Micro Persuasion

Become an Expert with the Power of Deliberate Practice

Photo credit: "A-Rod taking a practice cut" by Dog Company

Recently, I was interviewed by Kellie Kass from Simply Communicate for an in-depth business profile called "How Did I Get Here." In the article, I share something I don't think I have ever talked about before: how I apply deliberate practice in my never-ending quest for insights into digital media, marketing and online culture. I decided to write about it now because I became more aware of my habits and because I believe it can help anyone become more successful.

Deliberate practice - at least as a concept - is relatively new to me. However, little did I know it's something I have been at for years. Perhaps the same is true for you. Regardless of your passion, it's something that - when applied - is surefire road to success.

The basic idea isn't rocket science. Basically, anyone with just even a little bit of natural talent in a given domain can master it in about 10 years by methodically practicing the essence of their craft two hours daily (including weekends) and measuring their progress from one day to the next.

The concept was developed by Dr. K. Anders Ericsson at Florida State University. It's becoming popular in sports and business. It's a big reason why Tiger Woods, Alex Rodriguez and Warren Buffet continually get better. They practice on building their strengths every day in a meticulous way. (The links on their names cite relevant stories. The best piece I have read on the subject is this one from Fortune.)

In my case, I've actually been applying deliberate practice in my work for at least five years now, perhaps longer. I have been an online junkie going back 20 years. However, I only started deliberately practicing my study of the web and online culture in 2003. It just didn't dawn on me until 2008.

Every day for five years I have spent at least two hours a day, seven days a week (usually early mornings and evenings) trolling through 500+ RSS feeds on business, marketing, culture and technology. I then parse these observations into insights that I share here but also through other venues you don't see - like content for clients and our staff. Here's my trend graph from Google Reader.

In the last few months I have become a lot better at focusing my attention and measuring my progress. For example, I often look back at my posts from the last four years to see where I was right or wrong so I can get better at what I do. Two emerging influentials who I believe take this approach are Louis Gray and Chris Brogan. I reference them both in my interview with Kellie.

The takeaway here for you is this: if you want to be an expert at something (anything really), you can! It just takes time. Here's the formula: a) follow your passion, b) practice the essence of your craft in a meticulous, measurable way for two hours daily (for years), c) learn from data and adjust as you need to.

How to Become an Online Celebrity by Emulating Jay Leno

Jay Leno's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame by Te lo juro por Madonna

Many of us who are creating content are doing so with the clear motivation of building an online personal brand. There are lots of venues to accomplish this - blogs (yes, still), Twitter, MySpace, digg, Flickr and YouTube, just to name a few. For some, becoming famous online can reap great rewards - often financial. Look at my friend Kevin Nalty for example. Plus in this era of personal branding, your company can stand to benefit as well.

I don't personally know Jay Leno, but if I did I would buy him a beer. Despite all of his success, he still gives the impression that he remains a hard working, down to earth guy. You can learn a lot about how to become an online celebrity by emulating some of Leno's steps. Here are five things that make the great chinned one so good at what he does and the lessons for any online content creators who dream of making it big. (Almost all of these come from one of the best articles I have read to date on the Tonight Show host.)

1) Be incredibly focused on delivering a quality product

You might not think of your blog, podcast, video or Twitter stream as a product, but it is - it's a product of you. Great products often build great brands. It's no different on the web or in showbiz.

Jay Leno knows this. In his case, his primary product consists of jokes. If his jokes start to stink then so goes his brand. Leno reportedly screens 200-300 potential jokes from his writers each day for his nightly monologue. Only the funniest ones make it into the 11-minute Tonight Show bit.

The lesson here is to make sure you're consistently putting out a quality product. Take your time to get it right.

2) Talent is never enough. It takes a champion work ethic and passion to succeed

Now, you might think this is crazy, but Jay Leno hasn't taken a vacation in 20 years and he rarely takes days off. Further, he spends 150 days on the road doing stand-up gigs, even though he clearly doesn't need the money. Often when he wraps up taping the Tonight Show he and his wife will hit the road for a gig in Vegas. He loves to perform and it shows. (Confession: I haven't had a vacation in three years myself and I don't feel I have missed a thing.)

As I think about the bloggers I look up to and read - Om Malik, Jeff Jarvis, Dave Winer, Mike Arrington, Scoble, Rex, Gina Trapani and others - I can't remember the last time they took a day off. Many, if not all of them blog weekends as well. Now some have other byliners on their blog. But make no mistake. These are the stewards of the blog brands.

3) Be a man or woman of the people

Despite many long hours working and cris-crossing the country for gigs, thanks to his blue collar roots Leno remains a man of the people and always upbeat. His Jaywalking segments reveal just how comfortable he is with ordinary folks like you and me. Further, according to the Fortune piece, he's low maintenance and never a prima donna.

The lesson here is if you make it big and you get a Google PageRank of 8, don't let it go to your head. Mike Arrington of TechCrunch knows this and he gives interviews from time to time to bloggers I never heard of.

4) Have something to sell, but also let others sell on your stage

Fortune in 2004 wrote: "(Leno) will go almost anywhere and do almost anything to win friends and influence people." However, that's not all. He is a good listener and he lets his guests all get in their plugs. It's part of the game.

Every blogger or serious content producer has something to sell. That's not to say this isn't just art for some, it is. Still recognize that selling ideas drives a lot of the conversation and let people get those points in too. Further, make sure you know what ideas you want to sell and own them.

5) Stay a little bit paranoid and push your comfort zone

Finally, it's true in life that only the paranoid often survive. Leno once tuned into the Laker game and spotted his competition in the stands. He responded by writing more jokes. In addition, he tests new material onstage at the Hermosa Beach Comedy and Magic Club on Sunday nights.

The lesson here is to never rest on your laurels. Know what your skills are/aren't but don't be afraid to test new ground. When I first tried Twitter I didn't get it. Now I don't know how I live without it and it helps me create better, more meaningful content here while also driving my brand.

Free Advice for Dell on How to Turn it Around

There's been a lot of discussion today about the Dell blog I linked to last night. Some say we should give Dell a chance to settle in to the neighborhood before we critique the curtains. Meanwhile Jeff talks about allegedly getting flamed by GCI, Dell's PR firm and an Edelman competitor. Also, the Dell blog is pointing to its critics, which is a small step but a good start as Scoble noted.

Some of you tell me you disagree, but I stand by what I said last night. Dell had months to study the 'sphere to get it right and I feel they missed a PR opportunity. But it's not too late. Here's what I would advise Dell to do today if they were our client...

1) Continue to Acknowledge the Conversation
Today you showed us that you are listening and that you care. Excellent. Good first step. Now build on it by actively participating in conversations that are relevant to your brand. Follow TechMeme and give us an active POV on some of the posts we wrote today. For example, what process did you go through in launching the blog? Were their discussions about its focus and how did you arrive at where you are now? How are you handling comments and customer support queries? What would you like to learn from us?

2) Find Common Ground with Bloggers
Many bloggers, especially those who would be interested in the Dell blog, are geeks. We like technology. Sure, we talk about how we use it at home. But a lot of us talk about how we maximize technology in our work. All you need to do is visit Lifehacker or 43 Folders and you'll find an active conversation on this topic every day.

According to CNET, 85 percent of your business is in the b-to-b market. That means we have a common bond. We are all passionate about technology-empowered business. You have a lot of expertise here having built one of the most efficient businesses in the world. Share it with us. Link to what we're talking about and help us learn.

3) Use the Blog to Break News in a Human Voice
Thursday, also according to CNET, you are going to unveil a new pricing scheme for consumers. In addition to using all of your existing PR channels, blog on the news ... and not just once but twice. In the first post give us more background behind the news but in a human voice. What's driving it? What kind of feedback can we give you that would be valuable? In the second post, round up some of what the bloggers are saying and answer any recurring questions that arise. Repeat this again in the future but not just on good news, but the bad too.

4) Open Yourself Up to Suggestions
Clearly customer support is a problem for Dell right now. This has been chronicled in the press. Don't just look for the solution in Round Rock or McKinsey. Tap into the wisdom of the crowds. Put us to work. I bet if you asked we would volunteer all kinds of suggestions that can help you solve problems. For more, see the recent Wired story on Crowdsourcing.

Technorati Tags: Dell, Jeff Jarvis

Fifteen Things I Learned on del.icio.us

Regulars here know that I am an avid del.icio.us user. Not only do I file my bookmarks away here, but I scan the site regularly to find new things to blog.

What you might not know is that del.icio.us can tell you a lot about how tech-savvy influencers perceive blogs, brands, Web sites, pop culture icons and more by running URLs through the service. This will tell you a) how many people have saved a particular link and b) how they are labeled by the community through tags.

Some notes: First, you can speed this up by grabbing this bookmarklet and dragging it to your favorites. Use it to check any URL. Second, every URL filed away in del.icio.us has its own RSS feed at the bottom of the page so that you can track the specific link. This is a must for all tech brands. Further, if you're in advertising or PR, be sure to run your campaign microsite URLs/media coverage links through the del.icio.us URL filter. You'll get great data for reports. Last but not least, keep in mind that the del.icio.us community is more tech savvy than most so the more geeky the link, the deeper the data. Also, this feature is sometimes slow to load.

So with that, here's a sample of 15 things I learned from the collective psyche that is del.icio.us. (Yea Seth, more diggbait)

• The MacBook Pro is on a lot of people's wish list
• Everyone gets that TechCrunch is about Web 2.0 and PaidContent.org is about media, but people have very different perspectives on what Fark largely covers. Some say news, others say humor.
• People who bookmarked Gnomedex were looking forward to seeing Adam Curry (a 2005 speaker) and to network
• One of Flickr's greatest attractions is its cavernous storage
• People use Odeo to search for music nearly as much as they do podcasts
• Some people found Subservient Chicken slightly disturbing. They called it strange or weird.
• AdAge kills AdWeek and some even tag it "PR"
• Drudge Report is considered a blog by many
• More people appear to be interested in what Mark Cuban has to say about business rather than sports
• The number one tag for comcast.com - bills
• Post Secret is art
• Dooce is funny
• My blog is tagged marketing more than it is PR, while Om Malik's broadband blog is tagged Web 2.0 more than it is telecom
• People perceive Bloglines more as a place for blogs than for news
• Best Buy is bookmarked far more than Circuit City or Frys.

If you find gems, leave them in comments. (UPDATE: Someone added this blog post to del.icio.us so you can track it here.)

Tags: del.icio.us

Suing Bloggers is an Invitation for Bad PR

Late last week Warren Kremer Paino Advertising sued Maine blogger Lance Dutson for copyright infringement, defamation and trade libel and injurious falsehood. They charged he caused damage to their client, the Maine Office of Tourism, because he critiqued their marketing strategy.

I can't comment on the merits of this case. There are two sides to every story, so I can't be sure who's right or wrong here without seeing the evidence and hearing from both parties. However, what I can say is that suing bloggers should be an absolute questionable last resort tactic to resolving such an issue. It's a lose-lose for everyone because of the PR fallout.

I was interviewed earlier this week by Advertising Age on this subject and I offered the following game plan to companies that might have bloggers dinging their brands:

* The first step is to contact the blogger and discuss the issue in a non-threatening way. See if you can reach an agreement.

* Second, you might have to accept what you cannot change. It's the bloggers' rights to communicate their opinions as long as the information was obtained through legal channels.

* Try to find a third party to broker a discussion between you and the blogger. In this case the ad agency could have asked the Media Bloggers Association to get involved. Dutson is a member

* Blog back, but only if you already have a blog. If you don't have a blog and you get hit, now is not the time to start one. The one scenario where I think starting a blog could work is if you are hit by a broader crisis that spreads in the blogosphere (e.g. Kryptonite Locks). This is different because it's isolated to one blogger.

Technorati Tags: Lance Dutson, MBA, Media Bloggers Association, WKPA

Staples Faces Blogger Ire for “Virus Scanning” Fees

A small blogstorm is brewing over a report on Boing Boing that Staples charges a $2.49 fee for virus scanning any media that you hand over to them to print out, even if you're making one copy.

So, let's play Madden 2006, blog style. What should Staples do? Run (be scared), pass (send it off to PR to worry), kick (try somehow to shut this down) or punt (let it be someone else's problem). The answer, in my view at least, is to call an audible. This isn't just a small blog calling Staples out, it's el numero uno.

I had a similar “what would you do” conversation with a reporter today on this very subject. I had no idea this would come up so soon. If I were Staples, I would come up with an answer quickly. Try to assess if this is a chain-wide policy or simply a store-level situation. If this is indeed a national policy, don't hide from it. Try as best you can to explain it through allies you have in the blog world (which I know you have). And do it now before it starts to spread to the press.

Technorati Tags: Staples

Free PR Advice for Dell

Dell PR dialed up Jeff Jarvis today. I guess it took a BusinessWeek story for them to finally move on this. Unfortunately, from what Jeff writes, it sounds like they still are living in a unidirectional rather than a mutli-directional world. Sir Jeff says ...

“There is no realization that there is an opportunity (and, don’t they now know, a danger) in this era of the empowered consumer-as-publisher. I kept coming back to that as my uncompany line: You have the chance to talk with consumers, to build a new relationship with the public in public...But they refuse to see that they could connect one to the other: Rather than just talking to consumers, they could talk with consumers.”

To my friends at Dell, here's some free advice that can help you turn this around. You are now past the point of no return. Dell needs to act now. Here are just three of the steps you might want to take to re-build your credibility with bloggers ...

1) Host a Blogger Day - Fly all of the key influencers who are writing about your service issues to Round Rock to meet with your quality-assurance team and perhaps even Michael himself. Let the bloggers see first hand all of the steps you are taking to improve our experience with your products. Give them a tour of your customer service nerve center. Allow them to politely probe. Be transparent. Show, don't tell. You can keep this manageable by picking the most influential bloggers and having them serve as "pool reporters." Let them field questions from others who have blogged about your latest issues.

2) Set Up Special Dell Complaint/Praise Tags on Technorati - On your Web site put up a link to two separate Technorati tags that bloggers can ping with their Dell complaints/praise. One is called “dellcomplaints,” the other is called “dellpraise.”Mine these like mad and try to contact as many of these bloggers as possible to learn more. Use the public utility.

3) Launch a Self-Effacing Blog Promotion  - Don't take yourself so seriously. Come down from the Austin hilltops and show us that you can take your lumps and laugh this off. For example, you could roll out a scavenger hunt. The first 100 people who find Jeff Jarvis' picture hidden on your Web site win 50% off a new PC.

These are just thought-starters. I am sure you have even better ideas. Regardless, dudes, the time for Dell to act is now.

Technorati Tags: Customer, CustomerService, Dell, DellHell, JeffJarvis

Free Advice for Target

Robert Scoble is meeting with the Target Corporation this morning and is asking the blogosphere for advice for the retail giant. Here are some ideas I think Target should consider. They fit within our agency's Micro Persuasion philosophy of find, listen, engage and empower...

Find: As Robert says, Target should identify its most influential online evangelists and vigilantes and potential evangelists and vigilantes. Using PubSub and Feedster are a start, but I would not ignore Google too. At CooperKatz, we score each in-bound blog link/mention on a qualitative assessment scale from one to ten via a customized brand blog barometer. Target should be doing this as well.

Listen: Once Target knows who its influencers are, it needs to listen to them actively. The company needs to view each blog post as legitimate feedback. More importantly, it needs to identify what are the most powerful currents of conversation in the blogosphere – e.g. the ones that are the most relevant to the company and its products/services. I call this a company’s "higher holy calling." Only after Target has completed find and listen, will they be ready to engage and empower.

Engage: Target has lots of opportunities to launch blogs that will help them engage in a dialogue with their constituents. Here is just a sampling…

• The Designer's Blog - One of the most obvious is its Designer's Boutique. Here, Target showcases leading designers like Michael Graves and Isaac Mizrahi. Why not have these thought leaders blog together on the Web site? I’d love to hear why they’re working with Target and what their vision is.

• RSS Coupons – Target should start customized RSS feeds that alert consumers when new items that match their interests are on sale. This will drive people to the web site and the stores.

• Target is big on giving back to the community. Several sections of its web site are devoted to it. Target could create local blogs for each of its core markets that chronicle how they help the community and, more importantly, starting conversations with them on how they want to be helped.

Empower: At the highest level, Target should use the blogosphere to empower people to tell stories. And what better people to empower than those they have helped through their corporate giving programs. Target already has a Flash-enabled section of their web site where they give people they have helped a voice. This is a good start, but why not also empower them to lead a conversations? Right now the stories are static. Bring them to life!

These are just my thought-starters. What are yours?

Free Advice for NY Metro Fortune 1000s

If you work in corporate communications or marketing for a New York Metro Fortune 1000 company and you're curious about blogs, podcasting, RSS and/or citizen marketing, I'd be happy to come in for an informal chat with your team gratis. Email me if you're interested

Microsoft Office Marketing is Stuck in the Prehistoric Era

Microsoft has launched a new offline/online campaign to encourage existing Office users to upgrade Office 2003. In the accompanying print ad in PC Magazine, Microsoft urges Office 97 users to "evolve" to Office 2003. Both the print/online campaign utilize a prehistoric dinosaur theme. Sigh. What a wasted opportunity to use what I call "conversational marketing" - e.g. blogs, podcsating and RSS.

It's no secret that Microsoft is having difficulty getting Office 97 and 2000 users to upgrade to the latest version. Most people use a small percentage of the Office suite's full feature set and feel fine with what they have. So I don't criticize Microsoft for launching an online marketing campaign. Office is such a part of their bread and butter.

However it seems to me like they're trying the same ol' stuff they did back in 1995. Where has the innovative Microsoft Office marketing machine gone? The company's army of 1200+ employee bloggers do more to market Microsoft's products/services these days than anything the corporation has done in years.

Someone please post a link to this blog post on the Redmond Sharepoint server. Here are three ways Microsoft could use our agency's "find, listen, engage and empower" approach to encourage business users to upgrade to Office 2003...

1. Find referenceable users and empower them to blog on your site - Use PubSub, Feedster, MSN Search and customer data, etc. and find the most vocal Office 2003 enthusiasts in the blogosphere. Initiate a dialogue with them and, if they're interested, give them blogs where they can regularly chronicle how they use Office 2003 to improve their daily productivity. Let the customers tell your story.
   
 
2. Have loyal Office 2000 and 2003 users debate each other head-to-head - Find two users of the Office suite - one a loyal 2000 user, another a 2003 fan - and let them them debate each other on the merits of their choice of suite via a shared blog.
 
3. Give out free upgrades - Seed 500 bloggers with free upgrades to Office 2003 and index their posts via an RSS-powered portal.

Dinosaurs don't sell Office suites, Microsoft. Think different. Think conversational. I know you can do it. Your 1200+ employee bloggers do so everyday.

How Microsoft Can Mobilize Biz Bloggers and Save the Tablet PC

In case you haven't heard, the Tablet PC computing platform has a problem. Despite putting in a great deal of traditional marketing elbow grease, Microsoft can't seem to make a go of it. Consider what Peter Rojas from Engadget wrote...

Anyone else notice that the Tablet PC has become sort of invisible lately? Hardly any new ones were announced at the big ol’ Consumer Electronics Show a few weeks ago (Bill Gates didn’t even hardly mention it during his big keynote there), sales have been mad sluggish (all 1.3% of all PCs sold are Tablet PCs, and it doesn’t help that they almost always cost more than a comparably-equipped laptop), and it’s almost like Microsoft has just lost interest in the whole thing.

This prompted Robert Scoble, one of the Tablet's biggest proponents to respond...

But, Engadget is right. Microsoft is BLOWING it big time by not making the Tablet PC a bigger deal.

Most normal people haven't seen a Tablet PC yet. How do I know that? Because everytime I'm on a plane people want to play with it. Same thing at the conference. People wanted a look....
 
~~ Snip ~~
 
Where's the TV ads? The marketing campaign?

Without even realizing it, Robert stepped right into his solution. But Scoble, your solution is not in flashy TV ads. C'mon, did you lose your Cluetrain hat at your big cheesy birthday bash? The solution here is, as you said, to show as many non-geek businesspeople as possible the power of the Tablet PC. Once folks lay eyes on it, they will be mesmerized (unless they already love Apple). I know I was. Unfortunately, we're standardized on Dell here, but if they ever come out with a Tablet PC I would be game.

What Microsoft needs to do here, Robert, is find non-geek influencers who will frequently evangelize the platform to others both offline and online. Microsoft should immediately identify 500 - 1000 influential business bloggers who are big thinkers and give them free Tablet PCs systems to use. Pick folks who travel, speak, write and appear in the press frequently - e.g. people from outside the technology community. Pick leaders who others flock to for advice. Scoble, please stop reading here and get David Allen, Pat Croce, Mark Cuban and Tom Peters Tablet PC systems ASAP. Do not pass go. They should be at the top of your list.

So Microsoft, if you want to save the Tablet PC please take the hundreds of thousands of dollars you might be earmarking for a new ad campaign and invest it in getting systems in the hands of non-geek bloggers/influencers who are leading business thinkers. Let them evangelize it offline and off. They will do a much better job of marketing Tablet PCs than an ad on ABC, CBS, NBC or Fox ever could.

Free Advice for Best Buy

Starting today I am adding a new semi-regular feature to this blog called "Free Advice." I will pick one company, "reverse engineer" one of their current marketing campaigns and offer some pithy thoughts on how they might use customer/corporate blogs and/or RSS feeds to augment these efforts. I have added a new category to the blog to aggregate these posts.

(Please note that these are merely starting points. I am a big believer in what Dan Gillmor often says: "my readers know more than I do." Please join the discussion either by adding your comments here or by linking to these posts on your own blogs.)

Today I am taking a closer look at Best Buy and their Geek Squad program. According to Hoovers, the Geek Squad "provides computer support services to both commercial and residential customers. It currently operates in seven US markets and provides in-store technicians in about 20 Best Buy stores; by 2007 the company plans to have technicians available in most of its stores."

Best Buy's Geek Squad is one major way - at least on the surface - the retailer differentiates itself from competitors, which include Circuit City and CompUSA. The company features the Squad prominently in both TV and radio advertising campaigns, as well as in weekly newspaper circulars. They also appear to be a central part of the company's PR efforts given the numerous press mentions they get. The Geek Squad also has its own marketing site that includes some helpful information and Squad profiles. It's not clear if these are real Best Buy employees or just the actors in their ad campaigns, but nevertheless it's a cute idea.

Here are three simple ways that Best Buy might bolster this campaign using blogs and RSS feeds. Some of these could be combined as well...

1) Local Geek Squad Blogs
As I mentioned, there are 20 stores around the US that have Geek Squads on staff. Imagine for a moment if the company chose one "star" Geek Squad member from each store location and empowered them to blog on the Geek Squad Web site. These weblogs would instantly strengthen Best Buy's position as the local go-to tech experts. They Squad members would use the blogs to converse with customers about the broad technical gripes they are facing and offer some sound advice on how to address them. The Best Buy PR team could then point local technology writers in these markets to the local weblogs and even offer up their Geeks for interviews.

2) Invite Customers to Blog
Taking this a step further, now imagine for a moment that Best Buy allowed some of its more tech-savvy customer evangelists to blog on their site as "unofficial" Geek Squad members. These customer evangelists could answer questions from other fellow customers and become unofficial spokespeople the company. Best Buy could craft a release when each new unofficial Geek Squad member is named and pitch profile stories on them to the local press. The result - powerful word of mouth marketing.

3) Offer Problem/Solution RSS Alerts
Finally, if Best Buy is aiming to become a consumer's one-stop shop for tech support, they should consider launching a blog and/or RSS feeds that help customers stay abreast of all major technical issues. For example, these might include Windows XP Service Pack 2, major virus outbreaks, major Office upgrades, etc. If you knew there was a single place you could turn to keep up with all of the major issues you need to maintain/protect your home computer that also offered advice from real humans, wouldn't you subscribe to that feed?

These ideas are just a start, but I think given the subject matter there's more Best Buy can do to add to this already-strong marketing effort.