So I have been MIA with blogging for a while. It’s interesting how one’s career unfolds magically. In 2010 I took on my first full length book project, ghostwriting for a client. When I began doing that, my other projects and writing (fiction, blogging, et al) took a back seat because I had less time for my marketing business and had to divide my time between a major writing project and my client work. Well this year I took on another book project and have been doing more of the same. So again, no time for blogging and even less time for Sublime stuff. I absolutely love being a ghostwriter though and wouldn’t change it for the world! I just have to manage my time more carefully than I had to before.

The past eight months have also been supremely busy with my other business – Appficient, my mobile startup. I have had to further divide my time there. Since Appficient is kicking ass and my writing career is taking off, I have to drop one of these balls that I am precariously juggling in the air; and my marketing consulting will likely be it. I will still continue to service existing clients where they need assisting (or take on occasional special assignments), but most of my time will be spent divided between my writing and my mobile startup. I will not actively be seeking any new clients for Sublime and will make a recommendation for another consultant or agency who can help on the marketing side, or if it’s mobile related – move them over to Appficient, where they can be better serviced, since we have more staff.

The universe has an interesting way of directing you where you need to be. I am grateful to be a working writer and to be a part of the startup world, where I get to meet so many incredibly smart people. Not all projects work out when you are an entrepreneur (that is if you are one who takes risks). You can face any number of obstacles; finding out that a project is too expensive, working with incompatible people, discovering that something is too time invasive, or often you just can’t get the critical mass behind a project in order for it to work. But it’s the process that is the fun part; having the courage and willingness to keep trying new things and to keep coming up with innovative ideas. I love the trial and error of taking an idea from birth to conception to see if it can work, sitting in a room full of smart people talking about ideas and possibilities and being on a path that has so many opportunities for learning. And that is why no matter where my career takes me, I will always be a startup junkie and will continue to invest in creative innovation! A startup is like a science experiment. You start with a hypothesis, throw the ingredients together and see what you come out with. Sometimes you have a winning formula and solve a huge problem, other times your lab coat gets sut on it from an explosion. I’ll take it all; there is nothing that I don’t love about it.

So that’s my update for now. I have been following my path, my dreams, and letting the universe direct me where I need to be in life. And in doing so, I have never been happier. While I probably won’t be blogging very often, I still find time for 140 characters every now and then (it’s much quicker to post a tweet than a blog post). So feel free to follow me on Twitter if you wanna stay in touch.

Ciao for Now!

SelinaJane

Image courtesy of giffconstable.com

I’ve always felt a little bit uncomfortable with marketing. Just in that it’s very nature is to influence and manipulate others. It’s not always just about communicating a product or an idea. If we were just doing that we wouldn’t go to the great lengths we go to measuring the effectiveness of our campaigns and watching intently how many tweets or mentions we get. As an industry, we are highly concerned with results, sales, followers, brand loyalty and reputation. Many brands engage in social media today, not because they think it is the right thing to do, but because they think that it is necessary in order for them to survive in this new age economy.

In the old days of marketing, it was pretty simple really – I “Mr. Corporate Manufacturer” want to reach you “Mrs. Decision Making Consumer”. I would place ads, buy television spots and go to great lengths to have you believe that my product is just what you’ve always been looking for,  until you eventually go out and buy it.  I take nice pictures of my product, expose you to images of happy people using it (highlighting how great your life could be if you were to buy it), and further attract you with a great price point that you can’t refuse.

Even though some will disagree, I think marketing was more honest back then. It was simpler and uncomplicated. As a consumer you knew that companies were turning a profit and that you were being swayed with ads, but if you didn’t really want something you wouldn’t go out and buy it. Marketing was a stage production. An act. It was all about looking good and sounding good. But nobody tried to hide that.

Today, it is about all of that, but it is also more complicated and a little more desperate. Marketers now try to hide from their very nature as marketers by appearing to be more human and avoiding discussions about what they are really after – profit.

You have companies who have traditionally been private corporations – only concerned with their bottom lines pretending to be “social” and friendly. You have ambassadors out on the internet “befriending” people in order to get them to visit and “Like” a Facebook page or retweet an offer. Brands are acting more like humans, which in some ways is nice, but is it really?

Marketing is still marketing. Consumers are still consumers. The end result is still that these companies are laser focused on profit (just without being upfront about it)  and have revenue objectives to meet.

By tapping into the social structure and psychological nature of people, marketers are using emotion and basic needs to appeal to people on a one-to-one intimate basis, but still with their objectives of achieving their bottom line.

How is this honest or transparent? When they are talking about everything OTHER than the fact that they want to make money from all of these “connections”?

Transparency would look more like “I am a marketer. I am interested in your opinion because I want to sell more of my products and have you promote them to your friends so they will buy them too.”

NOT

“Connect with us on Facebook so you can share your experiences and win cool prizes.”

Corporations and private companies are routinely engaging in Greenwashing (pretending to be Environmental in order to win the hearts and minds of customers). Why do they do this? Because being environmentally friendly sells! So marketers use words like “Green, Sustainable, and EcoFriendly” to attract a very large demographic of concerned citizens of the earth.

Why? So they can sell more stuff.

Social Media is at an all time high with marketers. Many of them are using it for social good, change and to do amazing things. But why? Is it because they are do-gooders who just want to run around changing the world? Or is it because they want to have you believe that – so you will buy into their company and… Oh and let’s not forget, sell more stuff.

I don’t claim to have all of the answers, but I do think that something has to change. Consumers are currently being used for their opinions, networks of friends, and creative content. Eventually, they are going to start feeling used and say “hey wait a minute”.

It is really only a matter of time before this happens.

So what will marketers do then? When no one wants to befriend them online, retweet their content, play their games or contests, or click their ads? What will happen to marketing?

Imagine if companies only produced what people asked for and didn’t try to mass produce or manipulate people into buying. Imagine if we did business in our local area with the people we know and like. Imagine if we only shared information about products because we wanted to, not because we wanted to win something or get something for free.

Is it possible to live in a world where companies grow organically without marketing? But simply because they create great things and people like them? People should be free to draw their own conclusions about products and services based on their own intellect and experience.

Is there a way to make marketing actually become more honest, or is it by it’s very nature manipulative and smarmy? Some of these views are radical for marketers, I know. But really… Why do we need marketing if we make great products and are confident in them?

These questions and ideas are somewhat abstract, but they represent an undertone of sentiment that I can feel brewing amongst consumers and society in general.

People don’t want to be sold to or told what to think.

Photo courtesy of newageselfhelp.com

When I was twelve years old my dad gave me a standard HB pencil with a pink eraser, looked me square in the face and said “sell me this pencil.” I looked at him and went “Huh? It’s a pencil dad. what are you talking about?” He repeated his statement and said “I want you to sell me this pencil”. I thought about it for a few minutes quietly to myself. Trying to think about how I could make a regular old pencil sound appealing. I cleared my throat and proceeded to talk. I spoke not about the pencil itself, but about what the pencil represented; art, communication, letters to family members far away, and writing a phone number down of a person you’d just met. I spoke for a good 15 minutes about this pencil and my dad had a twinkle in his eye as he watched his little girl using her instinctive entrepreneurial genes. He was so proud.

My dad is the reason why I am, and will always be an entrepreneur. Some days I want to kiss him. Other days I want to punch him. I will never be able to join the work force. I will never be able experience the security of paid vacations, sick days, water cooler talk, casual Fridays and pay increases. Because I am destined to live the roller coaster hell-joy-ride of being an entrepreneur. Thanks dad… I think?

This life isn’t for everyone though. It requires a sense of humour, courage, and a love of highs and lows. Growing up the child of an entrepreneur I remember days when the water got cut off, or the lights were out, or the tax man came knocking. I remember boxes of random products in the living room because they were destined for greatness. I remember listening to my dad close deals over the phone, work tirelessly on ideation, and tell our family with excitement about what he was up to. I would watch in awe as this brave man took risk after risk and made his own way in this world. Like many entrepreneurs, he did it the hard way. But it was HIS way, and he wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Now, I am a woman in my 30s. A single mom to twin 5 year old girls and 3 years into full time entrepreneurship. I have had months where I couldn’t pay my rent, months where I could pay mine and all my friends rent, and months where my stress levels were so high that I could have qualified for a nervous breakdown and been admitted to the hospital. I have learned so many lessons along the way. I have made monumental mistakes, I have stumbled, tripped, fell on my face and then picked myself up to do it all over again. I have come to appreciate my strengths and my weaknesses and know what those are. I wake up every morning not knowing how my day will go. Anything can happen and it usually will. And every month is different than the one before it. Some are great, some are bad, and some are exciting beyond belief.

But this life, it isn’t for everyone. If you don’t like to fail – it’s not for you. If you have to know what’s around every corner – not for you. If you like the predictability of a regular income… Yeah not for you. If you are risk-adverse, definitely not for you. But if you are crazy like me, love to take risks, and have big ideas that you HAVE to try because they nag you in your sleep…. Welcome aboard my friend. Welcome to crazy town!

I remember a time when people told me I was crazy for being a single mom and living this unpredictable life. People even urged me to seek the security of a full time job, where I could live a predictable, stress free life and have the comfort of a regular pay cheque. But if I had done that, what would I have taught my daughters? That it’s okay to not be who you are? It’s okay to give up on your dreams? When it gets hard, quit? Eventually the people in your life see you in your element and come to the realization that you are an entrepreneur and make peace with it and support you. Nobody would ever tell me to get a job now, because they know that I would laugh at them. Because I am an entrepreneur. Always have been. Always will be.

Being an entrepreneur means being kicked when you’re down sometimes, it means eating random cans of soup and forgotten boxes of non-perishables, and yes Mr. Noodle sometimes. It means working 16-20 hours a day for weeks on end and forgetting to shower sometimes. It means working harder and longer than you ever have before. Jumping up in the middle of the night to run to your computer with an idea because you don’t want to lose it. It means being comfortable with a complete lack of security. It means risking EVERYTHING. It means robbing Peter to pay Paul with your credit cards. It means having the balls to go out there every day and keep doing what you do because that is who you are.

And that is pretty scary for some people. And it isn’t for everyone. Some people (sensible people) like knowing they can pay their rent or mortgage each month, like knowing when their vacations will be, and like having a retirement plan in place.  But thanks to my dad and that standard HB pencil, I will forever be an entrepreneur, riding the roller coaster of life.

Illustrations by Mike Reed; Story by JR Raphael, PC World

With the emergence of social media came the inevitable emergence of a new breed of narcissistic self promoters, or as I like to call them – NSPs. These opportunistic folks want to steal your ears, get into your wallet, and have you sell their brand of soap. But what they care most about is power and influence. You know these people well; in fact you even know where they are at any point during the day thanks to good old Foursquare. You can’t turn a corner on a social site now without being sold to, preached to, or swayed by someone trying to influence you in some manner with cleverly disguised NSP vernacular. It can be quite annoying to deal with and make your social feeds look less like a discussion panel and more like an infomercial. Some people actually strive to make their living out of being an NSP, while others just spend absorbent amounts of time making sure that they clog your news feeds and twitter streams with self-serving messages and links.

I am a marketer and I will be the first to admit, our breed doesn’t come out smelling like roses here. Marketers are some of the worst offenders in this area, especially the social media folks. This is where we all need to get better at filtering, deciphering, and blocking information. TMI (too much info) is a big problem in today’s online world and can be very distracting and waste tons of time, taking us away from what’s really important in both life and business. Just because someone can make a lot of noise online doesn’t mean that they have tact, intelligence and add value in the real world – or that they have a proven track record for that matter. Anything can be positioned to sound better online, but it doesn’t make it so. It is up to us to do our due diligence and uncover truth from positioning and reality from illusion.

What NSPs often forget is that things work differently IRL (in real life). If these folks exhibited the same type of behaviour in a meeting as they do online they wouldn’t be very popular. In real life, we learn when we listen more than we speak. We learn when we share more than we covet. We learn when we are sincere and our intentions are pure. And we learn when we truly connect with people, not when we just use the word “connect” as a cheap two cent buzzword.

If you are experiencing NSP overload, or would like to turn down some of the noise – here are a few tips to help you manage your social feeds and make the quality of your relationships and interactions more meaningful.

1. FACEBOOK

If your Facebook news feed is being overrun by specific offending NSPs, use the little “X” button in the far right of the post and select “Hide [persons name or the name of the app]“. Then voila. You don’t have to go through the awkwardness of deleting them or the offending app, but you don’t have to listen to soap box shouting either, and can choose only the type of content that you’d like to see appear in your feed.

2. TWITTER

If your Twitter feed is being contaminated with NSP messages or being dominated by an over-active relentless Tweeter, you can choose to stop following people by clicking the “unfollow” button. Start asking yourself what value you are getting out of following the people who you follow. Every once in a while I go into my Twitter account and “cut the fat” by deleting people that I don’t need to follow. This helps ensure the quality of my feed and I have more relevant stronger relationships this way. I also like to connect with local people, because they are in my neighbourhood and they matter more to my day-to-day life than someone out of country.

3. EMAIL

Some people really abuse email etiquette by blasting out messages frequently and taking advantage of people’s contact information. If you are getting way too much email (more than you signed up for) from a particular mailer or you didn’t opt-in for something but have suddenly discovered yourself on an email list for their latest and greatest, mark the message as spam. Doing this will alert the host that you did not expect and did not opt in to receive communication.

4. OPT-IN BEWARE

We touched on being communicated to via email when you have not opted-in, but what about when you did opt-in? Sometimes marketers get us to opt-in for things just so that they can communicate with us, build their follower or member count, or have a direct path to our information. Be weary when you opt-in for anything and make sure you are really getting something of value out of the experience. You can also unsubscribe to mailers who clog up your inbox with frequent messages, or if you simply aren’t interested anymore by clicking the unsubscribe link which should be included at the bottom of the email.

5. (IRL) – IN REAL LIFE

Do the NSPs that you follow online matter to you in real life?   Think about the value that people bring to your daily life in friendship and business. Will you actually connect with these people face-to-face? Would you want to? NSPs are usually takers, not givers and they are more concerned with self-promotion and influence, rather than on cultivating meaningful relationships. Ask yourself “would I be friends or acquaintances with this person in real life?” If the answer is no, then you don’t need to follow them online and likely won’t gain anything by being connected to them.

Hopefully these tips have been helpful and will lead you to more meaningful richer relationships both online and off. And remember, while there are many NSPs clogging up the space and making a lot of noise, there are also tons of amazing, wonderful and loving people as well. So don’t judge someone until you have a chance to see what they are all about first. The best way to get to know someone is by having a genuine conversation. I have met some wonderful lifelong friends on Twitter. And I will always remember that.

Have fun out there!

Selina Jane

xo

I am going to share with you my views on trust and relationships. How does this relate to business or social media? It absolutely does, because in the social media world, people like to create an image of themselves and build a personal brand. We now have to question motives, agendas, and have the intelligence to decipher when the truth is being stretched or manipulated for the purpose of making things “sound better”. In the brick & mortar days of business, all we needed to build trust was to look into someone’s eyes, shake their hand, and build a rapport from across the table. Today, we sometimes hire or work with people who we only know through their online presence, or never get to meet which presents issues.

Do we truly know them? Or do we just know what they want us to think of them?

For me I am an artist and creative first, entrepreneur and business person second – so my priority is always in authenticity and connecting with others in a profound way. I don’t want to have surface relationships with people and I find it is easier just to be myself and work with those who I connect best with. I am a living, breathing, emotional, thinking, feeling, person – so I don’t need to position myself in any way. Because I just am who I am. The people who work with me and build relationships with me do so because they feel a connection with me, and I feel one with them. We can work well together because they feel good about me as a person, what I bring to the table, and know that there will be a mutual trust and respect there.

Some of the best relationships I’ve formed (both in business and life) are based on trust and mutual respect. If I can’t trust someone, chances are, I can’t work with that person. And if I do trust someone – I will give them the coat off my back. I don’t want to have artificial relationships with people in business or life. Some of the best clients I have feel more like family than they do clients. We hug when we see each other, can share a laugh and have meaningful conversations outside of work. I know their family’s names. In some cases, I even know what their daily struggles are. Why? Because I care about more than just their business. I care about the people in my life.

Because social media is filled with positioning, pretending, and the art of the illusion – here are some tips to build strong relationships with people that you meet online and want to begin working with or just developing a relationship with.

1. Develop a relationship OFF line

It’s great that you connected through Twitter and friended each other on all of the relevent networks discovering a mutual synergy, but now you need to take it one step further and meet in person. Take your conversations off line, and see how your relationship transpires in real life. You need to look into someone’s eyes to know that you can truly trust them and rapport is best built in person.

2. Don’t Believe the Hype

Keep with you an ounce of healthy skepticism when reading bios, press releases, blog posts, or anything published by people in the space. Not to say that it isn’t true, but online presence and personal branding is more like building a resume these days. So twitter followers, friends, and number of posts have little to do with how much value a person brings to your business or how genuine of a person they are. Anything can be positioned.

3. Be a human and share your feelings

Believe it or not, you are not a robot. Business is formed on relationships. You don’t have to be a robotic person who is all business to do a good job or win the respect of others. In fact, your relationships will be far more meaningful and personable if you actually share your personality and open yourself up a little. Don’t be afraid to be human. You will find that your clients and colleagues will appreciate this and will share themselves more readily with you too.

I am all about being real. I love that I can write a VSS (very short story) on Twitter one day, talk about something that is pissing me off the next, and then post a link to a great article the next day. We live our best lives when we embody the person that we are inside in the external world. Our relationships are richer and more rewarding, and we create tons of positive karma when we are our authentic selves.

Someone recently commented that I have done some great work and that I should share some of my work with others on my blog, since a lot of the stuff on my website portfolio doesn’t include a lot of this. So I thought I would post a few things that I have done that I am quite proud of from various clients. I wanted to include a nice spread of some integrated work, some websites, social, and even some mobile.

So here you have it. And dad, if you’re reading this, this should give you a better idea of what I do and you don’t have to explain it to people anymore. Just forward them the link ;P

Integrated Work: TSG

Websites: Various Clients

Social: Various Clients

And some other stuff that is near & dear to my heart

This week I finished a website that I had little to no time to complete. It was a rush job for a client that we had a little over a week to get done. It was a challenge, but my developer and I managed to rock through it together to get it done and overall it went very smoothly. Actually, smoothly is an understatement. It was beautiful really. One big reason why it went so smoothly is that the client was extremely organized.

If you are working on a website and would like to get it done quickly and efficiently, there are things you can do to help the process along. Here are some tips and best practices to help facilitate a smooth operation.

Navigation: Know your nav! Figure out what your headings need to be in advance, and have at least a general idea of what goes on each page. If there is a sub-navigation, outline what needs to be included in there as well. Create a general navigation structure outline that indicates headings, subs, and a quick description of what goes on each page. The navigation is the key to your site architecture and will set the pace for the project.

Copy: If you already know what you want on each page, create a copy deck (site text document) and give it to your designer or project manager. Even if the copy isn’t exactly how you want it to sound, you can have your copywriter whip it into creative shape. It will create a good outline for the creative team to work from and will help move things along quicker.

Images: If you have specific images that you require on each page, label them accordingly and place them in a folder. Zip up the folder and provide it to your designer. Indicate which images go on which pages in a document or in the labeling of the name. If your designer is picking out stock images for you and you have a general idea of what “type” or “style” of images you would like to see on the site, provide some examples or comparative direction.

Account Info: Your designer will need access to your hosting information, blog, and social profiles. Create a document that houses all of your account information including usernames and passwords and provide it to your designer or PM. That way they don’t have to go hunting for it each time they need it.

FTP: Rather than sending hundreds of emails with images, logos, copy, and account information. Put everything on an FTP site in a folder called “Website”. Inside the website have a folder for each page on the site (ie – home / about). In that folder have subfolders for “Images” and “Copy”. Place all of your assets into the corresponding folders. Your designer will kiss you.

Approvals: Dedicate one person to be responsible for site approvals. Don’t send your site around the office asking for everyone’s feedback because everyone has an opinion and a different sense of style and taste. Design is very personal. What is appealing to one person may not be to another. Make sure that the site meets your business, design, and functional objectives but don’t let too many cooks into the kitchen when it comes to opinions, otherwise it might never get finished. Or it will turn into something ugly if you try to accommodate too many people’s design requests.

Hopefully these few tips are helpful to you. I have worked on A LOT of websites in my 12 years in marketing. And these are some of the things that I have found to be extremely helpful.

Have fun out there!

xo

Happy to announce that we have just launched SocialSmack for iPhone – a consumer ratings and review social gaming platform for brand enthusiasts, superfans, complainers and critics.

We all have positive and negative experiences with brands. Some of us voice our opinions on Twitter, or on our Blog, or maybe in a Facebook status update. But then what? Some brands who are actively listening will respond, but most are oblivious and the posts get buried, never to be heard from again.

Enter SocialSmack…

SocialSmack has a real-time review platform (both web and mobile) that allows you to search for a brand (or add one if it’s not there) and then either Prop it or Drop it. A prop is good a drop is bad. This eliminates the ambiguity of 3 star ratings (what is a 3 star rating anyway? I’d say its a fear of commitment)!

What’s amazing is that SocialSmack is becoming a central hub for brands to collect data about the sentiment of their brands. It is almost like an online focus group, but better. People aren’t afraid to say what they think and feel because SocialSmack is a 3rd party non-biased website where opinions are safe. People can connect with each other, find people with similar experiences, research brands and products, and earn points and badges for sharing their opinions.

Brands can now claim their brand on SocialSmack and pull in their Twitter feed and Facebook fan page. This is a great way for brands to show that they are engaged in conversations happening online, and that they are actively listening and absorbing what people have to say about their brand. How can you fix something if you’re not listening to what’s wrong? How can you thank your brand loyalists unless you know who they are?

If you haven’t checked out SocialSmack yet, ya gotta go check it out: www.socialsmack.com

If you are an iPhone nerd, go here to download the app: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/socialsmack/id391608883?mt=8

I posted this on Twitter today:

“The busier a person is the less time they have for social media. The loudest people aren’t always the best. Some Friday wisdom for ya.”

I thought I would expand on it a bit here.

I have worked in the social space for a number of years now, three of which I have had my own company and survived a recession. In this time I have been highly amused at what has happened around me in the digital space.

I don’t even like using the word “social media” these days because there have been so many SMDBs appearing on the scene the past couple of years that it is really bad for the industry as a whole and makes me feel all sick and gross inside.

Bit about me – I come from a marketing background and am educated in marketing. I am 32 and have been working in the industry for almost 12 years now! Crazy I know! I’ve worked at quite a few agencies, and have also been client side working in large marketing departments. For the past 7 years I have worked almost exclusively with digital and data-driven marketing and have been entrenched in web work.

I am happy to say I am NOT a SMDB nor will I ever be.

While I love using social media, and have an account on every site known to (hu)man, I do not waste absorbent amounts of time every day posting blog posts and chatting it up on Twitter. I don’t feel that this is a good use of my time or that my clients would appreciate seeing me spending hours each day on myself instead of on their work, which I am being paid to do.

My clients know that I am in the space and can connect with me on any number of sites, but what they really value is the one-to-one relationship they have with me, as well as my work itself.

Don’t be fooled by the fact that someone has 85,000 followers on Twitter, or they author 12 blogs… Look beyond! Do people pay them for their knowledge? Are they able to transfer those social skills into business success? Do they have examples of this? These are the questions that you must ask.

If you work in the field of marketing, you have to consider how much time is reasonable to spend cultivating your personal brand vs. the time you are spending on client work. Don’t let your vanity get in the way of your work.

Usually the folks who are spending absorbent amounts of time each day in the social space aren’t that busy work wise, so they have lots of free time on their hands. There are dozens of examples of these peeps… Just scan your Twitter feed at any point in the day!

Which begs the question.

Why do they have so much spare time?

We are in the midst of some major social and cultural changes. It is pretty exciting to look around and see what’s happening. Our collective consciousness is expanding and business is no longer just about bottom line and profit. We actually care about each other and our earth and feel compelled to run our companies ethically and reduce our carbon footprint. The impact of industrialization and mass consumerism has taken it’s toll on our earth, our souls, and our children’s future. We have realized this and are making strides to fix it collectively, but we must continue to push each other forward.

If you are running a business, whether it is a consultancy, a shop, or a company with 20 or more employees, it is important that you ask yourself if you are doing everything you can to run your business ethically and environmentally.

Ask yourself the following questions:

1. Are you encouraging recycling and reducing waste?

2. Are you supporting your local community?

3. Do you support work / life balance with yourself and your employees?

4. Do you love what you do and make your customers lives better in some way?

5. Is your office or workspace energy efficient?

6. Do you carpool, take public transport or work from your virtual office?

7. Do you feel good about your business and your contribution to your community?