Danny Brown

podcaster - author - creator

Latest posts from Danny Brown

Enjoy the latest posts from Danny Brown, and feel free to add your own thoughts in the comments after the post.

The Powerful Effect of Simplicity

Suddenly things seem crystal clear to me ...Last week was a crazy one for me. I’ve just started a big new project (which I’ll be sharing soon) and getting to grips with it has been information overload from day one (although all good fun).

Add to that some really bad wisdom tooth pain, a lot of community planning for a special November 12for12k collaboration as well as normal day-to-day stuff and little sleep, and I was feeling a little bit frayed.

Then an email landed in my inbox that changed everything with two simple words: “Thank you.”

The email was from Sasha H. Muradali, a great upcoming PR pro over in Miami who has a pretty cool blog over at Little Pink Book PR. It mentioned her newest post, and the fact that the post was tied to one of Sasha’s earliest ones in April of this year.

It turns out that I was one of the first to share Sasha’s blog post on Twitter, and this email from her was to say thank you for that. And that just floored me and made me smile in a big way. I know Sasha’s a busy person; I know she has a lot of things on the go; I know that the reference Sasha was making was almost 6 months ago.

Yet she still remembered, and took the time to say thanks personally. And these two little words turned a frazzled face into a wide grin. Or, as Sasha herself put it, “all gushy feeling semi-girlie inside” (yes, you got me, Sasha!).

There’s something for us all to learn from Sasha. Agree?

Creative Commons License photo credit: annia316

Do Bloggers Make Good Authors?

After a period of separation the water tanks decided to organize a reunionHow many of you have read Chris Brogan and Julien Smith’s Trust Agents? Or Mitch Joel’s Six Pixels of Separation ? Or Now is Gone by Geoff Livingston and Brian Solis? Or [insert title here] by [insert renowned blogger here]?

Here’s another question.

How many of you that have read (or plan to read) these books also read the aforementioned authors’ blogs? Now ask yourself one more question.

If you read the blog long before the book, did you learn anything truly new?

I ask not from a disrespectful view – I admire each and every one of these guys for different reasons, and for how they’ve helped move PR, marketing and the digital space forward via their thinking. Every one of them has a (usually) outstanding blog where you can find great information and maps on how to move you and your business forward.

But reading their books, I couldn’t help but feel that I’d already read the content over at their blogs. Even though I enjoyed the printed text, it felt like the digital version had been there first.

Which makes me wonder two things.

Are the authors looking for a new audience from their regular blog readers? And if not, if the audience is a mix of existing and new, do bloggers make good authors?

Again, that’s not from a disrespectful view – more a curiosity. If you have a popular blog with a high readership and regular content, what happens when it comes to writing a book expanding on the very topics you’ve been sharing for a few years? Have active bloggers already written and shared so much that it appears there’s nothing new in-between the pages of a newly released book?

I’m curious about your take on this.

Creative Commons License photo credit: Pulpolux !!!

Reinventing the Wheel

James Dyson looked at the vacuum cleaner and gave people a different way to do things – no bags. Simple.

EasyJet looked at international flights and gave people a different way to fly – no thrills affordability. Simple.

Sony looked at video games and gave people a different way to view gamers – cool mass appeal chic. Simple.

We don’t always have to build something brand new. We don’t always have to spend millions on research when the audience is already there. We don’t always have to create from scratch.

Sometimes just reinventing the wheel is more than enough.

Define Your Digital Footprint – Lacing the Shoes

Colourful nightWhether you like it or not, you already have a digital footprint that you can’t fully control. People are talking about you; dissecting you; and?making decisions about you every day of the week.

You don’t even have to be online to have a digital footprint – people and businesses that don’t have an active web presence are being talked about. By their customers; their clients; their past and futures. So if all this talk is going on and you’re late to the party,?isn’t it already too late?

Not necessarily.

But it is?time to define your digital footprint so you can?at least help guide what you’d like to be found. In this first part of a series, I’m going to look at how you can define a strong footprint. Upcoming posts will look at tools you can use, how to connect strongly, how to react and converse with negative footprints, and more.

Who Are You?

There are a ton of ways for you to define your digital footprint, but let’s face it – unless you know who you are and who you want to be known as, any kind of defining could turn out worthless. If you don’t have a strong signal of you, everything else is just guesswork. So how do you make a strong you?

  • Be consistent. Wherever you are online, make sure you’re not confusing anyone. While the likes of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Squidoo and other popular networking sites appeal to a different audience, that doesn’t mean you have to be completely different on them. Adapt to the community; make the conversation fit the space; but keep a sense of you while doing it. Is it a business approach you take? A more personal one? A mix of the two? Find a voice and run with that.
  • Claim your space. Think of a glass of scotch or bourbon. Pour it neat and it’s a strong colour. Add water, and it’s not just the taste that’s diluted – the colour is too. Think of your digital footprint as the scotch, and networks where you’re active as the water. If possible, try and grab the same username on each profile you’re active on. If this isn’t possible, it can be better going for a derivative as opposed to numbers – so, @danny_brown on Twitter as opposed to @dannybrown18275. This will keep your name strong and prevent it from being diluted.
  • Be recognizable. As much as what you say and how you say it will help define your footprint, the way you look will help define how you’re viewed. It’s true – first impressions do count. Use an avatar that states who you are – personable and fun if a personal account, business-like but approachable if a professional account. A good choice is an informal head shot or a clear, smiling face. You could use a brand icon, but why not show the human face with a small brand banner across the bottom instead? Either way, being easily recognizable on first viewing is something to aim for.
  • Start walking. If you want to create any kind of footprint, digital or otherwise, you need to do one simple thing – start walking. Online, that just means start talking. Talk to people; talk with people; join discussions; post a blog comment; write a blog post (there are a few options available if you don’t like the idea of a full on blog, which I’ll look at next time). No-one will know you’re around unless you walk up and say “Hi” – so walk on up and introduce yourself. Set yourself a clear direction and start that journey; just don’t be afraid to ask for directions along the way.

These are just the early steps that you can take toward defining and identifying your digital footprint – but they’re important ones nonetheless. Get the early steps right, and the rest of the path might become just that little bit easier to navigate.

In the next post, we’ll look at what tools are available to help you plant your footprint and maintain it, and the platforms that may be more beneficial to you than others.

In the meantime, what have I missed? What would you recommend when it comes to setting up your digital footprint?

Creative Commons License photo credit: G a r r y