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Facebook Places
I have recently been spending a lot of time focused on Mobile and Location Based ideas. Foursquare is neat and fun. Google Places is useful. I’m not sure what Facebook Places will be yet. It might be “jumping the shark” a bit. Once everyone finds your favorite dive with really good fish tacos then it gets to busy to find a seat, and your favorite waitress gets fired because she spends too much time talking to the tables, and now they start buying fish fillets in bulk, because they can, but they aren’t hand selected anymore. And now they make the sauce by the tub and it sits in the fridge for days instead of fresh each morning – etc etc etc…
…once everyone is checking in everywhere – will it loose the fun?
OR – does this now make it the KILLER APP Location Based Services (LBS) needs – now I won’t miss my distant friends who are randomly at the same concert, but now my mom will know I’m out late on a Thursday night…HMMMMM.
The news this morning positioned it as a privacy concern. What are your thoughts?
Will Social Media Cut Off the Long Tail?
I was recently discussing interactive marketing with someone who brought up a very interesting thought. Will Social Media Cut Off the Long Tail? Follow me…
“The long tail” refers to those people on the fringes – the ends of the bell on a bell curve are called the tails. The people on the fringes are loyal and passionate, partly because everything is generally focused on the middle. For example Vegans. There are thousands of non-vegan restaurants in town, and non-vegans aren’t that loyal or that good about promoting their favorites. These restaurants market to the masses, and so don’t do anything that inspires loyalty. The 1 Vegan restaurant in town however is dialed in to their market. They speak directly to them and as such have a loyal fan base, not just customers. The middle of the bell curve is where most businesses target (The most customers) and why many fail (not enough traction).
The long tail becomes more powerful the larger the population gets…and technology grows the population. Before cars, there was just one restaurant that served the basics that most people liked, few people loved, and few people hated. Everyone ate there because it was the only option and it was good enough. When cars come around people will drive a distance for specialty foods, those niches are the long tail.
Internet technology allows a tribe of fringe consumers to come together, build community, and support stores that sell specialty items. These consumers are loyal to their niche, and their niche stores.
Social Media however works against this. Social Media crowd sources reviews, comments, and critiques. This causes a regression towards the mean which elevates safe and mediocre For Example a restaurant with 10 “3 star” reviews earns a higher ranking than one with 3 “5 star” and 2 “1 star” reviews. Niche establishments do not attract as many customers, and by design it’s “not for everybody” so even some adventurous souls won’t like it.
Likewise – we’ve all heard “if a consumer likes your product they’ll tell 1 person, if they don’t like it they’ll tell 10” Twitter seems to be a loudspeaker for complaints. Again, removing motivation for risk takers.
OR – perhaps the complete opposite is true. Perhaps the ranking algorithms take this into account and rank businesses based on superlative rankings as a percentage of their overall, instead of total number of positive reviews?
Perhaps Twitter is a loudspeaker for the niches, raising previously unheard of ideas and businesses to the mainstream
What are your thoughts?
How to Make a Million Dollars
Genius Marketing
I ran across this GENIUS marketing the other day. ZERO inventory, ZERO overhead, 83% PURE PROFIT, ALL MARKETING.
Sorry for the image quality I snapped this in the convenience store with my Blackberry.
Lucky Lottery Numbers…for $1.50 – more than the price of a lottery ticket you can get your LUCKY numbers for the day.
I asked the convenience store owner “do people actually buy these?”
His response – “EVERY DAY.”
I once heard the Music Business described as “The Industry of Cool.” They aren’t really selling music. They’re selling cool.
Ipods didn’t sell a convenient way to carry your music, they sold an image.
Converse, Doc Martins, Birkenstocks. All fine utilitarian products, but more than that, they are part of a uniform that defines cool for particular sub-cultures.
How can you turn your business, product, service into an artifact of cool? Once you do, you surpass the price for product model – because you can’t put a price on cool.
What are other examples of Genius Marketing you’ve seen, where the product isn’t really the product, but rather the BELIEF that the product gives you LUCK or COOL is the product?
Google moving to REAL TIME updates http://wp.me/pPWnE-2m
Big League Pitches – Part 7 SIZZLE
So far we’ve covered KNOWING YOUR PRODUCT and KNOWING YOUR MARKET, determining the Point of your presentation, the relevant information to prove that point, and relating it back to the audience by asking “What’s In It For You” (You being the audience). We used all the elements of a Powerful Opening to GRAB the audience. We organized the information with a structured flow and internal linkages supported by compelling visuals to CARRY the audience to the conclusion. This is where most REALLY GOOD presenters stop, but the next 3 steps are what make Presentations GREAT!
Step8 – Rehearse, Verbalize, Build in WIIFYs
Step9 – Add a dash of sizzle
Step10 – Develop external linkages to keep it fresh
Most of us as presenters don’t rehearse. We look at the slides and mumble to ourselves, or say, “and here I’ll talk about…” which is what we wind up saying “now I’d like to talk about” which is what puts people to sleep and keeps our presentations from being great. REHEARSING is practicing the ACTUAL words we will say with the ACTUAL slides. When we practice by mumbling through, we are training ourselves to mumble through when we give the actual presentation. Using the REAL WORDS enables us to make those words powerful. VERBALIZING is the act of saying the ACTUAL words, and refining them.
Part of this refinement is building in WIIFYs those “What’s in it for You – the Audience” moments that motivate the listener to engage. We discussed WIIFYs in detail earlier, but here is the list of triggers again.
SIX “WHATS IN IT FOR YOU” (WIIFY) TRIGGERS
1. This is important to you because… (presenter fills in blank)
2. What does this mean to you? (presenter explains)
3. Why am I telling you this? (presenter explains)
4. Who cares? (This is why YOU should care)
5. So what? (Here’s the implications of these facts)
6. And…? (Here’s What’s in it For YOU)
You can never have too many WIIFYs and remember – DON’T MAKE THE AUDIENCE WORK. Don’t be afraid to spell out the benefit for them, even tho it may seem obvious to you. If you want to carry them, spell it out!
The most impressive lead guitar players in the world will tell you, if you try to show off the whole time your on stage you ruin the songs, instead “shine for 10 seconds per song.” The audience enjoys the song and gets the thrill of blistering guitar work. That is what your “Sizzle” elements should be – about 5% of your presentation time. Whether they are videos/movies on the screen, wild arm gestures or voice inflections, or animations with your slides. They should be SPICE. A dash of Cayenne pepper changes bland stew to 5 Alarm Chilli, but too much is just too much. Don’t let your Sizzle distract from your message…most importantly, don’t let your presentation distract from YOU the PRESENTER.
A reporter asked Joe DiMaggio how he played with so much intensity every night. His response was that for some people that was the first time they had seen him play, and for others it would be the ONLY time they would see him play. As presenters, even if we have given this speach hundreds of times we MUST keep it fresh for our audience, because more than likely, for them, it is the first or only time they will see it. The easiest way to do this is using External Linkages.
External Linkages are elements that connect you and your presentation to the NOW. They freshen your deliver of the material and relate it to your current audience. Here are Seven common External Linkages.
SEVEN EXTERNAL LINKAGES
1. Direct Reference. Mention specifically, by name, one or more members of your audience.
2. Mutual Reference. Make reference to a person, company, or organization related to both you and your audience.
3. Ask Questions. Address a question directly to one or more members of your audience.
4. Contemporize. Make referent to what is happening today.
5. Localize. Make reference toe he venue of your presentation.
6. Data. Make reference to current information that links to and supports your message.
7. Customized Opening Graphic. Start your presentation with a slide that includes your audience, the location, and the date.
These External Linkages can be the subtle differences that keep you on your toes as a presenter and involve the audience to make a much stronger impact.
Ultimately most decisions are based on emotions. These last 3 steps combined with your compelling visuals build in the emotional component that is neccessary to be PERSUASIVE with your presentations. Persuasion is what separates bland powerpoints from BIG LEAGUE PITCHES. Following the 10 steps we’ve outlined will help you deliver BIG LEAGUE PITCHES every time.
TEN STEPS TO DEVELOPING WINNING PRESENTATIONS
Step1 – Determine your Point B
Step2 – Data Dump, Distill the important information and determine the main Clusters
Step3 – Test Clusters with WIIFYs, Refine
Step4 – Determine your Flow Structure
Step5 – Develop content linkages
Step6 – Develop Visual elements and linkages.
Step7 – Develop your Opening – Gambit, USP, Proof of Concept, Point B, Overview
Step8 – Rehearse, Verbalize, Build in WIIFYs
Step9 – Add a dash of sizzle
Step10 – Develop external linkages to keep it fresh
Big League Pitches – Part 6 WRAPPING IT UP
So far we’ve covered KNOWING YOUR PRODUCT and KNOWING YOUR MARKET, determining the Point of your presentation, the relevant information to prove that point, and relating it back to the audience by asking “What’s In It For You” (You being the audience). We used all the elements of a Powerful Opening to GRAB the audience. We organized the information with a structured flow and internal linkages supported by compelling visuals to CARRY the audience, and now we’re ready to deposit them completeing the PRESENTATION of the OPPORTUNITY.
You may remember a thematic “Don’t Make the Audience Work.” To that end you always want to 1)Tell them what you’re gonna tell them (in the opener) 2) Tell them (in the body) and then 3) Tell them what you told them (in the summary).
The summary is the opportunity to drive home your Point B, the information you presented that supports that conclusion, the WIIFY that compels them to apply what they’ve learned – ultimately PERSUADING them, which was the whole point of your presentation.
It is particularly important that the Point B is a Call to Action in the Summary. You don’t want a Point B “We have a superior product.” Instead, try “Using our product will deliver superior results!” And of course building in the WIIFY makes it all the more powerful…”Using our product will deliver superior results making you rich and famous!”
Here’s what we’ve covered so far…
TEN STEPS TO DEVELOPING WINNING PRESENTATIONS
Step1 – Determine your Point B
Step2 – Data Dump, Distill the important information and determine the main Clusters
Step3 – Test Clusters with WIIFYs, Refine
Step4 – Determine your Flow Structure
Step5 – Develop content linkages
Step6 – Develop Visual elements and linkages.
Step7 – Develop your Opening – Gambit, USP, Proof of Concept, Point B, Overview
the last 3 steps are the SIZZLE – they are what get the emotional response that CLOSES THE SALE and makes you a POWERFUL presenter, but before we get there, here is a diagram to help in structuring your presentations!
Big League Pitches – Part 5 OPENING STRONG
So far we’ve covered KNOWING YOUR PRODUCT and KNOWING YOUR MARKET, determining the Point of your presentation, the relevant information to prove that point, and relating it back to the audience by asking “What’s In It For You” (You being the audience). We’ve organized the information with a structured flow, and built internal linkages to smooth transitions. Next we put together compelling visuals that support YOU, so you are SPEAKING the important information rather than reading a document projected on a wall.
Now we’re ready to tackle that mythical AHA! moment. The attention grabbing opener. Typically you have 90 Seconds to grab your audience or they’re gone. So how do you grab them? If you spend 90 seconds telling a story they may say, “So What” and tune out. What are the CRUCIAL things you must cover in the initial :90s to make an impact?
Think of it like this P,P,P,P,T. Pizaz, Purpose, Process, Payoff, Time. You can accomplish all those objectives with the following tools.
OPENING GAMBIT
This is your PIZAZ a quick trick to start the meeting off getting thier attention. Here are the classic Openers
SEVEN CLASSIC OPENING GAMBITS
1. Questions. A question directed at the members of the audience.
2. Factoid. A striking statistic or little known fact
3. Retrospective/prospective. A look backward or forward.
4. Anecdote. A short human-interest story.
5. Quotation. An endorsement about your business from a respected source. NOT a hackneyed over used maxim.
6. Aphorism. A familiar saying
7. Analogy. A comparison between two seemingly unrelated items that helps illuminate a complex, arcane, or obscure topic.
It’s important not to spend too long on this, particularly with a story, because the Gambit just opens the door, you only have :90 to cover the rest of the elements of the Successful Opening.
ELEMENTS OF THE OPENING
Opening Gambit = the hook to introduce yourself and open the room.
USP = Unique Selling Proposition, 1 sentence summary of your business and what you do
Proof of Concept = Short example that gives validity
Point B = the BIG WIIFY, the Destination, the point you are going to prove
Overview = map of the steps you will take
Here’s an example of my opener for the presentation slideshow I did on this topic
“Presentation skills are one of the most valuable assets in modern society, if you doubt that look at how much we pay talk show hosts, Oprah Winfrey made $260 million last year! Dr. Phill made $90 Million! Every time you give a speech you are you doing serious harm or good to your reputation and that of your company. All of us here are good presenters, or we wouldn’t be where we are now, but over the next 30 minutes I’m going to give you a system for consistently delivering Big League presentations. The information comes from the book “Presenting to Win” where the author approaches every presentation as an opportunity to persuade. He has successfully persuaded investors to invest billions of dollars in start-ups during IPO roadshows making him the #1 business presentation consultant in the world. I’ll outline the most common problems with presentations, and ten steps that will cover the strategic and tactical solutions and empower you to be one of the top presenters in the business, thereby increasing your effectiveness and earning potential.”
That’s about 60-70 seconds straight through, with dramatic pauses – right at :90. Let’s disect it.
Opening Gambit
“Presentation skills are one of the most valuable assets in modern society, if you doubt that look at how much we pay talk show hosts, Oprah Winfrey made $260 million last year! Dr. Phill made $90 Million!
Bam, not a long story, just an opener that sets the stage and gets thier attention.
The next line is really a WIIFY builder to tell them what’s in it for THEM
“Every time you give a speech you are you doing serious harm or good to your reputation and that of your company.”
Next we cover the Unique Selling Proposition, 1 line about what I’m there to do and why I’m qualified to do it(with a compliment to my audience thrown in).
“All of us here are good presenters, or we wouldn’t be where we are now, but over the next 30 minutes I’m going to give you a system for consistently delivering Big League presentations. The information comes from the book “Presenting to Win” where the author approaches every presentation as an opportunity to persuade.”
I ALWAYS work in the total presentation time within that first :90s. It’s a promise. When I keep that promise I have built a reputation of trust with my audience that carries over to future dealings. Also, if they didn’t plan on spending that amount of time with me they’ll usually tell me and then I can adjust my presentation accordingly.
The Proof of Concept is optional, but I like it because it demonstrates why you’ve qualified to do what you claim you’re going to do
“He has successfully persuaded investors to invest billions of dollars in start-ups during IPO roadshows making him the #1 business presentation consultant in the world.”
Next I bring it home
“I’ll outline the most common problems with presentations, and ten steps that will cover the strategic and tactical solutions and empower you to be one of the top presenters in the business, thereby increasing your effectiveness and earning potential.”
Here I’ve given them an outline of what we’re going to cover (10 steps), the Point B (using these steps will make you 1 of the top presenters) and another big WIIFY to show why they care…top presenter = more money!
Covering these elements during the opening Grabs thier Attention, Gives them a Reason, to listen to the rest of your presentation, gives you credibility, and gives them a guide of whats to come so they can anticipate it.
All of this is typically done with little to no Visual support. This is your first impression. You need to make it powerful and focus the audience on YOU. This sets the tone for the rest of the presentation. If you do use a slide to illustrate your Gambit, USP, Proof of Concept, or Overview make sure it is SIMPLE and POWERFUL…NEVER put your Point B on a slide. The focus of the presentation is YOU, and YOU should be the one to tell the audience the most important things!
So in :90 you coverd the Purpose of your presentation. You covered the Process you are going to cover to accomplish it. You communicated the Payoff, the Why they should listen. You told them how much Time it would take, and hopefully you did it with some PIZAZZZ!
Next we’ll talk about the ending of the story, the Summary, but first – what are some of the BEST openers you’ve seen, and what made them so good?
Big League Pitches – Part 4 VISUALS
So far we’ve covered KNOWING YOUR PRODUCT and KNOWING YOUR MARKET, determining the Point of your presentation, the relevant information to prove that point, and relating it back to the audience by asking “What’s In It For You” (You being the audience). Now we are discussing PRESENTING OPPORTUNITIES. We’ve already organized the information with a structured flow, and built internal linkages to smooth transitions, now we’re ready to talk about VISUALS.
Too many times presenters start with slides, and then try to go back and figure out how to make the information fit. This is WRONG WRONG WRONG and it’s why so many presentations are BAD BAD BAD. When it comes to the visual look of the presentation there are a few rules to live by.
SEVEN VISUAL GUIDELINES
1. Presenter Focus. Everything should be focused on you; the presentation supports you not the other way around.
2. Less is More. Focus on simple powerful images that illicit emotion. You say the words that communicate the meaning.
3. Presentations vs. Documents. If a presentation can stand alone it is a document, not a presentation.
4. Conditioned Carriage Return. The eye is trained to go top left of any document, stand to the left of your screen and start in this area of the slide.
5. Reflexive Cross Sweep. The eye will drift from top left across right Use minimal elements so a slide can be perceived in 1 sweep.
6. Forced Carriage Return. Word wrap and anything that causes the eye to move back left is work and should be avoided.
7. Animation. Minimize Animation to keep Presenter Focus, left to right is pleasing, up is good, right to left is Sinister, down is bad. Sparkle <5%.
These 7 rules are the most commonly abused aspects of the presentation (after sharing too much info). The easiest way to summarize is this – a Presentation is NOT a document. If you could forward your slides to someone that missed the meeting, then your presentation is bad. Period. End of discussion. Make a Handout that contains the information, but DO NOT PUT IT ON THE SCREEN. This is hard to do at first, we are so used to putting everything we are going to talk about in the slides and then basically reading them to the audience. But that’s why most of us aren’t making BIG LEAGUE PITCHES! Use powerful visuals that can be taken in with a glance, then SAY the important information, that keeps the audience focused on YOU, and YOU are in controll, guiding them to your POINT B. It is nearly impossible to read and listen at the same time. If you put words on the screen they will read them and not listen to you. The average screen in a meeting room is 4 feet wide. It is a LOT of work for your eyes to move 4 feet every time they go to the next line, much harder than when reading a book where it’s only 4 inches. DON’T MAKE THE AUDIENCE WORK. Have an image (even if that includes words) that can be taken in with 1 sweep of the eye moving across the screen.
Too much is just too much. Whether it’s dots on your bullet points, or lines on a graph, minimize the number of “things” on the screen so it can be taken in with 1 sweep of the eye. The same goes for animation. If it competes with you it is taking away from the focus on the presenter (#1 rule). Think of animations and other special effects as Cayenne Pepper, a little goes a long way, but a dash can make the difference between bland stew and 5 Alarm Chilli!
Remembering the Seven Visual Guidelines above, build in visual continuity to your presentation using the Visual Internal Linkages described below.
FIVE INTERNAL LINKAGES USING VISUALS
1. Bumper Slides. Graphic dividers inserted between major sections of the presentation to serve as clean, quick, and simple transitions.
2. Indexing/Color Coding. Using color of text or page elements to define separate sections of a presentation, or highlighting a recurring object like an index.
3. Icons. Using icons or graphics to define separate sections of the presentation, particularly effective when they combine to make a whole.
4. Anchor Objects. Using diagrams to build on showing the progression through the presentation.
5. Anticipation Space. Using blank space that is subsequently filled, setting up and then fulfilling subliminal expectations.
These add to the sense of flow you’ve already established with your structure and internal linkages and serve to illustrate your points.
Next we will discuss the crucial and elusive STRONG OPENING!
Big League Pitches – Part 3 THE MEAT
In Part 1 and 2 we talked about KNOWING YOUR PRODUCT and KNOWING YOUR MARKET, determining the Point of your presentation, the relevant information to prove that point, and relating it back to the audience by asking “What’s In It For You” (You being the audience). Now we will look at the Meat of a Presentation itself as we talk about PRESENTING OPPORTUNITIES.
Presentations are basically stories, and all good stories have a Beginning, a Middle, and an End. Most of the story happens in the Middle, the Body of our presentation, but because we have been conditioned to start at the beginning, we usually try to start with a clever opener. INSTEAD start by organizing the BODY of your presentation, which will make it easier to later focus on an attention grabbing beginning, which is crucial for powerful presentations.
The BODY
Looking at the clusters of information you have decided are neccessary to move the audience from Point A to point B, you must pick a FLOW Structure. Jerry identifies 16 common Flow structures.
SIXTEEN FLOW STRUCTURES
1. Modular. A sequence of similar parts, units, or components in which the order is interchangeable.
2. Chronological. Organizes clusters of ideas along a timeline, reflecting events in the order in which they occurred or might occur.
3. Physical. Organizes clusters of ideas according to their physical or geographic location
4. Spatial. Organizes ideas conceptually, according to a physical metaphor or analogy, providing a spatial arrangement of your topics.
5. Problem/Solution. Organizes the presentation around a problem and the solution offered by you or your company.
6. Issues/Actions. Organizes the presentation around one or more issues and the actions you propose to address them.
7. Opportunity/Leverage. Organizes the presentation around a business opportunity and the leverage you or your company will implement to take advantage of it.
8. Form/Function. Organizes the presentation around a single central business concept, method, or technology, with multiple applications of functions emanating from that central core.
9. Features/Benefits. Organizes the presentation around a series of your product or service features and the concrete benefits provided by those features.
10. Case Study. A narrative recounting of how you or your company solved a particular problem or met the needs of a particular client and, in the telling, covers all aspects of your business and its environment
11. Argument/Fallacy. Raises arguments against your own case, and then rebuts them by pointing out fallacies (or false beliefs) that underlie them.
12. Compare/Contrast. Organizes the presentation around a series of comparisons that illustrate the differences between your company and other companies
13. Matrix. Uses a two-by-two or larger diagram to organize a complex set of concepts into an easy to digest, easy to follow and easy to remember form
14. Parallel tracks. Drills down into a series of related ideas with an identical set of subsets for each idea.
15. Rhetorical questions. Asks and then answers, questions that are likely to be foremost in the minds of your audience.
16. Numeric. Enumerates a series of loosely connected ideas, facts, or arguments.
Pick a structure and stick with it, this will make your story flow. You want to GRAB your audience at the beginning, CARRY them through the information, and DEPOSIT them at your conclusion, your Point B. Having a consistent Flow structure makes it easier to carry them through the information.
Now that you have your information sorted, and put together in a smooth flow, you want to build INTERNAL LINKAGES, these are devices that will make transitions between your clusters smooth and seemless, and CARRY the audience. Jerry lists twelve common ones.
TWELVE INTERNAL LINKAGES USING CONTENT
1. Reference the Flow Structure. Make repeated references to your primary Flow Structure as you track through your presentation
2. Logical transition. Close your outbound subject; lead into your inbound subject.
3. Cross-Reference. Make forward or backward references to other subjects in your presentation.
4. Rhetorical question. Pose a relevant question, and then provide the answer.
5. Recurring Theme. Establish an example or data point early in your presentation, and then make several references to it throughout your presentation.
6. Bookends. Establish an example or data point early in your presentation, then never mention it again until then end when you illuminate it.
7. Mantra. Use a catchphrase or slogan repeatedly.
8. Internal summary. Pause at major transitions to recap.
9. Enumeration. Present related concepts as a group then count down through each of them.
10. Do the math. Put numeric information in perspective as it builds.
Using these internal linkages to smooth transitions within your flow structure will help your audience follow you. Remember, DON’T MAKE THEM WORK – Do the work for them so they can keep up with you. This makes it easy for them to follow you and arrive at your conclusion.
Now we have our Point, we have our data to prove the point, we understand the audience benefit, we know how we are going to organize the body of our presentation, and we have linkages built in to make the information flow smoothly. NOW break out the stock photography and powerpoint!
Too many times presenters start the process putting together a slide and then trying to make the data support the visual, this is BACKWARDS! Don’t even begin to develop visual imagery till you understand the information you’ll be presenting.
We’ll tackle Visuals in the next part…
Atlanta Interactive Marketing Consultant Mark Osborne's Blog Remarkable Marketing 