long path his message took…

Edward found me through my old blogspot blog, and subsequently through the form on the Studio 24 web site.  This simple fact shows that he made a concerted effort to contact me.

With the push of a button, the story could have ended there. But it didn’t.

As I opened the email and read, my jaw about hit the counter (thank God it didn’t, my mouth was full of partially chewed Grape Nuts)…  Brandmanagement.com was being launched in late May, and according to Mr. Mance,

” …a significant element of the site will be comprised of leading thought writers’ most current, daily/weekly works.“

And he continued on to say,

“In short, we love the blog entries on your site, and we would love to republish those entries on the BrandManagement.com site as they become available on your site…”

Wait a minute… Me? I had to read it two more times and once to my wife, just to clarify who it was really addressed to…  Not only was I honored, but I was astounded that someone else (besides me) thought I had something of value to say.

As I reviewed the site, I realized that Mr. Mance was including The Brand Chef in a pretty darn respectable group of branding consultants, professionals from advertising agencies, the marketing communications field and respected commentators and branding advocates – people that I’ve read and respected for years – Oliver Blanchard, Anna Farmery, Tom Fishburne,  Katie Konrath, Laura Ries,  Dan Schawbel, and Chris Wilson just to name a few!  Go here to see a full list.

I immediately gave Edward my contact information, my RSS feed and anything else he asked for (could have asked for my first-born son, I would have considered it).  And, low-and-behold, the site was launched, on schedule, and there I was, right next to some of the biggest names in branding commentary and blogging.

What’s my return?  Self respect.  And click-through traffic has jumped a bit, but the sheer fact that I was included is return enough for me (honestly).

So, as a direct message to Edward Mance, Thank you!

My lesson learned from this?  Be careful what you delete from your inbox, because opportunity may be knocking – albeit quietly.

Keep Cooking!
Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef

Fact: Newspapers can’t survive unless they change the paradigm in which they practice. Customers, including yours truly, are jumping ship for digital media content that is more up-to-date, accessible and relevant. Long lost are the days when newspapers produced engaging content and – in turn – sold ad space to generate revenue to support what (once) was a tremendous source of public information.

Why?

Newsgathering has shifted from being a passive act—tell me a story—to a proactive one—answer my question.

According to journalism.org,

“…Pew Research Center survey. The figures for almost every traditional media platform are now at historic lows. For instance, the number of Americans who said they read a newspaper “yesterday” has fallen by 40% since the 1990s—to 34%. The number of people who watched the nightly network newscasts yesterday has fallen even further—by half—to 29%. Radio news is at 35%. Regular readership of weekly news magazines is down to 12%.”

So, what does that mean for us? Where is that 40% going to get their news?

Blogs, baby. Blogs! Not to mention podcasts, vlogs and heavy-handed translations of traditional media to online, user-driven sites, and micro-sites.

With that, yesterday, I ran across this story: On January 27th, Joshua Karp (follow on Twitter: @theprintedblog) will be launching a twice-daily free print newspaper in Chicago, San Francisco and later in New York City. The content he will be publishing will be solely from BLOGS!

“So what,” you say, “Nothing novel there?” Hold on. Joshua has a little twist for you.

His intent is to aggregate local content from blogs and print them in tabloid form in time for the morning and evening commutes… The advertising – focused to reach targeted, local audiences – supports the newspaper (of course). It will also include classifieds (of course).

From Joshua’s venture, The Printed Blog web site:

“The selection of content in The Printed Blog is based solely on the votes of readers and their geographic location. In such a way, The Printed Blog revolts against the top-down, ‘one size fits all’ model of newsprint, as we know it. Instead of one paper serving hundreds of thousands of people, as is often the case, The Printed Blog publishes hundreds or even thousands of highly-localized editions based on what a community declares is important to them. The papers are distributed to neighborhood pickup points in A.M. and P.M. editions, and will incorporate rapid turnaround reader comments.

… As our society moves towards individualized information, The Printed Blog has the courage to respect our readers. We recognize the value of what individuals have to say, we publish the information they create, and provide them with the information they demand.”

News = information relevant to the people. When traditional news sources become irrelevant, or self-serving, people go to their community for relevance.

I’m interested in Joshua’s new venture. The online community will drive content. Readership will be driven by the local community. Advertising will benefit from a more targeted audience. Hmmmm…Where can this go wrong? Market? Content? Commuters? Advertisers? Classifieds?

Can you combine the past with the present? Why not just keep it all online? Why take it to press?

What do you think? Take a look at his formula and give me your thoughts.

Until Next time…

Keep Cooking!
Andrew B. Clark
- The Brand Chef

Yep. I’m a jerk… a snob… a ruffian (just look at my profile photo). Or maybe I’m just a little more prudent with the people I associate with in my social and professional networks than some?

Case in point:
LinkedIn is a great business-networking tool. I’ve only been a member for a short time, but from what I’ve seen, the opportunities are endless.

So, when prompted to import my contact lists from Gmail, Outlook and Yahoo, I was very particular about who I invited. Why? Heck, my retired dad doesn’t need to be in my LinkedIn network, nor does my kids’ school nurse! Call it caution – maybe respect?

So, I filtered… and filtered. I evaluated and built a strong network of contacts that had RELEVANCE to my PROFESSION and ME. I chose people that I could help and in-turn may help me. Thus, the result of the requests I sent out was somewhere around 99% acceptance. And that network grows more and more every day by my diligent research and requesting of introductions by my approved contacts to their network members – as intended (I assume).

Jump ahead a couple of months… I recently received a request to be in someone’s LinkedIn network. GREAT! But after reading it, I was somewhat surprised, because I’d never met this person. I’d never even heard of him… And to top it off, not only was this guy a complete stranger, but his request was the stock,

“I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn. – ‘Name Namerson’”

Hmm. Completely foreign AND impersonal. Not such a great start, “Mr. Namerson.”

So, in typical “Jerky” fashion, this was my response:

Hi “Mr. Namerson,”

I have to apologize if we’ve met, but I don’t seem to remember you. This, of course could be a gross mistake on my part, but if you could remind me of how we know each other, I’d be greatly appreciative. Then, I could accept your invitation and benefit from networking together.

That said, If we haven’t met and you’d like to have me join your LinkedIn network, maybe we should get together and see if there is some common ground on which both of us can benefit.

Thanks so much for your invitation, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Andrew B. Clark

Yep. Jerk. Told ya’.

Shortly after I shot off my response, I thought, just maybe, I was a little too harsh. Maybe I was being a jerk. After all, my response wasn’t very “social” was it? I left my office that day with the expectations of never hearing from “Mr. Namerson” again…

The next morning (Saturday), my Blackberry buzzed me out of a sound sleep at 6:30 a.m. As I tried to focus on the little, glowing screen, I saw; “RE: Join my network on LinkedIn”.

Surprisingly enough, he didn’t respond just to call me a jerk. In short, “Mr. Namerson” was abashed. Sure, his response included an apology but better yet, it included the information that should have been in his initial contact:

A quick overview of his background
A logical connection to others in my professional network

He went on to list:
Benefits of being in HIS network
His purpose and interest in being in my network
Directions for fostering a relationship

This morning we met for coffee. I now have, what I would consider, a good friend and valuable asset in my professional network.

So, maybe it wasn’t such a jerky move. Maybe it made “Mr. Namerson” more aware of purposeful networking vs. number gathering.

I see people out there with 50K contacts or followers and wonder are they networking with value and purpose, or are they just gathering numbers to win some sad, strictly mental, social contest? How well can they even know 50,000 people?

What kind of networking professional are you? Do you network with value and purpose? Do your contacts feel they can trust and respect referrals from you – and vise-versa?

Please comment and let us know your thoughts. Maybe I’ll let you into my network.

Until Next time…
Keep Cooking!
Andrew B. Clark
–The Brand Chef

Over the past several days I’ve been having conversations with my fellow Twitter-ers about the aspect of Corporate Social Media and its role in this new world of communications and brand extension. Many of them, as I, agree that the ease and accessibility of social media tools are making the conversations quicker, more direct and rewarding. But as soon as I started asking about corporate branding in social media, the conversations turned quite serious.

I asked a simple question to a select few that I thought would have the position and backgrounds to give honest, insightful answers.

“So, What’s your “position” on 3rd party twitterers? (i.e.- hiring someone to tweet & track on behalf of your company?) Ethical? No?“

The responses (35 in all) received from that question were pretty clear. In no uncertain terms would “posing” or “positioning” in social media be accepted. Transparency is key.

Microblogging professional, Mike Templeton‘s (on Twitter as @miketempleton & @microblink) answer was indicative of the overall tone of the mini-survey.

“…people like to know who it is. If you say you work for them (liaison), that’s ok”

And another social media stud, Andy Brudtkuhl, (on Twitter as @abrudtkuhl & @48web) says that “…as long as they maintain a consistent message…“ the ethics question should be a mute point.

So, with that, I want YOU to sound off. When you’re on FaceBook, YouTube, Twitter or any number of social media venues, do you expect real corporate/brand connections (i.e. – @Starbucks, or @TheHomeDepot) Are those actually Starbucks / Home Depot employees? Are they a marketing firm hired to “Brand” those companies into the social media stream? Heck, check out @DisneyWorld, @DisneyLand, and @Mickey_Mouse — I bet Walt and Mickey are curious about that, hum?

What is your position on Corporate Social Media? Are there issues that concern you about integrating brand (further) into our online conversations? How about ethics and transparency? Do companies have a greater responsibility for truth when utilizing these tools? More than Joe-surfer?

AND NOW, THE POLL RESULTS (poll ended 11/26/08):


Thank you all for taking part in the poll. Please check back for more!

Until next time…

Keep Cooking!
Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef

It’s not that I condone listening to others talk while in restaurants (guilty). Nor do I condone wiretapping or spying (no comment). But when developing marketing plans or strategy for clients, I like to get as much information – fill in the who’s what’s where’s why’s and how’s – BEFORE I make a conclusion or a pitch. I prefer to have these questions answered as thoroughly as possible BEFORE I walk into a client’s office and make promises… How about you?

So, let’s ask five simple questions:

Who are your customers?
What is your customer passionate about?
Where can you find those passionate customers?
Why are those customers passionate (or not passionate) about your brand?
How can you make the passion grow?

Now, take a look at a screen shot of a simple feed I created for Caribou Coffee.

How many of the above questions were answered? All of them. And that was just a couple days of a Twitter Search feed. Imagine if your company really put the effort into social media monitoring.

Like the Boy Scout’s motto: “Be Prepared.” Sounds logical, right? So, why is there so much resistance from companies to get involved with Social Media?

Eavesdropping has its advantages. Food for thought.

Until Next time…

Keep Cooking!
Andrew B. Clark
–The Brand Chef