eSoup

Real memories are created by surprises

  Edward Munch in Michigan 
  Originally uploaded by LouisL.

Over the past few weeks, I've been giving a lot of thought to how blogging and marketing interact and how businesses (mine too!) need to take a different approach than what they're used to when trying to create an online presence through social media.

It seems like most of us small biz owners who are using blogs as marketing tools are very much compliantly, unobtrusively, predictably inserting round pegs into the round holes put before us.

We enter the arena of social media with a corporate background and the idea that professionalism translates the same online as it does offline--you must have a photo of yourself looking business-y, you must be policially correct, non-offensive, polite at all costs and for God's sake, don't do anything unexpected--you might surprise folks and cause yourself to stand out!

This post from Seth hit home with me. He says:

Most marketing is intentional. In this ad I will advertise this product.

So is most writing. A knitting blog writes about...wait for it... knitting.

Our mind is prepared for what we are about to receive. If it's a sales pitch, we're ready to ignore it. If it's on a familiar blog, we're ready for it to be familiar.

Real memories are created by surprises.
Real change is created by unexpected juxtapositions.

And Seth asks a question that has been swirling around in my brain lately--

Most marketers, probably you, are busy putting your round pegs in the round holes that have been given to you. What if you did the opposite?

For most business blogs, the idea is to establish yourself as an expert in your field, so the content is usually informational.

The trick is turning informational writing into something that is a bit more creative, because truly, if it's only straight forward information that you're providing, then your readers could just as eaily do a Google search for what they need and end up looking at someone else's blog next time. And honestly, haven't we all seen enough "HowTo" and "Top 10" list posts in our lives?

I was pondering this topic when I stumbled across the "No Swimming" sign at the top of this post.

It's just a street sign in Michigan. The purpose of the sign is to convey specific information ("Don't go swimming here!").

If this sign were like all other generic, uniform signs (Stop, Yield, speed limit, whatever) then you would really only take notice of it if you were on that beach in Michigan and considering taking a dip in the water.

But this sign is not like other signs.

It surprised me and made me laugh. It looks like a sign Edward Munch would come up with, but on second glance, perhaps they're warning us that the waters are alien infested ;-)!

This sign captured my attention even though I'm not on that beach in Michigan and even though the information it's meant to convey doesn't really apply to me.

Still, I look at it, laugh, show it to you, and will store this amusing memory in my brain even after I stop looking at the photo of the sign.

Ah, now I get it. Information becomes interesting and memorable when its delivery includes unexpected juxtapositions and surprises.

When that happens, a knitting blog is interesting even to folks who don't knit.

Seth Godin plays Santa to Z-Listers

Wow--this was a very nice Christmas present! I wake up this morning to find that Seth Godin has been gracious enough to include eSoup in a list of recommended reading in his post What to read now/next.

How did he know that's what I wanted for Christmas? :-)

The story behind this is that the Z-list meme that Mack Collier created a couple weeks ago has been making it's way around the internet and has managed to fall into the hands of Seth, who not only shared the link love on his blog, but also created a Squidoo lens to rank "good blogs", which appears to be based on the Z-list.

Now, I can understand Mack's thoughts when he points out that the whole Z-List idea, which was to bring recognition to really good, non-famous, under-ranking blogs, is quite diluted at this point cuz the list on Squidoo includes several A-List blogs such as Seth's own blog, Tom Peters, Creating Passionate Users, and other blogs we're already all too well acquainted with.

Of course, Seth's blog is #1 (why am I not suprised?). As I was going through the list voting for my genuine Z-list compatriots, I thought, what is the use of voting for "good blogs" on Squidoo? What is really the point?

We've sort of ended up creating a Squidoo version of Technorati with the already popular blogs rising to the top again, which is sort of ironic, cuz the purpose of the Z-list was to uncover new, undiscovered talent in the blogosphere.

It's a kick to get a higher ranking in Technorati or Squidoo, but the really fun part of blogging is meeting folks near and far who share interests, have compelling ideas, and are great writers and storytellers.

The thing that is really precious about the Z-List is that I've been able to find lots of blogs that I love (check out eSoup's newly expanded blogroll!) that I never would have found if not for Mack's Z-list creation.

So, the Z-list has entered a new dimension, but what the heck--I'm extremely tickled to be included in a post on Seth's blog since I've often referred to eSoup as "Seth Godin's Other Blog" due to the fact that I can't seem to resist linking to him on almost every post he writes.

Thanks to Seth for sharing the Santa link love! 

"Figure out what's working and do it more" & other marketing tips from Seth Godin

If I had to give just one piece of marketing advice to anyone, it would be to listen to Seth Godin's marketing advice.

He's the marketing mastermind. He knows what works and what doesn't.

As I was reading his post Top 10 Secrets of the Marketing Process, I think I figured out why so many of us are drawn to him.

Our everyday-thinking, non-marketing-mastermind logic usually tells us to do the opposite of what Seth would advise us to do, but when we hear what he has to say, we realize that he's right.

I know that's not a very profound insight, but it's the truth. What he says makes more sense than what most of us come up with on our own.

To illustrate, here are some examples of what we tell ourselves -vs- what Seth advises: