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Petfluence has been acquired! We are now joining the Wooly family. This is very exciting for us and our clients. To learn more go to www.Wooly.com!

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BEING PROACTIVE WILL MAKE YOU A ROCKSTAR

Orginally posted on imediaconnection.com

I’m on a flight back to NYC after a productive 24-hour trip to Los Angeles. Sitting here on the plane and knowing I’ll be heading back to the office right from the airport I naturally start thinking, “What do I need to do today” (or tomorrow technically since I’m on a red-eye).  The reason for this article and trap I feel people too often fall into is this idea of “chasing their tail”. We all get so busy that we just start completing “tasks” and fail to think about what should or could I do today?

This brings me to the larger idea of being proactive vs. reactive and what that really means in daily practice.  Based on my experiences over the years both personally and observing others, I’ve found that truly being proactive can be scary. Yes, fear is one of the most common roadblocks from success and this area is no exception. Laziness is another one to prevent proactivity of course but for the purpose of this article let’s assume I’m speaking to the hustlers out there. 

When I say fear I’m referring to things like:

Fear of being wrong

Fear of looking stupid

Fear of falling behind on deliverables

Fear of getting distracted from your main responsibilities and tasks

Fear of people getting mad at you for “stepping on toes” or crossing your boundaries

The list goes on…. 

Sometime it’s not even fear but rather the thinking that “someone else will do it I’m sure”. That would fall more into the laziness category so let’s hope we don’t have too many readers falling into that trap.

I’ve sketched out 4 tips that can be helpful to becoming more pro-active in order to be more valuable to your business and enhance the overall success in your career.

4 STEPS TO BEING MORE PROACTIVE:

Insert your opinion: This is a delicate area because you do need to know the boundaries. You do need to sometimes push those boundaries however to both make your presence known and show others in your organization you think critically about the important issues facing the business. When you can start doing this in a helpful way and actually contribute to the conversation, then you can start becoming more respected and turned to for advice. You want to be careful not to chime in on every single issue to the point it’s a distraction from your priorities, but having a voice or an opinion is not something you should be scared of.

Do some homework/be helpful: Now we take for granted that everyone in an organization may already have important information they need to do their job well. False. There is never enough information for busy execs that are being pulled in a million different directions daily. When you can start bringing valuable and relevant articles, research, etc to the attention of others in your company, everyone will appreciate that and value your contribution.

Take on additional responsibility: Now some people may say “I already have too much on my plate” and think there is no more they could possibly handle. OK so that may be a small few but for most people there is always at least a little more that we can do if working more efficiently. In start ups especially there are never enough resources so when someone offers to take something on usually they are more then welcome to. The only thing you need to focus on is making sure you prioritize and cover off on your daily responsibilities first before lending a helping hand. That’s the one rule you must follow because if you aren’t covering off on the basics then you may as well quit now.

Learn from others:  I can’t tell you how much I have gained personally and professionally from simply talking to others. You’d be amazed at how much people are willing to tell you when you simply ask. This could be learning from someone in another department, taking your CTO to breakfast, asking for CEO to schedule a 15 min meeting one on one to learn something new, asking the new intern about what tech is popular among college kids, or countless other creative ways. The idea that everyone is busy holds true but there really is no harm in asking. More then half of the time you will end up having a great conversation and learning about something you never would have if you didn’t just ask.

All around I think people look at two extremes here. Either they avoid any proactive activity at all in fear of the things mentioned above, or they get way too involved in everyone else’s business that they neglect their primary role. Find your happy middle ground and you will start to see great results for both your professional career as well as your business.

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So nice to see Jennie Garth loving here PawPack! We are proud to have you on board Jennie.

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DONE BEATS PERFECT EVERY TIME IN A FIGHT

DONE IS BETTER THAN PERFECT:

The irony of writing this article is that I did stop and think about it for a second before I realized what it’s truly about. So keeping true to my goal here I just STARTED WRITING. In start ups and in business in general I’ve found that the quote “done is better then perfect” are words to live by. There are things I’ve been “wanting to do” for years and for one reason or another have just simply not gotten to.

Typically the major roadblock of accomplishment can be ones own strive for perfection. I think the lean start up methodology for those who are familiar is a great example of this “done is better then perfect” mentality. In the book Lean Startup by Eric Reiss he talks a lot about an MVP or Minimal Viable Product which you can take to market to test quickly. Then as you learn whats working and what’s not you can adapt and make improvements.  

I think this concept is transferable to anything in your business life you’re trying to accomplish as well. It’s really saying that it’s much better to get something done quickly in the simplest form and then as you receive feedback and learning you can make improvements over time and gradually perfect. I see many people in business, life, sports, hobbies, etc have a tough time just diving in. You’d be amazed at how great you’d be at guitar right now if just 4 years ago instead of saying “I really wish I learned guitar when I was younger it would be so cool to be able to play” you just STARTED! 

So this article is a perfect example. I have thought about how to make the perfect article about this topic and have been thinking about it for so long I realized I wasn’t following the very basis of what’s its all about. I can think of countless examples where I’ve delayed things like sending an email to a CMO, or updating a sales presentation, or writing an article just because I was blocked by thinking about how to make it perfect. I’ve gradually been learning more and more that’s while quality is of course important it definitely takes a backseat to activity. If that email doesn’t work to the CMO guess what? I can send another and try something new each time until it works. And that sales presentation? I’ll know fairly quickly what’s working and not working once I’ve sent it out 100 times. And that article I’ve always wanted to write about this done vs. perfect? Well there you go.

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A MARKETERS GUIDE TO MULTI CHANNEL NETWORKS - iMediaConnection by Ian Tenenbaum

Despite being almost 10 years old, YouTube is still growing at an impressive rate. According to the company, a head spinning "100 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute" and "over 6 billion hours watched each month" -- a 50 percent increase from last year. Along with age and a bevy of impressive numbers, a solid revenue model has begun to develop in the digital space, one that startups and existing brands alike want a piece of! To bridge the gap between talented YouTube stars and the production resources necessary to publish, distribute, and promote high-quality, revenue-minded videos, multi-channel networks were created.

Read more at http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/35201.asp#YV3OlZxWFybcOCGE.99

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PawPack has been acquired! We are so proud to join the Gift Box family of boxes. You can check out their full selection at www.thegiftbox.com! 

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This was a fun video we did with Scion for PawPack

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MAKING PRESENTATIONS NOT SUCK

I’m on a plane to SXSW for one of the most chaotic and fun weekends of the year. The plane looks like a floating Warby Parker showroom with thick plastic frames lining the seats as far the eye can see. Enough about the plane though I had some things on my mind I wanted to get out from the past few months in NYC.

At Crowdtap we’re doing presentations for brands and agencies literally hourly and working on how we can always be better. In addition we ask our candidates in the final stages of interviewing to develop a brief presentation on, guess what? Yup they present “Crowdtap” to us. So I wanted to put together a few tips and guidelines I’ve found effective in making your presentation “not suck.”

Instead of telling you the BS rules that you can find anywhere online like “start with the pain points” etc, I put together some real rules that are simple and will help you  actually make an IMPACT.

Here’s the quick version :

Provide Contrast: A great presentation shows key elements with a contrast in order to make things POP. You want to show the negative version of something directly next to the positive one for the audience to connect with what you’re saying and showing. It helps to make it emotional and memorable (which are key goals here).

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures: I can’t stress this enough. People naturally are better at learning and processing information visually. And the idea of a “presentation” is inherently visual. You can’t believe how many presentations we’ve seen that are simply a string of bullet points on slide after slide. BORING. You will lose the audiences attention after the first slide. I’ll throw in colors and graphics in here also since nothing’s as boring as bullets on a plain white background.

Tell A Story: Now this is one of the most basic elements of a great presentation. You’re telling a story which means there’s a beginning middle and end. Take the audience on a journey and bring things together at the end. A great presentation is way more then a collection of facts on slides in sequence. It’s educating the audience through a story, which is way more fun and interesting then “stats”.

Not Everything is Literal: Use analogies to drive the key points home. People are better at processing a concept in a way they are already familiar with. For example instead of saying “we make things simpler” by showing your product or service perhaps you could show a complex math board (think beautiful mind) on one side and on the other a chalkboard with nothing but the words “simple”.

Shock Factor WORKS:  While I’m not saying you need to go Gary Vaynerchuk on them and swear the entire time (not like that’s a bad thing) but you should find the key areas you can make sure they are paying attention. There’s nothing wrong with being slightly edgy or provocative in the interest of keeping your audience engaged and making sure they’re paying attention

Do these things along with making sure you have the proper content, research support and other basics and you’ll be on your way to making your presentations actually interesting and EFFECTIVE.

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WORRYING KILLS YOUR PRODUCTIVITY

I've been noticing a lot lately that I fall into the same trap as many other people when it comes to worrying or speculation or assuming. They all mean the same thing. It means you're spending your limited amount of time, energy and mental resources focusing on things that most likely will not happen. When we think about this rationally it's easy to say "dont worry, be happy" but in practice it's much harder to make this internal change.

What are the most common worries we have? They often revolve around some form of failure:

I'll fail and look stupid

My boss wont like it

I wont get the deal or the client wont want to work with us

They won't renew the deal

Someone else will get promoted first

She won't like me

....the list goes on.

Here's a great quote:

"If you see ten troubles coming down the road, you can be sure that nine will run into the ditch before they reach you."Calvin Coolidge

This means to me that most of the things you're concerning yourself with will disapear in time so thinking about them know is nothing more then a distraction and waste of time. If you can focus on isolating your worries and moving past them you will find it's much easier to focus on the problems that do occur WHEN they occur and only then instead of letting the countless things that wont ever happen consume you. It's much easier to focus on energy on fixing the problems that do occur rather then worrying about the ones that never will.

Just Do.

Dont Worry.

And you will be amazed at what you can accomplish.

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SIMPLIFYING IS FAR FROM SIMPLE

On a plane from Vegas to NYC right now returning from a conference on social media marketing. I noticed something throughout the trip when speaking to folks from a wide variety of businesses. Why is it so hard for people to make things simpler as opposed to creating more complexity.

Much of my world is at the intersection of tech and advertising and in both worlds I think people have the misconception that you need something to be complex to be good or worth something. The best possible marketing, software, technology, etc is something that can be explained simply. Here's an example. Can you spot which one sounds more appealing:

"We're a technology company that has developed a platform in which consumers can request connections with their friends, leverage our API for easy uploading of content and our interface makes it easy to manage your profile in real-time through the dashboard".

OR

"We help people stay connected with their friends"

I was referring to Facebook in both examples but which one sounds better? The key is trying to get to the point without getting stuck in all the details that whoever you're speaking to either doesnt understand or if they do understand likely don't care about at all.

Just remember, you don't have to be complex to sound smart. The opposite is often true in fact.

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TIPS FOR INTERVIEWING

So lately here at Crowdtap we’ve been interviewing like crazy. And I mean like C-R-A-Z-Y. Often it feels like a few days goes by and all I can remember I’ve accomplished is meeting with candidates. This is a good problem to have I know as we’re growing rapidly and looking to fill more than 5 positions in the client facing side of the business alone.  It does however present a huge challenge in finding killers that will live up to the caliber talent we’ve been fortunate to attract thus far. Through all of these interviews I’ve noticed that interviewing is indeed a skill and can be sharpened just like anything else one aims to perfect in their career. I figured I’d save folks some time and give a few short cuts to success whether you’re interviewing with Crowdtap or anywhere else for that matter that is determined to only hire the best.

Here’s my take on how to crush your next interview:

KNOW OUR BUSINESS:

First and foremost (and this may sound OBVIOUS to the sharp ones out there but you’d be surprised) you need to understand what it is that we do. Coming to interview with an innovative and creative start up like Crowdtap and saying “I’m passionate about social media and love what you guys are doing” isn’t enough in today’s competitive environment. We want to know what it is SPECIFICALLY about what we do that you like, dislike, and where you can add value. Anyone can read on our website that we are in the “social space” in some capacity but if you’re serious about a job at a company like ours, you should come prepared with a unique perspective on what we do, where you see we can differentiate from our competitors and how you think you could be helpful in getting us to succeed in our space.  At the very least have a point of view on what we do and be prepared with smart questions if there are areas you couldn’t discover from what’s publically available. 

HAVE FUN AND BE INTERESTING:

Most of the positions we’re hiring for are either direct sales or at least client facing. If we’re going to hire someone to deal with clients we want to see that you can maintain a conversation and “be interesting”. In a fun and exciting start up we hire based on culture fit beyond raw talent as well.  I know interviewing can be nerve racking for some but you should understand that if the role you’re interviewing for is going to deal with clients you will be judged on how well you engage the interviewer. Are you able to keep the conversation going when there is an akward break? Do you have interesting questions that keep the conversation moving toward the “sale” (in this situation you getting the job)? Are you personable and can weave in stories that make you relatable? Are you able to make business fun and hold our attention? Interviewing is like a sales call and when we meet with clients they are interviewing us every single interaction. So keep in mind in an interview you are SELLING yourself so make sure you’re able to keep our interest or you’ll never get the “sale”.

WHY YOU:

Many people come in and throughout the interview are good at simply recapping their past few years and then asking a few questions that show they did there homework. Then the interview ends and we move on to the next candidate. You need to in the brief time you have make sure you’d made it very clear how the experiences you have and your accomplishments, passion, enthusiasm, skills, etc make you the VERY BEST candidate for the given position. It’s not our job to take the information you give us and then after seeing 100 people remember who we think would be the best. You need to MAKE us see why you’re the one and only person who can crush that given position. We’re busy and we have a ton of people to see. So if you’re time is up and you haven’t made it very clear WHY YOU, then you will most likely not be remembered unfortunately.

FOLLOW UP:

You would be amazed how many people fail short at the finish line. I’ve honestly seen candidates crush the past 3 steps and then fail to follow up properly. When applying for a job in a sales organization persistence is key. I’m reminded of a famous quote about sales presentations “tell them once, tell them again, and then tell them what you told them”.  This step is a delicate dance but you know what, so is selling to Fortune 100 brands and CMO’s. So we need people who can master this final step in a way that makes you MORE interested and intrigued then you were when you first met. When I meet with a brand marketer for the first time I can nearly guarantee they will not contact me again if I never followed up. Its not that they don’t want to work with me and LOVE what we discussed it’s just that they are so busy and pulled in a million directions it’s just not their priority. So the same is true in interviewing. I’ve said to myself at times “I really liked that guy last week who came in but what was his name again”? And when he hasn’t done a good job at staying top of mind through follow up I think that says a lot right there. ALWAYS follow up and get aggressive, creative, and persistent with the jobs you truly truly want. I’m not saying to be “annoying” but start ups are about the hustle so we respect those who really go for what they want.

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It was really only a matter of time before brands realized how valuable original content can be as part of a marketing plan. Blogging, developing video, creating graphics, etc., has become so intertwined with marketing that it even has it’s own name: content marketing.

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"THE CALIFORNIANS" - Crowdtap Edition

To celebrate the launch of the West Coast Crowdtap office we put together this little spoof on the SNL skit "The Californians". Hope you enjoy and happy holidays!!

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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH BUZZFEED CRO ANDY WIEDLIN 

My latest interview where I teamed up with iMedia to go on location and visit the BuzzFeed LA office. 

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Interview with David Shing - Digital Prophet AOL from iMedia Brand Summit Sept 2013

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Interview with Kristen Comings - VP Integrated Marketing L'Oreal from the iMedia Brand Summit