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I Am Done Talking About “Marketing”

I am done talking about “marketing.” From now on, I’m going to ask you about your “awareness and visibility” strategy.

Companies need to stop treating social media like:

  • a campaign (with an end date)
  • a way to let everyone know about their products
  • a way to treat the world to the awesomeness of their organization

That sounds like marketing to me. I want to know about your awareness and visibility strategy. Remember, as we learned in my Waterfall of Goals blog post, neither your traditional advertising nor your social media activities move product off the shelves. They increase awareness and visibility, creating leads. Those leads then need to be converted into sales by good salespeople, a good waiter, an airtight product seamlessly delivered. Marketing is not your sales machine, but rather your leads machine. And leads can be generated by both traditional and social methods. And social is not marketing in the traditional sense. Therefore, I am going to start making this distinction with semantics.

So, what is your awareness and visibility strategy?

Rizzo Tees Interviewed By Russ Henneberry At Tiny Business Mighty Profits (TBMP) Radio

I was honored to be interviewed by the great Russ Henneberry as part of his Tiny Business, Mighty Profits radio show. It’s about 45 minutes long – sit back and have listen.

Have a listen to the interview here.

And THANK YOU RUSS! Be sure to follow Russ on Twitter.

Rizzo Tees Talking Social Media At RISE Lunch with David Siteman Garland and Erin Steinbrugge – the @Steinburglar

I recently participated in a social media panel discussion at David Siteman Garland’s RISE Lunch. I have enjoyed every RISE lunch I’ve attended. I meet someone special every time. I’ve made business deals at some of them. And Brad Beracha’s Araka Restaurant is just a wonderful place to dine.

Thanks to Erin Steinbrugge for participating with me, and thanks to David for inviting me to share my thoughts.

No embedability here, so click below to proceed to the video:

http://blog.therisetothetop.com/2010/12/thoughts-on-social-media-for-entrepreneurs-in-2011/

Let me know if you’d like me to speak at your speaking thingy – contact me at rizzotees [ at ] gmail [ dawt ] com.

Rizzo Tees Talking Social Media At Webster University School Of Business – Video

Webster University

It was an honor to be invited to the George Herbert Walker School Of Business And Technology for the latest installment of their Walker Speaker Series. I participated in a panel discussion on “Bettering Your Business Using Social Media.”

I was joined on stage by fellow panelists Kathleen Manning of Monsanto, Amber Talbot of Scottrade, and Dave Collett of Weber Shandwick. Dr. Benjamin Akande, dean of the Business School, moderated our discussion. He started us off with some questions of his own, and then we took audience questions. Dr. Akande deftly moved us from one topic to the next, and I think the panel especially enjoyed engaging with the audience.

Thanks to Dr. Akande for moderating, Charla Lord for helping us out behind the scenes, and Patrick Powers for inviting me in the first place, and being an all around cool guy.

I did especially enjoy the Webster University blog post linked to above (and pictured above) that includes an autofeed of their latest tweet. That tweet was a retweet of my #FollowFriday tweet for Dr. Akande.  The irony is thick and heavy, no?

Thanks again to Webster University. Let’s do it again sometime!

A Flickr gallery of the event is here, a direct link to the recorded Ustream video is here, or watch below:

Bonus material:

Kanna Taylor’s blogpost on the event

Patrick Powers’ recap of the event

If the Ustream video feed above ever goes down, here’s the hour-long panel discussion on YouTube.

Benjamin Akande and Chris Reimer

Dr. Benjamin Akande and Chris Reimer

My Presentation At STLMixtapes.com – A Nervous And Intimidated Rizzo Tees!

STLmixtapes.com

(no, that's not me on stage there)

At the invitation of my bestest buddy J-Will, aka @theobell, I spoke on Social Media at a tweetup for STLmixtapes.com. This wonderful music project, started by J-Will and @BigLos, allows local St. Louis rap talent – artists, producers, and DJs – to gather in one place to showcase their music. If you have something you want up on the site, send it in and watch this happen:

http://stlmixtapes.com/2010/10/jesse-mtv2/ <—– it has 700 tweets and almost 250 Facebook likes. Now that’s great exposure!

Thank you to @RossPR for the first video, and J-Will for the second one.

I have to say, I was nervous up there on stage.  A room full of artists, producers, DJs, and rap fans, all waiting to hear Potzee rap.  They weren’t there to hear me.  I think my nerves made their way into my performance.  I have no problem watching my RISE interview – I can watch it over and over, start to finish. On the flip side, I find it hard to watch this performance. I can’t sit all the way through it without hitting pause.  I just need to get more practice, and do a better job next time. And not drink 4 Guinness before I go on stage. 🙂

Luckily a few people came up afterwards and said, “Great job,” “I’m in the same boat you were, trying to break out,” “Very inspirational…..” so all of that makes me feel a little better. Thanks again to J-Will and Los for the opportunity. I met so many great people that night. (S/O to @Entelleckt!)

VIDEO #1

VIDEO #2

Gary Vaynerchuk 2010 Railsconf Keynote

Take some time to watch Gary Vaynerchuk’s keynote at 2010 Railsconf. Earlier this year, Gary announced he would be doing fewer speaking engagements so that he could spend more time executing.  Well, I’m glad he took time to do this (paid) engagement – he was in rare form!  I was sweating by the end of this.  You can always debate if Gary broke any new ground here, or that he’s just too loud and obnoxious.  I still love the energy, and he was one of a few select people that inspired me all the way to my new job at Scorch Agency.  So for that, I owe him.

WARNING: This particular keynote is filled with cursing. If you’re easily offended by foul language, you should not watch this.

The Social Media Divide

I was having an email conversation with a 60 year old person, telling them that I had met a friend of theirs while drinking at my favorite wine bar Robust.

They were excited that I had met their old friend, and asked about Robust.  I told this person, “Robust is over in Webster Groves. Really cool wine bar and restaurant. I made friends with the owners thru Twitter, and now I go there and drink red wine to excess. Good times!”

And this person responded “How in the world would you make friends through Twitter…. I am so behind the times.”

There are still vast swaths of our society that aren’t using Social Media, that don’t understand it, and that have never even tried it.  OPPORTUNITY!

Link Roundup on Rizzo Tees – What I’m Reading 3/25/10

Playing the part of Internet DJ, here’s a sampling of what I’ve been reading the past few days.

1.)  My buddy Greg Bussmann has a very thought-provoking post on his blog The St. Louis Social Media and Tech Report called “Value of Social Media Questioned By Some Entrepreneurs.”  The question is clear, and yet one that many Social Media consultants don’t want to answer – “Is Social Media right for every business?”  Could the answer possibly be “no?”  Heaven forfend!  You mean there might be some business sectors that have nothing to benefit from Social Media?  Shudder!  My ultimate challenge to the students of the class that I should be teaching at Washington University? “Design a Social Media and branding strategy for Acme Funeral Parlor.”

2.) Mark Hayward answers the doubters who say “I have no time for Social Media!”  In this post, he lays your week out for you!  After this post appeared, this guest post from Jason Koertge offered some additional tips and insight. I personally dig in a little deeper than the timeline he offers, but I am knee-deep in Twitter. I’d be there and on Facebook even if I didn’t have a business.  For those with businesses that are still not taking advantage of these free and far-reaching platforms, his blueprint could finally convince you to jump in and devote the necessary time.

3.) Over at Matt Ridings’ “TechGuerilla” blog, there’s an amazing post containing 25 mindblowing social media infographics. Long story short: LOTS to learn here!  This one is a must-read.

4.) Brian Solis talks about the need for brands to become media in order to earn relevance.  He nails it right at the beginning of the post: “…enthusiasm and support typically derail when examining the resources and the commitment required to rhythmically produce, distribute, and support content.” WOW – it’s the very reason that 90% of blogs die off, and probably why a large percentage of businesses fail.  I’ve said this over and over – just keep going.  After a few years, your mere persistence will have you sticking out like a sore thumb. (and that’s a good thing).

5.) I just received my 2nd edition of the Four Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss – so far, an excellent read.  He certainly is a unique chap.  Part of this blog post talks about the incessant push that companies make to grow grow grow.  Tim questions this mindset – why must companies always be growing revenue, adding people, more sales, more everything… is this always the best course?  Quote of the article: “Have you ever noticed that while small businesses wish they were bigger, big businesses dream about being more agile and flexible? And remember, once you get big, it’s really hard to shrink without firing people, damaging morale, and changing the entire way you do business.”  I am paying a great deal of attention to Mr. Ferriss these days.

Gary Vaynerchuk Has Passion – Do You?

Gary Vaynerchuk probably needs no introduction, but here’s a short one anyway: he took his family’s wine business from $4 to $50+ million per year.  He then did a 180 and turned himself into a marketing and social media powerhouse.  My dad is now buying wine from Gary’s newest wine site Cinderella Wine.  If they broke my dad down, that means Gary and his crew are good!

In this now-famous video, he talks about two critical elements to success – patience and passion.  You need to have patience to make it big – Gary often talks about the fact that our fathers and grandfathers built real businesses over many years, while we think we’re going to hit it big with six months of blogging.  AIN’T GONNA HAPPEN!  And it certainly won’t happen without passion – it’s nearly impossible to succeed unless you really love what you do.

As Gary said: “Look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself, ‘What do I want to do for the rest of my life?’ Do that!”

Another now-famous video that I just had to have as part of the history of my blog – here it is [ Warning: some naughty language ] :

Me and Gary in November 2009 at Robust Wine Bar – this was a great night.  Gary left at a reasonable hour – I closed down Robust at 2am – sorry Stanley!

Link Roundup on Rizzo Tees – What I’m Reading 3/4/10

Playing the part of Internet DJ, here’s a sampling of what I’ve been reading the past few days.

1.) Tim Ferriss and the 4-Hour Work Week – I have not read this book, and had no plans to. There is no shortcut to success, and the whole premise of his book sounded flawed to me.  However, I am reconsidering the book, and may even buy the new updated version of it, after reading this post on the 9 habits to stop now.  Included on the list is something I’ve been giving great consideration – somehow getting a better handle on email. I need to turn it back into a productivity tool instead of a business ball and chain.  Why did voicemail never turned into the time suck that email has?

2.) Mark Hayward is a new blogger I’ve stumbled upon.  His recent post, “It’s OK to BE Different” is just what the young, nascent entrepreneur needs to hear.  The psychology of the entrepreneur is one of risk-taking, but not all entrepreneurs are balls-out crazy.  Therefore, it sometimes helps to have people rooting for you. And those people would hopefully be friends and loved ones.  When they are the ones telling you that you are crazy, it’s good to have a.) thick skin, and b.) a solid, bullet-resistant business plan.

3.) Jason at A Smart Bear talks about “sunk costs” and explains that throwing good money after bad is quite obviously a terrible idea. And yet, businesses do it all the time.  This is a must-read post for not only entrepreneurs, but anyone in a decision-making position in business.  Kudos to A Smart Bear on this post – it rocks.

4.) Philip at UrbanBacon interviews one of my favorite people on earth, Arlene Maminta Browne of Robust Wine Bar. I have had some rough (read: awesome) nights at Robust, and I especially appreciate their embrace of Social Media.  Plus, it’s hard to forget that I met Gary Vaynerchuk there and got to drink wine with him.  If you can feel a certain enthusiasm coming from Arlene in this interview, that’s no mistake – she and Stanley love what they do.  Restaurants, take note – Social Media can help your business!