Some from our iThemes team is at SXSW.com this week. We started a travel blog where you can follow ou fun adventures at our SXSW iThemes Blog
Some from our iThemes team is at SXSW.com this week. We started a travel blog where you can follow ou fun adventures at our SXSW iThemes Blog
Several decades, maybe even centuries ago, people had personal connections with the proprietors of the businesses they frequently. They were loyal to those businesses because they knew those people and their stories personally. They would not get a haircut, or buy groceries, from anywhere or anyone else, no matter how cheap the alternative was.
Then mass production, the assembly line, the Industrial Revolution hit.
We became more efficient in our work. We found we could multiply our impact and make more money and have a better standard of living. We made huge technological and innovative advances that made the price of goods and services more affordable and more available.
But the result was …. we became less human to the people who bought from us.
In seeking to become better and to do more, we lost our face-to-face touch.
But in the last couple of months, I’ve been seeing a trend in business … that all kinds of businesses, especially the BIG ones, are seeking to become human again.
To be personalable and put a face on their company again.
Yes, the brands still exist and are powerful, but they also want you to know Sally who works in that big, faceless brand.
We started iThemesTV for this very reason. We wanted our customer community to meet the team behind the products they support with their money. (I repeat often this question: “When was the last time you bought a product and got to meet the people who created it?)
But we’re seeing some innovative uses of social media, in particular, Twitter, at companies, elsewhere.
I instantly think of @ComcastCares … a big huge, faceless company that uses Twitter to be human and respond in a unique, personal way to their customers. (See also: @HostGator and @HomeDepot)
Most of these companies have several people working to engage disgruntled customers, or make suggestions. Since they have several people running it, they initial their tweets. I love that touch. It endears me to them.
We’re doing the same @ithemes.
Here’s some of my thoughts on how we’re seeking to be human with our community and prospective community members ….
As with everything, this is a work in progress. We’re not there, but we’re seeking to be more human in every thing we can.
How are you being human in your business?
I’ve been reading Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.
I highly recommend it for most people, but in particular managers, leaders, marketers, programmers, designers … anyone wanting to create or foster the “in the zone” experiences that are commonly associated with sports for their business, products, and overall work (and even leisure time).
It’s a book, based on decades of academic research, about enjoyment and happiness.
As the author says: “The best moments in our lives … are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times — although such experiences can also be enjoyable, if we have worked hard to attain them. The best moments usually occur when a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.”
I read a lot because I want to apply and implement practical wisdom in my life and business.
I approached this book for two main reasons …
Per Flow, here are the elements of enjoyment:
Examples were given of star athletes, chess players and surgeons — those fully engaged in their task.
You’ve probably had numerous experiences like these elements of enjoyment or flow, where you were so engulfed in what you’re doing that you lost track of time. You felt in control, totally focused, and knew what you were doing was making some sort of impact. And even though it might have exhausted you physically or mentally, you thoroughly enjoyed whatever you were doing. You were in the moment.
As I’ve read deeper and deeper into Flow, I’ve been thinking how we filter these concepts through our work …
My leadership theory has always been that if someone loves what they do, meaning they are passionate and would do it if money didn’t matter and is working for a greater goal, together, as a team, then we will see the ultimate, highest-level, peak performance out of those team members.
I believe if you put good, quality people in an environment that gives them freedom of creativity and are empowered to do things and make decisions and chase ideas (autonomy), allow them to learn and grow (through teaching each other and providing opportunities like buying books or attending events), reward them fairly and publicly (the easiest thing I do is get excited about their projects and give them public credit for it), and continue to reinforce a greater purpose of working toward a common goal (this hasn’t always been easy) … then there’s no limit to what that team can do.
I know that’s the environment I’ve personally always wanted and craved. To chase my ideas. To be rewarded for my passion. To work toward a bigger, higher goal than simply for just myself.
So I set out to create one with and through my business.
OK, so here are some highlight recommendations on reading Flow ….
Although we’ve offered our Billboard plugin for the last year, our first official plugin is called BackupBuddy.
We think this is a MUCH needed plugin solution for EVERY WordPress user ….
BackupBuddy is an easy, all-in-one solution for backups, restoration and migration.
Here’s what that means ….
We’ll be launching our latest venture – PluginBuddy – Thursday, March 4 (yes, that’s tomorrow!). I did this quick video overview to talk about the launch in preparation ….
Many people have asked about our business and what our three core brands do ….
Any other questions? Please leave a comment … or signup for the launch of PluginBuddy (or follow PluginBuddy on Twitter) and be the first to know when we go live!
This post has been brewing for a while, I’ve been trying to let it crystalize some more, and even now I’m not sure it’s polished, but after reading so many good books and posts recently (I’ll list as many as I can remember at the end of this post) on the subject of “content marketing,” I’m going to take my first stab at it.
From this website that I started publishing my old newspaper columns in 1999, to the professional blog I started almost 4 years ago, and the fact that every venture or website we start comes with a blog attached as a central marketing strategy (see iThemes and WebDesign.com), I’ve long realized the value in delivering good, quality, practical, helpful content.
Maybe it’s because I was a newspaper journalist in my previous career, but I love good content and use it prolifically in my marketing strategies. And I believe, as so many others have said, businesses now need to become content creators themselves and stop outsourcing it to external media outlets in the form of advertising.
Here’s some thoughts on how and why businesses need to go this route:
Content like this has been around for a long, long time. It’s nothing new.
Ebooks, white papers, blogs, videos, audio/podcasts, workshops, roadshows, webinars/teleseminars, speaking engagements, books, etc, etc …. are all pretty good examples of content creation and marketing.
I think businesses should use a combination of them … MORE, or heck, actually do some of this, starting with a blog.
How does all this relate to the bottomline? Or maybe, the question really is: how does content make sales?
Here’s what I’ve seen content do for my business …
Here are some more reference resources about content marketing …
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