Viral Business Guide: ViralVenturesMag.com

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE | PHILANTHROPY | DESIGN

FIND YOUR PASSION AND PROFIT! How to REALLY Use Linkedin What's Your Viral Loop?

Hispanic Marketing Managing Multigenerational Teams The Design Constitution

Making business success contagious.

CONTENTS 4 VIRAL MEDIA Valuable Tweets How to REALLY use LinkedIn What’s your viral loop?

11 eBUSINESS

Thinking outside the box 12 BRICK & MORTAR Passion Drives Personal Brand Hispanic Marketing 18 LEADERSHIP & MANAGEMENT Opportunity for Healthcare's service innovation Managing Multigenerational Teams 24 PHILANTHROPY Plan. Listen. Engage.

26 DESIGN The Design Constitution 30

VIRAL VIDEOS

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VIP DIRECTORY

the cover:

Illustrated by Tristan Ramberg.

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BUSINE SS IN T ELLIGENCE PHIL AN T HROPY DE SIGN

WELCOME! Right now, it's an exciting and opportunistic time for small business and web publishing.

The world has seen a steady decline in print newspapers and magazines, despite the fact that we still need valuable content.

However, we're also seeing an aggressive increase of Internet content such as blogs, articles, podcasts, video, and other interactive online media.

editor-in-chief

Arlie Peyton

& marke ting Ralphy Peychi advertising

design direc tor

Tristan Ramberg design editor

Almira Joy Bautista

Add to this, the use of Social Media has brought companies and consumers closer together. Businesses are learning and profiting from online word-of-mouse sharing and authentic communication. Many companies are “going viral” due to leveraging the right combination of marketing tools. This combination of small business, digital design, and online viral marketing is what ViralVenturesMag.com is all about.

d e s i g n c o n s u lta n t s

More importantly, intelligent businesses are finally realizing the importance of digital designers. We see designers, business consultants, and marketing experts in an essential partnership with growing businesses. This balanced panel of specialists can create effective and profitable consumer experiences, limited only by their imaginations.

contribu t ing wri ters

We are at the brink of an unstoppable revolution in business. This publication was created by internationally recognized experts to help you exponentially grow your small business using proven online tools. We hope you join us and thrive. The world is waiting for your next Viral Venture!

Enjoy and Connect,

Marci Aitchison Steaven Beatty

d i g i ta l m e d i a c o n s u lta n t

Katherine A. Densing

Genevieve Beatty-Tinsay Chris Brogan Andrew Chen Sarah Evans Eric Gilboord Chuck Green Rodney Sappington Laura Sonderup Jan Vermeiren 503 915 1113 viralventuresmag.com

phone: web:

Arlie Peyton Publisher

P.S. Make sure to connect with our esteemed authors via the Viral VIP Directory located at the back of this publication.

P.P.S. This is an interactive PDF. Many links are active and take you directly to the website of interest!

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All content © copyright 2010 Viral Ventures Magazine 2011.

All rights reserved. Materials may not be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission. Viral Ventures Magazine guides and publications are produced by Peyton Communications, LLC. The opinions expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of Viral Ventures Magazine.

AFFILIATE INCOME Notice: This publication does include affiliate links for tested products and we are compensated for transactions that originated on this magazine.

EARNINGS AND INCOME DISCLAIMER: The content in this magazine is not to be interpreted as any guarantee, promise, representation and/or assurance. We do not purport our business nor any of our associates as being a “get rich quick scheme” or multi-level marketing scheme (MLM). If you detect any such activity, please notify us immediately.

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VIRAL MEDIA

Valuable Tweets Get More Speaking Gigs http://bit.ly/cmPJhD @BroganMedia

Turn your blog into a book http://bit.ly/bOHb2q cc @blurbbooks @juliaroy

5 Huge Trends in Social Media Right Now http://bit.ly/9iLVGw @SteveCase

How one Vittana student is paying it forward: http://ow.ly/2sGdU @Vittana 8 things I wish I knew before starting a business http://dld.bz/s7KC @StephenDavisCXO Stunningly good work @nikroope http://plumen.com/ @ProudCreative

What 2 items would you bring to a private island? #FlyVirgin to enter to win a week in paradise http://vgn.am/6012Ekm #NeckerIslandRollCall @VirginAmerica Do we have any international girls here? We can’t tell you enough ... FREE INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING for orders over $199 USD! Ah! @SolestruckShoes Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen pledges fortune to philanthropy http://tinyurl.com/2euzwt5 @DarylTurner Latina bloggers are a force to be reckoned with http://ht.ly/2s0Gu #Latism #in @TargetLatino

BriefLogic has a good post up on marketing ROI http://bit.ly/aYfLur @JohnBattelle

Forrester: If You Think Social Media Marketing is Worthless, You’re Doing it Wrong: http://bit.ly/cxu4nR @BuenaDesign

Eventually we will stop calling it “Social Media Marketing” and just call it “Marketing” @mikedmerrill #smcdallas

@galadarling’s article about the hotel we stayed in while visiting LA, the Palihouse Holloway is worth a read: http://is.gd/elSKz

@RamirCamu

@nubbytwiglet

Got a business-related Valuable Tweet? Add us and include us in your Twitter feed: @ViralVentures

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VIRAL MEDIA

How to REALLY use Linkedin.

BY JAN VERMEIREN

Over 75 million people (and this number is growing) have a profile on LinkedIn and also a few Connections. However, the question that most people ask is: what does this website have that I can use to my advantage? Another question that keeps popping up is: why use LinkedIn when there is Facebook, MySpace and many other social networking websites? And last but not least: how to use LinkedIn in a way that brings immediate results.

The single most important benefit of LinkedIn For me the most powerful concept behind LinkedIn is that it finds the right people AND the connections you have with them. It makes the networks of the people we know visible.

LinkedIn shows us our second and third degree networks and the paths towards them. This has tremendous value.

Why? Many people already have difficulty keeping track of their own (first degree) network. It is impossible to know whom our network knows. LinkedIn makes this visible.

This is extremely powerful especially if you start with the end or goal in mind. Many people make the “mistake” to only look in their own network when they are looking for someone to help them, to find a new job or new customers.

In this way they are limiting themselves tremendously.

But what if we start with defining the best person, discover who they are and then find out via whom we can get introduced to them?

For example let’s suppose you are looking for a job at Coca Cola in the Los Angeles area (or you want to do business with them as a supplier or partner).

What most people then do is think of who they might know at Coca Cola. Then they can’t think of anyone and give up. Or they call the front desk, ask for the HR Manager and are stalled by the receptionist. Or the HR Manager says she is going to call back, but never does.

Frustration!

Let’s now start with the goal in mind. You define the HR Manager as the person who can help you best reaching your goal (a job, a contract or expertise). Then you use LinkedIn and do a search with “HR Manager, Coca Cola, Los Angeles”. The result is that you don’t only find the exact name of the person, but also the connections you share with this person.

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When you then look at the mutual connections you have, you might discover that this person is connected with your neighbor. You didn’t know this because Coca Cola never has come up in your conversations. He has never mentioned anything about it and you never told him that you were interested in working for or with Coca Cola. After talking to your neighbor about it, you find out that he has worked together with the HR Manager in the past. When he hears about your goal he agrees on writing an email to introduce you to the HR Manager. Five days later you are invited to have a talk with the HR Manager and land the job or contract.

Without LinkedIn you might never have known that they knew each other!

Why LinkedIn and not Facebook or MySpace?

Let me clarify first: it is not LinkedIn OR Facebook, you can use them both. But why also give attention to LinkedIn? Since it is a BUSINESS networking website. This means that people who are a member are more open to do business than on other websites which are more focused on sharing personal experiences.

Everybody who is in business knows that it is easier to get more business through referrals than to make cold calls. People who are referred to you by someone else are already “presold” by your mutual contact because of the trust that already exists between them.

What is taught in many sales and network marketing courses is that you have to ask your current customers and your network for referrals. However many times people only get a few referrals. The reason is that your network only thinks of a very small part of their network at the moment you ask them.

LinkedIn can help you overcome that hurdle and much better than Facebook. How? By looking in the network of your network you find out who they know. Then you can bring this

up in conversation and ask your contact if (s) he is willing to make an introduction. Help your network to help you by providing them with names of people who might be interesting for you!

Why is LinkedIn a better tool for this than Facebook? In Facebook the search function is not geared to do advanced searches (you can’t search on a profile or with detailed parameters, only names and company names) and it is much more difficult to find out the BUSINESS profile of the people who are in the network of your network (they have to give you permission to see their profile). Facebook is a great tool to build and maintain personal relationships, but LinkedIn boosts your professional relationships AND your business.

How to craft an attractive Profile Although many people have the wrong perception that if they make a good Profile people will find them and call them (which only a very small percentage will actually do), it is important to have an attractive Profile. Not necessarily to be found by other people, but to give a good first impression when someone visits your Profile AFTER you have proactively searched for a connection with the right people (see the example of the HR manager of Coca Cola).

These are a few tips to create an attractive Profile:

1

Name: if you want to be found by other people who know you, use the name you use in a professional environment. So no nick names. For women: also include your maiden name.

2

Professional Headline: describe your current function. If you want to be found by others on LinkedIn and on the web, use words that other people use to search people with a function like yours. If the title on your business card is Marcom Director, but

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VIRAL MEDIA people search with Vice President Marketing or Communication Manager, chances are small that you will be found.

The headline is very important because this is the first thing that people see when they do a search and what is shown when you answer a question in Answers or in a Discussion. In many cases the Headline will encourage or discourage people to click on your name to read your full Profile.

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Your Profile Photo: use a professional picture. Especially students tend to put holiday pictures on their LinkedIn Profile like they would do on Facebook. Since LinkedIn is a professional website it is better to have a “normal” picture. And please, gently smile to the visitors of your Profile, you’re not in prison.

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Your Public Profile URL: personalize your LinkedIn Profile page by using your name in the URL. This will boost your online presence on the web: when someone searches on your name in Google, Yahoo, MSN Live Search or another search engine your LinkedIn page will be in the top rankings.

5a

Summary: Professional Experience and Goals: free text. If you write more than two lines, make it more pleasant to the eye to read it.

Use, for example, bullets or dashes. Also don’t put too much text here because people won’t read it. Focus on the results you have obtained, not on the task you did. This will appeal much more to the reader.

This is also a good spot to share what you can offer people without expecting anything

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HOW TO REALLY USE LINKEDIN

in return. For example, in my Profile I share that the visitors of my Profile can subscribe to a free networking e-course on the website of Networking Coach (http://www.networkingcoach.com/) If you talk about yourself, use “I” and not “He” or “She”. The latter puts people off. You don’t talk about yourself in the “He” or “She” form when you have a normal conversation with someone.

Specialties: this is the place to share the skills and knowledge you have accumulated in all the jobs you have done. This is the place to share what your expertise is. If you have a certification like Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, this is the place to mention it. Also use the abbreviation if it is used a lot. In this example that would be MCSE.

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Use Applications: make your Profile more attractive and more interesting by adding (free) Applications like SlideShare, Box. net files and Google Presentation. »

5b

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Experience: here you can list all the organizations you have worked for.

Always be sure to add a title and the right time period. This will help other people to find you and it will help you to find old colleagues back.

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Education: list the schools you went to in order to find old classmates and people who went to the same school.

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Interests: list some of your personal interests here. Next to the professional information that is already abundantly present in your Profile personal interests and hobbies help other people to get a better image of you as a whole person. Many times common interests are found in this small box, which make online and offline conversations much easier.

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HOW TO REALLY USE LINKEDIN

How to build your network fast While we saw that the real power of the network is in the second degree, you still need a first degree network to be able to reach this second degree.

These are 2 phases to build your first degree network fast: Phase 1: Lay the Foundation of your Network

1

Upload your contacts from Outlook, webmail like Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo or AOL or other address books. You can do this via the green “Add Connections” button in the menu on the left on every page and then click on the “Import Contact” tab.

2

Look at the contacts, which are now available in “Imported Contacts” (under “Contacts” in the menu on the left). The people who are already on LinkedIn have a small blue icon with the letters “In”. Since they are already using LinkedIn they will be open for a connection with you. Select them.

3

Write a semi-personal message to them. First check “Add a personal note to your invitation”. Then replace the standard “Hi, I’d like to add you to my network” message with a semi-personal one. You can’t make it too personal when you use this method because you have selected several people.

Phase 2: A Second Layer for your Network While you are waiting for people to accept the invitations you have sent in phase 1, you can add more people to your network. Again we first focus on the people who are already on LinkedIn because they will be more open to accept your invitation.

We will use the tools LinkedIn provides for retrieving colleagues and classmates. Since LinkedIn works with the information in your Profile it is important that you have filled in the companies you have worked for and the schools and universities you went to.

Let’s start with current and past colleagues.

1

Look for current and past colleagues.

You can do this via the green “Add Connections” button in the menu on the left and then click on the “Colleagues” tab.

You will see all the companies that you have listed yourself in your Profile. You will also see how many people from each company are already LinkedIn members.

2

Click on a company you are working for or have worked for. You will get a list of people you might know. Select the people you actually know.

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Write a personal message to them if you are going to invite them one by one or write a semi-personal message like the one in step 3 of phase 1.

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Repeat steps 2 and 3 for every company.

In this way your network grows with current and past colleagues.

Now do the same for the people you studied with (or are studying with) via the tab “Classmates”.

How to use LinkedIn to find the people you need Though LinkedIn is by many people seen as a tool that people can use to find a new job, it is also a great tool to find new customers, suppliers, partnerships, experts and other people to get your job done faster.

Let’s focus on how LinkedIn can help us find new customers. These tips are also applicable to finding new suppliers, partners, experts (not only outside, but also inside your own organization!) and even a new job.

LinkedIn is a very powerful tool to help you grow professionally and reach your goals fast.

Not only to find new customers, but also for partners, suppliers, coaches, mentors, experts and any other person who can help you grow your business and advance your career.

In short, LinkedIn is one of the best tools to really have the experience of giving and receiving help and the power of mentorship. So start using it!

Jan Vermeiren is the founder of Networking Coach, author of the best sellers “Let’s Connect!” and “How to REALLY use LinkedIn”, the CD “Let’s Connect at an event” and the “Everlasting Referrals Home Study Course”.

Jan is a well-known international speaker about networking and referrals. Together with his team he specializes in networking (both online and offline) and referral training courses and presentations.

The Networking Coach team works for international companies like Alcatel, Deloitte, DuPont, IBM, ING, Nike and Sun as well as for small companies.

LinkedIn offers several ways to find new customers. But before being able to use LinkedIn successfully it is important to make a good definition of your target group(s). Once you have done that, these are some of the strategies to follow:

1

Search for potential customers. Use the “advanced search” option to search with the parameters of your definition and get a list of people back. Then see via whom you are connected to them and ask for an introduction.

Please remember that what you are now doing is building a relationship, selling is a next stage!

2

Browse in the network of your network.

Go to the Profile of someone from your first degree network and look at the right hand side who they are connected to. Then ask for a connection with this person.

3

Become member of the Groups that your customers and prospects are also member of. Remember again that it is about sharing and helping first. By doing that you raise your visibility and people will start to contact you.

4

Create “alerts”. LinkedIn gives you the option to save your searches. So save your search from step 1 and LinkedIn sends you every week an email with new prospects.

5

Look at the Network Updates. On your LinkedIn Home Page you can find out who your contacts link to. If you find out that this person is also interesting for you, ask for an introduction.

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What’s your viral loop?

Understanding the engine of adoption.

BY ANDREW CHEN

What’s a “viral loop?”

A term I’ve heard tossed around frequently in real life, but not in the blogosphere is the term “viral loop.” In fact, when googling it, I only saw one mention from Jia Shen, a very smart guy: “The viral loop of people inviting each other to most social networks revolves around a user posting a widget to their page and having friends see their page.

The viral loops for Facebook (there are multiple) revolve around the news feed, the mini-feed and the invite request. Not around people coming to your page and interacting with it.”

Anyone who cares about this topic should read the entire VentureBeat article Q & A with RockYou — three hit apps on Facebook, and counting. And of course Jia is speaking at the upcoming Viral Marketing conference put on by Noah Kagan of CommunityNext.

What are some examples?

Let’s look at some great examples of viral loops done right.

1. First off, the user will likely hit a MySpace page with the widget in place.

2. If they like it, they will click and hit a landing page on Slide.com.

3. The next step is to suck down the pics from their accounts, arrange/decorate them.

4. Now when you hit “Save”, it takes you to a page where you can upload your widget simply by putting in a MySpace username and profile (without leaving the site).

5. Then it immediately shows up, but not before the “Post a bulletin for all my friends” checkbox, which is defaulted to checked, fires off a bulletin to all your friends.

In the scheme of things, Slide is great because the total number of pages you spend between clicking onto Slide and telling your friends is 3 pages at most. That’s fantastic. And note the great use of AJAX which reduces the number of context-jarring pageview changes, but instead feels like a natural interaction. Honestly, I’m surprised that the entire set of pages isn’t AJAX to make the experience that much smoother.

Now let’s look at the viral classic, YouTube.

To define the viral loop, you can think of it as: The steps a user goes through between entering the site to inviting the next set of new users.

Simple enough? Well, because this core loop is repeated so many times over generations and generations of users, getting it right is incredibly important.

Viral growth rate is a compounding process, so the difference between a 80% dropoff and a 50% dropoff is huge spread over 1000s of viral loops.

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1. Again, the first encounter will probably be a video embedded in a page.

2. If they like it, at the end of the video there’s an embed code that can be directly copied.

3. Or, if they don’t want to embed or e-mail that video, other videos are recommended at the end of the process so that people can try those, and potentially embed a different one … and so on.

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WHAT’S YOUR VIRAL LOOP?

Building your own viral loop Ultimately, viral loops are like induction proofs in that you are jumping to a steady state situation in which your viral widgets/emails/ messages are already out there, and you are optimizing some set of steps that users have to jump through. Then, once you get this right, then you are figuring out how to build "on-ramps" into your viral loop so that you bootstrap the entire process.

What’s your viral media?

The first (and last) choice you have to make is where people are going to receive an entryway into your viral loop. That might be e-mail, Facebook newsfeed, or blogs. The main factors to evaluate here are how difficult it is to integrate your entryway into their surface, and the response rate. The first factor, integration, is obviously important because a difficult integration means that perhaps fewer people will see your messages, or your messages will be filtered out altogether.

The second factor, response rate, depends on how in-your-face your messages are (think Facebook invites versus e-mail spam), and how competitive the medium is. Obviously, viral marketing is about a compounding viral growth rate, and if your response rates are low, that will mean a huge difference in outcomes.

What’s your funnel design?

The next choice to make is the design of your viral “funnel.” First off, you want it to be short and as accessible as possible, since each page is a barrier you’re asking your users to leap over. Assume up to 80% to 90% attrition if you are asking them to register for a username/password, for example. So if you can make it very short – 2-3 pages at most – with progressive commitment of personal information, you’ll get further along in your design. And obviously, you’d ideally want to test for dropoff at each point, and optimize each step as if it were a landing page.

As stated above, viral growth rate is a compounding process, so the difference between a 80% dropoff and a 50% dropoff is huge spread over 1000s of viral loops.

What’s the viral hook in your product?

Another important choice is product, of course. At the end of the day, a bad product can adversely affect your viral experience, because

VIRAL MEDIA a poor slideshow (or a widget that no one wants) will lead to very few embeds. So picking something that is either a deep personal expression (music, avatars, slideshows, celebrity posters, etc) or a communication mechanism (voice messages, text, etc) are all great for getting people to WANT to put the apps on their homepages.

What are the onramps to your viral loops?

Once you’re done with a very tight viral loop, then it’s time to create the on ramps. In this case, you are looking at places like your website homepage, paid advertising, traditional marketing campaigns, SEO, etc, to create places where users can discover your viral loop and begin the process That’s it!

Those are the basics of thinking through a viral loop. The best way to understand them is to browse MySpace or get spammed by invites to social networks, and then break down exactly the “funnel” they are trying to put you through.

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eBUSINESS

Thinking outside the box.

BY ERIC GILBOORD

We live in a world full of buzzwords and new ways to say things. A phrase you may have heard is thinking outside the box. What this means is to stop thinking in the normal way stop using the restrictions that we’ve all grown up accepting and look at something from a different perspective.

One thing that I have taught my children is when they get frustrated trying to do something it’s important to take a step back, catch your breath, and look at what you’re trying to do from a different angle. If you’re frustrated trying to reach a particular prospect and you think you’ve exhausted all the avenues chances are there is at least one other way that you haven’t thought of yet. This article isn’t about solving a particular problem it’s about how you approach problems and opportunities in the sales and marketing of your business.

We live in a very competitive environment and if you are not on your toes constantly thinking ahead attempting to outpace your competition they will be nipping at your heels and before you know it winning the race.

Your customers’ businesses are changing on a daily basis, as their needs evolve you must strive to provide the best products and service to make them winners. Some small business people dread change others consider the challenge and the brand new opportunities it will bring. If you are the first to find a new way to do something, not only will your customers continue doing business with you but think about the new prospects you could be attracting.

Operating in the same fashion, thinking in the same way, will deliver the same results.

If you’re content with the same results then don’t change a thing. But remember, everyone around you will be changing.

The next time you prepare a mailer, advertisement, Tweet or LinkedIn discussion try something different. You know what kind of results you’ll get with marketing materials you are used to, but how do you know you can’t do better. If you’re a small business, likely you don’t want to gamble an entire marketing program on a new idea.

Either do a test of the new marketing piece to a small group before you do your main

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mailing, tweet etc., or test the new piece at the same time as you’re using your old reliable.

Send out 10 or 20 percent of your mailers using the new test piece and the balance using previously proven material. Tweet 2 or 3 different messages or LinkedIn activities.

It may be a good practice to always test at least one new idea in a small way with every marketing program that you do.

Write an ad filled with the reasons why people should not buy your products or service.

Who knows maybe some prospects are thinking the same way.

Imagine that your company was an animal.

Would it be fast like a Cheetah or strong like an Ox or smart like a Dolphin? Another exercise is to imagine that your company was a vehicle. Is it possible your customers perceive you to be expensive like a Rolls Royce and therefore they only use you when they have to, and not for all of their orders while in your mind you’re strong and functional like a new pickup truck?

You might want to begin to portray your company in a different way with your marketing materials. Maybe you gave the impression of being an expensive resource because your brochures are six colors printed on expensive paper (they don’t know your brother-in-law is a printer) and you gave out elaborate Christmas gifts to your customers.

Rules for Thinking Outside the Box. "There are no rules. There are lessons to be learned, but no rules."

Asks someone you’ve never asked before for their opinion.

Talk to the end user not just the purchaser.

Could be the person in shipping really needs your service and didn’t know you existed. Your marketing efforts had been directed to the front office and they didn’t think the shipper needed your service. How many lost sales are waiting to be found?

More likely, small businesses undersell themselves with cheap looking brochures and ads that look out of date and not focused.

People only know what they see. As the old expression goes ‘perception is reality’ if they believe you to be something, then in their minds that’s what you are. It is your job to plant the correct image in the minds of your customers and your new prospects.

Go to the marketplace and ask your existing customers these questions about how they perceive you. Keep an open mind, you might be surprised by some of the answers you get.

Talk to prospects that you have not been able to land, you might find that their perception of you has kept them from giving you that first order.

Eric Gilboord is a specialist in making marketing easy for business owner/operators and any staff with sales or marketing responsibility. He demystifies marketing so they can use it to generate sales today and grow their businesses faster. Eric believes in blending traditional marketing with new media/social media.

Show your new marketing piece to someone who knows nothing about your product or your service. If you can educate them and they see the benefits then you have a chance at actually reaching the target group with your message.

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PASSION DRIVES PERSONAL BRAND

BY CHRIS BROGAN

Passion is what fuels the best of what we do. It’s that tireless drive to do something that we feel matters that will bring us forward in so many ways. Whitney is passionate about helping parents understand (and feel more comfortable with) learning disabilities. Jon is passionate about connecting with communities to provide spiritual guidance and observations from simple life. Gary Vaynerchuk is passionate about wine in ways that startle first time observers of his show. A key to your success in life is to find and enhance this same passion.

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BRICK & MORTAR PASSION IS RARELY ALIGNED WITH WHAT’S POPULAR A bunch of years back, I talked to Ingrid Lucia and the Flying Neutrinos. They’re calling themselves a jazz band, but they do New Orleans style swing jazz. When Swing hit really hard in the US, they rode the wave, but they’d been doing swing for YEARS before folks came out to see them. Now that the wave passed, they’re still doing what they’re passionate about, and it still sounds great.

If you’re in the current wave, ride it, and that’s cool. But don’t seek out something to do based on the wave. My best advice in this regard is that sometimes that which you’re passionate about can be made to align with what’s currently interesting to the world. But don’t fake it. It just won’t last, and your own brand will suffer along the way.

PASSION IS HARD TO FAKE Authenticity matters. Most people can sense authenticity without a lot of effort. They can also sense when you’ve one astray from what truly matters to you. So be true to your passion. And here’s a thought on that: if you suddenly are very much NOT passionate about something, think about moving on to that

PASSION DRIVES PERSONAL BRAND

which does have your passion and attention.

I’ve certainly changed what matters to me over the years. I was VERY into fitness and nutrition in 2004. You can go back on my blog archives and see me talking about the right mix of carbs and protein, when to hydrate, etc. Back in 1997, I wrote passionately about writing fiction. Don’t fake passion. Move on.

Something to think about here: it’s okay to move on from what you were passionate about, even if that’s what defined your entire brand.

You can seek a sideways move that shows a tangent back to your passion, or you can start over again. It seems daunting, but it will pay off in the end.

PASSION INCLUDES MISTAKES AND FAILURES Never worry about doing something wrong, going afoul, pissing people off. Don’t SEEK to do it, but don’t be afraid of it. How can you create passionately if you’re worried about going outside the lines. Make mistakes all over the place. Don’t TRY to hurt people’s feelings, and most especially, admit when you’re wrong, apologize, try to be friends again, and keep going. I seem especially skilled in pissing friends off. My friend, Christopher S. Penn has said many times over the last year, “We have to take

Brogan everywhere twice. The second time is to apologize.” He’s right.

But with people, you try really hard to rebuild where you step on toes, piss people off, etc.

With business, if your passions hurt something, try to recover and see where it all goes.

Life doesn’t have a do-over button, and you learn really quickly who gets mired in the past and who’s focused on making the experience of the present and future better. Focus on those who understand the latter. History is there to learn from, but not to obsess over. Make mistakes. Apologize. Repeat. And grow from your passion.

PASSION MEANS HELPING OTHERS SEE IT I guess you can be wildly passionate without sharing, but what’s the fun in that? I tell people when I speak at events that I want their guidance and input because if I wanted to just talk with myself, I can do that any day of the week. Passion is best expressed when it’s shared with others.

Want to see someone really passionate?

Talk to Michael Smolens about dotSUB, his translation project/software. Michael brings you into his frame of reference, whether or not you were even talking about language. Talk to »

Be yourself all the way to the core. And you is what people will want and why th

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PASSION DRIVES PERSONAL BRAND

Jeff Pulver for more than 10 minutes and see if you don’t land on any one of Jeff’s 3,891,774 passion land mines. The man is FUELED by passion.

Share your passion liberally. Be the C.C. Chapman of your own passions! This man makes shows and shows and shows and blogs and more shows about what drives him, what turns him on, what matters. Emulate C.C. and you won’t be too far off.

PASSION REQUIRES WORK AND THOUGHT There’s a really important point to consider: just talking about things all the time isn’t exactly the same thing. You’ve gotta get in there. You’ve got to try things, experiment, do new things, work with others, HELP others, and share your thoughts and ideas then. Suggest new things, and then see if you can try them out. Work on something in the lab, and then show it to the world outside. Know who has a cool lab? Bill Cammack. Experiment, do new things. Try stuff.

I’m trying AttentionUPGRADE to try out new video technology (and Seesmic, and Facebook video, etc). I’m trying Utterz to use audioblogging. I experiment all the time, with the hopes of finding new ways social media can

help people and organizations. My new gig will have tons of that built right in. Only way more geeky. (I’m looking forward to using virtual machines again).

PASSION ISN’T A “ME TOO” GAME There’s only one Bill Belichick, coach of the New England Patriots. Believe me, I’ve heard this man during three different Superbowl victory conversations talk about what his team could’ve done differently to make the game even better. He says it with love of his team, and with a drive to hold them responsible for what they’re doing out there. Bill believes that his duty to his team is to keep them focused on playing the best game they can place. You RARELY see him smile. And yet, you know he’s passionate in ways humans rarely exhibit.

Be yourself all the way to the core. And trust that what’s unique and inherent in you is what people will want and why they’ve sought you out in the first place. Finding your own unique notes is tricky, and takes a little bit of work, but once you get those notes, play them loud and proud.

I’m a really big fan of cover songs. (And if you like them, subscribe to Coverville. Why do I love cover songs? Because it’s amazing when artists

play someone else’s song in THEIR style. I love it. Don’t be a cover band because you’re not original. Play covers because they show off your uniqueness against someone else’s original style.

ENGAGE PEOPLE WITH YOUR PASSIONS How do you reach out to people and talk about your passions? How does your business or vocation allow you to express your passions?

Have your passions ever given you a job? (They did for Jeffrey Glasson).

What are the ways you’re building your brand around your passion?

Chris Brogan is President of New Marketing Labs, a new media marketing agency. He works with large and mid-sized companies to improve online business communications like marketing and PR through the use of social software, community platforms, and other emerging web and mobile technologies.

d trust that what’s unique and inherent in hey’ve sought you out in the first place.

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BRICK & MORTAR

HISPANIC MARKETING: A CRITICAL MARKET SEGMENT

BY LAURA SONDERUP

Capturing the Loyalty of a Critical Market Segment Multiculturalism is redefining what it means to be American today.

With the changing appearance of the U.S. population comes new definitions of the U.S. consumer and new dilemmas for marketers trying to reach those whose tastes, customs and language may differ from what is commonly know as "general market". Culturally relevant marketing plans will become increasingly critical as the population becomes more diverse and the buying power of U.S. Hispanics becomes more significant.

Country of Origin The single most important segmentation factor among U.S. Hispanics may be their country of origin. The U.S. Hispanic market is comprised of subcultures from over 20 countries in Central and South America, the Caribbean and Spain, with the majority (63%) of Mexican heritage. The culture, beliefs, opinions and consumer behavior patterns of U.S. Hispanics are not identical, as a result of the influence of differences in their native countries' geography, indigenous ancestry and colonial origins.

The biggest mistake that a company can make is to view the U.S. Hispanic market as homogeneous. Acculturation levels, language preferences and country of origin make for unique sub-groups within the segment.

Acculturation vs. Assimilation U.S. Latinos tend to "adopt and adapt" to customs and habits in the U.S. without shedding traditions and value systems. Along that line, marketers, and those trying to tap into the Hispanic segment, cannot simply transfer directly to the U.S. Latino market the conceptualizations or marketing strategies that work with more traditional, general market consumers. Latinos are assimilating to prevalent U.S. culture, but they are not, and probably never will be, fully assimilated. Instead, theirs is a path of acculturation. It is a process of integration of native and traditional immigrant cultural values with dominant cultural ones.

The Hispanic market's current size, formation of larger households, heavy concentration in the top, youngest, trend-setting markets in the U.S., accompanied by their speedy wealth creation and high consumerism are at odds with the neglect of investment across most advertising and marketing categories. It is imperative for U.S. marketers to reanalyze and immediately adopt new strategies in the way in which they have historically allocated corporate marketing resources.

Hispanics - One Market or Más?

"Latino" or "Hispanic", as a description, refers to an origin or ethnicity, not a race. There is no one monolithic "Hispanic market." What, if anything, unifies Hispanics? For the most part, the language. Spanish stands as a symbol of difference for U.S. Hispanics; wherever they're from and regardless of their history, Spanish is a key to their individual and collective pasts.

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Language is one of the most obvious examples of this phenomenon.

Spanish is likely to remain the language of preference among U.S. Latinos. In fact, Univision is now the #5 network in the United States, behind ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox. When asked about advertising effectiveness, 38% of Hispanics surveyed found English language ads less effective than Spanish ads in terms of recall and 70% less effective than Spanish ads in terms of

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HISPANIC MARKETING: A CRITICAL MARKET SEGMENT

BRICK & MORTAR

The Hispanic market's current size, formation of larger households, heavy concentration in the top, youngest, trend-setting markets in the U.S., accompanied by their speedy wealth creation and high consumerism are at odds with the neglect of investment across most advertising and marketing categories. persuasion. Many younger and acculturated Latinos mix languages into a form of "Spanglish," in which they speak English peppered with Spanish words. But when it comes to selling, 56% of Latino adults respond best to advertising when it is presented in Spanish.

Communication Channels for U.S. Hispanics Research shows that while Hispanics consume every type of media, they do seem to have a special attraction to television and radio.

Nevertheless, the air-time used to identify a product or service at an indepth level is typically too brief and too incomplete to be effective, thus the "sale" will not be closed. However, the combination of direct mail, broadcast and print makes it possible for the Hispanic consumer to obtain additional information and "close the sale" — with each medium contributing to the total communication story.

Television • T he visual confirmations provided in television advertising are extremely important, especially so for Spanish-dominant Hispanics.

• 49% of U.S. Hispanics who watch television during prime-time hours, watch Spanish language programming.

• 4 0% of Spanish-dominant Hispanics regularly watch Englishlanguage programming.

• 3 0% of English-dominant Hispanics regularly watch Spanish programming.

Radio • Radio is a proven, effective medium in targeting Hispanics.

• T he most unique aspect of Spanish-language radio stations is the time spent listening.

• The Hispanic population often listens to the radio all day.

• T he entire family may listen to one station and tune in, on average, 26 - 30 hours per week. This ranks more than 13% above the general population.

Print • Minority newspapers are an inseparable part of the local minority community. They deliver what no mass medium can — news that is specifically geared to the needs and concerns of individual minority communities.

• Newspaper readership skews to Adult 34–54 age group with an average HHI of $40k+

general market dismiss direct marketing materials as junk mail, Latinos — particularly recent immigrants — welcome it as a means of becoming a more informed consumer.

• O verall, Hispanic households are 3.5 times more likely to respond to a direct mail solicitation than a non-Hispanic household; • 72% say they always read their mail, including direct marketing; • 60% of the direct mail sent to homes is in English; • 52% of the respondents speak only Spanish in their homes.

Translation vs. Transcreation Marketers cannot simply transfer directly to the U.S. Hispanic market the conceptualizations or marketing strategies that work with the general market. Many factors — historical, contextual, cultural, demographic, financial — place Hispanic consumers in a different category. Brand awareness and usage levels are often dramatically unlike general market patterns and different product attributes are deemed important by Hispanic consumers.

Direct translations and usage of general market strategies tend to miss the emotional and culturally relevant elements. Some results will be there, but not with the sales volume, strength and recall that a truly culturally-attuned marketing and advertising effort can attain.

Make no mistake, the integration of generations and diverse countries of origin within the U.S. Hispanic market has created a complex culture that requires experience and research to understand.

What is needed for a successful Hispanic promotional campaign is a sensitivity to what is important to Hispanics - and senior corporate executives willing to initiate a reversal of underinvestment in the Hispanic market by creating new allocation levels in their business and marketing plans for reaching Hispanic consumers. The opportunity is growing. The time is now.

Laura Sonderup is the Director of Heinrich Hispanidad, a division of Heinrich Marketing, Inc. Laura has been a featured speaker on ethnic marketing at numerous local and national conferences. She serves on the Board of Directors for LARASA and is an active member of the Denver Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, The Rocky Mountain Direct Marketing Association, Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies, National Council of La Raza and The DMA Directory Council. Laura can be reached at (303) 239-5235 or lsonderup@ heinrich.com.

Event Marketing • Events create excitement, reinforce image, and allow you to handdeliver your marketing message face-to-face with your target audience. However, many company's efforts at selling themselves to Hispanics are limited to sponsoring the occasional Cinco de Mayo celebration — these half-hearted efforts will not effectively capture the attention of Hispanic consumers.

Direct Response Marketing • T he process of acculturation influences the Hispanic consumer's perception of direct marketing. While most consumers in the

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LEADERSHIP & MANAGEMENT

Opportunity for Healthcare's service innovation.

BY RODNEY SAPPINGTON, PH.D

The small business community is at the center of the healthcare eco-system. Everyone from policy makers to local business owners agree that our healthcare service system is broke. When looking for ways to fix a broken service, the first task is to identify where service innovations are most needed and where projects can have positive financial value. In offering my readers tools for such innovation, I first wish to describe to you an area of our healthcare system in which the social impact could not be more dramatic and return on investment greater. Many clinicians and business leaders are examining the healthcare population and asking several questions. Who’s at risk for illness? How can wellness be preserved in this population? How do we prevent massive loss of life and productivity? What will be the best return for healthcare dollar?

The single most preventable cause of disease, disability, and death in the United States is tobacco use. According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention it is estimated that 443,000 people die prematurely from smoking or exposure to secondhand smoke, and another 8.6 million have a serious illness caused by smoking. If the private sector is to build new forms of health service innovation, the time to start is now. It is here that prevention and early intervention is most needed and yields the most impact on healthcare per dollars spent.

No Six Sigma or Lean programs will solve our healthcare service delivery issues at the local level. Importing large systemic solutions from other countries will centralize, but not necessarily improve American healthcare. In the words of Hippocrates "We must turn to nature itself, to the observations of the body in health and in disease to learn the truth" could be equally heard echoed in a similar truth by 18

father of modern management theory Peter F. Drucker "Innovation is the specific tool of entrepreneurs, the means by which they exploit change as an opportunity for a…different service.” When healthcare leaders apply solid business practice to widespread clinical challenges such as smoking, they improve the overall infrastructure upon which all small business relies. Combining these two principles allows clinicalbusiness innovators to hone their powers of observation (diagnosis) and implementation (treatment) as they relate to illness and wellness, and to both accelerate change and offer significant cost savings to the public and businesses alike. Thus, by identifying and addressing the most prevalent needs in healthcare we open the possibility of building a different service.

But what does this different service look like? What are its potentials for guiding us closer to the “truth” of medicine while applying investment and business innovation as “the specific tool of entrepreneurs”? With over 70% of healthcare delivered in the form of small primary care and specialty practices (the "Mom and Pop" storefront model) at the local level, I would like to ask my readers where do you see new healthcare investment and innovation coming from?

New hospital models have clearly evolved from the "not-for profit" community service centers into the "for profit" multiservice oriented provider model. While this model may support those who require hospital care, it will not produce cost savings. Most likely it will transfer revenue away from the independent practitioner with the intended consequence of limiting access to healthcare (rationing) as those practitioners are displaced (put out of business).

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OPPORTUNITY FOR HEALTHCARE'S SERVICE INNOVATION

the pediatric population. Healthcare service innovation must focus on the early detection of smoking related diseases (stroke, MI, COPD), and related cancers (lung, head and neck, pancreatic, and bladder). Our nation’s most deadly and largest preventable disease, lung cancer kills more people each year in the USA than breast, colon, prostate and ovarian cancers combined.

There is no area of the U.S. economy more positively positioned for equity investors and savvy business leaders to innovate a different service. Superior customer service and demand for such service drives and supports return on investment. We have seen novel examples in the airline business (Southwest Airlines), innovation in social media (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube), book and media sales and service (Amazon), mobile technologies and applications (iPhone, Android), online service and support (Cisco), health system (Mayo Clinic) to name a few.

To get a better picture of the clinical and economic benefits in diagnosing and treating smoking related illness, please consider these startling statistics from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention: • In 1997 – 2001 cost to the U.S. economy has been $92 billion annually in the form of lost productivity up about $10 billion from the annual mortality and morbidly related productivity losses for the years 1995-1999.

• Lost productivity adjusted to recent smoking-related healthcare costs, which was reported at $75.5 billion in 1998, now exceeds $167 billion per year in the United States.

• Productivity loss caused by smoking exceeds a staggering 3.3 million years of potential life lost for men and 2.2 million years for women. Smoking, on average, reduces adult life expectancy by approximately 14 years.

The Internet and globalized supply chains link nearly all U.S. small businesses to global markets in computer chips, raw materials, petroleum for medical devices, and pharmaceuticals. Can we afford such massive losses set against a growing chain of global competition?

An alarming portion of our talent is disappearing in the prime of their lives. Unfortunately, an unsustainable model of loss of life and productivity remains very much in place, unless of course, corrective action is taken on a new level.

A healthy life provides key opportunity for a productive life. When we come away from a scant encounter with our physician we are somehow demoralized, lessened by such care. When healthcare is poor, the core of our business culture and our moral fiber as a country is at risk. We are perpetually sick in spirit as well as body.

Over the next few years integrated care will take on new importance for business leaders and investors.

LEADERSHIP & MANAGEMENT detection of smoking related illness before it becomes late-stage and more difficult to treat, reduces hospital utilization the largest cost to healthcare, and provides a healthier and more productive workplace.

By addressing an illness in a curable stage, it is more cost-effective than a shortened lifetime of palliative treatment.

Keeping in mind Drucker’s encouragement that service innovators “exploit change as an opportunity for a different service” the private physician practice will undergo massive change over the next decade.

U.S. healthcare system will face an influx of patients in 2014, when 32 million Americans will have health insurance for the first time. Over the next few years integrated care will take on new importance for business leaders and investors. More than a clinical phrase, it will be the center of care each time you go to the doctor. With thousands of small physician practices currently operating like islands, clinical integration across facilities and specialties will be the order of the day. Coming from a background of health informatics, social science research, and leading healthcare organizations, I am witnessing the disappearance of an outmoded early-century model of care like sarsaparilla bars in pharmacies and physicians on horseback.

The phrase “socially responsible investing” sends some investors to the hills while others have an image of micro investing in agriculture in Africa and NGO development projects. I ask my readers, what could be more socially responsible than to improve care and productivity for one’s citizens?

Smoking may appear on the decrease. While the percent of the population smoking has decreased in the last 40 years from 50% to 25%, the population has more than doubled from 150,000,000 to 331,000,000 thus the absolute number of smokers is the same or greater. As a nation we are more aware of the dangers of smoking, we are more savvy to tobacco company marketing strategies and better prepared to inform a younger generation to never start in the first place. What most people may not know is that in 2010 we have inherited generations of smokers and 20% of teens currently smoke.

Surprisingly lung cancer remains the biggest contributor to cancer death for both men and women with rates of mortality for women on the rise. Next time you see bars and public places ban smoking, when you breathe smoke-free air on your next flight or find your way through an eco-friendly office space with air purifiers and recyclable materials know that we still have a way to go before we have cured ourselves of the havoc of smoking and regained lost productivity as a nation.

The time to innovate a different service is now.

By the nature of their illness, patients with complex smoking related conditions require clinically integrated service. Very simply, clinical integration means tight clinical consultation among various specialists, reduced wait times, little travel, and a reliable and accessible electronic record. Patients participate in their own diagnosis and treatment both online and offline, with follow-up care that may carry through the course of their lives with the hope of providing increased wellness as well as prompt diagnosis and treatment when necessary. Clinically, patients do not have care “delivered” to them, but rather are involved in the co-creation of their care. Employers are beginning to seek out initiatives to retrain their employees through smoking cessation programs and building relationships with clinical centers where they can refer their employees for diagnosis and treatment. Early-

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LEADERSHIP & MANAGEMENT

Managing Multigenerational Teams

BY GENEVIEVE BEATTY-TINSAY

In 2000, they began graduating from high school. By 2004, they were emerging from bachelor’s degree programs and began pouring into the workplace. By 2006, they were graduating from business schools and master’s programs, in 2007 from law schools, in 2009 from medical schools and PhD programs. Today these “kids” are launching careers as highly credentialed professionals. They are the newest generation in the workforce, estimated to number approximately 72 million (only 5 million less than the Baby Boomers). However, the economic crisis of 2008 changed the landscape of the workforce, perhaps irrevocably.

Beforehand, it was a commonplace to assume that Baby Boomers would soon begin their transition into retirement, but remain in the workforce in some capacity. The Gen X’ers were more than ready to fill the vacancies. The Gen Y’ers looked forward to the prospects of moving up in their careers, testing their skills and acquiring more. But the economy crashed and the opposite occurred. As once fat 401k’s and stock portfolios fizzled into oblivion, the boomers firmly kept their seats, everybody clung desperately to their jobs. Many Traditionalist generations moved from retirement or semi-retirement back into full time positions to compensate for their dwindling retirement accounts.

Today we’re facing a multi-generational workplace that is more diverse than ever. This age gap is only going to grow. The Boomers aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, and Generation Y is emerging into the workforce at increasing rates. As a result, effectively managing multigenerational teams in the workplace is quickly becoming a coveted skill in managers, regardless of the size of their organization.

To best examine this concept, it’s best to first address what a team is. According to The Discipline of Teams (Harvard Business Review, 1993) by John R. Katzenbach and Douglas K. Smith, teams differ from work groups in that the members share a common purpose, goals, and objectives that the team themselves helped to shape and determine and hold a major role in executing. These should be unique to the team specifically and should not be the same as the overall goals or objectives of the department or company. In effective teams, the role and insights of the leader is typically shared and interchangeable due to the varying and complimentary skill sets that exist on a well functioning team. This dynamic creates an environment of individual and mutual accountability, and commitment that is unique to teams.

In work groups, the goals and objectives in place are typically the same as the organization’s mission. They tend to work and function individually. In work groups, success and effectiveness is often measured directly by other factors such as financial statements.

Fostering and cultivating a functioning and performing team is a hefty order for any manager. Most likely multi generational teams already exist within your organization, which leads to the question, “Why even bother considering generational differences?”

Generational issues arise in teams due to an inherent difference in the cognitive schemas of the individuals. The reason that generations are divided and are considered unique and different from one another is the cultural reference points and world views that shaped the times »

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in which the generations came of age. These invisible barriers that exist between form rifts where they differ from one another on perceptions, assumptions, knowledge, values, demeanor and language. These rifts can thwart a team before they have even gotten started.

Generational dynamics are an illuminating lens with which to describe and understand the central tendencies of large demographics.

When dealing with generational issues in the workplace, many managers are tempted to ask themselves, “who should be adapting to whom?” When in reality the question should be, “what can be done to facilitate understanding and cultivate the team process?”

The new generation is quickly becoming dominant in the workforce.

In fact, research predicts that the millennials will be the majority in the workforce within the next 5-7 years. The recession has hit this generation in a unique way. The unemployment rate of Generation Y is estimated to be around 43%, they are the most highly educated and indebted generation thus far. Many of them are currently living at home with their parents, unemployed or underemployed and waiting for their chance. There is also a global shift in power that is affecting the mindset of the new generation of workers. The future of the United States as the global superpower it once was is now uncertain. The new generations in the workplace today (both X and Y) are keenly aware of the uncertainty of their future, and they carry a different outlook and perspective to work with them.

The new generation’s growing numbers, the changing global economy and the rise of technology are creating a workplace that is more dynamic and multi generational than ever before. However, the paths the various generations took to get to where we are today differs drastically. Differences in learning and working preferences attest to their differences. The more individual-based education of the Traditionalist and Baby Boomers is a result of the US education system and teaching methods that were predominant during their formative years. This mindset cultivated workplace values such as: “Just keep your head down and work hard and you’ll be rewarded when you’re due.”

“My career is my livelihood and everything else has to come next.”

“Loyalty may not mean what it used to, but it’s got to mean something.”

Many from this generation believe that loyalty and work ethic is the common denominator of success. They were taught to trust the institutions and processes which they believed had their interests at heart.

The new generation’s values and approaches are also reflective of the teaching styles of their time. Millennials are a generation educated during the advent of standardized testing, no child left behind, and grade inflation. Sometimes referred to as the “trophy children” (their boomer parents referred to as “helicopter parents”), they were raised to believe in their individual worth; that they are unique and special just the way they are, that they tip the bell curve with their unique intelligence, and that they would go far in life and accomplish all their dreams because they deserve it. At the same time, they were held to higher academic and extracurricular standards by well meaning parents and teachers whom wanted to provide them with all the opportunities they never had. As they reach working age, they are being characterized as optimistic often despite adversity, technologically savvy and adept multi-taskers. They often view work as an opportunity to collaborate in a team environment and share tasks. The new generation does not share the value of “work comes first, everything else comes second.”

Surveys have shown they are the first generation to indicate that family and marriage are more important than career and financial success.

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LEADERSHIP & MANAGEMENT How can managers create highly functional teams that operate on the principles of mutual accountability and high performance? Step back and allow the team process to happen. Once you have assembled the team based on the important logistical factors such as availability, hard and soft skills, expertise and time, allow the process to take place. Many are familiar with the team processes of forming, storming, norming, and performing. It’s tempting for managers to over-facilitate the norming process and unnecessarily intervene in the storming process. However this can slow or disrupt the culture and environment of trust and accountability that drives successful teams. The team leader will help guide the efforts of the team based on the expectations underscored by the company culture, but it’s not uncommon to see the leadership torch unceremoniously passed amongst the team members as they put their trust in one another’s skills and expertise.

At Otak, an architecture, engineering, planning and design firm based in Portland, Oregon and Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia this process is constantly flowing and never precise or orderly. Otak’s culture of mutual accountability and high performance endures because the company leadership allows the inherent tension that exists between total bureaucracy and over-management and anarchy. This tension is the sweet spot that allows Otak to produce high quality creative work, a standard is held in place by the employees of the company.

Personalities flex with and against one another, disagreements are encouraged, and shift and change is welcomed, as long as it’s highlighted by a clear attitude.

Otak’s President and CEO Nawzad Othman is adamant about not allowing bad performance to manifest, otherwise the carefully crafted culture of mutual accountability goes out the window. Nawzad believes, “When you don’t deal with bad performers, you are insulting the good performers.”

This type of playing field is the type of environment where effective multi generational teams thrive. The generations are able to flex and work amongst one another, which will create tensions, miscommunication and frustration, but when governed by a clear attitude and a defined culture these differences will become dynamic and push these teams to a high level of performance. This type of dynamic allows the various generations on the team to fulfill their unique motivations and satisfactions that are often unique to the generations.

The workforce generations also differ in their motivations, and these differing motivations can have a drastic effect on the dynamics of the team. The Traditionalist generation is motivated by stability and security. More apt to sacrifice personal needs or desires for the greater good of the team or project, they are a generation that enjoys recognition and rewards that acknowledge their loyalty, their hard work and a job well done.

Baby Boomers on the other hand want more public praise and more tangible rewards. They respond to tangible and monetary goals and can be motivated with the prospect of stepping up the next rung on the ladder (promotion, raise, new title, bigger office, etc).

Generation X is more apt to be motivated by and respond to a work/ life balance incentive. Like the Boomers, they are foremost motivated by raises or bonuses, but their work/life balance and desire for harmony among the separate components of their life is a very close second. Environments and rewards that incentivize and cultivate this ideal and provide the opportunity to leverage this desired balance are great for gen X’ers. »

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LEADERSHIP & MANAGEMENT

Generation Y doesn’t view work and life as separately as the other generations do; and they are interested in rewards or environments that allow them to thrive in their work/life mix. Still yet to step up to leadership positions, but itching to try out their skills, Generation Y is motivated by the opportunity to learn and build their skill repertoires.

They are interested in projects and companies that interconnect with the community or causes they believe in, and thrive in an environment driven by contribution and collaboration.

Start cultivating multigenerational teams today: Assess what you’re working with. Are you dealing with working groups or teams? Keep in mind working groups are often labeled as teams and vice versa. If their goals and objectives are not well-defined and are not unique to the team, step back to basics and define them.

If the team is not responsible or instrumental in the execution and implementation of the goal, the role of the team should be reassessed.

Step back and consider the process. Is the team forming, storming, norming or performing? How might you be able to assist or provide support? Most importantly, where might unnecessary intervention and involvement be pared down?

Consider the personal motivations of each individual on the team, taking into consideration the generational characteristics. If the environment or incentives in place for the team speak largely to one demographic, assess how this might be adjusted to appeal to a multi generational team.

Allow the team to form and develop (it takes some time) a sense of mutual accountability within your company’s culture. Resist the urge to step in unless you are explicitly needed or asked, give them the autonomy to hold one another accountable.

Nawzad Othman advises, “Be patient, it won’t happen overnight.

Once you think you’re there, you’re not there. You’re never there.

Developing a culture on teams and in companies requires constant vigilance.”

For more information on the multi generational workplace, contact Genevieve BeattyTinsay at Gen Cubed, genevieve@gencubed.com. Gen Cubed is a management consulting firm specializing in innovative, forward-thinking, next generation management practices.

Gen Cubed helps companies improve their bottom line through a range of unique services including recruiting and hiring, training and onboarding, and engagement and retention.

Gen Cubed is also the presenter of the Oregon Next Generation Companies Awards and the Advanced Bizology Conference. For more information please visit www.gencubed.com or follow on Twitter @gencubed.

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PHILANTHROPY

Plan. Listen. Engage.

Social Media For Philanthropies.

BY SARAH EVANS

Online Donor Statistics In terms of online donors (Blackbaud white paper), more online donors come from households including two or more adults. The online donor percentage of households with two adults is 41 percent versus 47 percent for the national level.

Create a plan.

Many new comers often times try to dive head first into social media, haphazardly throwing together a Facebook page and a Twitter account while spewing out messages left and right – “Volunteer to be on XYZ Board,” “Donate $5 to cure homelessness” or “Attend our fundraiser gala.” FAIL. While their hearts might be in the right place, this type of planning (or lack there of) only makes matters worse. Instead of formulating a plan and looking to engage potential donors, volunteers or generate buzz, many in the social media realm view these messages as noise, clutter and even worse -- spam.

Social media is a tool, not an objective.

Before opening a social media account, formulate goals of what you’d like to accomplish. Stronger campaigns incorporate goals of building meaningful relationships with the people you’re trying to reach, whether this is potential donors and volunteers, the media or the general public.

When developing a social media plan, stay on track. All tactics should support overall objectives and serve as connections to the audiences that you’re trying to reach.

Know your Audience.

The average age of a social network user is 37 years old. To really know your online community and focus your efforts, research the people using the social media channels that you’ve labeled as viable tactics.

Facebook Statistics There were more Facebook users from ages 26 to 44 than 18 to 25. And in a separate report, they also noted that Facebook is seeing massive increases in adoption among users aging 35 to 65. However, the fastest growing demographic on Facebook is still women over 55. (Inside Facebook report in March 2009) Based on these statistics, decide whether or not Facebook is the best place to allot your resources.

Twitter Statistics The media age of a Twitter user is 31. More than three times as many twitter users live in urban areas, the majority of which use Internet wirelessly (Social Media Today). 17 percent of Internet users in households earning less than $30,000 tweet, and 10 percent of Internet users in households earning more than $75,000 tweet.

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Online donors tend to be more affluent. Starting at the level of $50,000 or more, online donors’ estimated income percentages at every bracket are consistently higher.

Fifty-three percent of online donors are male, versus 49 percent female.

A few (free) tools to help you start searching for your target donor audience include SocialMention, Topsy, Technorati, Twellowhood and Facebook search.

Exit Strategy, Brand Ambassadors Your plan should also designate brand ambassadors and an exit strategy. This includes thinking about who controls the social media accounts (and what happens if they leave the organization), workflow (i.e. social media isn’t one more “thing”) and an exit strategy to name a few. When appointing brand ambassadors, most likely you won’t want everyone in the company using social media, as messages get muddled, confusion occurs along with the untimely release of information.

It’s also important to have a policy on how to respond to negative comments.

Managing Time Social media is time consuming, and it’s important to determine beforehand how much time you’re willing to devote on a daily basis to reading messages and posts and responding. When someone posts on Facebook or sends a Twitter message, a timely response is necessary to increase engagement and build relationships. By responding in online platforms, you model a behavior that rewards communication -- be prepared for more to come your way. Failing to respond due to lack of time could hurt your brand instead of helping it. The worst thing is to make a promise to your followers and not keep it. »

By responding in online platforms, you model a behavior that rewards communication — be prepared for more to come your way.

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PLAN. LISTEN. ENGAGE.

PHILANTHROPY NOT about money, but to find out about the people you’re trying to reach. The “ask” should be specific, understandable, digestible AND genuine. Try not to overwhelm; you’re not trying to save the world, your organization is looking to meet a real need.

Listen to Key Players.

After crafting a plan, develop a list of people that might be influencers of your primary and secondary audiences online to listen to and formulate ways to insert yourself into these conversations. Go to each influencer’s blog, Twitter and Facebook accounts and read through the archives. Take notes on topics that each influencer champions, the quirks that make them different from other bloggers and the types of communities who frequent their blogs. This not only helps to familiarize each blogger, but this information comes in handy later on when engaging.

In addition to listening to key influencers, listen to the conversations about your brand, the causes that your organization supports and keep a pulse on the reception received. Monitoring your brand keeps you in the know, helps to gage sentiment among target audiences and gives a leg up on preparing/responding to online crisis before it blows up.

Through listening, identify brand ambassadors and brand champions – those who already discuss your organization online or the causes associated with it, as these can be a great addition to your volunteer crew.

Social media is a two-way conversation – not just a charity spewing messages about their brand, as mentioned earlier. Ask followers questions, offer incentives and look for ways to make the campaign mutually beneficial to donors or to those helping to spread the word.

For example, if a blogger posts or tweets that they’re looking for more information or a information resource on a topic involving your organization, offer to help. Recognize donors and other contributors on Twitter, Facebook or in your blog to create mutually beneficial relationships. Allow donors to share their stories, and look for ways to make any contribution a meaningful experience.

Give people information the way the want it online.

Recent reports show that the majority of online networkers consume news. Think about planning to share and engage with this knowledge in mind.

Quality content is key to creating credibility and loyalty among your followers. Those who produce quality content are more influential and are able to create change. Those who don’t are usually called out by their peers or ignored all together.

If soliciting donations, make donating easy. Think text donations, mobile, web, etc. However, look beyond solicitation for donations.

Instead, generate buzz about your cause and create brand champions instead of donors who might fall into the abyss shortly after. According to George Rubanenko from the Blackbaud study, “After six solicitations a year, the likelihood for long-term loyalty diminishes significantly.”

Engaging.

While the listening phase should truly never stop, after learning the ins and outs of the influencers and online audiences, you’re ready to engage.

Identify and join communities with your target audience BEFORE making an ask.

Start by building relationships with each of the targeted bloggers, influencers and communities. This might mean commenting on blog posts, responding to tweets or replaying to posts on Facebook.

Keep in mind that although your overall goal might involve promoting your nonprofit or charity, this does not mean blatantly posting about your nonprofit any chance you can get (for example – “Hi Chris, great blog post. Support our cause at XYZ!”). You’re not an advertiser, you’re a human being, as is the blogger. Instead, if there’s a particularly relevant post that might benefit readers, retweet the blogger and give him credit. If the blogger posts about a cause that’s of interest to your organization, identify yourself as being affiliated with your organization and share your organization’s point of view on the matter. Strategically build mutually-beneficial relationships to help prepare for outreach.

Assessing Success.

Lastly, monitor success in terms of how close you came to reaching the overall goal. Instead of measuring the number of impressions gathered in media hits or the dollars raised, think about overall impact. Measure success using examples and anecdotes instead of actual numbers.

For example, if an influencer helped further the organization’s cause, look at that person’s Facebook, Twitter, blog and the engagement level (people commenting, etc.), and write a few sentences about how these numbers, comments, views, etc. actually impacted the organization and how the team leveraged this. Impressions and dollars are good, but in terms of social media, examples of engagement are key.

Sevans Strategy offers a comprehensive complement of public relations and new media services to meet the unique needs of our clients. From traditional media and new media influencer outreach to comprehensive bootcamp trainings to online content creation, we identify the appropriate tactics to reach your audience.

Start or enhance a movement.

Once the established relationships are in place, look for participatory ways to help followers rally around the cause. Make your first ask

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DESIGN

The

DESIGN CONSTITUTION

BY CHUCK GREEN

What is your understanding of the dynamics of the Client/Creative relationship? I've heard lots of opinions and countless complaints, but in all my wanderings, I have yet to find a good, non-legalese consensus of what we should expect of each other. A proposition that lays out the “spirit” of our relationship.

Why concern yourself with it? Because, if you're human (like me), you sometimes repeat the same mistakes. You assume that your counterparts understand what you understand until the inevitable problems arise and you kick yourself. You think about how much easier it would have been had we simply agreed to some ground rules to begin with.

You are invited to join me in drafting “The Design Constitution”, a document that lays out the basics of interaction between Creative (designer, copywriter, photographer, illustrator, and so on) and Client. Sound easy? Not for me—just getting the first fourteen articles in writing has been cause for lots of thought and more than a little soul-searching.

Article 1

A rticle 3

Let’s acknowledge, up front, that the Client is the boss. Though we hope most aspects of our relationship will not require “boss-like” authority, once issues about our work are raised and aired, and we are still without consensus, we both acknowledge the people funding the work have the final say.

If there is more than one person representing the Client, let’s agree to determine from the outset, which member of the Client’s team has final decision-making authority. Particularly in the areas of style and tone, giving more than one person veto power often takes the edge off great work.

Article 2

Article 4

The Designer is not a decorator—they are as skilled at marketing as they are about look and feel. Let's agree to build our relationship on collaboration, not dictation. The Client best understands the underlying concepts, products, and services associated with their organization— the Designer has a unique, untainted perspective worth sharing.

Let’s get to know our customers and prospects like we never have before: the problems they need solved and the benefits that will improve their lives. Let's take advantage of the fact that the Designer, who is often uneducated about the subject matter, can offer a valuable unfettered perspective of the situation.

Leadership

Collaboration

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Authority

Knowledge

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DESIGN

THE DESIGN CONSTITUTION

Article 5

Article 8

Let’s focus on goals, execution, and results. Form without function is not design—the Client hires the Designer to make something happen.

Let’s make that something specific. Let’s begin our work together by determining what the Client expects to happen. Before the first word is written or the first layout is sketched out, let’s outline those goals, in as much detail as possible and in a way that allows us to gauge when we are successful.

Let’s focus on “it” not “I” and agree that pleasing ourselves is not our primary job. We certainly will strive to please each other when we can, but only if the work that results is attuned to our goals. Will the work stand the scrutiny of a different client and a different designer? That is the true test.

Goals

Article 6

Focus Let’s embrace the fact that one size does not fit all. Some of us buy the car because of its style and allure, some focus on its technical excellence and power, others center on reliability and cost. Let’s agree to produce materials that appeal to the sensibilities of the audience and remain open to the possibility that the solution that has the potential to get the best results may not appeal to us personally.

Article 7

Aesthetics It is the Client’s responsibility to establish goals, to provide information, and to review and approve or reject concepts and finished work. It is the Designer's job to translate the client's story and goals into compelling words and images.

Great work results from a near obsession with detail and nuance.

Done right, a brochure, a Web site, a catalog, and so on, is so carefully structured, changing a single significant element can drastically impact the whole.

Rather than dictate specific changes to a design—“move this here” or “change the color to,”—let’s agree the Client will request a new design or a variation of the original that addresses specific problems.

Though it is helpful for the Client to point out areas of the design that they believe are inconsistent with the sensibilities of their audience, let’s agree not to do each other’s jobs.

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Selflessness

Article 9

Confidentiality It is sometimes difficult to gauge whether and which items of information are sensitive. For that reason, let’s agree that all of the information we share and the content of our communications remain confidential. If either party wishes to share information with a third party, they will discuss the matter with their counterpart before doing so.

Article 10

Patience Let’s not change for change’s sake. We will be immersed in our work and will review it over and over again. Let’s keep in mind that, in many cases, our audience will only see what we do occasionally. Our desire for change may appear long before our audience’s. Let’s agree not to change until we have identified a significant reason to change and have done everything we can to ensure the change will be an improvement.

Article 11

Ethics Real rewards are the result of ideas, products, and services that make the world a better place. Let’s agree to maintain the highest standard » of ethics by dedicating ourselves to honesty, clarity, and style.

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DESIGN

THE DESIGN CONSTITUTION

Article 12

Trust Let’s trust each other. We team up because there are some things the Client knows more about than the Designer and vice-versa. When there is no compelling reason to take a particular fork in the road, let’s concede the decision to the person with the most experience.

Article 13

Reconciliation Let’s agree how we will mediate disputes. Every relationship, especially one that entails so much communication and so many details, will inevitably suffer problems. Let’s agree to address issues freely and to allow space for each other to correct mistakes. If an impasse arises, let’s agree to share it with each other first, and if necessary, to choose a mutually acceptable mediator.

Article 14

Liability Because the Client has final decision-making power, let’s agree that the Client accepts ultimate responsibility for the correctness of content. It is the job of the Designer, Writer, and Proofreader to produce materials that are as accurate as possible; however, it is the sole responsibility of the Client to approve all aspects of the final work before it is published.

Article 15

Loyalty A Client who invests resources, time, and money in educating the Designer about their industry, audience, and organization deserves loyalty. A Designer who invests the same resources, time, and money in learning deserves the same loyalty. Unless otherwise agreed to, let’s define loyalty as being honest and sincere with one’s partner, not speaking poorly of them to others, and not working with direct competitors.

When changes in the relationship are unavoidable, let’s agree to share the reasons for the change and to give each other as much notice as possible before the change is made.

Thanks to my colleague Daniel Will-Harris who offered some excellent insights as I put my thoughts in writing. You can read a related article he wrote titled How to (and not to) work with a designer.

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EXPERTISE + INTEGRITY + LEGACY The Viral VIP for Viral PR: Viral VIP Directory If you are an expert in a specialized field of business, consider becoming an asset to the Viral VIP Directory. The only way to become a VIP is to inquire and submit a high-need and relevant industry article proposal for review. All contributing authors that will be published online at ViralVenturesMag. com and could be featured in our next publication. VIPs are automatically added to the Viral VIP Directory and enjoy the many profit-building and promotional benefits of viral syndication from our campaigns. These VIPs consist of veteran Entrepreneurs, Bankers, Attorneys, C-suite Executives, Investors, Creative Directors, Senior Designers, Non-Profit Executive Directors, and other experienced professionals with exemplary skill sets that add value to our readership.

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The Viral VIP are experienced business advisors and experts who have great influence on others because of their effectiveness and infectious enthusiasm for what they do. These people see great value in collaborating with others and also helping people grow. Their large following on and offline is an indicator that their great ideas are worth spreading.

Lastly, they are the epitome of the Viral Ventures Magazine values: Expertise + Integrity + Legacy.

Genevieve Beatty-Tinsay

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www.gencubed.com genevieve@gencubed.com

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