- Right user
- Right methodology (asking the right questions)
- Right analysis
- Right time (in the process)
- Strategist at PayPal
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#lifehack
What if someone combined a pizza place (like MOD) with the business model of Toms shoes? For every pizza sold, one would be given to a hungry person (through a school, at a homeless shelter, through service agencies, etc). I bet people would pay a little more for their pizza knowing they are helping a good cause. Plus, it could make people choose your pizza place over others when corporate events and birthday parties came around. It would taste good and make them look good while they are doing good.
Someone should do this. And tell me about it. You’re welcome.
Other generations owned big things, like homes and cars, and shared communications, like phones.
This generation shares big things and owns their own communications.
"It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it." - Lena Horne
"I suggest you take everything as a good sign. You'll fall asleep happy and wake up curious. If that's madness, let me be mad." - Martha Beck
Anyone who has lived knows that nothing good comes without some heartache, struggle, and failure along the wall. Any truthful trajectory showing a result doesn’t look like a rocket. It looks like a squiggly diagonal line to the right. Success is an upwards sloping line, but at any point of the line, the slope wasn’t upwards.
"We are often told we need to know how to learn. But how do we learn to unlearn." - Chris Dede, Harvard
To build new habits. To change our approach, to find a new path.
Several years ago, I penned a song entitled “Content” [kuh n-tent] that was all about being satisfied. Everyone pronounced it “content” [kon-tent] and thought it was a placeholder for the actual title. It’s a little ironic actually. Is a musician every content with his or her pieces? Marketers, too, often find themselves asking this question often: am I content with my content?
Author and historian, A. Wyatt Tilby, first used the expression “content is king” in 1914. However, he wasn’t referring to copy, video or audio, but rather to being satisfied. We think of this as a positive thing today, but Tilby spoke of the British monarchy when content was a derivative of “constrained” or “contained.” So, for a royal, their content audience was captive. Literally.
So, how do you keep your audience’s captive attention? By taking innovative and fresh approaches that keep readers informed, entertained and empowered to do more in their daily lives. Here are five ways to know if you can be content with your content or if it is time to change:
1. You are excited for others to read it
This may seem obvious but if the content doesn’t excite you – as the subject matter expert – it isn’t the right approach or needs more work. No matter your profession, we are all called to write and persuade or inform others from time to time – be it a manager, coworker, customer, patient or client. For some, writing is all they do in their jobs, and it comes naturally. For others, it’s a dreaded task. The key is to find opportunities to write about subjects that excite you. When you do, it becomes easier to create content with which you can be content. You may need to stretch the boundaries of your writing comfort zone, and research for supporting sources. But in doing so, the content will be strengthened and ultimately, professional expertise will be heightened. Now, if that isn’t exciting, I don’t know what is.
The key is to find opportunities to write about subjects that excite you.
2. Ask a trusted, skeptical colleague to review
Before you hit “go live” on any piece of content, seek out your most trusted, skeptical colleague to give it a thorough review. He or she needn’t be an expert in the topic of the piece, but you do want their unbiased and honest opinion about the aesthetics, clarity, and audience-perceived value of your content. Does the headline grab the reader and pull them in? Is it true to the “meat” of the piece or is it simply click bait? The latter, while a heavily used tactic these days, can damage your credibility with your audience. Take in all feedback and make adjustments to your content to ensure your audience has the utmost opportunity to engage with, and derive meaningful takeaways.
3. The content has been active for more than three months
Now, let’s talk about the “lifespan” of an effective piece of content. Once you have your ad, whitepaper, blog or video “in the wild,” and your audiences are consuming it, you’ll want to consider how long to promote it. The duration may vary according to the traffic it gets and the resonance of its message with the intended audience. If the piece – whether being promoted via paid venues, or lives organically on your website – has been running for three months or more (or you can’t remember when it was changed), it is probably time for an update. The best way to remain content with your content is to ensure your audience doesn’t have a chance to get bored.
4. It has been seen by your core customers more than seven times
Closely tied to recommended lifespan of your content is the marketing “Rule of Seven,” which states that audiences need to see your content seven times to remember and/or take action on it. If the content is compelling, it can make an impact sooner than seven times. If the content is run-of-the-mill, it can be seen more before becoming redundant. If you’ve used the content in your rotation at least seven times, it’s a good practice to change the content before it becomes too familiar and easily tuned out.
5. The Call to Action is no longer effective
“Call to Action” (CTA) defines the desired behavior of the viewer: buy the product, watch this movie, or shop this store. Although it can be difficult, it is important to measure the results of your content based on your CTA. Pay attention to the messages your audiences are sending to you via the CTA: e.g., are they opening your emails; are they clicking the links; are they visiting your page to learn more; are they sharing or commenting on your content? These are all important indicators of message and content resonance. Monitoring the results of your CTA helps you understand if your CTA is compelling enough, or perhaps it is time to refresh the content.
This article was originally posted on Leaders In Heels.
LieFi: fake news online
"In a walking city, shouldn't the sidewalks be on the map, instead of the streets?" - Mike Rawlinson, CityID
Amazon must be a huge consumer of kraft cardboard. We have a model in which product is shipped in cardboard and then, in most communities, is picked up at the curb for recycling. Why don’t we turn this around?
Why aren’t the deliveries made in something akin to a mailbox, but for packages. With limited packaging (ie, soft packaging, reusable totes, etc) and then we have curbside or community drop off of goods?
Today the brick and mortar retail world relies on customers picking up goods from a store and trashing the packaging at home. What if it was the opposite? The goods were delivered to the home and we dropped off the packaging (on our own schedule). As tools like Amazon become more ubiquitous, the infrastructure for curbside reusable pick-up is a natural next step.
"If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together." -African Proverb
Often passionate leaders and visionaries resist expressing their vision in quantitative benefits. Although the story narrative around customer benefits is very important and can lead to the kind of sticky, emotional connection that everyone strives for, if you can also quantify the benefit in terms of dollars saved or earned, time saved, injuries or deaths prevented, or other outcome improvements, the message is much stronger and more credible. I recently heard Norman Winarsky, author of If You Want to Change the World, express it well when he said “the more you can quantify the benefits, the more customers will understand.” Numbers don’t stand on their own, typically, but they are a strong pillar on which to build the story.
“The talking about the thing isn’t the thing. The doing of the thing is the thing.” – Amy Poehler
If it is an epidemic to have people confuse activity with results, then it is even more tempting to confuse talking about work with actual work. Talking about what you are going to do is not doing it. Only doing it counts.
Talking about what you should have done is even worse. It’s not work and will never result in work, unless your work is time travel.
Don't have an occasion to celebrate? Invent one.
"The building block of all luck is curiosity." -Art Gensler
"The key to learning is listening. It was great to talk to CEO World about this important topic. I confess I'm still learning to apply my own advice here, so I'd better listen up!"
Everyone knows that great leaders are great listeners. But as senior level professionals, our opportunity to listen diminishes as we are the people in the room that introduce new ideas, present plans, answer questions. When we do listen, many of us are guilty of preparing our response, thinking about the implications, or predicting what the speaker will say next, instead of truly listening.
How can we tap into the thoughts from our staff? Here are ten ways that you (and I) can listen more.
1. Stop talking.
When someone is speaking to you, let them finish their entire thought before responding. It sounds simple, but it is harder in practice. Even when we agree, we often interrupt to show we understand the point by talking over the speaker before they have finished their thought. In disagreements, we might talk over the person to communicate our counter viewpoint. But when you stop talking and better yet, pause before you respond, you will likely hear something in that last trailing sentiment that you might not have heard if you had interrupted to rush your reply.
2. Advocate for the person speaking.
As you master the skill of refraining from interrupting, you will notice how often others interrupt. Be an advocate for the person speaking – not necessarily agreeing with their position but asking others to let them finish their statement.
3. Don’t multitask.
In our fast-paced society, multi-tasking is celebrated. But to truly listen, the person speaking deserves our full attention. Be fully present throughout the conversation by taking notes and asking follow up questions as needed. By focusing on their words instead of using the time for other responsibilities, we can be more productive in that moment, gaining more clarity for that topic and potentially save time in the future by eliminating misinterpretation.
4. Let someone else lead the conversation.
As senior level professionals, we are inclined to determine the topic, set the agenda and carry the conversation. But when we let someone else lead, whether it be a meeting, group discussion or 1:1, we can empower others voices to be heard while giving ourselves an opportunity to stop, listen and reflect. By being fully present in the moment with the person speaking or leading the conversation you communicate respect and encourage leadership amongst your team members.
5. Ask open ended questions.
When my kids started in school, I would ask them about their day and get brisk “it was fine” or “good” answers. I asked a friend how he got his teenagers to share details of their day and he recommended starting the daily conversation with a story starter, such as “I dropped you off at school, then what happened?” With a storytelling prompt, I found that it was easier for the kids to recall details about their teacher, friends, lessons and activities. In business, this technique works well as you lead people through a timeline, putting them in the moment and likely down a path you wouldn’t have heard if the question could be answered with one word.
6. Be open to old ideas.
As senior professionals, we’ve experienced many of the same situations repeatedly and original ideas and solutions are far and few between. When we hear an idea we’ve already proposed to colleagues or a solution have tried ourselves, we tend to stop listening, often interrupting the speaker with a statement “we already did that.” But if we take time to listen more, we can consider how the environment, products, and other variables have changed since our last attempt. If the context has changed, we might have a solution that could work again or for the first time. By listening more effectively, we can open ourselves to old ideas.
7. Repeat back what the person said.
Reflecting listening skills are a tried and true method for increasing understanding and empathy. By summarizing the speaker’s thoughts in their own words, you demonstrate that you are engaged and understand their statement. If there is a misinterpretation, summarizing gives the speaker an opportunity to clarify and continue the conversation knowing you are both on the same page and leading to a more productive outcome.
8. Create environments to listen.
One reason we might not hear from our team is we haven’t made the time to listen. Schedule meetings and secure a meeting place that allows for conversation. If there is a specific topic you want to learn about, share a few questions before the meeting, kick off with a reminder of those questions, then stop talking and start learning. Scheduling your undivided attention shows your commitment to listening to your employees.
If it’s not possible to meet individually, schedule small group meetings, regularly host open office hours, or make time at the end of a team meeting for open Q&A. Dedicating consistent time to listen to your team, shows that you value their opinions and want to learn from their areas of expertise.
9. Listen with your eyes.
A small child asked his mother if he could tell her a story while she was cooking. The mom responded “sure” but didn’t move her eyes from her cooking task. Moments later she looked down and asked why he wasn’t telling her the story and the boy responded “you weren’t listening with your eyes.”
Maintaining eye contact with the speaker demonstrates they have your full attention and allows you to pick up on their body language – their passion and excitement or their uneasiness about the topic. Listening with your eyes as well as your ears gives you clues to how the speaker is reacting to their own words and gives you greater insight.
10. Act on the conversation.
Perhaps the real value of listening more is the response it elicits. After the conversation, take time to think about the learnings – write down thoughts and any action items. Commit to following up with the person, even if you don’t have an immediate update – circling back to reference the conversation shows that you listened and have learned from what was shared.
Most important things in life should be done as fast as possible and as slow as necessary.
Wise people know when to push and when to pause.
"If you are doing your presentation right, no one will know or care what software you're using. It's not about the tools. It's about the meaning." - Garr Reynolds, @presentationzen
Remain an artist - Picasso
Remain a beginner - Jobs
Remain calm and carry on - Churchill