Seth Godin suggests good bloggers create tribes.

I think that is why I haven’t been satisfied with this blog the last 2-3 years.  It has not consistently been a way-worthy read and has not created a tribe.

Realizing this, I have a few options:

1. Make no major change of course.  I could keep writing mediocre pieces with a few gems (subjectively speaking) here and there.

2. Scrap it all.  I could consider my four years of blogging (3 1/2 years here) as a fun learning experience, but one which I now leave behind.  Pull the plug, let it die.

3. Grit my teeth and try harder.  I could give all kinds of excuses as to why I haven’t put more time, effort or thought into this blog.  I just don’t see any benefit to that.  Perhaps I should just get a grip and try harder.

4. Carry it forward.  I could look at what I’ve learned from this experience and view this period as a natural progression in the cycle.  Perhaps this horse has led me to a stream it is not willing or able to cross.  Using the same analogy, the best thing may be to dismount – cross the stream – and see if there’s a ride on the other side.

I have a writing project I’m working on currently.  I often wonder if I could finish it and make it better if I didn’t try to come up with ideas for this blog.  The concept I’m writing is so intriguing to me that I may even start a separate blog based on that idea.

No decisions yet, but I thought I’d give you some insight into why this blog is lingering.

You probably noticed I’m trying out a new WordPress template.  Please be patient as I work out the bugs.

Wrapping up the year, Here are some great reads from other blogs:

Being Peter Kim: Wunderman on direct marketing. Or was it social media?
A Nostradamesque marketing prediction from 40 years ago. As they say, a man before his time.

Seth Godin: Only Two Years Left
From 4 years ago, not 40.  Still, this is yet another must-read from Seth.  He will light a fire under you with one simple question.

Brand Autopsy: Favorite Posts from 2007
If you don’t read johnmoore’s blog, this is a great place to start.  Sage thoughts on Starbucks and heartwarming tales of his late mother.

Thanks to Troy for including me in his list of Outstanding Blogs.  As Mack Collier (a great blogger with a much better grasp of social media than I) stated, here’s to extending the holiday link-love:
100 Bloggers, 37 Days, 3i, 43 Folders, A Clear Eye, A Daily Dose of Architecture, The Agonist, All Things Workplace, All This Chittah Chattah, Angela Maiers, Antonella Pavese, Arizona High Tech, Arun Rajagopal, AttentionMax, A Writer’s Words, An Editor’s Eye, Badger Blogger, Bailey WorkPlay, Being Peter Kim, Brett Trout, Best of Mother Earth, Beyond Madison Avenue, Biz and Buzz, Bizhack, BizSolutions Plus, Blog Business World, Bloggers Showroom, Blogging for Business, Blogher, Blog Till You Drop!, Bob Sutton, Brain Based Business, Brain Based Biz, Brains on Fire, Brand Autopsy, The Brand Builder Blog, Branding and Marketing, Branding Strategy, Brand is Language, BrandSizzle, Brandsoul, Bren Blog, Business Evolutionist, Business Management Life, Business Pundit, Business Services, Etc., Busy Mom, Buzz Canuck, Buzz Customer, Buzzoodle, Career Intensity, Carpe Factum, Casual Fridays, Change Your Thoughts, Chaos Scenario, Cheezhead, Chief Happiness Officer, Chris Brogan, Christine Kane, Church of the Customer, Circaspecting, CK’s Blog, Come Gather Round, Communication Overtones, Community Guy, Confident Writing, Conversation Agent, Converstations, Cooking for Engineers, Cool Hunting, Core77, Corporate Presenter, Crayon Writer, Creating a Better Life, Creating Passionate Users, Creative Think, CRM Mastery, Crossroads Dispatches, Cube Rules, Culture Kitchen, Customers Are Always, Customer Experience Crossroads, Customer Service Experience, Customer Service Reader, Customers Rock!, Custserv, Craig Harper, ‘Cross The Breeze, Daily Fix, Dawud Miracle, Dave Olson, David Airey, David Maister, David S Finch, Design Your Writing Life, Digital Common Sense, Director Tom, Diva Marketing, Do You Q, Duct Tape Marketing, Empowerment 4 Life, The Engaging Brand, Essential Keystrokes, Every Dot Connects, Experience Architect, Experience Curve, Experience Matters, Experienceology, Extreme Leadership, Eyes on Living, Feld Thoughts, Flooring the Consumer, Flooring the Customer, Fouroboros, FutureLab, Genuine Curiosity, Glass Half Full, The Good Life, Great Circle, Greg Verdino’s Marketing Blog, Hee-Haw Marketing, Hello, My Name is BLOG, Holly’s Corner, Homeless Family, The Idea Dude, I’d Rather be Blogging, Influential Marketing, Innovating to Win, Inspiring & Empowering Lives, Instigator Blog, Jaffe Juice, Jibber Jobber, Joyful Jubilant Learning, Joy of Six, Kent Blumberg, Kevin Eikenberry, Learned on Women, Life Beyond Code, Lip-sticking, Listics, The Lives and Times, Live Your Best Life, Live Your Inspiration , Living Light Bulbs, Logical Emotions, Logic + Emotion, Make It Great!, Making Life Work for You, Management Craft, Managing with Aloha, The M.A.P. Maker, The Marketing Excellence Blog, Marketing Headhunter, Marketing Hipster, The Marketing Minute, Marketing Nirvana, Marketing Roadmaps, Marketing Through the Clutter, Mary Schmidt, Masey, Masi Guy, The Media Age, Micropersuasion, Middle Zone Musings, Miss604, Moment on Money, Monk at Work, Monkey Bites, Movie Marketing Madness, Motivation on the Run, My 2 Cents, My Beautiful Chaos, Naked Conversations, Neat & Simple Living, New Age 2020, New Charm School, Next Up, No Man’s Blog, The [Non] Billable Hour, Note to CMO, Office Politics, Optimist Lab, The Origin of Brands, Own Your Brand, Pardon My French, Passion Meets Purpose, Pause, Peerless Professionals, Perfectly Petersen, Personal Branding , The Podcast Network, The Power of Choice, Practical Leadership, Presentation Zen, Priscilla Palmer, Productivity Goal, Pro Hip-Hop, Prosperity for You, Purple Wren, QAQnA, Qlog, Reveries, Rex Blog , Ririan Project, Rohdesign, Rothacker Reviews, Scott H Young, Search Engine Guide, Servant of Chaos, Service Untitled, Seth’s Blog, Shards of Consciousness, Shotgun Marketing, Simplenomics, Simplicity, Slacker Manager, Slow Leadership, Socially Adept, Social Media Marketing Blog, Spare Change, Spirit in Gear, Spooky Action, Steve’s 2 Cents, Strategic Design, Strength-based Leadership, StickyFigure, Studentlinc, Success Begins Today, Success Creeations, Success From the Nest, Successful Blog, Success Jolt, Talk to Strangers, Tammy Lenski, Tell Ten Friends, That Girl from Marketing, Think Positive!, This Girl’s Weblog, Thoughts & Philosophies, Tom Peters, Trust Matters, Verve Coaching, Viral Garden, Waiter Bell, Wealth Building Guy, What’s Next, WordSell, Writers Notes, You Already Know this Stuff, Zen Chill, Confident Writing, Idea Sellers, Tune Up Your EQ, Know HR, Mission Minded Management, Managing Leadership, Matt’s Idea Blog, Black in Business, Design Your Writing Life 

Mike Wagner has yet another fascinating post pondering the wisdom of incomplete brands. I love his thoughts and wonder why we don’t acknowledge how often the customer is wielding the paint brush, let alone encourage them to do it more.

Overhearing this, their young son decided he wanted another glass. Having heard his parents’ exchange, he now knew what to ask for. “Can I have some more steve too?” Of course we erupted into laughter as we saw his child-like logic make an unusual connection. We now call egg-nog “steve” occasionally.

I’m fortunate in life to have a wonderful younger brother by birth, Nick. I was the artist, he was the athlete. But we always seemed to have a great time together (and still do). Nick always wanted a younger brother, so I told him he could order one from the Sears catalog. But that’s another story.

I never had a big brother, but if I considered anyone a big brother – it is Steve. He has advised me on decisions affecting my career, my family, and my spiritual path. Even though his career moved him to Texas several years ago, I still consider him an invaluable mentor.

Now Steve is offering his sage advise to many others. He has been blogging for a while and comments here from time to time. I would encourage you to check out his Waypoint blog. You’ll find good advice as you make decisions on your career, your family, and your spiritual path.

Go get some “more Steve.”

Here are a few tidbits from my presentation yesterday. I spent most of my blog time (and more) preparing to speak at Entrepreneur’s Day, so this might be my only post this week.

The Marketing Proverb

If this is a marketing proverb, what is the moral?

or, some ad agencies prefer to

…simply entertain.

Do you ask this question?

How did you hear about us?

TV

Radio

Newspaper

Direct Mail

Billboard

Other

Hey car dealers… want to see some results?

When you see 71% of car purchasing decisions are influenced by word of mouth…

You’re right, but you can…

How do you influence word of mouth?

I’m not talking fashion trendsetters (unless you’re an apparel company). If you’re a technology company, these are the geeks. They’re the raving fans of your industry.

Do you make it easy for people to hand off your message to others?  More on this here.

The coupon above might get one person to show up, but it doesn’t encourage them to hand off the baton.

This coupon creates social currency. “You’ll like me more because I got us all free drinks.”

Online (blogs/message boards) or offline (customer advisory boards/customer events).

So, maybe we add two lines to our marketing proverb:

And the moral of our NEW proverb is…

After being tagged by both John Grant and Spike (who both have GREAT blogs – check ‘em out), I’m way late in getting this done. We’re going through some exciting changes at our fledgling agency. Since I merged my consulting practice with Sandy’s agency, I have been very reactive. Getting on top of stuff now (thank goodness) and will probably be blogging a bit more.

John and Spike tagged me to continue a blog meme discussing 5 things you don’t know about me. Here we go.

1. I grew up in a grocery store.

I wasn’t raised by a pack of wolves, I was raised by a 6-pack of Dr. Pepper. Actually, my grandparents owned the local grocery store in Kellyville, OK. The store was sort of a local mercantile. You could go to Staiger’s Grocery and buy food, hardware, automotive parts, plumbing supplies, and even feed for your cattle.

My father was the store manager and my mom was the produce manager. The store was about 3 blocks from school. Sometimes I would walk to school from the grocery store when my dad took me to work in the morning, and I usually walked to the grocery store after school – waiting for my mom to get off work at 5 PM. I spent many hours reading comic books in front of the magazine rack or playing tape-ball in the store warehouse.

2. I began my career as an illustrator.

Maybe it was all those years of reading comic books. I have drawn every since I can remember using a pencil or crayon. I remember being 4 years old, drawing a picture and asking my mom how to spell my name so I could sign my masterpiece.

I won some art show awards in high school. I was elated to take Best of Show my senior year. Mr. Chinoweth, the high school art instructor, was a huge encouragement to me. He’s one of the reasons I stuck with art.

While at Oklahoma State University, I majored in graphic design with an emphasis in illustration (they didn’t have an illustration degree). Carey Hissey was my illustration instructor and my favorite by far.

After graduation, I began illustrating for magazines and book publishers. After a few years, I found the isolation of freelance illustration (and the tiny paychecks) losing it’s luster and began to work for some agencies in Tulsa, OK.

3. I auditioned for The Apprentice.

The Apprentice held auditions in Oklahoma City a few years ago. I felt confident in my creativity and business sense, so I figured it was worth a shot. I felt like I did pretty well.

They do group “auditions” where they give a controversial topic and let everyone debate chaotically. I decided to let both sides be presented, point out both sides’ flaws, and give a third perspective as a solution. Each time, the room became quiet and I seemed to give the final answer.

I was voted project manager by our group in the end. But I never got a call for the next round. I’m guessing I was too diplomatic. “Diplomatic” isn’t good for TV.

4. My solo song has been released.

Actually, it was released 8 years ago. Our church recorded an album as a tribute to the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir. My solo is a song called “We Are United.” It’s not bad, but don’t expect to see me on American Idol.

5. Mo’ drama, mo’ drama, mo’ drama.

I’ve been involved in drama since junior high school. Back then, my best friend and I were awarded the “Steven Spielberg” award for creativity in drama.

In high school, I won local and district competitions with a dramatic duet (a scene from The Rainmaker). We went on to state competition with it.

In college, I performed works of Shakespeare as Hamlet and Henry V. I also performed with a drama and music group that ministered to prisons and youth shelters.

I have led drama ministry at our church (Liberty Church in Broken Arrow, OK), but left that role recently. I still write scripts and direct occasionally for dramas at our church.

Of course this experience has helped me as I write TV and radio scripts for Hahn Promotions. A little drama background doesn’t hurt a creative director.

Keeping the meme alive, I will tag Steve, Cord, and Ernie.

When your neck is on the line, risk assessment becomes a lot fuzzier.  Our judgment is clouded by fear and doubt.   A great idea suddenly becomes a huge risk.  Do you dare to bare your neck?

Seth has a great comparison list illustrating two concepts of hard work.  The last one is the kicker.

Having a great idea       |        Sticking your neck out

I pride myself in having great ideas.  But looking back, I’ve rarely stuck my neck out.  Too many fuzzy decisions.

What about you?  Are your ideas neck-worthy or are your decisions fuzzy?

P.S. Thanks for sticking your neck out Seth, and encouraging the rest of us to do the same.

How do we define success? Usually by others’ expectations.

More to come on Friday.
(More from me at least. My expectations don’t set Seth’s schedule.)

Without a doubt, no other blogger has influenced my perceptions of marketing more than Seth Godin. Before I started reading Seth’s blog and books, I had a pretty narrow perception of marketing. I also had a narrow perception of career and business success.

Here’s what I’ve learned from Seth (in no particular order):

Permission marketing is more effective than interruption marketing.

Getting your message to sneezers is more urgent than getting it to the masses.

Remarkable gets remarked about.

Very good is the opposite of remarkable.

Perfection is the enemy of remarkable.

Survival is not enough.

There’s always a story.

How you tell it matters.

I am a laser beam.

Small is the new big.

Treat different customers differently. (segmentation ain’t just for databases)

Ideas are different than opinions. (which lead to this)

——————–

Seth is labeled as an agent of change. I find that appropriate since I can truly say he has changed the course of my career, which of course changes the course of my life.

Thank you Seth, for inspiring change. I, for one, have benefited from it.