Christopher S. Penn – Marketing AI Keynote Speaker

Category: Awakening

  • 2016: Year of the Yang Fire Monkey

    yang fire monkey.png

    Happy new year! No, not on the Gregorian calendar, but the Asian lunar calendar. 2016 is the year of the monkey, and in the five elements cycle, it’s a yang fire year. What does this mean for us? Buckle up!

    No, really. Buckle up. It’s going to be a rough ride.

    The monkey’s personality, as an animal, is lively, active, mischievous, energetic. If you’ve ever spent any time watching monkeys at the local zoo, monkey energy is self-evident. Compare this to the relatively docile, almost boring energy of last year’s animal, the goat, and we get a sense of how different this year will be.

    Yin and yang refers to the overall energy of the year. Is it rising or falling, growing or shrinking? A yang year is rising energy, a time when energy builds and grows. A yin year is falling energy, energy in decline or energy contracting. 2016 will be characterized by rising, growing energy.

    The fire refers to the cycle of elements, earth, water, wood, fire, and metal. In Chinese, this is known as the Wu Xing; in Japanese, the gogyo. A fire year feeds off the energy of the previous wood year. A yin fire is the dying campfire after a night of roasting marshmallows. This year, 2016, is a yang fire, the blaze of a newly roaring fire with fresh fuel added. Wood begets fire and is consumed in the process. Fire also has a destructive aspect; in the cycle, it destroys metal, an element associated with insight and intellect.

    Put these components together. What does rising, explosive energy and a mischievous animal combined yield? Imagine giving a toddler a triple espresso and a candy bar. Hilarity might ensue – but so might incredible destruction.

    On the positive side, groundwork and plans we laid in the year of the yin wood goat, when things were quiet and docile, will come to fruition in the year of the yang fire monkey. Old growth burns away, lighting the way forward. Wood feeds fire.

    On the negative side, fire’s heat fuels passions and intensity at the expense of rationality and intellect (metal). Any environment which is already contentious and incendiary will almost literally explode. Like becomes love, and dislike becomes hate. Fire melts metal.

    What should you prepare for this year? Wood and water.

    We can grow the intensity of our fire through the judicious application of more fuel: ideals, curiosity, stories, art, emotion.

    We can also tamp down our fire’s intensity with water: logic, intellect, data, precision, rationality.

    Our greatest danger will be getting swept up in others’ fires, in others’ passions and conflagrations, not realizing their fires are not ours unless we permit them to be.

    Our greatest opportunity? The environment is ripe for fires to spread, so if you have a cause, a passion, a mission you want to catch on, this is the time to do it.

    May your new year bring you health, prosperity, and happiness! Akemashite omedeto gozaimasu!

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  • Our common ground

    We are not so different. We share a common ground. Every major religion has agreed on one point through the centuries, no matter what the religion, language, or culture, from ancient China to today.

    Shadows and light

    “Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself.” — Confucius

    “Treat others as you treat yourself.” – Vidura, the Mahabharata

    “Whatever is disagreeable to yourself do not do unto others.” Shayast-na-Shayast

    “One should never do that to another which one regards as injurious to one’s own self.” – Brihaspati

    “What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow: this is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn.” – Rabbi Hillel the Elder

    “Do to others what you want them to do to you. This is the meaning of the law of Moses and the teaching of the prophets.” – Jesus of Nazareth

    “As you would have people do to you, do to them; and what you dislike to be done to you, don’t do to them.” – Prophet Muhammad

    “Do good to others as you would like good to be done to you. Regard bad for yourself whatever you regard bad for others.” – Ali ibn Abi Talib

    “Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.” – Siddhartha Gautama, the historical Buddha

    “A man should wander about treating all creatures as he himself would be treated.” – Sutrakrinaga

    “And if thine eyes be turned towards justice, choose thou for thy neighbour that which thou choosest for thyself.” — Bahá’u’lláh

    We figured out our common ground centuries ago.

    We just have to do it.

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  • My 3 Words for 2016

    Every year, I participate in Chris Brogan’s 3 words exercise. Rather than make resolutions, I use the words to guide me as a personal mantra.

    Last year’s words were agility, kaizen, and research. How did I do?

    Agility was no problem, from developing new tools to changing many aspects of my life. New people, new ideas. Lots of changes happened in 2015, and changing with them was no trouble.

    Kaizen was tough. I discovered that while I was making improvements, I found it hard to make those improvements on a regular schedule, which defines kaizen.

    Research was also no problem. I learned more in 2015 than I have in many years, in lots of new areas from Russian fast draw archery to machine learning algorithms.

    So, what are my words for 2016?

    3_words_2016.jpg

    Strengthen.
    Challenge.
    Own.

    Strengthen. This applies to all areas of my life: physical, mental, emotional, financial, spiritual. What made kaizen less successful in 2015 was my lack of strength in some areas. I’ve already embarked on a major financial restructuring of my personal life, making significant improvements. Now, I need to do the same everywhere.

    Challenge. In 2015, two of my words were too easy. I am agile by nature; I am curious by nature. Those are not weaknesses. To grow in 2016, I must challenge my weaknesses, my fears, do the things I know I need to do, but don’t want to do. I must challenge the status quo, challenge old ways of doing things that don’t work as well as they should. I must challenge the people around me.

    Own. In 2015, I did fail spectacularly in one area of my life. I failed to own. By failed to own, I mean own in the sense of take responsibility for. I didn’t own my time especially well: I traveled more than ever. Some of it was absolutely necessary. Some of it was not. I didn’t own my time personally as well as I could have. I didn’t own my voice; looking back over the last two weeks as I wrote my latest book, I realized how little ownership I exert over my own words. In 2016, I must own more of who I am and what I do. Finally, I didn’t own my attention and focus as well as I should have. In 2016, my focus must be relentless to accomplish my goals. I must own focus above all else.

    Strengthen. Challenge. Own. These are my words to live by in 2016.

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  • Never sell with your best stuff

    ETC2010

    I never sell with my best stuff.

    By that, I mean that I don’t use my best stuff, my best thinking, the height of my capabilities for sales calls. Sales pitches, prospective customers? They generally get my second-best stuff.

    Who gets the best stuff?

    Current customers.
    Current clients.
    Premium members.
    My tribe.

    Two reason why. First, have you ever been in a situation where you see a deal announced by your current vendor/provider and it says New Customers Only? Doesn’t that infuriate you? You see the deal and you say, “But I’ve been a loyal customer for months/years/decades! Why don’t you reward loyalty?” In time, with enough snubbing from your current provider and enough wooing from a new one, you switch.

    When everyone does that, we train our customers to be disloyal. We train our customers to always be looking for a better deal. It’s like the person at a party who is always looking over your shoulder for someone more interesting to talk to. Wouldn’t you rather be the most interesting person? Wouldn’t you rather have your current customers eager to stay with you for the best deals, the best stuff?

    Second, have you ever been to a movie where the first 15 minutes were awesome and then the rest of the movie was a letdown? If you sell with your best stuff, you’ve got nothing left to impress your new customer with. They’ve seen the highest quality, best goods you can put forward, and everything after that will be equal in quality and impressiveness at best, a letdown at worst.

    I’d rather have a TV season start off lighter and then ramp up to “HOLY ****” moments as the story progresses. I’d rather have a meal that starts out pretty good and then the main course arrives and I’m blown away. Wouldn’t you rather have sales prospects be satisfied with the appetizers but amazed beyond belief once they become customers and get the main course?

    That’s how you keep customers.

    That’s how you build a referral business. When a customer talks to a friend, they’ll say, “Just wait till you become a customer, you’ll REALLY be amazed.”

    By no means am I saying sell with crap. That’s just foolish. But don’t give away everything you’ve got to win a customer, only to let them down the moment after they sign on the dotted line.

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  • Personal Planning for 2016

    the hour

    As the year begins to wind down, take the opportunity to plan for your personal 2016.

    What things held you back this year?

    If there was a tool, a technology, a skill that would have helped you advance more this past year, what was it?

    For me, the tool and gap that would have helped most would have been more skill with the statistical program R. It’s a difficult program to get started with, but its powers and capabilities make it difficult to ignore or bypass.

    For me, learning R better in 2016 is one of my priorities in order to advance, in order to reach that next level. There’s so much innovation happening with it and machine learning that if I don’t get up to speed, I will miss the boat entirely.

    Perhaps you face a deficit of a different kind, a different resource. Was there someone that, had you known them or had a stronger/better relationship, might have helped you reach your goals?

    Was there a resource like time that you didn’t allocate well?

    Before you think about resolutions for the new year, carefully consider what factors derailed or limited your current year.

    What things helped you move forward?

    Consider what advanced your year. What aspects or resources helped you grow beyond expectations?

    For me, the ability to quickly adapt new technologies was a key to success for this year. I was able to pick up and make significant progress with tools like IBM Watson Analytics, Tableau, and Linux to be far more effective than I have been in past years. I still have a very long way to go and so much to learn, but even those first few skills helped me advance.

    For the year ahead, in addition to mitigating my knowledge gaps in R, I have to double down on what worked this year. I have to learn how to use Vagrant and Docker containers to virtualize key software and services. I have to learn how to tie APIs together even faster so that as the marketing technology landscape continues to evolve, I don’t fall behind or miss a key trend.

    Before you consider resolutions for the new year, decide what you’re going to keep doing or do more of.

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  • Democratization means commoditization of your business

    Mr. Schu reads at a giant button and needle in Kansas City

    We tend to speak of democratization as though it were unilaterally good.

    • The democratization of media means that anyone can become a journalist. All you need is a blog or social media account.
    • The democratization of photography means that anyone with a smartphone can become a photographer.
    • The democratization of education means that anyone with an Internet connection can get a world class education.
    • The democratization of marketing analytics means that anyone with a Google Analytics account can have top-shelf insight into their business.

    Democratization has a flip side, a negative consequence. Democratizing a thing automatically transforms that thing into a commodity, into something abundant rather than scarce. When something is abundant, it automatically creates a vast spectrum of value, and sometimes that value is difficult to discern.

    • Democratized media is of uneven quality. Some media sources are high quality. Some are abysmally low quality. It takes passion, skill, and knowledge to sift fact from falsehood.
    • Democratized photography is of uneven quality. Billions of photos are taken each day and most are quite bad. If you want to find great photography, you have to invest serious time into curation and sorting.
    • Democratized education is of uneven quality. As a hiring manager, resumes blend together and candidates become indistinguishable on paper. Who truly has the skills you need when everyone looks the same?
    • Democratized marketing analytics are high quality, but our ability to manage those analytics tools is of uneven quality. Anyone can say they’ve worked with Google Analytics, but how many people – even those who are certified Google Analytics professionals – can truly make the tools work for your business?

    The most difficult challenge you’ll face as a marketer is when your business or market becomes commoditized. You’ll be fighting a flood of imitators. You’ll struggle with mind share, with customers understanding how you’re different than the thousands of other potential suppliers.

    When a part of your business or marketing becomes commoditized, you have an imperative to focus ruthlessly on quality – and to provide blatant, bold, empirical evidence of your quality. Being a needle in a haystack is fine as long as you’re a 5 foot tall needle.

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  • This is what hope looks like

    Hope isn’t a feeling.
    Hope is an action.
    Hope is choosing to believe that there is more than this.

    This is what hope looks like:

    IMAG6053

    The young lady pictured above is Haineyehya. She’s 6 years old, and you’re looking at her living room: a burlap cloth on top of rough gravel.

    There’s a famous saying: With great power comes great responsibility. This is not true. Not because we don’t want it to be, but because responsibility is a choice. In my part of the world, everything we feel, everything we think, everything we do is a choice. A choice to act or not act. A choice to see or not see. A choice to accept or a choice to stand up and declare “This is not okay.”

    I have privilege. I have tons of privilege. I am, quite literally, blessed: my children are safe and fed. My house is solid and warm. I am healthy. I work. I have an education. I have choice. Not just choice, but Choice, because I can decide what on what we eat, when we eat, when we sleep, what we wear…I have and have and have.

    Syrian refugees do not have.
    Haineyehya’s family does not have.
    She is not safe.
    Her belly is not full.
    She is not warm, tucked up inside a solid house with soft furniture and cozy rug.
    She has two dolls and sits on rough burlap over rocks.

    Her family does not have the choices I have, and likely not the choices you have.

    But they do have some.

    They choose to be brave, to give up the normal lives they had, to cross borders to keep their families safe.

    They choose to hope, to have faith that this too will pass, and that they will overcome.

    If people with absolutely nothing make such earth-shattering choices, then why can’t we?

    We can choose responsibility. We can choose to exercise our great power by contributing to Haineyehya and her family, and the millions of other families like hers.

    I have chosen to sponsor her, to take some responsibility for her. Will you choose to help her as well?

    Click here to support Haineyehya and prove her hope is well-founded.

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  • Manage multiple Google marketing accounts easily

    If you’re anything like me, you probably have a personal Google account.

    You probably have a work Google account.

    If you work with any partners, vendors, agencies, or clients, you probably even have Google logins for them.

    The uncomfortable reality of multiple accounts is that disastrous mistakes are merely a click or two away, from sharing the wrong social update on the wrong channel to making irrevocable configuration changes in your marketing toolset. There’s a super-simple way to mitigate this, however: Google Chrome profiles. You can set up a profile for every Google account you work in with just a few clicks:

    profile_button.jpg

    From there, configure each profile with the appropriate logins, then switch with a right-click on the profile button to change workspaces. Once you’re signed in (and you’re using two-factor authentication, right?) then you can swap between profiles without having to log out.

    The Power Move

    Having multiple profiles is just the first step. Make sure you go to the Chrome Web Store and download some colored themes, then keep careful track of which theme you’re in. Here’s an example, where my work profile is color coded red. I know exactly which browser and profile I’m working in:

    multiprofile.jpg

    Want to kick it up a notch? Want to be absolutely unmistakeable about which profile you’re in? Use a free service like ThemeBeta to roll your own themes and logos so that even if you’re not firing on all cylinders, there’s no question what you’re doing:

    Chrome_Theme_Creator_-_Create_Custom_Google_Chrome_Themes_Online.jpg

    Prevent mistakes. Be clear what you’re working in.

    Use Google Chrome Profiles in your marketing work!

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  • The 5 song playlist for tough times

    IMG_0053

    We live in challenging times. There are so many opportunities for us to make ourselves sick with worry, so many ways to fill our days, nights, and Facebook feeds with anguish. Some of the worry is vicarious, and some of it is incredibly personal and firsthand. All that anxiety takes a tremendous toll on ourselves, our minds, our hearts, our ability to do what must be done in our own lives to keep advancing.

    To mitigate the effects of some of this very real psychological warfare that we wage against ourselves, there’s an ancient meditation practice we can draw upon, a method of mental self-protection, which I first learned from Stephen K. Hayes. Using the most modern tools, we can freshen it up for today’s world.

    What you’ll need: headphones, a device capable of playing your favorite music, and about 15-20 minutes of uninterrupted time depending on the songs you like. No sitting on top of mountains needed, just a room where you won’t be interrupted, by other people or by yourself.

    Using the music and software of your choice, you’re going to pick 5 songs you know well and assemble them into a playlist. The platform doesn’t matter, use whatever you like best, from iTunes to Spotify to Pandora, etc.

    First Song: Reboot

    For the first song in your playlist, pick a song that reboots you. The song should cause you to forget whatever it is you were doing, to stop and just listen. The song should command 100% of your attention.

    Second Song: Action

    The second song in your playlist should inspire you to take correct actions, to move in the world in the most positive, most productive way. Maybe it’s a favorite workout song that gets you pumped up. Maybe it’s an inspiring song that makes you get up and want to join a cause.

    Third Song: Word

    The third song in your playlist should inspire you to choose correct words, words that heal and help, rather than harm. What songs inspire you to be more poetic, to speak better, to choose words? You could pick a love song, perhaps, or a song that has helped you say the right things during tough times and tough relationships.

    Fourth Song: Thought

    Your fourth song should inspire you to think more clearly. What music helps you to reflect, to reason, to take some time to have a conversation with yourself? What song makes you contemplate or dive deep inside to understand what you’re thinking? What song forces you to pause, close the door, and think?

    Fifth Song: Armor

    The final song in your playlist should be your armor. This is the song that makes you stand up tall, feel like you’re invincible, powered up, ready to take on the world. This is the song that, when you hear it, makes you feel like the arrows being fired at you simply bounce off, like a superhero. You brighten up, you almost literally shine.

    You’ll note that I have assiduously avoided any mention of the songs on my personal playlists. These songs are deeply personal to you, and only to you. Take the time to root through your music catalog to find the perfect fits for yourself, rather than emulate what someone else uses. Like a favorite recipe, what you love most will work best for you and you alone. Change out songs as you need to, as you find better songs that fit each role more perfectly.

    Use this to armor up, to protect yourself against an increasingly hostile, depleting world.

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  • Begin marketing plans at the STEM

    Over the past few weeks, as 2015 ramps down, many marketers are deep into 2016 planning. I’ve had the chance to see many plans, large and small, from companies that are household names to companies you’ve never heard of. A fair number of those plans have the same flaws, the same lack of structure that could take a decent plan and make it great.

    What structure could take a good plan and make it great? I use the acronym STEM (not to be confused with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, the educational initiative). STEM in this context means Strategy, Tactics, Execution, and Measurement:

    marketing_stem.jpg

    Strategy is the why. Why are you doing this at all? What’s the goal, what are the big picture methods? For example, if your plan is about lead generation, then the why could be because pipeline growth needs to be 3x next year without spending more hard dollars. There’s a goal and a general method.

    Tactics are the what. What are you going to do? What are you not going to do? As I’ve said in the past, strategy is the menu and tactics are the cookbook, so what recipes are on or off the table for consideration? Recall that time and resources limit our strategy and inform the selection of tactics. In the lead generation plan example, the what could be organic search boosting and increased email marketing, since you can contain hard dollar costs on those channels more easily than on, say, display ads.

    Execution is the how. How are you going to do the things you said you’d do? How will the “what” happen? This is where you determine budget breakdowns, personnel assignments, editorial calendars, orders of operations, and all the things that make a program work. Execution is when you set up objectives, milestones, scrums, etc. In the lead generation plan example, the how would be the editorial calendar of keyword-focused content and cadence of email marketing.

    Measurement tells you what happened. A measurement plan ensures that you can showcase your successes and mitigate failures quickly. Measurement means setting your KPIs and diagnostic metrics and the cadence of your measurement cycles. In our lead generation plan example, KPIs would include increased inbound links and clickthrough rates in email, since both of those numbers going to zero means the plan fails immediately.

    This structure, this framework, can be used for nearly anything in marketing and business. You can make it the skeleton of your strategic business plan. You can make it the foundation for your marketing plan at a big picture level or on a campaign basis. It’s well suited for sales proposals because it cleanly answers the major questions a prospective customer will have. Feel free to use it in any part of your business!

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