Talk about uniqueness, only Michael Jackson could pull this off! This got me thinking…

If you took any artist (pick any artist that tries to imitate MJ) and replaced him with MJ in his performances, would it be the same? Of course not. Now think about it this way, if you swapped employees with one of your competitors would your business change?

If your answer is yes then you’re on a good path because that means that your culture is unique.

if your answer is no then you’re a ‘me too’ because your people are a commodity (they can easily be replaced) and therefore your product and service also is.

What if you could change this? Start by having a point of view of how you think your product or service could be different and what the benefit to your customers would be. In short think about what makes you irreplaceable? Is it your customer service, how you deliver, how you create?

Takeaway: Inject what’s unique about the way you think into what you sell to make it something no one else can offer.

Where’s YOU in your product or service is a post from: Blu Maya Digital Marketing Agency

I’ve always been impressed by the Jordan Brand and how it puts excellence into everything it does and releases. It’s to be expected as that’s what it’s legendary namesake stood for excellence on the basketball court.

Michael Jordan was known as a nightmare opponent, and this characteristic is reflected in it’s ‘Nightmares never sleep’ program for the release of the Air Jordan 2010. The captivating commercial features the Miami Heat’s Dwyane Wade unleashing his inner monster and terrorizing the court on his way to a dunk.

The shoes are top notch as expected and even the YouTube Channel page has a pleasant introduction that you’ll remember. And for those who just like MJ like to be challenged, there’s the interactive website which features 4 different games that will certainly test your hand eye coordination skills. My test results are below:

The results are also posted to your Facebook news feed if you want to tell your friends what you’re up or just outright challenge them!

The point: The Jordan Brand understands what it takes to stay relevant, it never sleeps.

Groundbreaking commercials, innovative sneakers that combine style and performance, people with respect, quality presentation and rabid fans make the Jordan Brand a powerhouse!

Jordan: a brand that never sleeps is a post from: Blu Maya Digital Marketing Agency

Here are a couple of kids across the border in Tijuana that earn their money by entertaining rather than blowing fire from their mouths or just outright asking for it. If you didn’t already know, wrestling is BIG in Mexico and what you see here is very very good wrestling entertainment from a couple of 12 year old kids who after school go to an intersection near their home and put on a show.

They’re making around $30 – 40/day (dlls not mexican pesos) while only doing this for a couple of hours. Compare that to others who might not even make it to $10 in a week cleaning cars!

A few months back we saw these kids in person and were captivated and inspired by their creativity that to honor them we created the illustration below which is now our main character, he’s the differentiation superhero.

The principle of ‘being different’ is very simple: Think and act like a kid and don’t be afraid to be wrong.

So if you want to partner with us in the future, now you know where we’re coming from. How are you being different?

Are you really different? is a post from: Blu Maya Digital Marketing Agency

There’s some network research from MIT that trumps the notion of the influencer: the most influential spreaders in a social network do not correspond to the best connected people or to the most central people.

The truth is we don’t really know specifically from where an idea/trend will spread from, we only know that the weakest links (the people we never think of) have higher spreading power than the strongest links and these people are found at the edges of a network.

So what’s a marketer/innovator to do?

Influencers don’t care about you

There are some theories but the one most everyone focuses on is reaching the influencers made popular by Malcolm Gladwell in his book the Tipping Point. Well good luck with that because most everyone including your competitors is doing the same thing, the race is on to reach the so called influencers and they can barely keep up with all the ideas they’re being asked to spread.

Imagine being the care taker for the President of the United States and you get all sorts of letters from people who want to say something to the President and your job is to filter out the one’s that are most relevant for him to read and take action on. Well that’s exactly the battle you have to fight when targeting the influencers, everybody knows them so why would your idea come first?

People will ONLY ‘spread an idea’ if they think it’s worth remarking about, not because you paid them for their attention.

The fringe is much more friendly

New ideas and trends come from the fringe, from the edge and not from the mainstream, and spread from the edge to the center and then the process repeats itself. You stand a better chance of catching that ‘fire starter idea’ by going out to the fringe (where nothing is settled) instead of looking for ideas where everyone is looking (the mainstream) and then focus on making your idea take form with people at the edge.

In conclusion here are a few things to remember to help your ideas spread:

1. Go outside the mainstream where things are changing and look for ideas there.
2. Do algorithmic innovation: generate a lot of ideas, figure out ways to try them out cheaply and quickly, and then scale-up the ones that seem most promising.
3. Your idea needs to be buzzworthy. Ask yourself: Would anyone tell a friend about this?
4. Feed it to the fringe.
5. Make the influencers come to you.

What do you think, what’s your experience with making ideas spread?

Collapse theory graphic by BlackCoffee

To make an idea spread start at the edge is a post from: Blu Maya Digital Marketing Agency

Trends. Yes they’re always here and new one’s pop up it seems everyday to influence our culture and your brand. Knowing how to use them to your advantage is key, done well it’s like riding the perfect wave and letting others behind. Here’s a little exercise for you to ring in the new year with a blast, take any of the 20 trends expressed in the above video and think about how they influence your product and service, then think about how you can use them in combination to improve or differentiate yourself.

Happy trend hunting!

VIDEO: 20 Trends to watch and to use in 2010 is a post from: Blu Maya Digital Marketing Agency

Mike Michalowicz has written a great piece on how you are your brand and it’s worth a read. While his post touches on how you dress to represent your brand, he does touch on an important factor in branding.

Your brand experience doesn’t start with your product, it starts with you.

Your behavior determines your brand experience and everywhere you go you’re representing your brand, how you act is the perception you’ll create about your company.

Key Takeaway: Determine what expectations you want to set and act on them consistently because your brands starts with you.

You are your brand is a post from: Blu Maya Digital Marketing Agency

A week ago I mentioned how when times change you also need to change how you do business. Well the New Jersey Nets of the NBA have taken one step in changing their brand experience to fit the times.

In a bid to sell more courtside seats, for $25,000, the Nets are offering four courtside tickets for 10 games, parking, access to a private lounge at the Izod Center with free food and beverages and something more — a one-hour appearance by a Nets player of your choice at your home, office, school or party.

Fans want to interact with players outside the court on their own time. This is not new!

This is interesting because the idea originated from a need:

Yormark said the idea for the courtside plan developed because he had an inventory of courtside seats that he wanted to sell and he frequently gets calls from season-ticket holders and fans about having a player attend an event.

As teams are pushed to try new things, listening to their customers needs becomes even more important. Your customers provide you with the most potent source of innovation, look for unmet needs and find ways to fulfill them.

Brand experiences change too, what are you doing about it?

"I tell people if you are doing business the same way you did a year ago, you have to stop it because that’s not the world we live in today," Yormark said. "A lot of people say it, but it’s really true in the world we live in today. You have to do things differently. Things have to be more special and different than before and that’s our goal."

Now’s a good time to start obsessing about your customers because your ability to deliver a better brand experience depends on how you solve your customers needs.

Deliver a better brand experience by solving your customers needs is a post from: Blu Maya Digital Marketing Agency

There is a universal assumption on the internet that if you create compelling content you get all the good stuff every business wants. You get the traffic from organic SEO, the awareness, the branding, the word of mouth, the community.

Really? Is it that easy?

I don’t think so!

Don’t get me wrong producing compelling content so people come read, see, hear and spend time on your site is a good engagement strategy but the problem is when it’s treated as a tactic. Tactics dominate our thinking and applying the same tactics that worked for others is not going to work for you. Let me put it more bluntly, if you do the same thing as your competitors you’re already irrelevant.

Instead look at it this way: Don’t create compelling content to be #1 in Google, create great products and services so you’re #1 in people’s minds.

The truth is if you want to create compelling content (anybody really know what this means?) your better have a damn good product or service that people want/need because a good product or service speaks for itself.

You have to escape the natural pull of the ‘tactical mindset’ and focus on the doughnut not the hole. Differentiation doesn’t come from producing ‘compelling content’, it comes from providing products or services consumers will fall in love with, stuff that engages them emotionally and that enhances their lives.

Key takeaway: When you can create awesome products or services, you don’t need to find better ways to sell it.

Don’t create compelling content. Create great products and services is a post from: Blu Maya Digital Marketing Agency