Debbie Bolduc of Franklin Savings Bank first brought this story to my attention back in October 2009, and it quickly made its way into our presentations as a powerful example of how building a dedicated tribe through social media has tremendous, far-reaching, and even unexpected benefits.
Short summary: In September of 2009, Vermont’s Rock Art Brewery got a cease-and-desist letter from Monster Energy Drinks (subsidiary of the multi-billion-dollar Hansen’s Natural Beverages). They wanted Rock Art to stop using “The Vermonster” as the name of one of its microbrewed beers. Rock Art found out they could fight it in court and have a good chance to win, but it would likely bankrupt the comparatively small-pocketed company in the process.
A month and a half after receiving the C&D letter, thanks to thousands of people joining a Monster boycott movement on Facebook and nearly 2 million tweets on Twitter about it (which also got the attention of one of their US Senators), Monster dropped the case. Or, as CNN succinctly puts it, “Matt [Nadeau, Rock Art's owner] used social media to publicize his plight and settled the dispute amicably.”
Yes, that’s right - this social media groundswell also led to television coverage on major news outlets, including this piece last week on CNN. And the best news - as you’ll hear at the end of the report - is that Nadeau leveraged the power of his tribe to create real change in how small businesses like his, yours, and ours can protect their trademarks.
Some folks like to do their “Year-in-Review” stuff during the last week of December. Me, I prefer the first week of January. Hey, how can you review your year’s performance when you’ve got a few days left, anyway?
So I was doing a little analysis on the numbers and, if you don’t mind, I’ve got something to crow about:
13% of our revenue last year came from leveraged or passive sources.
Thirteen percent! That’s the best we’ve ever done in that area.
Thing is, since 2006, we’ve been listening to various folks preaching the gospel of leveraged revenue - traditionally including workshops, speaking engagements, teleclasses, mastermind programs, and so forth - and passive revenue from information product sales and affiliate commissions.
Getting over the 10% mark is pretty significant for us. It’s funny, too, considering that 2009 was such a topsy-turvy year in the business world, and this is one of the results we’re seeing. (It’s a safe bet Melanie Benson Strick’s CEO Factor event from April plays a part in this result. You can see a few videos we recorded during the event on our YouTube Channel, “A-Ha!” TV.)
We had our eggs in too few baskets in 2008, and when the recession hit, it gave us a good punch. Our 2009 numbers were down from 2008, but I’m happy to say we’re a six-figure business for the third year in a row, and that’s a great feeling.
So, I’d like to encourage you to look at your business and ask yourself:
1. How could I share what I know to help people in a group setting?
2. How could I record what I know - in text, audio, video, what have you - to help people without me being there?
3. How could I help more people by letting them know these options exist for them - and are often less expensive than working with me one-on-one?
Because here’s what I know: Businesses are made of people, and people still need help. They’re also still being careful with their money, so they may be looking for ways to learn what you know without breaking the bank.
And if you don’t offer those kinds of low-cost, low-risk options…well, aren’t you selling your audience short?
I was leaving a voicemail the other day, for the head of a non-profit. They’re considering a proposal from us, and I gave my contact there a ring to check in.
You know how sometimes when you’re leaving a message, and you get surprised by what comes out of your mouth? Well, it happened to me, and though I don’t remember exactly what I said, it was something along the lines of:
“I want to help you make a confident decision, and whether it’s ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ doesn’t matter to me.”
Now, in one small sense, that was a lie.
I’ve spent time in meetings with this non-profit, talking about their current situation and their goals for the future. I’ve talked about them with Lani, and started thinking far enough down the strategy road to give them a proposal that’ll work within the resources they have. I like the people, I like the mission, and most importantly, I believe in them.
So if they say ‘No,’ it will matter to me. It’ll be a bummer, to say the least.
But in a larger sense, it was brazenly honest. It’s not the “Yes” or “No” that matters as much as the decision. The act of saying “Yes” or “No.”
How often do we go through our lives and businesses without making decisions? Avoiding decisions? Letting things exist at the status quo, even when the status quo is no good and getting worse?
Sometimes the act of deciding on a change seems more scary than not deciding. What if you make the wrong decision? (Which assumes there’s such a thing as a “right” or “wrong” decision, but that’s a whole different can of worms.) I’ve had that wrong decision feeling a lot in these, my first few years of entrepreneurship. With the new year starting, I’ve had a occasion to think back on this in the last 24 hours. Also, my in-laws unexpectedly took the kids overnight, so Lani and I had peace and quiet in the house.
Turns out - and I’m sorry to say I had to learn this the hard way, but maybe that was the only way I could learn it - the only “wrong” decision has been indecision.
Meanwhile, if you want to make the “right” decisions, then one of the best ways you can is to make more of them. The more you make, and the more you think about how you make them, the better you’re going to get at making them faster, more easily, and more confidently.
That’s one thing I’m learning right now, and one of the things I’m going to focus on is making decisions - faster, stronger, better.
How about you? What’s your take on decision making?
Earlier this year, a prominent New York Times bestselling author (who was on a panel with a close friend of ours at a day-long event - which is how we came to hear this tidbit) waved their $15,000 speaking engagement fee to appear at the event, on the condition that the organization putting together the event buy a copy of their book for every member of that organization (about 150 folks).
Wow!
You and I may not be authors of that stature just yet, but there are ways to build your audience and brand up to the point where you can command that kind of payday. One of those ways, which has really begun to blossom in 2009, is the virtual book tour.
What’s a Virtual Book Tour?
Readings, signings, Q &A sessions - these are staples of the traditional book tour. Hosted by your local bookstore, often funded by the authors themselves, and rarely promoted by publishers, these event appearances help authors get the word out about their books and (hopefully) create the grass-roots sort of interest that could lead to a tipping-point in popularity. Or, at least, enough sales to justify the publisher investing in the author’s next book idea.
The Virtual Book Tour, on the other hand, lets authors and readers connect from the convenience of homes, offices, cars, park benches, libraries - you name it!
By using teleseminars and webinars to create virtual versions of traditional book tour whistle-stops (and create new kinds of promotional opportunities), authors and readers both benefit from Virtual Books Tours in three very useful ways:
1. Increased reach. The traditional book tour is often limited by travel time, gas costs, and simple logistics to a handful of cities. The Virtual Book Tour, on the other hand, busts through the limits of time, space, and national borders.
Authors can connect with their audience anywhere on Earth, and nterested readers (including potential mavens key to word-of-mouth success) don’t have to hope their favorite author cruises through town in order to enjoy the author in a “live-and-unplugged” kind of arena.
2. Lowered costs. An elite set of authors may have their expenses paid for. The rest of us have to foot our own bills. Rather than shell out thousands of dollars to get on the road (not to mention the opportunity cost of working/writing time lost to travel), the Virtual Book Tour offers authors an opportunity to get the word out in a much more cost-effective way. As for readers and other interested parties, not only don’t you have to drive to a location-based event, you don’t have to pay the (sometimes required) admission fee. What’s more, thanks to the immediacy offered by social media tools, you can find out about a Virtual Book Tour appearance within 15 minutes of the start, and make it with time to spare.
3. Engaged community. Authors all want sales, and what really helps with that is having a set of raving fans who can act as powerful and trusted promoters of your work. You can only engage with a few of these folks, and not very often, in the offline world. Online, however, you can create a much more expansive set of kindred spirits (call ‘em “Kindreds” for short). There, you can connect with your Kindreds in more unique, relationship-building, interactive, collaborative ways. On the flip side, what reader wouldn’t want the chance to have insider access to an author they love? Who wouldn’t be thrilled to take advantage of an invitation to exclusive forums, webinar breakout rooms, and intimate Q&A calls with inspiring authors?
And with the incredible, viral, instant-publishing-savvy social media platforms out there, you don’t have to have a huge machine behind you to get the word out about your virtual appearances, either. You can use the online venues you already have at your disposal, and give your audience the tools to spread the word.
We’ve had the opportunity to see how well this concept works first-hand in 2009, as charter members of the Author Teleseminars Ambassadors Council. Author Teleseminars is the brainchild of Elizabeth Marshall, whom we’ve known for a few years now and finally met in person last year. She’s a marketing powerhouse, a passionate community builder, and a respected writer in her own right (she co-authored The Contrarian Effect with Michael Port, which was selected as one of the Top 10 Business Books of 2008 by the editorial board of Amazon.com). The Ambassadors Council is the advisory board for Author Teleseminars, and it’s attracted some very heavy hitters in the online marketing world.
So, if you’re an author who’s not yet ready to charge $15,000 to groups who want you to speak at their events, and shell out $15,000 to drive across the country in a rented van, give the Virtual Book Tour idea a spin. Besides, it’s not about you - it’s about the audience who wants to connect with you, wherever THEY are.
It’s a question that comes up in business content strategy and development on a regular basis, and the answer always tends to be the “hard” topic. I think it’s right, and I also think it’s fundamentally flawed.
But before I get on a roll, let’s step back. What’s a “hard” topic, and what’s a “soft” topic? Put simply, a hard topic is one where the benefits are in straightforward, measurable numbers and tactics. “Implementing this one tactic increased my email opt-ins by 39%!” or “Discover the secret that added $84,271 to my bottom line!” That sort of thing.
A soft topic, on the other hand, can’t be measured cleanly. Generally, soft topics are about mindset - how you think about success, manifestation, the Law of Attraction, improving health and well-being, and so forth.”Gain the Confidence to Master Any Sales Situation.” “Manifest Your Success With This 7-Day Formula.” I think we’d all agree the mental game is critical to business success, but because it’s hard to document how a positive attitude netted you thousands of dollars, it’s not considered an ideal value proposition to highlight.
Lani and I were talking about our business yesterday during our regular Monday morning corporate meeting - this time taking place during a walk around Gunstock Mountain. And one of the conclusions we came to is this: The same money-making tactics and solutions are available to everyone in the online world, so the “hard” topics actually don’t matter as much to your overall success.
Of course, you have to make good decisions and execute on them - pick a good niche, create engaging content, watch your numbers, make course corrections, and build over time. But these are skills that anyone can learn or hire out for.
The REAL difference is in the BELIEF.
BELIEF informs the decisions you make. BELIEF controls your follow-through. Your BELIEF resonates with the clients, prospects, and partners with whom you connect. BELIEF carries you through when the people around you - who are used to a different kind of life - say what you’re doing can’t be done.
Arthur C. Clarke once said, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” We take so many things for granted in our lives, it’s hard to believe that much of what we rely on today didn’t exist 100 years ago. Literally did not exist. But someone had to BELIEVE these things were possible. Computers, cars, cell phones, television, space travel - not happening 100 years ago. Go back 200 years, and we’re talking reliable electric lighting, indoor plumbing, the telephone and radio.
Someone had to BELIEVE it before it could happen.
And when it comes to social media? Wow. Five years ago, Twitter didn’t exist. Ten years ago, neither Facebook nor LinkedIn existed. Twenty years ago, blogging didn’t exist. Thirty years ago, the Internet was nothing but a twinkle in the eyes of computer programmers.
Belief may be a so-called “soft” topic, but the fact is, BELIEF is the hardest “hard” topic of them all. In the same way it’s difficult to comprehend how a spider’s silken thread is actually stronger than steel, it’s difficult to comprehend belief as being more valuable than, say, tweaking your choice of words on a pay-per-click ad, when it comes to bringing an additional 6 figures into your business. But it’s the bull’s-eye truth.
It all starts from BELIEF. And if you ain’t got that, then, man…no hard topic solution’s gonna save you.
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Because it’s a fantastic view into the world of professional survey research, I jumped at the chance to be a part of the Gallup Panel when they offered it last year. (Note to Gallup - show a progress bar on your survey pages. They’re too long not to have them.)
Occasionally, they’ll send an email with a summary of some of their findings, and we thought this one was worth sharing:
During an ongoing assessment of Americans’ health and well-being, Gallup asks panelists to reflect on a list of nearly a dozen feelings they experienced a lot of the day before the survey. Of the nine feelings Gallup asks respondents to identify, panelists are most likely to report experiencing happiness (74%) during a lot of the previous day. Likewise, 71% of respondents say they experienced enjoyment.
About half of panelists say they felt stress (49%) and 42% say they experienced worry a lot of the day before the survey, whereas 30% say they felt physical pain and 21% were sad. Panelists are least likely to experience anger (16%), depression (16%), and fear (14%).
Considering how insistently our mainstream media is hammering the doom and gloom buttons, isn’t it great to know that, as a nation, we seem to be much happier than the nightly news suggests?
It’s not a Pollyanna thing - obviously, a lot of people are worried/stressed, and for good reasons - but there’s even more joy and good feeling present, and we’ve gotta start tapping into that more as a nation and a people.
Welcome to a brand-spankin’ new year, and back to your work week! Don’t you just love that first Monday back from any sort of vacation — ESPECIALLY the December/January switcheroo? The alarm goes off, and no matter how enlightened you are, you can’t help but resort to that “Ugh” moment. Back to emails and schedules and deadlines, back to hustling and thinking and networking…
No matter how you dice it, the first Monday of any new year is a toughie.
That’s why I’m sharing this video with you today. Today of all days, let’s ease back into our hopes and dreams, our to-do lists and global concerns, our plans and possibilities with a sense of awe and optimism. If you’re a semi-conscious human being, you’re going to feel inspired and amazed by the message, execution, and vision represented in this video.
Besides, it’s not a shabby example of meaningful (yet unconventional) SOCIAL MARKETING, either.
May we all offer the world something as beautiful at least once this year, and many more times over the course of our lives.
[A big THANKS to Marirose Walker, a Natural Health Consultant and owner of Healing Wise Services in Warner, NH, for letting me know this video exists!]
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“One of the greatest feelings in life is the conviction that you have lived the life you wanted to live - with the rough and the smooth, the good and the bad - but yours, shaped by your own choices, and not someone else’s.”
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Stacey Lucas, the incredibly talented artist behind VeggieArtGirl.com, created a poster for us based on our blog post/article “What if…” and boy, we are just knocked out by her work. (Honestly, she took this to a level we didn’t even see coming. Thank you, Stacey!)
You have our permission to share the poster in your own world - on your own website or blog, in workshops or on your office wall, with a link back to our site when possible. Use it to motivate and inspire yourself and others!
SARK ((Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy) has been a HUGE influence on who I am, my capacity for creative thinking, and my appreciation for living, nurturing, and tuning into a more “succulent, bodacious, juicy” life, to crib a few of her favorite words. SARK has been a transformative teacher and leader for over twenty-five years, has written and created 15 best-selling books (and hundreds of products!), and is the founder and CEO of Planet SARK, her company that creates products and services to support empowered living.
I just came across one of her posters on her Amazon blog about “How to Relax About Money.” She wrote and published this little inspiration message way back in 1990, and is sharing it now because of all the current wackiness with our economy. I thought it was good to share here, especially in light of the fact that Al and I are about to do Session 2 of our 3-part teleseminar series, “How to Recession-Proof Your Business,” tomorrow at 1pm.
Tomorrow’s session is “Desperate Times, Desperate Marketing?: 4 Bad Marketing Habits You Gotta Break Now, PLUS 4 Keys to Breaking Them.”
(Can you join us? To show up live or get all three of the MP3 recordings and “Cheat Sheets” to cruise ‘n peruse at your convenience, register here. To read the press release and learn more about the teleseminar event, go here.)
So, without further ado…click here to see Sark’s awesome poster and associated blog post. (I had the image below, but a kind assistant from Sark’s camp asked me to remove it, which of course I did immediately. Sorry, Planet Sark! Won’t happen again. I love you guys and am very embarrassed. My most sincere apologies.)
And RELAX. It’s all going to be OK. Really. It is.
Some folks like to do their “Year-in-Review” stuff during the last week of December. Me, I prefer the first week of January. Hey, how can you review your year’s performance when you’ve got a few days left, anyway?
ce and brand up to the point where you can command that kind of payday. One of those ways, which has really begun to blossom in 2009, is the virtual book tour.
We’ve had the opportunity to see how well this concept works first-hand in 2009, as charter members of the Author Teleseminars Ambassadors Council. 
Because it’s a fantastic view into the world of professional survey research, I jumped at the chance to be a part of the Gallup Panel when they offered it last year. (Note to Gallup - show a progress bar on your survey pages. They’re too long not to have them.)
