Blu Maya Digital Marketing Agency

Exclusivity and participation are powerful word of mouth tools.

One website on the Internet that has one of the most unique stand out personalities is The Art of Manliness, and they recently put exclusivity and participation to work. The brainchild of Brett & Kate McKay, The Art of Manliness is a blog dedicated to uncovering the lost art of being a man with the goal of helping men be better husbands, better fathers, and better men.

Participation stimulates engagement

The Art of Manliness has a tight, large community of fans who helped them create a Lessons in Manliness ebook. The community submitted essays on the lessons they’ve learned from a man in their life and to encourage people to submit something to the project, they offered a Box of Manliness as a prize.

We received 46 submissions from men who shared stories about the grandfathers, friends, and mentors who have lived lives that showcase the very best in being an honorable man. I’ve finally put all the submissions into a nicely formatted eBook so that everyone can enjoy and hopefully learn from the lives of ordinary men who have helped pass the art of manliness on to others. At over 100 pages long, it’s pretty substantial for an eBook. And it’s completely free.

Exclusivity creates uniqueness

You see Hollywood do it with the Special Edition Movie Box sets where you get some insider information in a fancy looking package, The Box of Manliness works the same way. First of all it’s a very cool looking box indeed and it comes with some branded manliness arsenal that will make people go ‘what’s that?’:

• Merkur Safety Razor
• Taylor of Old Bond Street Sandalwood Shaving Cream
• Badger Hair Shaving Brush
• Mustache Handkerchief
• Case Pocket Knife
• An Art of Manliness t-shirt of your choosing
• A signed copy of the Art of Manliness book

Key takeaway:

As you can see exclusivity and participation are powerful word of mouth tools, they can turn your community into rabid fans. When you engage people in a product and make them feel as though it is their product, it translates directly into a desire to talk about it.

Engage your community and empower them to talk about you.

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Here a presentation Seesmic founder Loic Le Meur gave at Ad Tech a few weeks ago. Key takeaway is to invest in building a long term web presence instead of the traditional campaign.

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If you’ve ever traveled to Mexico I’m sure you’ve heard of Micheladas, any beer prepared with cold ice, salt and lemon juice. It’s a damn good mix that’s easy to prepare and have become ubiquitous in bars, restaurants, clubs in Mexico.

Well this past weekend I was across the border in Tijuana to visit a prospect and afterwards I went to visit an old stopping ground from my college days: Chabelas.

Chabelas is a little store in a corner of a street that prepares a combination of Michelada with clamato + tabasco sauce + a dash soy sauce and a piece of salted dehydrated plum to-go. This drink is called a Chabela.

Chabela’s always has people coming for a drink, it doesn’t matter what time of day it is and most of these people come from long distances. What Chabelas’s gets right is that they focus on doing one thing only: Serving the best Red Michelada out there, it’s that simple!

This little store was the first of it’s kind in Tijuana and soon other others just like it started sprouting all over the city, they’re no restaurant and no bar, they make Red Micheladas to-go. Others have tried different strategies to unseat them but have failed in doing so because Chabela’s has won a permanent place in people’s minds by maintaining that focus on just serving Micheladas.

The point I want to make is that they’ve conquered their market by being the most at preparing the best Red Micheladas.

What are you doing to be the most at something?

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Want to stand out? Want to be known for something? Want to be ‘THE’ instead of just another guy no one knows? Want to be THE GUY everyone wants to be?

Remember, ideas not content? If you don’t, click the link and then come back over here.

Great to have you back! I spotted a couple of tweets from Jane McGonigal (@AvantGame) that reflect this simple principle:

Applied towards your online brand experience the point is: Your content marketing strategy should be focused on ideas with a purpose for action not for consumption.

So if you’re planning on starting a blog about cooking, think about ‘why?’ you’re doing it (purpose of your blog) before you decide ‘what?’ content you’re going to publish on it. You stand a better chance of your content being shared and therefore being talked about if you create content for action not consumption. This simply means that, as Jane so clearly puts it, your content should help people achieve some goal that makes their life a lot more interesting.

Here’s a BIG idea again: It’s not what and how much you publish, it’s what people do with it that counts.

P.S. If you don’t know who Jane McGonigal is I recommend you watch her TED video below, I guarantee it’s well worth your time!

Does this resonate with you? What’s the BIG IDEA behind your content?

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Setting your sights on a target gives you power and direction

The web is full of ‘how to’ advice on better blogging and for the most part the recipe goes a little something like this: publish frequently, provide useful content (ideas) and 

I don’t disagree with the recipe, the problem is that for the most part anybody with something relevant to say can do this and so here then lies the problem: If everyone follows the same advice then what is distinctive about your blog? about you?

To counter this, the recipe I follow for my innovation blog is very simple: Declare war on your enemies.

Pick an enemy

An enemy can be a mindset, ideologies, concepts, another blogger or person with whom you don’t agree with, a brand, a competitor, etc you get the picture. For me personally my enemy is my country’s (Mexico) ‘more of the same’ ‘me too’ copycat behavior and fixed mindset. A recent post might provide you some clues into why this is the case…

Have a BIG idea

The key is to have a BIG idea that counters your enemies POV and then present it in a better or different way. The clarity of ‘declaring war on your enemies’ strategy fills you with direction and purpose which feeds your passion because when you have an enemy you have something you are displeased with to shoot at.

An example is Apple’s ‘I’m a Mac/I’m a PC’ ads that paint Microsoft as boring, people took notice because Apple took a stand and it ignited passion in their fans…people love a good fight!

Don’t be afraid to polarize people

Not everyone will agree with what you have to say and when you take opposites you’ll create enemies and as terrifying as this sounds, it’s actually a good thing because you’re making your stand and people take notice. The key here is to arouse yours and others emotions!

Brand yourself or be branded

This strategy is working for me and has resonated with some of my fellow tweeps such that a few weeks ago I was surprised to see @ThinkTank_ (innovation consultancy) tag me with the ‘innovation insurgent’ moniker on a tweet! I was extremely happy to see this as it clearly states what I’m about and soon other tweeps gave me their thumbs up

Although I know I don’t put enough useful information (in my opinion) and could do a better job of presenting actionable ideas, I think my blog presents a distinct and authentic POV as everything I post there is clearly directed at the things I’ve encountered in my young personal as well as professional life.

This strategy can work wonders for you too but there’s a difference between being useful and passionate, being useful can get you going but being passionate can propel you new heights! Any of the (___) for Dummies! books is useful, Leading the Revolution by Gary Hamel on the other hand is passionate; mix the two together and you have Seth Godin! 

Bottom line is be passionate in your blogging!

Action steps:

• Direct your energies towards a frustration you have and declare war on it. As stated above this can be a person, competitor, idea, concept, etc, we all have one.
• Search for people who fit your frustrations and pick a fight. These can be ‘opinion leaders’ who’s egos are getting too big and you might just be the one to give them a wake up call.
• Declare war on yourself and challenge your own assumptions. Keep your mind moving as you’re likely to spur some competition and you need to keep yourself on your heels to counter and learn.

To conclude I leave you with a quote that speaks the truth: Where all think alike, no one thinks very much by Walter Lippman

http://twitter.com/jorgebarba/status/11458881984

What say you?

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