Insights

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

Whether 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?

photo credit: G a r r y

It’s All About the People at Airmiles

If I turn these up loud, maybe I won't hear him snore... I’m always interested in how big corporations look after their employees, and how they foster loyalty and relationships with them. At a small business, it’s relatively easy to build strong ties between employer and employee, just from the size factor.

Yet larger businesses can be guilty of missing the personal touch that family businesses or smaller-sized ones can focus on. I know this only too well from my time at British Telecom back in the UK, where it was a very numbers-driven game.

One of the larger companies?excelling at getting the people factor right is Airmiles.

A Canadian loyalty-incentive company, Airmiles lets you shop at various outlets either offline or on and collect rewards, or air miles. A percentage of your purchase is then converted to these air miles, which allows you to fly free of charge (or at a greatly reduced rate) anywhere in the world on a supported airline.

While consumers?love Airmiles for these incentives, many of the Airmiles employees seem to love the company as well. A lot of this can be found in the people culture that Airmiles fosters throughout its workforce.

The company is currently in the process of relocating its customer service call centre. This involves around 400 people, as well as all the relevant hardware and other office equipment.

While the move might be relatively easy distance-wise, it’s still a big operation and can obviously impact on the employees. To help them feel at home, however, Airmiles opened up suggestions to the employees as to what the new call centre hallways and sections should be called.

This led to a whole bunch of cool ideas and names, with wildlife, nature, the environment and others all coming to the table. It might not sound a lot, but ask yourself the last time your boss asked you what you wanted to call your new home.

It’s not just the naming of the zones that sees Airmiles as a company that gets the people factor right – it’s the ongoing comfort and human side that also sets them apart from many others.

For instance, their current set-up in Toronto includes an oasis at the heart of each floor. This allows employees to gather in a friendly community setting, enjoy refreshments, and interconnecting stairs between the call centre and the admin areas.

Again, nothing major, but keeping that open and friendly approach that people naturally love. It’s an approach that helped Airmiles lose just 1% of its staff to that move, as opposed to the standard 10%.

One of the clear signals that is continously coming through from business-to-consumer surveys is that people are wanting to deal with other people. Not numbers; not a phone tree; but honest-to-goodness human beings.

By making their company such a people-driven culture, Airmiles are enjoying both low employee turnover and loyal customers. You really can’t ask for anything more, can you?

photo credit: lovely lemur

Maybe Some Authors Should Do Their Own PR

For some reason, I’ve suddenly started to get a few pitches from PR agencies and companies regarding business and marketing books. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but as I like to read I’ll take it as a nice bonus.

Going through the pitches, though, I’m beginning to wonder if the authors themselves should start composing the pitches to go with them.

Maybe that would stop some of the less-than-impressive ones getting through. Here are two examples – see if you can spot the difference.

Example One:
“Hi Danny,
I thought you might be interested to hear about a book by one of my clients [insert book title here].” There’s then a slew of recommendations of the book from other business book authors, as well as what looks like standard press release copy. The PR person then signs off the email with the closing comment, “I’ve attached a PDF version of his new book. Have a look and if you enjoy the book would you consider a blog post? Best,”. No name, signature, or where the email came from (except in the email address bar).

Example Two:
“Hi Danny,
I’ve been reading your blog for a while now and really enjoy it. I particularly found (Post A), (Post B) and (Post C) refreshing as I’d actually left a comment on another blog about the topics raised in these connected posts. I hope you don’t mind me reaching out to you, but I represent an author whose book touches on these subjects and more. I don’t want to send you a long introduction that may not interest you or catch you at a good time. Therefore, if you’re curious about learning more, feel free to reply to this email and I’ll call when convenient. Thanks again, and keep up the great topics, James.”

Whose book do you think I’d be interested in looking at?

photo credit: CarbonNYC

I’m Not Here Today

Instead, I’m currently traveling to Florida to meet up with the likes of John Haydon, Stacey Monk, Jen Lemen and a whole bunch of other cool folks. This is for something very special coming your way this November.

So, instead of a normal post here, I’d like to ask you a couple of favours, if that’s okay? First, I’d like to introduce you to some really cool bloggers you may not be aware of. These are the guys and gals I read regularly, so if you enjoy my blog (at least just a little bit), then there’s a good chance you might enjoy these too. Check them out here, visit their blogs, and subscribe if you like what you see.

Second, today is the last day for voting for next year’s panels at South by Southwest Interactive . John Haydon, Stacey Monk and others (including me) have presented a (hosted by Mark Lovett) about social media and global consciousness. If you’re curious what that involves, pop on over to the , check it out, and maybe give us a thumbs-up if you think it’s something worth discussing (you need to complete a quick register).

And that’s it – and I didn’t even ask you to buy a book!

Have a great Friday, guys – I’m forever grateful that you continue popping by here to share your thoughts and maybe even learn from some of mine. Be great to each other; be great to yourself; and I’ll catch up with you all soon.