Crayon, join the conversation

And I don't mean that in some wistful but weird romantic way.

Way back in the way (2008 or so), my colleague Joseph Jaffe used to talk about "using new marketing to prove new marketing" - the glides-off-the-tongue UNM2PNM if you will. Essentially, he meant applying the principles he espoused in his books and on his blog to the way he marketed his own stuff (said books, for example), as a means of proving that the stuff really works. Or doesn't as the case may be. But either way it was open, honest and the right thing to do.

So I figured if Joe could use new marketing to prove new marketing (and yes, for the most part his ideas did work when he put them into action), why shouldn't I use micromarketing to prove micromarketing? You see, (for those of you who haven't read the book - ahem...) my thesis is that in this age of microcultures, micromedia and microcontent the best way for marketers to deliver good results for their businesses is to tap into the trends toward microculture, micromedia and microcontent (rather than buck against them) and connect with customers through lots of small but impactful initiatives.

Enter Jason Sadler. A couple of years back, he started a company called I Wear Your Shirt. What does he do? Well, he literally wears your shirt. Companies pay him (and this year, his buddy Evan) a fee to don a logo-emblazoned t-shirt for a single day. Throughout that day Jason and Evan host live Ustream shows, post photos to Flickr and Facebook, video clips to their YouTube channel, and tweet about your product on Twitter.

Although I didn't cover the company in the book - I met Jason at a conference around the time the book was going into edits - I Wear Your Shirt is in many ways the ultimate micromarketing business model. So I bought September 2nd and gave it a go.

The offer to Jason's community of followers was simple: buy a copy of the book from Amazon, email your receipt to Jason and you'd be entered for a chance to win a new Kindle. Total investment? Around $600.

So Jason and Evan blogged and tweeted and Facebooked and streamed. They created a couple of cheeky bits of custom content, like this:

And this:

Nifty. But the real question of course is did it work?

The numbers would seem to indicate it did. Although I'm still waiting for McGraw-Hill to give me firm sales figures (and frankly I'm not sure they can give me numbers by retailer by day), here's what I know:

• When I woke up on September 2nd, microMARKETING's Amazon rank was somewhere in the 200,000 neighborhood. Respectable but let's just say Stephen King wasn't losing any sleep. During the day, as the I Wear Your Shirt guys posted and promoted, the book climbed as high as 17,000 (or so). That's a respectable leap and, to put that in context for you, the book hadn't ranked that high on Amazon since the week of its release. I'm happy about that. Even better? Although I can't link this directly to the IWYS push, it sustained ranks between 30,000 and 20,000 for a few days after.
• Although I didn't ask Jason to pimp the microMARKETING Facebook Page, he did. And I saw the fan count more than double on September 2. To be clear, we're talking about just a couple hundred new fans but the % growth is still impressive. And again (although it's impossible to directly attribute this to IWYS), the momentum has hardly let up: in the days since September 2 the fan community has grown by another 75 people or so.

One of the things you'll understand as you read the book is that "big results" are relative (and subjective) but I'd say that an Amazon rank that jumps by an order of magnitude and a community count that more than doubles in just one day is a pretty solid win.

What do you think? Feel free to chime in with your thoughts.

Who's ready for a workday field trip? It's gonna be a good one. On September 27th, I -- in conjunction with David Vinjamuri's Thirdway Brand Trainers, Powered and New York University -- will be hosting a half-day microMARKETING symposium (hey, that's just a fancy way of saying meeting with presentations) at NYU's Kimmel Center in the heart of New York City.

For just $29 per person, you'll hear fantastic speeches from Coca-Cola's global director of interactive Michael Donnelly; you'll learn from Jason Sadler how his company, I Wear Your Shirt, uses one of the most micro marketing approaches I know of -- each client pays him to wear their logo t-shirt for just one day as he creates and shares lots of microcontent with his social graph -- to deliver real results. You'll hear my new conference keynote based on the book. And you'll glean lots o' insights during the closing panel, during which the guys behind three of my favorite stories in the book -- By Lauren Luke, Walmart Eleven Moms and B&H Photo-Video -- will talk about their firsthand experiences with micromarketing approaches.

If that's not enough value for a measly $29 (although the price will go up to $49 soon), you'll also get a free copy of microMARKETING: Get Big Results by Thinking and Acting Small, and -- if you're among the first 25 registrants -- David Vinjamuri's critically acclaimed Accidental Branding too.

In addition to great content and a couple of nice freebies (oh, and we'll feed you while you're there) this event promises great networking with other NY area marketers, a perfect chance to educate your whole team on social media and micromarketing, and a great way to impress your clients. Bring 'em all!

You can find the details and register here.

Complete agenda here.

The room holds 150; 50 seats will be reserved for NYU students; so space is limited. Grab your seat today.

For the past couple of years, I've been at the South by Southwest Interactive conference for clients (Panasonic in 2009 and VeriSign in 2010). But this year, I'm going for me.

Well, that's the plan but I'll need your help to get there.

The good news is I'm not asking you to drive me in your second-hand Chevette. I'm just asking for your vote.

Here's the backstory: For those of you that don't already know this, each year, thousands of social media folks submit their ideas for sessions they'd like to present at SXSW for consideration by the organizers. The ones that make the first cut get posted to a panel picker where you (in the 2006 Time Magazine Person of the Year sense) vote on the ones you like best. The most popular sessions (this is crowdsourcing in action people, although let's be honest -- it's a popularity contest, right?) have a shot at making the agenda.

And here's the story itself: This year, I have a session based on microMARKETING up for your vote. Basically, I'll talk about the book (like I do at conferences since this is a, well you know, conference), maybe hand out some free copies, possibly take off my shirt, almost definitely snap a few pictures with the folks in the room. You can get more information HERE.

And here's the part you can play in that story: Well, first of all I'd love it if you could show your support and VOTE (thumbs up, please) for my session, even if you're not sure you'll have the opportunity to attend South By next year.

Second, if you'd really like to see my session happen please share the love. TWEET the link. SHARE it on Facebook. REBLOG this post. SPREAD the word.

Thanks for your help. And while you're feeling helpful, you might also feel like showing some love to my fellow Poweredistas. A bunch of us -- including Jaffe, Quigley, Maltoni, van der Meer, Strout -- are up for some stage time. Get all the details and links on Aaron Strout's blog-like-object and, as Aaron himself writes ,"Vote Early and Vote Often." (Actually I think you can only vote once per session but you know what he means.)

Rock on.

With the book in stores everywhere -- well, almost everywhere (I think the release date in Europe may be later and I'll be damned if I can find a copy in airport bookstores, but in addition to being on shelves at the major chains you can also get a handy-dandy e-version for your Kindle, Nook or Sony eReader) -- my attention turns from writing the book to getting other people to write about the book.

Over the past couple of weeks I've been pimping lovable links on Twitter and to the Facebook fans, but thought now might be a good time for a good ol' link love round-up. Check out some of the posts the good people have been kind enough to write over the past couple of weeks.

Follow The Lead: The ZoomInfo B2B Sales & Marketing Blog

Zoom Info's resident blogger, Matthew Schwartz, took a look at some of the concepts in microMARKETING - specifically, the opportunities tha lie in content creation and curation - through a B2B sales lens.

jacoBLOG: Everybody Has An Audience

Radio consultant Fred Jacobs wrote about another key theme - the notion that the people formerly known as the audience now have audiences of their own - and reflected on what this means for broadcast media professionals.

Dan Schawbel's Personal Branding Blog

Dan asked me a few questions about the book and how it pertains to personal branding, among other things.

Three Questions with MarketingProfs

The lovely, vivacious and wicked smaaht Ann Handley fired off three questions - and I fired back three answers - about the book, leading up to last week's Summer Social webinar.

The First Batch o' Blog Reviews

If you haven't seem 'em, check em out... My colleague Valeria Maltoni (aka Conversation Agent), former colleague Jon Burg, Rayna Fagan (aka @RaynaNYC, who won 1 of 10 freebies) and Reg Nordman were all kind enough to post early reviews. And kind enough to say they liked the book. To which I say: thanks guys. I like you too!

Maybe you're thinking about buying microMARKETING but want to get a better sense of what's between the covers first. Or maybe you just want a souvenir of my MarketingProfs webinar. In either case, you've come to the right post.

Here's the newest version of the presentation slides based on the book. Of course, this touches on only a few of the key themes and presents just a small handful of the case studies and stories I've crammed between the yellow covers - but it should be enough to whet your whistle. As always comments welcome.

I'm sure regular readers are beginning to think I've left marketing for a job in event planning, but bear with me. Now that the book is out (have you purchased your copy yet?) I'm neck deep in putting together lots of opportunities for you to be part of the process - and that means lots of events.

Last month, 100 or so Texas Longhorns (and a few transplanted New Yawkas) pre-partied in Austin on the eve of the book release. This month, I'm bringing the party home to New York and -- if you live in or around NYC or just plan to be in town when it all goes down -- I'd love you to be part of it. All of which is a longwinded way of saying:

Powered is hosting the official microMARKETING Launch Party from 6:00 - 8:00pm on August 26th, at New York's unofficial home of social media: The Roger Smith Hotel. Here are just five reasons you'll want to be there...

1. You've read the blog for years and this is a great opportunity to meet.
2. You'd love an opportunity to hang out with 150 or so smart, interesting and (mostly) friendly marketers - meet your peers, network and mingle.
3. You'd like to take part in celebrating the release of the book that Digitas' Jon Burg calls "remarkably refreshing".
4. You want a signed copy of the book. Of course I hope you'll show your support by purchasing a copy from Amazon, 800ceoread or your favorite bookstore - and if you, bring it to the party and I'll be happy to sign it. But on top of that, all party attendees will receive a FREE signed copy, courtesy of Powered -- give it to your boss the next morning and you're virtually guaranteed a raise or promotion.
5. Also free? Food and drinks... 'Nuff said.
6. Bonus reason (good at marketing, not so great at math): what better way to round out your summer than with a cool party at The Roger Smith?

It's free to attend (did I mention free yet?) but for the purpose of keeping track of headcount (and to avoid an awkward situation involving you, a bouncer and a full body lift-and-toss), please pop over to the Eventbrite page and RSVP.

Let's pack the house. I look forward to seeing you there.

Ann Handley and friends at MarketingProfs just crammed me into a last minute slot in their Social Media Summer Series of online seminars. I'll do 90 minutes on microMARKETING next Thursday (August 12th, 2010), and all you need is an internet connection and screen. Attendance is free for Profs Pro members but non-members can buy seats (so break out that corporate card and cram all your word buddies into a conference room at noon on Thursday.)

Get the details and register at MarketingProfs.com.

Now that the book is out, you'll definitely want to stay tuned for news of real world events in your neck of the woods. You can also find a more or less up-to-date events calendar on the microMARKETING site.

Today, Amazon started shipping readers their copies of microMARKETING: Get Big Results by Thinking and Acting Small. I'm sure B&N, Borders and 800-CEO-READ aren't far behind.

Now, if you're a regular reader you've probably seen so many posts about the book that you assumed it was on shelves months ago. Nope -- but it is now (web store shelves, at least, with hard copies showing up at your local brick-and-mortar some time over the coming couple of weeks). And I hope you'll show your support by purchasing a copy or two -- or ten...

But I also hope you'll take me up on an offer -- for a free, signed copy. I'll send a signed hardcover out to the first ten people to drop a comment.

But wait, there's a catch. Not much of a catch, but a catch nonetheless.

Here's the thing: your opinions about the book matter. In fact, they matter a lot -- especially to other people trying to decide whether to shell out their hard-earned cash. So here's the deal -- if you're one of the first ten people to comment on this post AND you're willing to read the book and post a review to Amazon, I'll send you a signed book.

All you need to do is wait for it to arrive, crack the cover, then write an Amazon review. Look: I really hope you love the book. But what you post to Amazon -- good, bad, mixed or otherwise -- is up to you. I'm not buying positive reviews; just making it possible for some members of my community to spit the truth.

But before you do, let's make sure you qualify:

• You'll need to provide a real name and a working email address, so I can reach out and get your mailing address. No spammers, scammers or people who don't have a strong grasp on the electronic mail.
• You don't work with me at Powered, cuz that would be sketchy. We're also not related and (for safe measure) you probably shouldn't be someone mentioned in the body of the book or someone whose endorsement appears on the jacket.
• You're in the United States. Sorry global citizens, but I've gotta foot the bill for sending these books your way so I need to keep an eye on my pocketbook.
• And of course you have to be able to make the time to plow through the book, and be willing to share your thoughts on Amazon. To be clear, you're welcome to blog or tweet or share thoughts on Facebook too -- but the main goal is to get some Amazon-love.

Still sound interesting? Drop a comment.

And one way or another, also be sure to check out the official book site, "like" the book on Facebook and follow @micromktg on Twitter for book news and updates.

Yesterday, I spent some time with Darryl Ohrt and his team when the Humongo Nation tour stopped in New York City. We ate doughnuts and chatted a bit about microMARKETING. Humongo has posted a video of highlights from their full day in the city, but I thought I'd share just my segment here. Watch it here:

(Feed and email readers, click through to the blog.)

Or if you'd like to see the full New York video (and hear from Wingate by Windham, Bloomberg and more) or see what the gang is doing at stops up-and-down the east coast of the United Sates, visit the Humongo Nation site.

For a peek at the behind-the-scenes excitement, here's a view of the shoot from behind the camera:

And what do two social media nerds do when they think the cameras are off? Tweet...

Last week, Comcast's Twitter man Frank Eliason (better known as @comcastcares) announced that he would be leaving his post at the nation's biggest cable provider for a similar social media job at Citigroup. As @comcastcares Frank not only played an instrumental role in his company's social media turnaround, and driving a real world shift in brand perception -- we also gave social media gadflies one of the first concrete examples of how big business could use Twitter (or more generally real-time interactions) to deliver tangible benefits for its customers.

For many in the social media space, and I'd suspect many of the customers Frank and his team helped with just-in-time Twitter support, Frank and Comcast were practically synonymous. And now -- to my knowledge at least -- he is the first of his kind to leave the company with which he has become social-media-connected-at-the-hip.

Frank will no doubt do great things at Citi, but the real question is: What does this move mean for Comcast?

From a business perspective, it seems as if Frank and Comcast have it under control (Frank's vision is that his team will step in and man the stream). But here the real question isn't whether the business can hack it at customer care 2.0; it's whether (in @comcastcares) Frank Eliason has built up a corporate asset or simply a personal brand.

My thinking: Frank has built a balanced brand. And I think the idea of the balanced brand is a key concept for social businesses.

OK, so what is a balanced brand?

It's one part business, one part human, and (done right) 100% sustainable long after the humans move on to be replaced by other humans.

We're all familiar with the traditional notion of brand (a corporate thing that, right or wrong, typically comes to life through logos, slogans, taglines and the like) and -- thanks to the interwebz -- most are familiar with the concept of the personal brand (a human thing that some celebrate, others denigrate and the rest of us realize is something that we all possess to one degree or another whether we cultivate it or not. In other words: you are what you is.) The idea of the balanced brand argues that the one and the other don't necessarily serve conflicting goals -- in fact, the can work in tandem for the benefit of both the business and the people in the business.

A balanced brand, as the term implies, strikes the right (wait for it...) balance between the corporate and the human. It's a balance that effectively gives a company a friendly face and familiar voice, but doesn't sacrifice the underlying business drivers in the process.

Err too far toward the personal and the individual becomes so inextricably linked with the company's social presence that a departure can be devastating.

Err to far toward the corporate and what's the point, really? This is where you see companies turning to social as just another branding channel, another way of pushing promotions, or some other marketing 1.0 retrofit of web 2.0 tools.

Stick pretty close to the gooey center and you've got it just right. A social media reverse-mullet of sorts (but in a good way) that is personal in the front and business in the back.

I have no illusions that this idea is earth shattering. It's interesting (to me at least) but to be frank (pun intended, I suppose) it should be common sense. Fortunately, unlike in the early days of social and even in many of today's social missteps, it's starting to become common practice.

Clearly, Frank hasn't built the only balanced brand in social business. Dell's Lionel Menchaca comes to mind, as do the thousands of real people offering twitterati electronics advice as Best Buy's Twelpforce (the tweets may come from the corporate account, but each is "signed" with the employee's personal handle as well.) In these cases, the consumer is well aware they're dealing with a real person but it's also amply clear that the real person is speaking as a representative of the company that keeps them.

Of course, for every positive example there are plenty of negatives -- the people who use their company's social presences as their personal pulpits (the people who give personal branding a bad name, and likely give themselves bad names in the process); the companies who are so stiff and faceless in social that they'd be better off investing in bigger banner buys (the companies that that people may not hate, but companies that simply can't relate).

As usual, my half-baked thinking will be better with your more fully baked thinking. What do you think? Useful concept? Total BS? Let those comments rip.