Simon Sinek spoke at the TED Conference about the “Why” in What and How we do. If you’re interested in Word of Mouth Marketing & PR, you have probably thought many times about how ideas stick and turn a “target audience” fervent and loyal fans. He has a compelling suggestion - START with WHY. I’ve included the video above which I highly recommend viewing, but here’s a quick rundown of the main points:

• Most entrepreneurs start with WHAT they are offering and then state HOW they will perform it differently from their competition, and rarely even speak about WHY in their marketing or messaging. Instead do what Apple did successfully: START with WHY – or in other words – WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE IN? Apple sells a belief system of challenging the status quo, they “Think Different” and so their products are aesthetically appealing and extremely user-friendly. They just happen to make computers & consumer electronics.
• People Don’t Buy WHAT You Do, But WHY You Do It (I know it’s the title of this post, but he says it hypnotically throughout so I thought it apt to repeat) People don’t buy your products because they believe in YOU, but rather because they believe in what you BELIEVE. Their buying your product is PROOF of what they believe.
• There is a difference between a “Leader” and “Those Who Lead”. People follow Those Who Lead because they WANT to, not because they HAVE to. He gives the example of MLK, Jr. who delivered I HAVE a DREAM speech, and NOT an I HAVE a PLAN speech.

Although I love this lecture, I do think the “Start with WHY” part is something I’ve heard it before, in just different forms. Starting with the WHY is essentially about starting with VALUE. Potential clients do not want to know the technicalities (the HOW), at least not in-depth. They also don’t usually have to be reminded WHAT you do (and I use reminded because if they’re talking with you about what you offer, be it services or a product, chances are they know more or less what you are selling).  However, to close the deal, you must CONVINCE that your WHY is their WHY.

Another reason why you put Inspiration behind that Hustle.

With that said, however, what I find unique about this talk is his point about why people Buy products and why they’ve become loyal to particular Brands. According to Simon, the act of Purchasing a product is a form of PROOF — a type of subscription very visible to the society of the consumer. This is why there are “Blackberry” folk and “iPhone” folk, with both sides usually claiming they just “can’t get” the other, when honestly they are both smartphones. However, the point is the purchase of a brand is a vote, it is a quick personal statement, an identity.

As marketers and social media enthusiasts, we have to think even more persistently of not what our “buyers” are voting on, what will inspire them, how they form their identity from external ques. Instead, we have to start with what genuinely inspires us, what we do, what we love and supposedly, according to Sinek, if you build it, they will come. Through your Inspired Hustle, you will ATTRACT (not Spam, not Direct Mail, not Stalk) those whom you Inspire and may just return the favor and Inspire you.

Lifestyle Design Guru – Tim Ferriss – tweeted this today. So coincidental since I just watched an amazing Science Channel episode last night on Superhumans, which featured modern thinker – Ray Kurzweil – who was attempting to reverse his aging process and was so far succeeding with the help of 8 cups of Green Tea and several supplements and hours of exercise a day. However, I prefer Dan Buettner’s lecture below which takes us to Okinawa, Sardinia and even California for secrets in physical longevity and spiritual happiness. Watch. Enjoy. Adopt.

I'm a bit ritualistic with New Years. I tend to crave for a new calendar or journal every start of the year to plan plan plan. I am like the Monica Geller of planning – which can be a good or bad thing. Good because I tend to never procrastinate. Bad, because I sometimes spend so much time planning, and less time actually executing. That 80/20 Pareto's law really does hold true in this case.

This is a great time to assess what worked this past year, what didn't and how to redirect your energies. What is that 20% of your work that produces 80% of the results in your life or business?

Here's a radical approach to planning that I want to share as you evaluate:

I recently ran across an old post from lifehacker that talked about Jerry Seinfeld's method for using his calendar to keep him faithful to his writing regimen. His method?:

He told me to get a big wall calendar that has a whole year on one page and hang it on a prominent wall. The next step was to get a big red magic marker.

He said for each day that I do my task of writing, I get to put a big red X over that day. "After a few days you'll have a chain. Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. You'll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job next is to not break the chain."

"Don't break the chain," he said again for emphasis.

For plan-o-holics like me, failure is painful and constant. Painful because we plan too many steps or projects, and constant becuase…well..we plan too many steps or projects. Is planning just a form of procrastination? Rooted in the fear of failure or imperfection? If planners are so afraid of failure, maybe the "Don't break the chain," method is just what we need, or revise that…all that we need. If I see a red chain in my living room that's threatened to break because of my inconsistency – I would DO something.

What is it about your year you don't want to break? What's a practice, or skill' or material you don't want to lose? What habit do you want to form?

Much of PR is skills oriented – not much need for technical know how really – it's a people business. You are what you produce, network, and finesse. Here are some PR related habits I myself would like to cultivate, but I think the key is simplicity so I will probably start with just one of these, but feel free to hi jack any of these for your own practice.

– Read and comment on a blog related to PR Social Media everyday
- Touch one different person a day in my social and professional network
- Blog or Status Update at least once a day
- Read trade news in a new target industry

With that, do what Seinfeld says – Don't double dip, and don't break the chain. 
Photo Source

Posted via email from tallulah’s posterous

So a few of my friends got Guitars for Christmas and I’ve been asked what’s a great first lesson? What song should I learn? What chords do I try first?

Four numbers: 1 5 6 4 or I V vi IV

These numbers represent the most common pop chord progression. Knowing how to play it will unlock hundreds of songs. Well maybe about forty, according to this great YouTube clip: Axis of Awesome 4 Chords.

If you want to learn this chord progression quickly without knowing any theory, learn this:

Play that progression along with the video above and you’ll be your own Karaoke machine in no time.

Now for the Theory:

A Chord Progression is just a fancy way of saying a sequence of chords. The numbers or roman numerals mentioned above represent the root note of a chord in a specific key. Below you will find the Diatonic Scale, most easily recognizable and understandable by looking at the Piano Keys:

Major Chords = Root + Major 3rd(3 half steps) + Minor 3rd(2 half steps)

C Chord = C E G — Note: There’s 3 half steps between C & E; there’s ONLY 2 half steps between E & G

Minor Chords = Root + Minor 3rd + Major 3rd (It’s reversed. Essentially, only difference is the middle note: Flatten the E in C E G so that it becomes C Eb G)

If you played all the chords in the key of C without the use of the black notes, you get the Diatonic Scale:

I = C Maj = C E G

ii = D min = D F A

iii = E min = E G B

IV = F Maj = F A C

V = G Maj = G B D

vi = A min = A C E

Upper Case Roman numerals = Major Chords; Lower Case numerals = Minor Chords

I   ii   iii   IV   V   vi   vii(dim) VIII (or I)

C Dm Em  F  G   Am  Bdim    C

So…

I     V      vi      IV

C    G      Am   F

———–

Why this Chord Progression?

You gotta wonder why this particular progression is just so popular in Western Music – there’s something sticky about the swell and fall of the chords, how the STORY of the chord progresses. I heard once that many comedians were musically inclined, and since comedy is much about timing, I would like to think that a lot of marketing, PR, and writing for mass media could benefit from studying music, specifically Pop Music. Messages that spread and stick well contain a certain musicality. Think of jingles, think of  slogans, or even titles: “Twitter” and “Tweet” caught on quickly, “YouTube” rhymes. “Google” sounds like a vocal exercise.

What are the Four Chords to a Viral Campaign? Viral Video launch, Micro/Macro Blogging , and User Generated content (video or comment), Social Bookmarking? In what sequence? What tone? I think that secrets behind sticky and spreadable messages can be found in modern pop music and pop icons. How to translate those techniques are key. Find that you will have found gold. For now, you have a key chord progression that unlocks dozens of songs. So, start singing your heart out.

T

After writing my quick post on Google’s announcement regarding their realtime search to include Facebook fan page updates, it made me reminisce on the never ending saga of PR vs. Journalists. Ironically, PR folks lose in their own PR battle when it comes to their relationship with the media.

I often wonder whether social media can become the one mechanism that could help bridge PR folks and Journalists together. A chasm exists between the two due to the nature of the media world. I wonder if PR professionals who participate in social media tools (blogging, vlogging, podcasting, etc.) could somehow find a way to break that barrier.

I’ve been in many a debate regarding this issue, once challenging an entire panel of journalists and PR folks in San Francisco during a 1 hour talk entitled something like “Can We All Get Along?” I had high hopes. I thought, “Finally! We are going to get to the bottom of all this nonsense and find out why there’s such a stigma about being in PR sometimes, and why journalists, generally, are pestered by our existence.

Unfortunately, after about 30 minutes of talk from the panel, it became like any other “Journalist/PR workshop” or a “How to pitch a journalist” panel. Every recommendation on “how to get along” apparently was give to the PR folks. We were the only ones committing crimes against the relationship. Though I agree we can be pestering, I didn’t buy it.

I then asked the question no one wanted to: Why do we have to do all the work to mend the relationship? Don’t you need us too?

The panel and crowd perked up. The reaction was amazing. I think I even heard a few chuckles around the crowd. The panel one by one began responding to me, but the basic sentiment was this:

“That’s honestly how it’s gonna be. You work for clients who pay you to chase us and hound us. You have to be the ones to mend your ways and the bridges you burn or half-burn with the media.”

It may not have been the answer I wanted, but it sure made me happy to hear it, as what was very interesting to see was that PR folks on the same panel accepted this set up as a given. I think that this low morale is a big cause for high turn overs in the PR world. At the end of the day, you don’t want to be called a glorified telemarketer and spammer. No fun. PR pros do so much more than just pitch, and yet bad pitches are  sometimes all they are remembered for. Again, shooting the messenger is easiest.

Since that workshop I always wondered if PR folks’ embrace of social media could help dispel some of these misconceptions or at least make the conversation more open. It may also help us not have to make bad pitches.

Imagine, a PR pro so known in the world of journalism (or at least their specific client’s beat, say Hi-Tech reporters) that these reporters check out the PR pro’s blog just to see if there’s something interesting they could write on. No need to ever do the cold pitch to the journalist. Maybe all they need to do is subscribe to an RSS. If they see something interesting, they can ping the PR blogger. Set up the interview. And everyone’s happy.

That’s my pipe dream. I hope my blog can help facilitate that somehow, or find a way where social media can benefit the PR industry itself, rather than just PR clients’ industries.

Can we make it happen? Help me experiment. Start a blog and see : ) then tell me about it. Better give me credit for the idea though. Or I’ll hunt you down. haha. I DO know karate…but more on that in another post.