Christopher S. Penn – Marketing AI Keynote Speaker

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A fantastic time at Digital Marketing Mixer 2008

I had a blast at the MarketingProfs Digital Marketing Mixer, held in Fountain Hills, Arizona. 300 of marketing’s most dedicated people flew, drove, and walked out to the middle of the desert to talk shop on social media, email, and search marketing, and my hat’s off to MarketingProfs for throwing yet another successful event. Some highlights:

– Speaking to an overflowing room about the prerequisites of social media. I got a real kick out of seeing so many people so eager and energized to learn more about social media and how to get started. Conversely, whenever the conference organizers have to make an announcement that extra chairs are being brought in and it’s STILL standing room only after more seating is installed, I know as a speaker I have to bring my A game up to an A+, to live up to the trust and energy that the crowd brings.

– Speaking on a panel with Gary Vaynerchuk and Greg Cangialosi. Great fun, some powerful takeaways from Gary (including stuff I’ll be trying with the Financial Aid Podcast), and intense energy. If you don’t watch Wine Library TV and read Gary’s blog, you’re missing out, even if you don’t care a whit about wine. Gary’s that passionate and engaging about a subject he loves and deeply cares about. Fun trivia fact that Greg Cangialosi pointed out at the beginning – Gary and I attended the same high school, 1 year apart.

– The HubSpot booth. The folks over at HubSpot, in case you don’t know, have a great little tool called WebsiteGrader.com, which does some very basic SEO assessments of any web site. What made their booth fun was them letting spectators stand around and chat with other participants about their sites. At the conference, there was a representative from a prison management software firm, a virtual mortuary firm, an executive dating firm, and many others, all of whom I wouldn’t have learned about if I hadn’t just hung around and chatted. Really interesting to see how people perceived the relevance of Internet marketing to their industries (so many people say, “But my industry is different because…”) and then watch their eyes light up when you show them how to Google prospective customers and partners.

– Late night discussions with Julien Smith. If you don’t know or follow Julien, you should. He and Chris Brogan are writing their first book, Trust Agents, slated to come out in mid-2009. We chatted on everything from trust to marketing to conspiracy theories.

– Sunrise over the Arizona desert. There’s nothing quite like watching the sun peek out over the horizon, illuminating the landscape. The Arizona desert is beautiful, if hostile.

– Meeting some great new people. I’ve got a pile of business cards to go through, but I had some fantastic and funny conversations with old and new friends alike. Big shout outs to Kati Ryan, Becky Carroll, Bryan Rhoads, Paula Drum, Ace Bailey, Rohit Bhargava, Chris Glenn, Pam Martin, Maly Ly, David Alston, Ron Ploof, Leslie Banks, Sonny Gill, Sharon Philippart, Mandy Clive, Frank Eliason, and the many, many others whose conversations made the conference terrific.

– Being on vacation. I actually booked the MarketingProfs event as vacation time away from the Student Loan Network. It helps me to separate out the vitally important work at SLN from time when I allow myself to just sit back and enjoy an experience. Ironically, I’ve got more potential business partners and business from vacation than I’ve gotten from some financial aid events, and I hope to be able to bring those opportunities to Financial Aid Podcast listeners and readers in the near future.

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October 24, 2008
Boarding a plane as an economics problem

The airline industry’s boarding and deplaning process is, generally speaking, about as organized as an overweight cattle stampede. If you’ve been on a plane recently, as I’ve been, you know the pain and frustration of watching fellow passengers who seem to pack a couple of freight containers in their carry on, then are surprised when they don’t fit in the overhead compartments, then get belligerent with you, with each other, and with the crew because they packed too damn much.

This is an economics problem. The moment airlines started charging for checked baggage, the boarding and deplaning problem got worse because passengers started carrying EVERYTHING with them. I saw one guy on the flight down to Tampa with his suit pockets bulging with AC adapters and a laptop bag that looked like it would burst. His carry on was so full that the zipper teeth were actually being strained, and it took him a good 15 minutes to sit down finally – thankfully not in my row. His fellow passengers were undoubtedly moments away from demonstrating creative uses of portable electronics and body cavities.

So how do you fix this?

If the airlines wanted to speed up boarding and departure times and still make margins, they’d reverse the charges – charge for carry-ons and make checked luggage free. Imagine if you incurred a $25 or$ 50 charge for each item larger than one cubic foot, with a simple plexiglas box at check-in. Fits in the box? Free. Doesn’t fit? You get charged.

There would be a side benefit to this as well. Lines at security would move MUCH faster. Imagine if the TSA only had to screen one bag per person. At most, you’d have maybe two items per person if a piece of portable electronic gear was involved.

Shorter, faster moving lines at security. Shorter, faster moving lines in the aisle of your aircraft as you get on and off your plane. Passengers with connections would be more likely to make the connections. Fewer concussions when the Druish Princess’ industry hair dryer can’t bean someone on the skull opening an overhead compartment.

All through the miracle of economics.

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October 22, 2008
Economic opportunities and predictions in the recession

The lady who sat in front of me at the New Marketing Summit today opened up Day 2 with the question,

What opportunities are there in the recession?

I’m not sure she ever got an answer, at least a direct one. Here’s my thoughts about things you can do in a recession.

First, marketing of any product or service which helps consumers save money, reduce expenses, or stretch dollars is a big opportunity. Take a look at companies like Walmart, Dollar Store, Family Dollar, fast food like McDonald’s, etc. – these are all poised to become higher growth areas because consumers simply aren’t willing to spend like they used to. Look for ways you can help your customers save money, and you’ll be at the top of their list and mind.

Second, recognize that some things are inevitable in any economic downturn. Domestic violence, violent crime, theft, and other crimes from desperation always go up. Prepare appropriately, and keep an eye on coworkers and friends. This is a great time to build your personal network, to expand who you know and who knows you. Keep an eye on friends new and old for signs that the economy is fraying their nerves and spirits, from depression to victims of violence, and make sure they know you’ve got an open ear and a friendly shoulder.

Third, encourage your employees, coworkers, and colleagues to grow even more human in their roles as communicators to your audiences. Maybe you make Enterprise PR Software or underwrite private student loans, but that shouldn’t stop you at all from offering a money-saving recipe that your grandmother taught you. Even on corporate media outlets, it’s okay to be human, and when you encourage your team to be human and occasionally go off-topic, you reinforce the humanity of your company AND provide additional value to your customers.

At the New Marketing Summit, the theme of my presentation was study something old to learn something new, on ko chi shin in Japanese. This also means talking to your seniors who made it through the Great Depression and asking them what things they remember, what tricks and secrets they came up with, to help them get by and thrive. Everything from recipes to canning and preserving food to getting creative – these folks have seen it all before and then some, and have the knowledge you need and you can share.

Fourth, once lending and capital markets gain some normalcy, expect a spike in lending and loan products. Financial services is a pretty intense industry to work in right now, but once capital markets normalize and credit becomes available again, expect to see a sharp spike in growth from the currently constrained levels. If you work in financial services right now, stay put if you can.

Fifth, share your knowledge freely about anything and everything you’re doing to weather the recession. Share with friends, family, coworkers, and your respective audiences. Find a great free park or activity locally? Share it with the office. Find a neat lifehack that saves you some money? Share it as far as you can. You may end up with something that goes viral, but even if it doesn’t, your audience will appreciate it. Share what you know, tips and tricks, with your audience, with your community, and encourage them to share as well. We are each strong, but stronger together, smarter together.

Finally, there has never been a better time to dip your toes into new media and the tools available. Virtually all, such as Twitter, Flickr, blogging, podcasting, wikis, private label social networks, MySpace, Facebook, and more are free or extremely low cost. If you’re a marketer, try out the tools and see what they can do for you, not only for reaching greater audiences, but for reducing costs as well.

We have a rough road ahead of us. No one grounded in reality contests that. However rough the road is, no one says you have to walk it alone.

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October 16, 2008
Blogola review: Simplifi from Griffin

Dave Delaney sent me a Simplifi from Griffin Technology to review. OK, Dave, here’s the review.

First, this thing is small and cute. Nice design, feels solid.

It’s a combo iPod dock and 2 port USB hub and flash card reader.

That’s it in a nutshell, right?

Not quite. Because this thing purports to be a hub of sorts for your desktop, I thought I’d beat the crap out of it, so to speak.

So I loaded it up. Order my iPod to resync everything. Put a card with 900 images in it. Connected my USB external hard drive and started playing a Matthew Ebel concert in DV quality on it.

How’d it do? I was surprised. I was expecting it to choke, and it didn’t. The video throughput from the external hard drive remained consistent, and iPhoto and the iPod both did fine.

For a consumer device, that’s pretty damn amazing. No choking, no failing, just doing what it’s supposed to. It’s not the sexiest thing in the world, but it passed a throughput test like a champ. Nice work, Griffin. I’ll be carrying this on the road with me a lot.

One criticism: two USB ports? That’s it? There’s enough room on the back for two more. Come on, four port powered hub!

If you want to buy one of these, Amazon has them for about $40. Disclosure: paid affiliate link for the Student Loan Network.

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October 14, 2008
A Ninja Response to Chris Brogan's Pirates

A Ninja Response to Chris Brogan’s Pirates

I of course couldn’t let the pirates win out over at Chris Brogan’s blog, so without further ado, a followup commentary on the beauty of pirate ships: one shot.

The ninja clans of old were fundamentally a mix of esoteric practitioners of mind sciences mixed with samurai who were on the losing sides of battles and didn’t feel like killing themselves for their overlord’s strategic screw-ups. Many were just young kids – Daisuke Nishina, the founder of the Togakure Ryu lineage, started out life as a ninja at the ripe old age of 16, having been enlisted in an army that lost to a neighboring overlord.

As such, ninja battle strategies focused a lot on influence, stopping problems before they became problems (because you didn’t have the resources to wage all-out war), stealth, espionage, influence and persuasion from afar, using force multipliers, and above all else, an emphasis on the practical. Much of this is still transmitted in the essence of the ninja martial arts taught today by students of Hatsumi sensei’s Bujinkan method, especially those who are students of Stephen K. Hayes.

One of the timeless lessons learned very early on is this:

You will probably only get one shot.

Whatever your strategy is, whatever your goal or game plan is, the world is changing too fast. It’s a moving target. You can’t waver or hesitate, because in the time it takes you to make a decision and stick to it, you’ll get run over by your competition in business, and you’ll lose your life in battle.

Think about it for a second. If you’re facing someone else, both of you have three foot razor blades, and both of you want to go home. In all likelihood, one of you probably won’t. If you’re especially unlucky, neither will. You have just one shot, because in sword fighting, there’s not a whole lot of parrying or dueling. A sword fight between skilled swordsmen lasts a fraction of a second.

So commit. Pick one of the strategies that Chris mentioned, or one of the many other plans or strategies you’ve got out there, set out your battle plan, and then do it. Don’t walk into your office or your boss’ office in a week with completely different plans or whatever the fad of the day is, because that’s the equivalent of trying to change up as your opponent’s blade is headed for your neck. Waver, hesitate, question yourself, fail to commit, and your opponent wins, in swordfighting and in business.

Trivia: did you know there actually were ninja pirates? It’s true.

Shameless plug. If you’re in the Boston area, and want to try your hand at learning actual ninjutsu, visit:

The Boston Martial Arts Center
The Winchendon Martial Arts Center

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October 13, 2008
Choking in clarity

Choking in clarity

Friday nights at the Boston Martial Arts Center are always interesting. It’s the night that black belts get to train and focus on material relevant to them (one of the few nights/evenings exclusively dedicated to advanced training).

This past Friday, we were looking at various choke techniques to put someone’s lights out if need be. I thought I’d point out that this is advanced training so that no one gets the mistaken idea that if you’re interested in trying out martial arts, this sort of stuff won’t happen to you on the first day you show up. Ten years after the first day, maybe, but certainly not day one!

What’s interesting about choke techniques is that when you’re on the receiving end, they bring astonishing clarity to your mind. Everything and anything else going on in your head immediately ceases to be important when you’re running out of air or on the verge of passing out. Even food and water are irrelevant because your body knows it’s in trouble if something doesn’t change real soon. The economy? Not even on the radar. Troubles at home or work? Not important.

Nothing matters because your body senses it’s in mortal danger.

Believe it or not, this is a good thing. This sort of training creates some intense presence of mind, because you can’t be thinking or worrying about anything else. Nothing else matters. It immediately narrows your focus down to the most important things in the world to you – the air supply to your lungs and the blood supply to your brain.

Sometimes it takes a shock like a well-applied choke to put the rest of life in perspective. The economy is a legitimate concern. So is the climate crisis, war, poverty, disease, etc. However, training like this helps you re-prioritize because you can’t afford to focus on anything else. You have to solve the most immediate problem first.

I’m not suggesting that you go out and have someone throttle you if you feel like you’re out of focus, but to the extent that you can have experiences which help you snap out of unfocused anxiety mindsets, you’ll be able to achieve greater clarity.

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October 13, 2008
Back up your data today – even in the cloud

The cloud is wonderful. Google Apps, Twitter, Gmail, etc. It’s a great way of making sure everything you have is available wherever you are. That said, could there ever come a day when Google’s apps aren’t available to you?

It’s possible.

If you have stored anything of value in the cloud, make sure you have a local copy. If you have stored anything of value on your local computer, make sure there’s a cloud copy.

Could Google ever fail?

It’s possible.

Lehman Brothers was a venerable institution, a 148 year old firm, that lost it all. Or Merrill Lynch, which vanished overnight after 94 years. In turbulent times, anything is possible.

How much trouble would you be in if the cloud weren’t available when you woke up tomorrow morning?

Not saying any of the Web 2.0 companies we’ve come to love and rely on are in danger, but given how much uncertainty there is, you owe it to yourself to be backing up your important stuff. Buy an external hard drive or two – 4 GB USB flash drives are $3 now and 320 GB drives the size of a hip flask are $150 – (disclosure: paid affiliate links for the Student Loan Network) – and keep copies of the things that matter to you.

Other useful tips:

Back up Google Docs with Greasemonkey and Firefox

Back up GMail with Thunderbird

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October 12, 2008
The war against despair is up to you, new media

It has become depressingly apparent that no leadership, no guidance, no inspiration will be forthcoming from any of the traditional sources in our society. Our politicians are locked in partisan bickering with each other, fighting like junkyard dogs over scraps. Our financial leaders are in a tailspin. Our heroes are largely fictional now at best.

This creates a void and sets our society adrift. There is, however, a new source of leadership, of wisdom, of inspiration.

How many of you have blogs?

Podcasts?

MySpace & Facebook accounts and groups?

Twitter accounts?

How many of you have at least 10 listeners/followers/fans?

100?

1,000?

If you have reach that exceeds 10 people, then you can step up to lead. If you have reach that exceeds 100 people, then you may be asked to lead. If you have thousands who follow you and call you a leader whether or not you feel like one, then you must, here and now, accept that mantle of leadership. You must don the cape and boots even if you feel as though they were made for someone else.

You have been called.

Here is what your followers need of you. They need not only to be pushed away, but to be pulled towards.

It’s not enough to say what to avoid; you have to provide your followers with something to do. A mission. A calling. A focus that will let them in their passion and intensity drown out the voices of panic around them so that they can generate momentum with you. Pick your cause, pick your battle, and engage your followers.

Direct them towards a mission, towards a goal, towards something that provides tangible benefit so that they can get the ball rolling in their homes, neighborhoods, and communities. Give your followers missions and tasks towards the goal you are united for, and you will help them to realign themselves away from chaos and panic towards growth, progress, and even prosperity. Ask them to give and give double what they do. Lead through example.

Despair thrives in confusion and inaction.
Despair withers under the heat and light of passion.
Despair dies in the face of confident leadership.

You have the following. You have the crowd. Your community and the people who respect you need you now more than ever.

Step up.

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October 10, 2008
Enduring darkness

I’ve been watching our economy since starting the Financial Aid Podcast 3 1/2 years ago. In that time, I’ve seen the first cracks form in it, spreading and ultimately bringing us to where we are today. A few folks have used the labels visionary or seer, which is most kind of them. Here’s what I see ahead.

The bad news? This is the bottom of the third in a nine inning game. There’s a lot of darkness ahead, a lot of trouble. There are no easy answers, no quick fixes that will work. Momentum has picked up so fast that on the financial markets, news that would have been hailed as revolutionary a year ago is shrugged off in less than an hour now.

What we face in the months and years ahead is nearly unprecedented in terms of economic turmoil. Our society at large will be different when we emerge on the other side. Some won’t make it.

The goods news? You’re not alone, as my friends remind me often. You as a participant in social media, in new media, have a vast network of friends and acquaintances. Now more than ever, you need them and they need you. Think of it as a guild of sorts, your particular band of rogues, working together, helping each other out, doing what must be done to keep things moving forward. Know what your superhero powers are and what your Kryptonite is, and band together with like-minded folks who have complementary powers.

Go to conferences. Go to events, go to meetups, get out of your office and away from the desk and talk to real people. You say you’re not in customer service? Wrong. You’re in customer service more than ever, especially if your title has a capital C in it. You may find that you need your customers as more than a revenue stream or a commodity – you may find you need your customers as friends and allies.

There are unquestionably dark times ahead, and there will be points when it seems as if there’s no light.

The light that you need to get out has to come from inside you, your heart, spirit, will, and drive.

The light that you need will grow more powerful when others bring theirs, too.

Grab your light and set foot on the path.

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October 10, 2008
The never ending war

“There is a greater darkness than the one we fight. It is the darkness of the soul that has lost its way. The war we fight is not against powers and principalities, it is against chaos and despair. Greater than the death of flesh is the death of hope, the death of dreams. Against this peril we can never surrender. The future is all around us, waiting, in moments of transition, to be born in moments of revelation. No one knows the shape of that future or where it will take us. We know only that it is always born in pain.”

– J. Michael Straczynski

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October 7, 2008

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