I am giving you permission to sit back, let 2011 slip out of your thoughts for a moment and think about the future. Yes, the future. 2012 is a unwritten story, especially when it comes to your business, brand and strategies.

Strategies, Plural

The one-size-fits-all knitted winter hat style of marketing has never worked. Simply put, BE FLEXIBLE. (If you are not flexible add “Start Yoga” to your New Years resolutions. Trust me it will work both mentally and physically.) Don’t start 2012 with high expectations that your ten page marketing plan is going to attract a legion of clean leads, get you featured on Oprah’s favorite things and pay for that fancy world tour.

Break Down Goals

Create a strategy per business goal. For example, at BizeeBee, we found that studios in non-competitive, small cities were an excellent market fit for our service as it is today. That meant we created an entire strategy focused on that market segment. From physical mailing, email marketing to follow ups through other channels our strategy revolved around a clear vision and the tactics were easier to design as well as measure.

Pitch From Your Perspective

It is easy for business owners to get carried away with trying to sell their vision to people. When in reality, what sells is stories. I don’t mean novels, unless you are JK Rowling. My husband, Eli, recently launched his first big project called Claratii. Word of mouth has been his strategy for spreading the word. I was proud to witness him sharing his story on why he created the tool. He starts off with sharing how having clear communication between him and I around finances as well as future financial planning was very important to him. People engage and relate to his challenges, then delight in trying out this solution.

Hear Your Vision From Someone Else

Remember the days of awkward middle and highschool? Well, one lesson in particular that is valuable from those days to apply to your strategy is peer reviews. Yes, those moments when Joe Too-Cute-To-Look-At-Without-Blushing read your paper and gave you thoughts on how to improve it, what he thought it meant and other tips were actually teaching you a valuable lesson. I challenge you to sit down with a friend and ask them “What does my business do?”. I heard this tactic recently used by Derek Johnson, CEO and Founder of Tatango. He was surprised to hear his friend tell him all kinds of things about his business, but it was a bit fuzzy. What did he do? He simplified his message to focus just on what they did best.

Fall Back In Love

That happy tingling sensation that makes you smile, motivates you to keep going and makes those long nights worth it? Yeah, that’s love. Love for your customers, for your employees, and your vision. If you want to know the key to being genuine it is speaking and acting from the heart, not standing behind fluffy marketing messages. One great example comes from a company I have always enjoyed working with, Freshbooks.

“It is tough to find a phone number for most web companies, but Freshbooks’ number is on the top of the home page. The company even brags on its blog about its commitment to answering the phone … Love doesn’t necessarily pay the bills, of course. But Saul [Colt] says his philosophy “will deliver an incredible ROI that can’t be tracked in a traditional way.” – INC

This 2012, stuff your marketing, business, branding and outreach strategies for success. Wishing you a very happy, and healthy New Year!Similar Posts:

• Importance of Internal Marketing
• Meet Web Designer Nadine
• Mark Thompson CEO of Search Creatively

No doubt you have learned a great deal on your marketing adventure. Learned that hiring someone to stand on the street corner with a sign for a week was a bit of a flop, or maybe you also learned that knocking on doors in the evenings to be grassroots, was only getting old men mad at you. Whether your marketing strategies were belly flops or successful there are a few things I bet are holding you back.

So starting today…

Give up perfection.

You are going to go bald, if you are bald you are going to grow weird alien due to stress. Plus, perfection is often overlooked. Don’t spend precious resources beating around the bush for the perfect thing. Developers have a great way of saying, “Ship it!”… or it is build, measure, learn.

Give up comparing yourself to competitors.

I hear myself doing this and frankly, it doesn’t do much besides throw away time. Oh well if we only had X feature we could do Y. “Yeah, well we don’t so what’s your next bright idea?” Competitors didn’t invent the wheel, neither did you. However, you might be able to learn from them but don’t step in their foot prints wishing your feet were the same size, silly as it sounds many of my past clients spend a lot of crucial time trying to figure out the competitors secret sauce. Create your own and be proud of it!

Give up flogging yourself.

So, you belly flopped. You are human right? (If you are an alien, please skip to the next point.) Plus, whether you like it or not you are going to make another mistake in the future. If you don’t make any mistakes, well then you aren’t trying at your job hard enough. “The only mistake that can truly hurt you is choosing to do nothing simply because you’re too scared to make a mistake.”

Give up tapping your toes and checking your watch.

Waiting for X feature so you can run Y campaign well, to be honest isn’t going to happen when you want it or during the time you want it. Don’t wait till after lunch, or the morning to finish that project that is going to be a total brain drain. Just do it! Nike style. Remember: “What we don’t start today won’t be finished by tomorrow.”  Oh and another fancy tip: “Knowledge and intelligence are both useless without action”.

Give up trying to make everyone happy.

So you have the CEO, sales, engineering and customer service are all breathing down your back. Oh yeah, vendors and customers too. So, what do you do? Set boundaries, be honest and clear with everyone so that expectations are set. Don’t let people drop things off at your desk and blindly say “Sure! I can do it”, in hopes of being invited to their birthday party (the cake is a lie anyways). Doesn’t mean you can’t be friendly, and make the lonely person in the lunch room’s day a little brighter by saying “Hi!” (not in a misleading way or you might have a new admirer). Tools like Basecamp can make project transparency a little easier.

Give up holding back your feedback.

Ever tried to hold back a sneeze? Yeah… not comfortable is it. It’s normal for people to sneeze just as it is normal for people part of a team to share their ideas. Those who decide to be wall flowers end up blending in, and their value sometimes sadly overlooked. Now, you don’t need to bring a soap box to every meeting yet don’t hold back sharing feedback, ideas and engaging with your team. Who knows, you next big idea might strike gold for the company or your career.Similar Posts:

• 11 Ways to Get Your Business Social in 2011
• Importance of Internal Marketing
• 10 Tips to Recognize Employees

Unless you use some sort of fluffy critter (Nice job Cheezburger) I wouldn’t be lured easily. If you are a startup you most likely have given up on me and my stubborn, busy and “thanks, but not interested” friends. I am never the one to wait in line for a new apple product, nor do I jump at new social media invites. I have not and most likely will never be a customer of QVC. I still use a $300 Windows based Toshiba laptop, own a blackberry and drive a manual six speed. I am by no means an “Alpha Quitter”, however the few times I have tried to be an early adopter has created one more inactive account, or a no-longer-loyal loyalty card holder.

You've reached the early adopters don't stop! - Photo-Collective

For most companies looking to gain traction, I am not your ideal customer.  My hard to sell friends will nod in agreement when I say that doesn’t mean we aren’t worth talking to. Here’s why:

We aren’t moles. We are actually quite social.

Just because we aren’t joining you at midnight to wait for the newest Apple thingy doesn’t mean we live in caves. Think beyond the web. I host and organize events, work with non-profits and consult with small businesses. I am one of those crazy people that say “Good morning!” to strangers, and happily shares conversations while waiting for coffee. I am also very interested in listening and learning one of the reasons I attend workshops, meetups and networking events. I read blogs, the news and forums.

Listen, and join in the conversation.

First off are you where I am? Do you participate in conversation in Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, how about networking events and workshops? I might be a bit extreme as I am unusually accessible for a late adopter.  My best advice, learn to listen before you speak.

“The market need you’ve identified may be foreign to most people you speak with.  The value you’re creating doesn’t yet translate.  The very people you could help, think you’re crazy.” – Four keys to selling beyond early adopters, Geekwire

Have fun learning the language, the culture and jump with the intention of having a conversation.

In your network? Instant evangelist.

One quick direct message from someone I know on Twitter and I am on it like a bee on honey! Your network is mostly likely stronger than you give it credit for. Even if your network isn’t your target market they are more than willing to help you spread the word. They will spread your message like butter across hot toast. Keep them in the loop with as much of a personal touch as possible, in other words don’t just add them to your MailChimp list, maintain a genuine connection.

Give a little, get a lot.

I love hearing what my friends are up to and look for ways to support them. After meeting Chris Lynch founder of Thoughful.co was kind enough to talk to me as well as the BizeeBee founder about fundraising. So what did I do, I instantly started scanning Thoughful.co for a birthday present for my sister in law, found – done and with great success! I also forwarded the site on to a few friends wondering what to get a mutual friend who has everything, (even a sailboat).

The moral

Don’t give up on those who aren’t going to fill your pockets quick with cash. Look at them differently, more as eh… humans. Don’t be afraid to refresh your strategy, reach out to your existing network for feedback help and assistance in spreading the word. Zoom out and let your teeth chew on the big picture. Don’t fret over trying to catch a quick buck. (Even though they are cute, and fuzzy.)Similar Posts:

• Elements of a Successful Entrepreneur
• Learning – The 2nd Pillar of Social Media
• What Social Businesses Have Learned

It is expected that as the New Year begins we take time to reflect on the previous year. We look back on our accomplishments, challenges and what we have learned with various intentions. Some look to the past to review performance, create new processes and further pave the path of productivity. Others look to the past and see obstacles overcome with creativity, perseverance and honesty and realize acknowledging those accomplishments are critical not only to productivity yet to the brand’s culture and history and future.

Over the last few years we have all been witness to the heart of social media, the power to connect friends, family, customers, businesses, non-profits, groups and more across states, continents and nations.

For me social media has given me a marketing tool comparable to attending every conference, getting to know everyone at each coffee shop and attending tons of Meetup groups. With the intention to reach out, connect and develop genuine long lasting relationships.

The values I bring to social media are founded in customer service. I believe in and have seen social media reach its true potential when the brands are genuine, customer focused and human.

The challenge I give to you for 2011 is to use the tools of social media not to sell but to be social. Be authentic, open your arms and welcome opportunity. Trust me, you won’t be disappointed.Similar Posts:

• Good People + Good People
• Meet Mack Collier – Social Media Consultant
• Social Media, Not Sell Media

Can you believe that 2011 is just around the corner? For all businesses getting social was the theme being sung over and over by their marketing advisors. Tweeting and writing blog posts sounded like a great idea, however it is never the idea it is the execution. Here are 11 things you can start to plan for, create responsibilities in your team to handle and execute in the coming year.

1. WordPress – You don’t need a super fancy design to make your website great. What you need is a clean site, that allows you and your team the ability to update, add images, events, tweak and tweak content
2. Blog – Regular blog posts are a way for your current customers, potential customers, business partners and community to get to know your business. Share news, updates, promotions, employee highlights, answer customer questions and share videos. Plus, with WordPress you can create multiple blog posts and schedule out when posts will be posted live.
3. Email Newsletters – Recommend using MailChimp – Start out with their Always Free Service that gives you up to 1,000 email subscribers, and up to 6,000 emails sent a month. No limiting features and easy reporting.
4. Facebook Fan Page – Create a page that you can engage with your businesses’ existing fans. Another place to showcase news about your business, upcoming events, photos, and videos.
5. Twitter – Join in the conversation happening about your business, industry and brands.  Starting an account is easy, spend some time listening and getting to know where to engage.
6. Biznik – Takes a village to be successful. Get to know local entrepreneurs, business owners and more through events, while showcasing your business, skills and interests.
7. Teach a lesson – Consider taking your business knowledge and expertise to the classroom and offer a class through Teachstreet. Building your personal brand while also helping others learn about your industry or subject.
8. Update Listings: From Google Places, Foursquare, Whrrl, CitySearch to Yelp spend time claiming your business listings, updating information and adding photos. Monitor the accounts to see what your customers are saying about you.
9. Get on YouTube: Create a YouTube channel and then bring out your little digital camera. Create short informational videos about you, your business, ideas and questions.
10. Google Alerts: Be emailed every time Google finds keywords about your business, brand or about you. Find out who is talking and where.
11. Read & Comment: Find blogs in your industry, where your customers are and give the author feedback, and reflections on their insights.

Looking forward to seeing all of your businesses engaging online with social media, email marketing and by writing great valuable content.Similar Posts:

• Social Media Trick: Schedule Content
• Online Strategy Forget-Me-Nots
• Panning for Social Media Gold

Let’s say your business had it all. The king of producing the perfect content, the best engagement, every review site had raving reviews, everyone wants one of your products, everyone wants to shake your hand, everyone loves your business. Everyone wants to be your best friend.

Do you love the customers that LOVE you?  Or would you select “It’s complicated” as a relationship status?

I have to wonder if Steve Jobs ever takes a moment and is filled with joy and appreciation for all customers that love their products. Is there a moment where he longs to meet these people that love Apple, love the way he dresses and truly wants to get to know them? Wonder if he wants to sit down and share a cup of coffee, tell his customers how impressed he is with their passion and devotion the the Apple brand.

I am assuming most likely not.

For small businesses in little towns like Maple Valley it is natural not a tactic for them to actively get to know their customers. This could be easily labeled as just good customer service. I am thinking there is something a bit more core about these businesses.

Here are a few facts about small businesses in the US:

Small Businesses Rock:

• Represent 99.7 percent of all employer firms.
• Employ half of all private sector employees.
• Pay 44 percent of total U.S. private payroll.
• Generated 65 percent of net new jobs over the past 17 years.
• Hire 43 percent of high tech workers ( scientists, engineers, computer programmers, and others).
• Made up 97.5 percent of all identified exporters and produced 31 percent of export value in FY 2008.
• Produce 13 times more patents per employee than large patenting firms.

- Statistics from Advocacy Small Business Statistics and Research

Small businesses understand the pure economics of their love for their customers. I can bet that most successful entrepreneurs do too.

When a great entrepreneur has an idea and brings it to life by creating a business the simple truth is, in order for that business to survive there must be customers.  There is a connection that happens with a great business and a customer, which feels a bit like – “You are what I never knew I always wanted!”

Towards the end of high school I was working for PCC, a Seattle area coop. 99.998% of all my customers were fantastic! Great conversations that stemmed from a genuine a passion for our local community, farms and world. I came into work inspired. I learned to remember customers names, their favorite sandwiches and sit down with them on my breaks like friends. We would talk about green energy, ideas around how to create more awareness about local farming and of course about cars. I was highly encouraged by the leadership to be me and connect with our customers.

Great businesses does more than take money from customers for the sake of keeping their doors open. Small businesses are the masters at listening, asking questions and improving their business not just to bring in more cash, but to make the customers happy. (Sounds like key ideas for a happy marriage as well). They love their customers. Love feeling they have helped them, made their lives better and been able to connect beyond their brand and on a personal level. They are the real leaders, the experts in keeping happy customers coming back for more conversations while sipping lattes lattes, exploring great art or while chatting up as they get their hair done.

One of my favorite businesses that have really shown their love has been Coho Cafe. From their social media efforts to in person you will feel as a customer and as part of the community you are genuinely appreciated and even loved.

How does your company show love to customers?

Similar Posts:

• The Launch of Maple Valley’s Buy Local Campaign
• 5 Lava Hot Social Media Must Reads
• Engage Foursquare Customers

This is the age of relationships. Connecting local patrons to local businesses is just what the City of Maple Valley and the local Chamber of Commerce have teamed to do. Working to strengthen communities and local economies through supporting, maintaining, and celebrating locally owned businesses throughout Maple Valley area.

The power of local marketing is connecting and building strong relationships.

To effectively market locally, customers are given a special discount or promotion to experience first hand how great it is to work with a local business. Those customers get to know the businesses, and become advocates telling their story of great service, quality and experience.

Maple Valley has a small town feel. Visiting Johnson’s Home and Garden store you will be warmly greeted and assisted to find just the right paint, tool or thingamajig you need. Craving fresh bread, or dare I say I donut then visit CJ’s Bakery. One of the people you might meet is Lori, her warm smile and can-do attitude is also vibrantly demonstrated in her custom cakes. (Try the pink lemonade cake, Bavarian cream and chocolate cream cheese frosting.)

“Over 22-thousand people call Maple Valley home. There’s a strong sense of community here. We treasure our neighbors and treat strangers as friends, have the largest listing of festivals and events in the area, benefit from local access to regional parks and trails, and relish the small town feel that makes Maple Valley so special.” – City of Maple Valley

To encourage local patrons to think, buy and support local businesses they are given discounts and special offers just by presenting their Maple Valley Power Card. Updated daily on the Maple Valley/Black Diamond Chamber website is a complete list of participating businesses. Businesses can easily register and get on the list even if they are not a current chamber member.

Sounds simple? It is. This little card, a few discounts and special offers aim to make big impacts in the local community.

• Support and Create Local Jobs
• Get Better Service
• Reduce Environmental Impact
• Encourage Local Prosperity
• Get to Know Your Neighbors
• Create Connections for Your Business

“As companies decide where to invest their limited marketing resources, there is a distinct opportunity to focus on investing in relationships: with their customers, prospects, employees and business partners.” – Lee Odden

Kudos goes out to Maple Valley/Black Diamond Chamber for being a prime example of a Chamber Facebook fan page.

Act Local. Think Global.

As a Seattle native I have always loved the evergreen forests, and ponies. Buying a home on the out skirts of Maple Valley has been paradise. Working with locally owned businesses and professionals is where my passion is and I love connecting and supporting our community.

If you are a Maple Valley, Black Diamond, Covington, or Hobart Business let’s team up! If you live in these areas and want a MVP card watch for one in the Voice of the Valley paper, pick one up from Maple Valley/Black Diamond Chamber or city hall.Similar Posts:

• Brick & Mortar: Focus Local
• Do You LOVE Your Customers
• Share by Storytelling

Building websites is my meat and potatoes. I am one of the few online marketers that consult and implement. Maybe I am old fashioned in that I like to start each client I have with a strong foundation. A strong website is solid, yet simple built to be flexible and evolve with the needs of the business.

What do ponies and websites have in common? Well, have you ever wanted a pony of your very own? I can tell you that buying a pony is the cheapest part of owning your very own horsey. Websites are similar; the initial cost is an investment. However, from there you will like having a horse have to maintain your site, update it regularly and get used to the new responsibility you are taking on for the health of your business and online brand.

Websites are built to the best of everyone’s ability and understanding. You want a website that you feel comfortable wearing around as your brand’s online face here are some tips to save and get what you want.

Be Prepared – setting your designer up for success

Coming to your designer with a package that can let them start right away without waiting on emails for passwords, hosting information speeds up the process by hours if not days. After signing an agreement for the work that is going to be done hand over this package to your designer to make them smile.

1. Have all of your account information handy – If you have an existing website have hosting information and FTP logins ready.
2. Creative assets – have all the different variations of your logo, banners you like to use as well as your tag line, creative copy and preferred color palettes ready.
3. Know what you like and what you don’t like – take time to research and record websites in your industry that you do and don’t like. Record this info to be presented to your designer
4. Pick photos – stock photography is objective. Have links to 10-15 photos that you like to give your designer a good idea of the feel you are going for.

Your Best Web Friend – a good content management system (CMS)

There are very few websites I build that are not powered by WordPress. Having a content management system will save you the headache of not being able to update your website yourself. For a small business that doesn’t have a fluent web admin this is necessary.

1. Try out a free WordPress blog. Poke around and make pages and blog posts. Get familiar so don’t have to depend on your web designer for tiny copy updates and adding images.
2. Know your limits – know the types of tasks you will need help for. Like updating design elements, graphics and styling. That way you don’t get charged for things you could easily update yourself.

Working Together – Excellent Communication Gets Excellent Results

Time is money, 45% of the time spent on your website most likely will be spent on communicating. The other 55% is actually heads down work. By keeping communication clear, less time will be spent playing phone tag, waiting for emails or hoping to sync calendars.

1. Be clear – If you need a website done in a week be sure to be clear that is the time frame. Loose timeframes can be good too yet communication can get fuzzy over a long project.
2. Talk often: Use collaboration tools are a must have for keeping communication clear. Google docs, Freshbooks and AgileZen are personal favorites.
3. Write the content – after you and your designer create a basic flow of your website switch your focus to writing the content. Copy will help the designer work with the layout of the page, and choosing images.

Final touches – Polish the site off with a great smooth finish

The two roughest parts of a web design process are the beginning, and the end.

1. Have a running list – tasks that need to be completed in the scope of the agreement will help determine what needs to be done and what would be nice to have later.
2. Gather work - Have your designer give you all the creative work used, if in the future you need it you have it.
3. Keep in touch – Have an attitude to keep learning from each other. Better connections typically mean faster responses, updates and a life long advocate for your brand

Similar Posts:

• Website Fit for Social Media
• Online Strategy Forget-Me-Nots
• Build Websites for Flexibility

Who doesn’t love a great story? Especially one about an young entrepreneur. The story of Derek Johnson and SMS marketing Tantango is becoming my favorite young entrepreneur story to tell. I am delighted to share with your Derek’s own insights into the world of being an entrepreneur, bringing an idea to life and creating a successful business. Being in Bellingham means as a normal Seattle networker you might not have had the chance to meet Derek yet. He is friendly, outgoing and full of energy. I admire Derek not only for what he has been able to accomplish, yet his dedication to excellent communication. He also has a natural entrepreneurial spirit, creating jobs for himself and others since he was a teenager.

“All people want is a reliable way to communicate to their group members or customers. That’s what Tatango does and continues to do…” - Derek

He is one of the NW best leading a revolution of being open, and accessible. He is encouraging and answers questions of aspiring entrepreneurs. Derek has made his own accessibility a priority and is incredibly generous answering emails, Facebook messages, tweets and any other question that comes his way.

“I was amazed to see you listed your personal phone number on the website. Secondly, I was surprised when you personally answered when I called. I don’t think I have ever experienced that before. So I have to admit my first impression with your company was ‘wow.’” – Mo.com

Connect with Derek!

I’m easily one of the most accessible CEO’s and I love to connect with new people.

If you want to reach me, feel free to call/text me on my mobile phone @ 206.334.4012

@thederekjohnson | thederekjohnson.com | tatango.com | Contact

From Idea to a Business

1. Start Small – Start small and you will be able to quickly see if you have something interesting before you look to expand.

2. Don’t Re-Invent The Wheel – No matter what problem you are experiencing or challenge you have in front of you, you aren’t the first person to ever go through it. Seek out advice or guidance from someone that has gone through the same thing you are going through, this will save you from making a lot of costly mistakes in the future.

3. Work your ass off - I’m serious, I don’t think there are bad ideas, I think there are only lazy entrepreneurs. Any entrepreneur that works his ass off can change a bad idea into a good one with a lot of hard-work.

SMS Marketing Win = Win for Businesses & Consumers

It’s a two way street, businesses use Tatango to send text message coupons, discounts, event reminders, etc. to the consumers that opt-in to receive them from the businesses. It’s a win-win situation for both the business and consumer.

“Did you know that only 23 percent of Americans check social networks like Facebook on their phones, and even less than that 10 percent check micro-blogging sites like Twitter on their phones? You can compare that to the 72 percent of people who actively text message on their mobile phones.” -  Derek interviewed on Marketing by Deepak

Even for Business, it Takes a Village

If I had to list everyone that played a role in getting Tatango to where it is now, it would seriously take me a few days. I think that’s a lesson though for any entrepreneur is that you aren’t building a company alone, there are so many people out there that are willing to help and will add tremendous value, you just have to go out and find them. I see too many entrepreneurs think that they are going at building their business alone, those are the ones that usually fail.

Remote Teams Productive with Collaboration Tools

Reducing costs has been the biggest benefit of having a remote team, we’ve shaved off about 14-17% off our monthly burn by getting rid of our office and going virtual. The hardest part is still having that collaborative space to come up with new ideas and work through existing problems. To overcome this, we use Skype, BaseCamp, GoToMeeting and a few other tools.

Personal Branding Means You are Doing Business with a Person

If my promoting myself didn’t bring in extra business for Tatango, I wouldn’t do it. With the speaking events, conferences and interviews I do, the amount of new business we’ve been able to acquire has been staggering. Also, I think in the internet space, it’s always good to have a face behind a company. All of our competitors are an email address and a phone number, that’s all. How can you trust that? I’m a real person, if I was a customer looking for text message marketing, I would want to do business with a person, not a phone number or email address. It’s that simple.

Who is Derek Johnson Offline?

I’m always working, so there really isn’t a Derek offline or away from Tatango. I believe in giving 100% to whatever I do, which doesn’t leave room for anything else and I’m fine with that at this stage in my life. I started kicking into high gear working 15-17 hour days, 7 days a week the minute I received our first investment in Tatango. Taking other people’s money completely changed the game.

Find Your Own Inspiration

I’ve been told I have a condition called Hypomania, a genetically based form of mild mania, which endows people with energy, creativity, enthusiasm, and a propensity for taking risks. I’m ok with this, as these are the keys to being a great entrepreneur. I think true entrepreneurs are born with this inspiration, you can’t learn it in school, absorb it, etc. it’s just who you are. It doesn’t go away either, which made it extremely hard for me in structured setting like university and eventually lead to me dropping out to pursue the entrepreneurial lifestyle.

Selling Your Brand Beyond a College Degree.

A lot of parents question me about this one. I’ve found a unique way though to get them to see my view on this subject. Ask them what university their kid graduated from and then ask them what type of job their kid has right now. With the unemployment rate so high and recent graduates moving back home at a faster rate than ever, there is a good chance their kid has a university degree and is unemployed. That usually proves my point

In my case my business education came from watching and listening to my father and actually doing it. From a very young age I was always selling something or creating businesses here and there, and I have picked up what I my business knowledge along the way.

I have mixed emotions about college. I was actually told by my college counselor that I shouldn’t even apply to the business school because my grades weren’t high enough. On one hand I don’t believe college prepares students enough for making real world business decisions. On the other hand I think college is necessary for building the foundation in which you can build the rest of your knowledge off of. I almost see college as a necessary evil. My teachers are going to love that last quote.”  – Derek being interviewed by Entrepreneurship-Interviews.com

Don’t Let The Haters Get You Down

It feels like there is an abundance of people out there that want to see me fail. Don’t get me wrong, there a bunch of people that want to see me succeed also, but you can’t let the haters get inside your head. That’s the biggest challenge I would say.

Simple Strategy is Successful Strategy

Keeping things simple. There are so many different verticals within mobile that we could have gone, but we’ve continued to stay focused on making Tatango the easiest text message marketing tool on the face of the planet. Nothing else, period.

Staying Informed

I’m reading all of the time, wether it’s on my desktop, laptop, iPhone, I’m always trying to get more information to better gauge where the industry is heading.

Hear Derek Speak

Oh yea, speaking and conferences have been a big part of my schedule over the last year. I’m usually speaking at least once a week at some conference, university, association, etc. The one place you may not see me is at UW, I’m still a little bitter that they denied me to their undergraduate business program. There is actually a fierce discussion on Facebook about whether I should accept their speaking invitations.

Date the CEO of Tatango.

If anyone knows a women that could put up with all that you’ve heard above and is in the 21-30 year old range, have them call me.

Reach out to Derek if you have questions about SMS Marketing, Tatango or are interested in a date.

Connect with Derek!

I’m easily one of the most accessible CEO’s and I love to connect with new people.

If you want to reach me, feel free to call/text me on my mobile phone @ 206.334.4012

@thederekjohnson | thederekjohnson.com | tatango.com | Contact

• Stuff 2012 With Successful Strategies
• Do You LOVE Your Customers
• Meet Kyle Lacy – CEO of Brandswag

Brotherton Cadillac creates a Twitter focused campaign, Race for a Ride to raise awareness, and up to $140k for a Seattle non-profit. The idea takes donating through social media to non-profits to a whole new level, by offering one lucky tweeter a brand new car (2010 CTS).  I personally was very impressed with Brotherton Cadillac for taking the pludge into the deep end of social media to use it for good. The shiny car dealership will get a lot of buzz, and awareness, while making a difference in local non-profit and those it serves. The Race for a Ride campaign website is clean, fresh and fun. Further, type in “Race for a Ride” in Google and the first result will be Brotherton’s campaign  -  Nice SEO.

The Race for a Ride will benefit these five Seattle area non-profits:

• Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
• The Moyer Foundation
• Seattle Children’s Hospital
• Arthritis Foundation
• Special Olympics Washington

Connect:

Website: RaceForARide.com & www.BrothertonCadillac.com
Twitter: @RaceForARide & @BroCadillac

Brotherton Cadillac Goes Social

Nology Media had been providing social media services to Brotherton Cadillac for a number of months. Brad Brotherton of Brotherton Cadillac had been pushing the Nology Media team to come up with ways for auto dealers to use social tools.  We wanted to develop a campaign that would highlight Brotherton Cadillac’s community involvement and philanthropic focus – with a big return for one lucky participant. The contest took four weeks to develop from inception to launch – that included on-boarding all five charities, sponsors, legal approval and website design and development.

The Idea for Race for a Ride

The idea originated from a charity golf tournament over the summer. On one of the golf holes, Brotherton Cadillac had a grand prize of a new Cadillac SUV for anyone who could make a hole in one on a difficult golf hole.  This type of contest happens all the time and almost no one ever wins.  We looked at the contest and asked ourselves – could we do something similar, but on Twitter? Race For A Ride was the idea we pitched to Brotherton Cadillac.

Tools For the Campaign

We’re using a number of commercial and proprietary listening and engagement platforms to manage outreach and engagement. Of course, Seattle’s own RowFeeder is the official data tracker of RaceForARide.

Brand & Campaign Values

Brad Brotherton, President of Brotherton Cadillac, devotes an incredible amount of time and resources to a number of local and national non-profits.

Not on Twitter? That’s okay

People may mail in entries on a 3″x5″ card. Entry by mail details are outlined in the Official Contest Rules page of the Race for a Ride website.

Strong Support Team

Nology Media developed the concept, campaign and contest for Brotherton Cadillac. Other sponsors of the contest include Seattle Met Magazine, Pacific Place, and RBC Wealth Management.

Tips for Running a Social Media Campaign for Non-Profits

Non-profits are asking to be educated on what’s possible through social media.  Start with educating them on the power of social media first and the power of the contest second. In addition, educate them on the residual benefits of increased awareness, larger lists, etc. no matter what the outcome of the contest.

Be creative – think about what’s possible, what’s not been done before, and don’t be afraid to take risks.

Connect:

Website: RaceForARide.com & www.BrothertonCadillac.com
Twitter: @RaceForARide & @BroCadillac

• True love lives in appreciation.
• Non-Profit Full of Fur, Feathers & Social Media
• 5 Lava Hot Social Media Must Reads