This is the start of the Chinese New Year of the Metal Tiger, so let’s get at it – Fast, Strong & Resolute!
In pursuit of “Keep It Simple & Specific”, I like to use the following in navigating through a challenge towards a goal, it may help you too:-
Firstly, use the Chris Brogan model, where “Customer Service” has become “Guest Experience”!
DETERMINE OBJECTIVE
· More Regulars
· More Visitors
· More Warmth
· More Business!
DO WHAT IT TAKES TO ACHIEVE…..
· Connect & converse
· Be where your guests (existing AND future) are
· The magic is in the mix – DON’T put all your efforts in one direction only
· Get feedback, anywhere, anyway you can
· Chat! All sorts of things come to light!!
…..DESIRED OUTCOME
· Closer connections, both with AND between customers/clients is VERY social!
· Understanding the “guest experience” better helps you deliver better
· Be open to new ideas, especially if they arrive out of feedback
· Involve guests in new developments
· Become the hub of your community, physical or virtual
You may need to realign thoughts a little, but could that work for you?
Howard J Moorey
February 14th, 2010
Bio
Howard Moorey advises businesses, organisations, and individuals on how to use social media and social networks to build relationships and deliver value.
You can reach him at: howard at hojomo.com
or catch up on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter
as @hojomo
@4Pubs & @debtDrGlos
Sunday, 14 February 2010
Saturday, 16 January 2010
SO WHAT HAS GOOGLE LEARNED THIS WEEK?...
Hopefully it's "Tech is great, but you still need to put people first!"
Social & Communications Networks begin & end with people, and so do the tools they rely on.
Rule#1: Whatever it is, you MUST make it User/Customer friendly! That includes the support.
If you launch a new service you must have a back-up plan, and people in place to support that service. Similarly, if you launch some new hardware, even if it looks, feels and works great, you still need PEOPLE to TALK to PEOPLE to sort out their difficulties.
With new systems & hardware, especially with both depending on working together, like a phone that only works with networks, and software, provided by a variety of 3rd parties, you are going to have difficulties.
Sorting those challenges must happen in what's now known as "real time" - people on Twitter, people on the phone, available to help NOW, not via email with a 3 day delay!
I have experienced this myself with my own network supplier, O2, here in the UK, just in the last few days, as my contract comes to an end. Reviewing the options is not easily done by email. Like most now, I like to do the research online, but I still want to buy local, or personal, if I want to sort something with the minimum of delay.
I love Google, even though Wave has let me down a bit thus far, and Chrome for Mac took a long time to arrive, and then needed an op system upgrade before you can use it!
It strikes me that the Big G has been catering a little too much towards techies in these launches, and not with real users, who need forethought, like "how are they going to use it" and "how are we going to support it". The debacle with Nexus One therefore seems just like a repeat of recent history.
I am one of the "potential buyers" they should be aiming at - I love my iPhone, but it's contract is about to end, so I'm open to options. I love HTC, and own a good many of their handsets, because they always seem to deliver on "Looks, Feels, and Needs", so I'd be very open to a handset sourced from them. And, having had the iPhone experience, I am very reluctant to return to Windows Mobile. Perfect combination, no?
Don't get me wrong - the iPhone is the best thing, ever, in my book, but that doesn't mean it can't be bested. Hardware reports suggest that Nexus One actually has bested the iPhone, but I am definitely NOT going to step over the barrier to something so new, for use as my primary personal communications tool (with a "get me anywhere, anytime" tag), when I see many reports of poor/non-existent support from an otherwise respected source.
I've been able to use the mobile phone - one of my own personal passions - as the example here, after reading an article from Glenn Chapman of Inquirer.net but how can YOU see this applying in YOUR business, where you are competing with many others, both online & offline?
Are you putting the User/Customer first? They can certainly tell the difference when you do!
PROVIDING they can find you, but that's for another blog.
What do you think?
Howard J Moorey
January 16th, 2010
Thursday, 7 January 2010
Social Media is SO last year!
Social Media has matured alot over the last 6 months, not least in the degree of measurability inherent in your online "presence"
With that measurability comes a level of credibility - you achieve that by ticking certain boxes, like filling in your social networking profiles properly, so people can "check you out" in their own terms.
If someone spends alot of time on Facebook, or it is simply their predominant route to their network of friends & acquaintances, then they will determine your "cred" by whether you post regularly, have a complete profile (some of which will overlap with their own life preferences), and basically show off the real you!
That measurability & credibility leads to Social Decorum, ie. "proper behaviour" online, such as interesting and/or helpful posts, not too much "me, me, me", responsive to approaches, conversational, basically a "participator". Everyone has their own standards that they judge you by - often boxed off and varying depending on the age sector you & they are in (as society goes, "twas ever thus"). If you tick their boxes, you "behave" to their standards, and they are then happy to include you in their world.
Key lesson to learn here is that we are talking about people, that's what “social” is all about!
People run, and work in, businesses, so we are simply talking about people approaching and connecting with one another, in a fashion that has never been available to us before. It's just networking, like we have done since the dawn of time, only today we use new tools - "Digital Media".
That networking is much more comfortable, on a human level, than "sales", "pitching" and "business development" but it still amounts to the same thing, if it is approached with a degree of Social Decorum.
As most of you will by now know, my primary thought leaders are Chris Brogan, Brian Solis, Seth Godin & Jim Connolly, and one thing they all agree on is that business is just "people business". Connect with people properly - don't shout, talk down, or spread viruses - and they will respond properly. If you just try to sell at them in every opportunity you are given, they will simply give you the online equivalent of two fingers (digits?) and unfollow, unfriend, block or whatever else works for them.
Businesses are starting to learn the great advantage being offered to them on a plate through social networking, as evidenced by this superb post by @briansolis.
Just treating people as fellow human beings, and connecting with them properly, affords a level of "customer profiling" that has also never been available to them before. This enables them to serve us better AND develop the goods and services that we WANT (and often will pay for!) and we are happy for them to do that, and happy to offer our opinion to them to assist the process.
That surely is what a connected world should really be about, because, once you achieve Social Decorum, you are already well on the way to building Social Wealth, where everyone on the planet benefits, and gets a little closer together at the same time. FairTrade is but one example of this.
Am I making sense? What do you think?
Howard J Moorey
@hojomo
January 7th, 2010
Bio
Howard Moorey advises businesses, organisations, and individuals on how to use social media and social networks to build relationships and deliver value.
You can reach him at: howard at hojomo.com
or catch up on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter
Home is where the heart is: Cotswold Hills, UK
With that measurability comes a level of credibility - you achieve that by ticking certain boxes, like filling in your social networking profiles properly, so people can "check you out" in their own terms.
If someone spends alot of time on Facebook, or it is simply their predominant route to their network of friends & acquaintances, then they will determine your "cred" by whether you post regularly, have a complete profile (some of which will overlap with their own life preferences), and basically show off the real you!
That measurability & credibility leads to Social Decorum, ie. "proper behaviour" online, such as interesting and/or helpful posts, not too much "me, me, me", responsive to approaches, conversational, basically a "participator". Everyone has their own standards that they judge you by - often boxed off and varying depending on the age sector you & they are in (as society goes, "twas ever thus"). If you tick their boxes, you "behave" to their standards, and they are then happy to include you in their world.
Key lesson to learn here is that we are talking about people, that's what “social” is all about!
People run, and work in, businesses, so we are simply talking about people approaching and connecting with one another, in a fashion that has never been available to us before. It's just networking, like we have done since the dawn of time, only today we use new tools - "Digital Media".
That networking is much more comfortable, on a human level, than "sales", "pitching" and "business development" but it still amounts to the same thing, if it is approached with a degree of Social Decorum.
As most of you will by now know, my primary thought leaders are Chris Brogan, Brian Solis, Seth Godin & Jim Connolly, and one thing they all agree on is that business is just "people business". Connect with people properly - don't shout, talk down, or spread viruses - and they will respond properly. If you just try to sell at them in every opportunity you are given, they will simply give you the online equivalent of two fingers (digits?) and unfollow, unfriend, block or whatever else works for them.
Businesses are starting to learn the great advantage being offered to them on a plate through social networking, as evidenced by this superb post by @briansolis.
Just treating people as fellow human beings, and connecting with them properly, affords a level of "customer profiling" that has also never been available to them before. This enables them to serve us better AND develop the goods and services that we WANT (and often will pay for!) and we are happy for them to do that, and happy to offer our opinion to them to assist the process.
That surely is what a connected world should really be about, because, once you achieve Social Decorum, you are already well on the way to building Social Wealth, where everyone on the planet benefits, and gets a little closer together at the same time. FairTrade is but one example of this.
Am I making sense? What do you think?
Howard J Moorey
@hojomo
January 7th, 2010
Bio
Howard Moorey advises businesses, organisations, and individuals on how to use social media and social networks to build relationships and deliver value.
You can reach him at: howard at hojomo.com
or catch up on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter
Home is where the heart is: Cotswold Hills, UK
Friday, 1 January 2010
The Blue Moon and the Hammer...
Change of Years, Change of Days, Change of Mindset...
That's what last night's Blue Moon means!
There have been three superb blogs in the last few days of the decade that served to focus my thoughts on B2B and why "large" companies have been struggling to "get it" in regards to digital media
Jim Connolly Jay Baer & Amber Nasland
(My other Master Thought Leaders are Chris Brogan Brian Solis & Seth Godin )
We have just finished a decade which brought us the tools & technology to connect people to people, business to people, and people to business around the planet (and beyond too, but that's for the next decade!)
We have just finished a year which defined the tools to use & the places to be found in order to refine & make best use of those connections.
But what good is a hammer, without a human being to hold it?
A computer can be programmed to both hold the hammer and make a defined set of movements with it, but it takes a person to hold that hammer and make a good job, or craft a work of art, with it.
The most fundamental consideration regarding the hammer is that it will always need human interaction to determine what need can be satisfied by using the hammer to create or craft a result.
In 2010, Communication finally comes of age!
The capacity for a Company to recognise that it must treat people as people - they are fellow human beings, not "Customers", "Users" or "Stakeholders" - will define it's ability to survive and thrive in the new debt-laden future.
That approach will require an element of humility, because no longer can business dictate & produce what it thinks people want - it must now consult, get feedback by asking people what they need, and deliver the solution to the best of it's ability.
To some, this already sounds like the norm - they are "doing it right" and growing year on year as a result of implementing this approach.
For many the time to change is now - take the first faltering steps on the new journey - the 1980's term "Business Process Re-engineering" seems particularly appropriate - lay down plans to talk with the people that buy from you, or that you intend will buy from you, when they are "out of the shop", ie. NOT in buying mode.
"Transaction size is no longer relevant"
How's that for a bold statement?
I say it to bang home the reality that the internet is now a place for all sizes of business to implement PRM - People Relationship Management. It does not matter whether you provide a cup of coffee, a brand new truck, or banking services around the world, people are what it's about, and they have become a lot more savvy in the last 12 months. Internet research has become the norm, even if you intend to buy locally.
The emphasis has shifted from Marketplace to Meeting & Talking Place, definitely NOT Pitching Place!
There's a Connected, Collaborative future out there for all of us.
What do you think? Have you made the move yet? Can you make it this year?
I look forward to meeting you,
Happy New Year!
Howard J Moorey
January 1st, 2010
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
Wednesday, 9 December 2009
THE MEDIA MARKETING JIGSAW
Direct mail, email, telephone, exhibitions, online, offline, networking, referrals, joint ventures.
Like any “Marketing Mix”, the pieces involved here can fit together in a variety of different orders depending on 2 key factors:-
1. The sector, i.e. the characters you are aiming to interact with, &
2. The attitude of the Principal – shy & retiring or brash & outgoing, and all the possibilities in between.
There is no question whatsoever that, since Lehman Brothers in 2008, the World has changed, and there’s no going back.
The Internet has been developing at a rapid pace since the turn of the Millennium, and now enables communication and commerce today in a fashion which could not have been anticipated 10 years ago.
The most vital factor to realise is that OUR attitude to transactions has changed irrevocably – in the past we were influenced by the “message”, so Advertising, and those that could directly or indirectly control it, was one of the lynch pins of society – he that could throw enough money at the market could call the shots, and bring in the bucks. Banks, Insurance & Advertising Companies were accepted as foundations of our way of life, largely because they TOLD us what to believe.
Since year 2000 that position has been shifting, and the events of 2008 gave it the final nudge.
The enabling effect of the Web means we are much more in control of “the message” than ever before, largely because we CAN & DO check it out, and challenge it if we want to.
This all means that the way goods and services are brought to market, and consumed, has changed as well. We research online before a purchase. We purchase online in many cases, BUT this is often only lower value items & services, because for larger goods / bigger spends we still prefer to “see the whites of their eyes” meaning that “Meet, Like, Know, Trust” is back as the dominant factor.
This is very much the age of “Digital Media Marketing”, and the approach to that is radically different, not least because it is so much more “Global” in delivery.
Over the last 10 years it has become the norm that, if you are bringing anything to market, you ”must have a website” – your stall in the global marketplace. Now, as that idea has become a reality, maybe even a “new foundation”, there are simply millions and millions of sites. So the question then becomes how do you differentiate yourself from, or “shout louder” in the market than, the others around you?
The answer has finally emerged, to the long lasting benefit of ALL of us, that you must connect & communicate, or “engage”, with your customers and prospects alike, and in doing so provide a higher class of customer service than ever before.
The major advantage that “first movers” are finding in this new territory is that that is NOT just the province of the “big boys”, the corporates, anymore.
Anyone who can master this particular art, and deliver their goods or services reliably and transparently, with the implied back up & support that goes with that delivery, can make a viable niche for themselves, for now & for the future.
So “Interaction leads to Transaction”.
“Twas ever thus” I hear you say – yes, we have come full circle!
Some, smaller, businesses, have operated this way, “offline”, for generations, and may not even need to change, if they’ve already “got it right” in their local community. But the vast majority, of all sizes, are having to adjust to the new times, by rising to the challenge and seeking out new routes to a transaction.
You may notice that I have steadfastly resisted the temptation to use the word “sale” – that still carries the connotation of a one way “thrust” at a “buyer”, so it will eventually become extinct.
The key to all of the new routes to market is that they revolve around “being found”. The words Google and Search Marketing may be virtually synonymous, but the only way to get found is to get involved in “Interactive Marketing” – providing what people are looking for, and engaging with them in the process. The tools to enable this are those that have become known as “Social Media”.
And “Social Media is a Communications process leveraged by Technology” according to Jay Deragon in his recent white paper on Social Media Directions.
How have you communicated with your customers in the past? How will you communicate in the future?
Howard J Moorey
8th December 2009
hojomo group provides coaching, training and insight into Interactive Digital Media Marketing – business development for the future.
Contact Us through directcontact@hojomo.com or phone +44 1865 600085 Here to Help
Like any “Marketing Mix”, the pieces involved here can fit together in a variety of different orders depending on 2 key factors:-
1. The sector, i.e. the characters you are aiming to interact with, &
2. The attitude of the Principal – shy & retiring or brash & outgoing, and all the possibilities in between.
There is no question whatsoever that, since Lehman Brothers in 2008, the World has changed, and there’s no going back.
The Internet has been developing at a rapid pace since the turn of the Millennium, and now enables communication and commerce today in a fashion which could not have been anticipated 10 years ago.
The most vital factor to realise is that OUR attitude to transactions has changed irrevocably – in the past we were influenced by the “message”, so Advertising, and those that could directly or indirectly control it, was one of the lynch pins of society – he that could throw enough money at the market could call the shots, and bring in the bucks. Banks, Insurance & Advertising Companies were accepted as foundations of our way of life, largely because they TOLD us what to believe.
Since year 2000 that position has been shifting, and the events of 2008 gave it the final nudge.
The enabling effect of the Web means we are much more in control of “the message” than ever before, largely because we CAN & DO check it out, and challenge it if we want to.
This all means that the way goods and services are brought to market, and consumed, has changed as well. We research online before a purchase. We purchase online in many cases, BUT this is often only lower value items & services, because for larger goods / bigger spends we still prefer to “see the whites of their eyes” meaning that “Meet, Like, Know, Trust” is back as the dominant factor.
This is very much the age of “Digital Media Marketing”, and the approach to that is radically different, not least because it is so much more “Global” in delivery.
Over the last 10 years it has become the norm that, if you are bringing anything to market, you ”must have a website” – your stall in the global marketplace. Now, as that idea has become a reality, maybe even a “new foundation”, there are simply millions and millions of sites. So the question then becomes how do you differentiate yourself from, or “shout louder” in the market than, the others around you?
The answer has finally emerged, to the long lasting benefit of ALL of us, that you must connect & communicate, or “engage”, with your customers and prospects alike, and in doing so provide a higher class of customer service than ever before.
The major advantage that “first movers” are finding in this new territory is that that is NOT just the province of the “big boys”, the corporates, anymore.
Anyone who can master this particular art, and deliver their goods or services reliably and transparently, with the implied back up & support that goes with that delivery, can make a viable niche for themselves, for now & for the future.
So “Interaction leads to Transaction”.
“Twas ever thus” I hear you say – yes, we have come full circle!
Some, smaller, businesses, have operated this way, “offline”, for generations, and may not even need to change, if they’ve already “got it right” in their local community. But the vast majority, of all sizes, are having to adjust to the new times, by rising to the challenge and seeking out new routes to a transaction.
You may notice that I have steadfastly resisted the temptation to use the word “sale” – that still carries the connotation of a one way “thrust” at a “buyer”, so it will eventually become extinct.
The key to all of the new routes to market is that they revolve around “being found”. The words Google and Search Marketing may be virtually synonymous, but the only way to get found is to get involved in “Interactive Marketing” – providing what people are looking for, and engaging with them in the process. The tools to enable this are those that have become known as “Social Media”.
And “Social Media is a Communications process leveraged by Technology” according to Jay Deragon in his recent white paper on Social Media Directions.
How have you communicated with your customers in the past? How will you communicate in the future?
Howard J Moorey
8th December 2009
hojomo group provides coaching, training and insight into Interactive Digital Media Marketing – business development for the future.
Contact Us through directcontact@hojomo.com or phone +44 1865 600085 Here to Help
Saturday, 14 November 2009
Changing Times - Why Pubs, & others in business, ignore Social Media at their peril
As most that know me will be already WELL aware, I am a passionate believer in new technologies for business development! That’s why I am so keen on getting offline businesses (yes, there are still some!!) and “online” businesses – “we have a website, so we’re online” (never mind the fact it’s a brochure and hasn’t been updated for 6 – 12 months!) TO DO THE RIGHT THING & GET INTO SOCIAL MEDIA!!
I’m very passionate about the plight of British Pubs – many of them are getting a raw deal from the Pub Co’s they’re tied to, leaving publicans/managers out of a job, and often waist-high (or deeper) in debt. It is no longer an option for them to use social media to it’s fullest extent, it’s an absolute NECESSITY!
Get yourself a Twitter account, get yourself a Facebook account, and a “Page” and start engaging with your customers past, present AND future. Tell your guests what’s going on and when, what beers you’ve got & why, and get chatting – it’s that conversation that makes the world of difference! You can make friends with other pubs, see what they’re doing online, share experiences, join Facebook Groups like Justice for Licensees and Save The Great British Pub and help build the numbers, find those who really care about the trade, and be a part of the action.
All this can equally be applied to any other business, vocation or passion – you can find others out there who are just as keen to buy as you are to sell.
But, Golden Rule Number One is PLEASE DON’T TREAT SOCIAL MEDIA LIKE CLASSIFIED ADS!
We don’t want to know about what you are selling, we want to know about you, what makes you tick, and how much you’re just like the rest of us!
The markets have changed, the ways of doing business have changed, so it’s fair to deduce that the way YOU pedal your wares should have changed as well!
Make the Net Work for you!
At Hojomo Group we help businesses of all sizes to learn what to do with Social Media, and why it is an essential part of their marketing mix. We also aim to help businesses & individuals where the times have brought a burden of debt that no-one should have to bear alone.
Follow us on Twitter @hojomo @4Pubs & @debtDrGlos and find us on Facebook and LinkedIn too.
Thanks for reading.
Howard J Moorey
14th November 2009
Saturday, 5 September 2009
As self-appointed Chief Social Media Officer 4 UK Small Businesses it is my solemn duty to spread the word relentlessly into the UK, as an emerging market, that Social Media is a vital new component in the economic toolkit of the Nation.
This enables us to "Think Local & Act Global" and seize every available commercial opportunity - Social Media levels the playing field for us all to enter, or even create, New Markets, by letting us Meet Strangers & Make Friends (with due acknowledgment to Seth Godin).
Today we network with our Local Communities and with the World in equal measure. Unless those Communities are deprived of fast, broadband, connections of course!
This is still too common an occurrence in many parts of Rural Britain - the connection is non-existent!
How can the "Nation of Small Shopkeepers" survive, and indeed seize a chance to make a Grand Comeback, if it doesn't have the oil for the wheels, let alone the tools to do the job?
Britain IS Back, and I'm Backing Britain!
Join me and support Martha Lane Fox, our new "Digital Inclusion Czarina", in pressing to enable everyone who wants good, fast, Internet Access & Application, to have it by 2012.
The Race is no longer just to the Olympics!
4Networking works, but not anywhere near as well as it would if we were all connected!
"As You Act, Social You Be!" (sic)
Howard J Moorey
@hojomo (& follow @marthalanefox too!)
www.hojomo.com
5th September 2009
This enables us to "Think Local & Act Global" and seize every available commercial opportunity - Social Media levels the playing field for us all to enter, or even create, New Markets, by letting us Meet Strangers & Make Friends (with due acknowledgment to Seth Godin).
Today we network with our Local Communities and with the World in equal measure. Unless those Communities are deprived of fast, broadband, connections of course!
This is still too common an occurrence in many parts of Rural Britain - the connection is non-existent!
How can the "Nation of Small Shopkeepers" survive, and indeed seize a chance to make a Grand Comeback, if it doesn't have the oil for the wheels, let alone the tools to do the job?
Britain IS Back, and I'm Backing Britain!
Join me and support Martha Lane Fox, our new "Digital Inclusion Czarina", in pressing to enable everyone who wants good, fast, Internet Access & Application, to have it by 2012.
The Race is no longer just to the Olympics!
4Networking works, but not anywhere near as well as it would if we were all connected!
"As You Act, Social You Be!" (sic)
Howard J Moorey
@hojomo (& follow @marthalanefox too!)
www.hojomo.com
5th September 2009
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