Every time I hear someone say, “I don’t use social media–that’s just greasy kids stuff” I just want to pull my hair out. Wake up people! There are some serious numbers all across the board for social media, and we ain’t just talkin’ ’bout blogging. Other social media activities, like rating content, reading/viewing content, and sharing content also rate high.

Let’s take B2B buyers as a group. Most of you should be interested in this demographic, because after all, as a techie consultant, you’re probably running into these folks at one point or another. Think they’re not using social media tools? Think again! According to Forrester research, they’re one of the most highly involved groups of people they’ve ever sampled!

Some highlights from this research (start by looking at the right two columns):

• 91% of these technology decision-makers were Spectators – the highest number I’ve ever seen in a Social Technographics Profile. This means you can count on the fact that your buyers are reading blogs, watching user generated video, and participating in other social media. Note that 69% of them said they were using this technology for business purposes.
• Only 5% are non-participants (Inactives).
• 55% of these decision-makers were in social networks (Joiners) — despite as mature businesspeople and not college students, you’d think they’d be participating a lot less.
• 43% are creating media (blogs, uploading videos or articles, etc.) and 58% are Critics, reacting to content they see in social formats. Again the numbers are very high compared to other groups we’ve surveyed, and again the level of participation for business purposes is also very high.

What does this mean for you? If you’re a B2B marketer and you’re not using social technologies in your marketing, it means you’re late. We’ve seen a lot of excellent activity here from the likes of Dell and National Instruments (both won Forrester Groundswell awards) but a lot of the blogs, communities, and other social outreach from business to business companies is less than mature, to say the least. This is your chance to stand out. Take this report and show it to your boss to convince her that it’s time to get started.

Read their blog post here.

If you haven’t checked out SlideShare.net, then you need to. It’s a web site where users share their slide presentations with each other. Here is a quick sample of six presentations I found useful and/or interesting enough to show you.

Well, based on feedback we were getting from early buyers and workshop attendees, we decided to revamp the book cover. The good folks at Nimble Books, LLC have just told me that the cover has gone through and will soon be available to anyone who purchases the book. Here’s hoping that we get the cover image updated on Amazon.com soon!

Some more wisdom in From Geek to Peak:

Okay, it’s time to stretch your legs and leave that great little home office. You don’t want to publish your home address to clients, prospects, and colleagues for any number of reasons, if only just to maintain privacy. Trust me on this–you don’t want some client showing up at your house at 2pm on a Saturday wanting to discuss some code you wrote for him.

Find the nearest mailing center that lets you use a “suite” address (as opposed to a “PO box” which looks a bit cheesy) and go rent a box. My local UPS store (about 3 miles down the road) lets me rent a medium-sized mailbox for less than $200 a year. They also offer a bunch of other amenities that you will find indispensable:

•  They accept and sign for all kinds of packages
•  You can ship UPS letters and packages from there
• You can send certified mail there
• They can hold your mail if you go on vacation
• They can send and receive faxes
• They can make your copies (and even bind them)
•  They can shred your documents for you

When you sign up, they’ll ask for some photo ID and a list of everyone who is allowed to get mail there for you. You’ll get some keys and a sheet of paper with your address on it once you get back to the home office, put this address on your web site.

It’s up to you whether you tell people that you’ve set this up. Some folks are still strangely leery of working with a consultant who isn’t in a real office. I started out at home, then officed in four different locations around Austin before landing back in my home office and staying there. During the five years that I officed outside the home, I held exactly six meetings with clients at the office, and only had one client ask if I had an office. Most of my meetings occurred at the client offices, or neutral ground, like a Starbucks.

What this told me is that you really don’t need an office–save the money you would otherwise spend on this meaningless status symbol and put it to good use elsewhere (like pumping up your retirement).

Yet another bit o’ wisdom in From Geek to Peak:

Ten or fifteen years ago, every discussion of setting up a home office always came with this “hush-hush” air. Nobody who worked at home wanted the secret to get out. I guess everyone thought that home workers just sat around in their pajamas all day.

Maybe they do, but I don’t, and neither do any of the home-based consultants and freelancers I know. I mention this only because you’re just starting out, and that means you need to set up a home office–going out and renting an expensive office is something you just don’t need right now. Remember, first we need to get a few customers and then we can start spending money. Having a fancy office isn’t going to help you with new customer acquisition, believe me.

So let’s take stock and get a basic work environment set up. We’ll have plenty of time to get the details sorted out later. Remember, we’ve got 72 hours.

Do you have a spare bedroom with a door? That’s the ideal. The door is the most important part. You’ll want to close your door to keep out dogs, kids, and the bored friend or spouse who thinks, “Hey, he’s just sitting there not doing anything, maybe I can talk to him.” It’s also good to be able to close the door to make phone calls in private and relative quiet (I have a Yorkie who loves to bark, so quiet is always important).

Having a separate room is also important when considering the psychological and tax-based issues surrounding home office work. By having a separate room, you send a clear signal to everyone that when you enter that room, play time is over–you are working. If you just use this room for business, then you might be able to get a tax break (please talk to your accountant about that, but not now! Remember, the clock is ticking!)

If you don’t have a spare room, pick a corner of a room farthest away from major activity centers in your home. Don’t pick a place close to the kitchen, laundry, living room (with its distracting TV) or master bedroom (if you have to work late, this gets awkward; ditto if you do any video conferencing).

If you don’t have a spare corner in an isolated part of the house, I hope you have a laptop, because you’ll be moving around a bit–out to the balcony or porch, your living room, maybe a local coffee house.

The next important thing is a good chair. You’re going to be sitting in it a lot, so please get a good one–the best money can buy. If funds are tight, at least get something with a cushion for your derriere and the small of your back. Hopefully it also adjusts up and down, because it has to interface nicely with your desk.

The desk can be anything, really. The most important part for me is that it be at the right height and that it offer plenty of open space because I tend to pile things here and there as I work on stuff. You’ll have other requirements, I’m sure. I picked up a good second hand desk for $20 at a scratch and dent store. Another guy I know uses a card table. Still another uses an old door set up on glass blocks.

Next, make sure that you have a good light on your desk–I like the full-spectrum lights because they provide better visibility and don’t mess with colors and such. The idea is that they closely replicate natural sunlight. Good light gives your eyes a break, and you need your peepers in top condition.

That’s it–that’s all you need right now in terms of office stuff. Later on, you’ll pick up a filing cabinet, maybe a shredder, but there’s time enough for all that after the magic 72 hour clock runs out.

Now, I’m assuming that you have either a desktop or laptop computer in your possession, along with some kind of broadband connection to the Internet (cable, DSL, etc). If you don’t, run (do not walk) to your local computer store (I’m an Apple guy, so I haunt the Apple Store regularly) and get something. Since you’ll be traveling some (even if just locally) it’s smart to get a laptop, but some folks just can’t work on one, and need a desktop. Either way, get the best, most powerful machine money can buy. You just can’t live as a technical consultant without one, and I mention it only because there is a slight chance that someone reading this might be without one.

Here’s another assumption–you have some kind of cell phone or smartphone. If you don’t, go get one. Again, I’m an Apple guy, so I have an iPhone, giving me maps for when I get lost (frequently), email send/receive, web browsing, instant messaging, and all kinds of other features besides being able to make and take calls.

You have plenty of time later to decide if you want a dedicated phone line and/or a fax machine in your home office–these kind of lines can get expensive, and you’ll probably find that use your cell phone and email more often.

 

  

 

If you’ve heard me do my Marketing 2.0 presentation, you’re familiar with the slide showing the old-fashioned radio from the 1940s with WIIFM emblazoned across it.

What’s WIIFM? It’s the most popular radio station on planet Earth. Every single person is tuned into it 18 or more hours each and every day. It is the single biggest key to your success as a marketer, as a businessperson, hell, as a person.

If you can broadcast on this station, you will earn respect, fame, fortune, friends, and your just reward.

So what is this radio station? Well, it isn’t a radio station really. WIIFM stands for “What’s In It For Me?” and its the (usually) unstated question that plays out in the minds of every single person at every single interaction point with any messaging.

Let me give you a few examples. You’re rifling through your favorite business magazine, and every time you encounter an article or ad, you think to yourself…how does this relate to me? What do I get out of paying attention to this particular page?

Advertising maestros and journalists both know that they have to craft skillful headlines, use stunning graphics, and entice people with teasers or offers to get them to pay attention, but attention isn’t enough. At some point, you have to make them care. You have to make them really care.

What if you saw a headline for a story about surviving a recession, and you yourself own a company that’s about to be hard hit by the recession? Would you care enough to read the story?

What if, after reading the first three or four paragraphs, you realize the author has come up with ideas that nobody else has (and you know this because you’ve read 100 articles on beating the recession)? Would you care to keep reading then?

Another scenario: you’re at a cocktail party, networking with colleagues. A person you hardly know walks up to you and starts talking to you about some gizmo his company makes. You really don’t care to talk to him, because you can’t relate what he’s saying to your life and business.

What if that person told you he is best friends with your college roommate? The college roommate who happens to be your boss?

Or what if he told you that the gizmo his company makes can offer a lifeline of salvation for one of your clients?

What about it? Is there something in it for you now?

See how easily the WIIFM message cuts through the clutter? It’s the double-edged sword of relevance and audience analysis that makes WIIFM so handy to have in the marketing fight.

If you understand your audience (and its needs) and bring them something relevant (i.e., you know they’re listening to the WIIFM spectrum) they will pay attention to you–maybe long enough for you to make a case for your product or service.

What can you use to broadcast on this station?

Blogs, wikis, podcasts, digg, flickr, rails, MVC applications — man, when does it ever stop? Welcome to the brave new world of Marketing 2.0. I occasionally give this little speech (slide deck and audio coming soon) about the emergence of Marketing 2.0. It’s a complete b.s. title for something that is so powerful and emergent that it threatens to do away with a large chunk of the old-world Marketing 1.0 thinking.

Okay, wise guy–what’s Marketing 1.0? What is Marketing 2.0? What in the world am I talking about? Well, think of Marketing 1.0 as the Advertising model. Grab a megaphone and shout at people over and over and over until they finally give you money.

Marketing 2.0 is about getting back to the basics of marketing before the Rise of Advertising. Conversations that are two-way. Relationships built on trust. High-integrity activities and offerings instead of cheap messaging stunts like 30-second ads and full-color inserts that do nothing but increase the agency’s bottom line.

B2B companies aren’t composed of idiots, after all. They’re not going to buy your services if you just show up with an ad. You’ve got enough work cut out for you if you show up with white papers, podcasts, and a blog.

Every time you have to make a spending decision on marketing, think about what will bring more value, build up your marketing assets?

• T-shirts…or teleseminars?
• Sponsoring an event…or holding a workshop?
• Coffee mugs….or case studies?
• Brochures….or a webinar?

It’s not that hard to see once you put it into that kind of perspective.

Here’s another little bit from my book, From Geek to Peak:

If you don’t use LinkedIn, start now. Build a profile and start connecting with others. I am an open networker (this means I promise to “not know you” if you ask to connect) and of this writing I’m reaching 400 contacts on LinkedIn. Just do a search for myerman and you’ll find me–if you want to connect with me, send me an invite.

In any case, there’s a section of LinkedIn called Answers. Members are free to ask questions on virtually any subject. You’re going to ask the LinkedIn marketplace something that relates to your consulting niche. You want to find out if they buy your services, and what they liked or didn’t like about the last person they worked with. Make sure that people understand you’re gathering information, and not just peddling your wares.

Here’s an example of an effective question and backup detail:

What are the top three things you liked/disliked about working with a freelance X?

Clarification: I am starting out as a freelance X and am doing some preliminary market research. I want to find out what buyers of my services (specifically A, B, and C) have experienced in the past. What were things you really liked about working with people like me? What were things you didn’t like?

Your question will remain “live” on LinkedIn for about a week, and with any luck, you’ll get a flood of responses in your email inbox. Many people will offer more than the requisite three things they liked/disliked. Others will point you to online resources.

By the way, having done some of this kind of research, I will guarantee you that some (or all) of the following will appear on the list of things that people don’t like about working with a freelancer or consultant:

• Failure to communicate properly
• Failure to properly set expectations
• Failure to meet deadlines

     

 

The good folks at oDesk Blog report an interesting bit of news:

Are you sick of hearing dreadful news every day about the U.S. economy? 40,000 jobs cuts here, 15,000 layoffs there. Unemployment potentially rising to 10% in this recession. Fortunately, we have some good news for Americans today.

We see over 11,000 jobs posted every month, and historically many of those jobs have gone offshore to lower-cost countries. But, oDesk is a free market, and over the past year we’ve seen a resurgence in homeshoring, or U.S. companies outsourcing to U.S.-based talent. Why is this the case? While rates are higher for U.S. providers, feedback scores tend to be higher, too.

Work done in the U.S. grew at a rate of 367% from 2007 to 2008, 50% faster than oDesk’s overall rate of growth.

Tina Brown’s great piece, “The Gig Economy” over at the Daily Beast, reminds us that the nut is the nut, and you have to do what you must to make that nut:

Gigs: a bunch of free-floating projects, consultancies, and part-time bits and pieces they try and stitch together to make what they refer to wryly as “the Nut”—the sum that allows them to hang on to the apartment, the health-care policy, the baby sitter, and the school fees.

There’s nothing more miserable then just covering the nut, pay period after pay period. As a self-employed consultant, contractor, or freelancer, yes, there’s a sense of pride that you’re actually making it out on your own, but if you’re just scraping by, it doesn’t take long for the anxiety to set in.

You keep thinking, at the back of your mind–hey, I only have $20 bucks left over after I pay all the bills and stock the fridge, how am I going to retire eventually? Or you lay awake hoping that your kid doesn’t get sick or that the car’s transmission doesn’t frack itself up.

After a while, just making the nut will lead to entropy. You have to get past that point, get into the land of plenty. If you’re on the edge, it only takes a slight breeze to send you into oblivion.

Always be looking for another source of revenue–a better client, high-profit projects, higher-level consulting, a book deal, guest blogging opportunities that will drive traffic your way, speaking engagements.

But when times are good, never forget the nut. It will always be there, no matter its size. And also know this: that good times don’t last forever, so you’d better get some discipline (the kind you have during bad times) while times are good to take the edge off when the bad times show up.