With our almost unlimited choices in social media and search engines, we always have at least two decent answers to every search, question or opinion.

With so many choices, marketers (including idea merchants and politicians) try to give us compelling reasons to choose their product or service.

These choices are connected by a common category, yet separated by the benefits or features that make them different from each other.

We decide what makes two similar products or services different in just a few seconds. The more effective a marketing message, the more likely we are to choose A over B.

So “on the other hand” isn’t a phrase only for economists now. It’s become part of the process we use to differentiate between our options.

The more subtle the gap between A and B, and the less time we have to compare, the more familiar we become with paradoxes.

Because a paradox is defined as something that combines contradictory features or qualities. Or it can be a statement that seems at first to be absurd or self-contradictory, yet eventually makes some kind of sense.

“The paradox of war is that it involves killing people to stop people from killing each other.”

“The more undernourished our children are, the more obese they become.”

“The more we communicate with each other, the less we really listen.”

As compulsive choosers, we hear paradoxical statements every day and accept them more easily than ever.

Republished with author's permission from original post by 3wordstosuccess.

“He’s such a great salesperson,” the saying goes, “he could sell snow to an Eskimo.”

But that might not be as hard as you’d think.

The fact is, almost everyone prefers having more of something they already have, rather than something they lack.

Rich people want to be richer; that’s why we have lobbyists. Beautiful people’s desire to be more beautiful keeps Hollywood’s plastic surgery clinics (and the tabloids) humming. Olympic athletes wish they were stronger or faster. And geniuses dream of being more intelligent.

Years ago, Georgia voters had to choose between a sitting governor whom everyone knew to be corrupt, or a young political firebrand. Many old-timers voted for the incumbent.

“We know he’ll steal a million dollars a year,” their reasoning went. “We aren’t sure how much the young guy will take.”

They were comfortable with electing crooks, and saw little point in doing things differently.

Of course your prospects and customers want to enrich their lives and business. But changing to your product or service may require a leap of faith. Why try to make them take it, or use up your resources getting them to trust you?

Instead, discover what your prospects and customers have plenty of. Then pitch your product or service as the best way for them to get more of it.

Republished with author's permission from original post by 3wordstosuccess.

Post-war American industrialists loved efficiency experts: men with stopwatches and clipboards, paid to find ways for a company to shave seconds–even minutes–off the time it took workers to complete every task.

This rational, numbers-driven strategy was supposed to help management control an emotion-driven workplace.

Today, SEO experts promise us easy money from manipulating consumers to buy something, or visit our site.

But this is no time to suspend your disbelief, just because their technique is technology-based.

Behavior isn’t rational. Never has been. Any brand-new marketer or sales pro learns this fact within a few hours of meeting his or her first prospect. If buying decisions are emotional and irrational, why waste money and time on techniques that pretend we act rationally and are so herdable?

It’s because these snap-on techniques encourage us to believe–irrationally–that people are willing to be manipulated.

SEO experts, like the late unlamented efficiency experts, would have us believe that people leave emotions behind when talking about business. An SEO client is born every minute; dreaming that everyone except him or her behaves rationally, and will respond to the newest off-the-shelf manipulative process.

Republished with author's permission from original post by 3wordstosuccess.

Any company planning to use social media in a systematic way to support customer service, sales, or any other business function needs every employee on board from the start. It’s a corporate culture shift that won’t work with a traditional management approach.

But using the right combination of educational and information-gathering techniques, presented in a stimulating and memorable way, will get you the data or feedback you need at the same time that you’re preparing employees to get involved in the transition.

And there’s no need to make this project very complicated or widgety. Here’s my suggestion of how you might get off on the right foot. It’s an original idea I came up with in response to the request for help from a member of marketingprofs.com.

1. People get involved in social media because they want to feel connected and engaged with other people, and hopefully learn something in the process.

2. Technology has changed how we engage with each other, but not why we feel that need (especially Americans, the world’s most avid association junkies).

3. The more AUTHENTIC the initial online engagement–the more relevance, proof, and value in first interactions–the more a person wants to stay in touch with another individual or group.

Republished with author's permission from original post by 3wordstosuccess.

1. You’re a leader because you offer everyone more value; snake oil salesmen think they know how to manipulate others.
2. You accept responsibility; they avoid it with lies, damned lies and statistics.
3. You compete against yourself daily; they always sell the same tired two-dimensional idea.
4. You always make yourself useful; they seek only short-term personal gain.
5. You respect creative people; creativity confuses and scares them.
6. A problem intrigues you; they hope it will go away if they ignore it.
7. You encourage humor in yourself and others; they promote only drama and trivialities.
8. You welcome synergy and diversity; they want everyone to line up behind them.
9. Numbers are a tool for you; the same numbers serve as their “invisibility cloak.”
10. You enjoy ideas and new perspectives; they tend to feel threatened and afraid about anything different.
11. You encourage stakeholders to become leaders; they tell their stakeholders to buy more snake oil.
12. You prefer success over control; they think one is the same as the other.
13. You recognize that people are the key to success; they see people as consumers and commodities.
14. You strive for universal, ongoing improvement; they seem to know they’re perfect.
15. You offer stakeholders frequent success; they just sell repackaged products or services.
16. You motivate us with recognition and appreciation; they think that’s too much trouble. Read more »

Republished with author's permission from original post by 3wordstosuccess.

World Cup fever and the game of soccer is in the headlines. It’s almost as popular as social media. But unlike Facebook, it comes with a championship.

So why is “the beautiful game” suddenly so beautiful to Americans?

Maybe it’s partly the result of our social media lifestyles.

Consider the similarities between the low-tech, democratic game of soccer/football and the high-tech, democratic “game” of social media. Great soccer players:

* Can react quickly to the unexpected
* Can switch from offensive play to defensive and back again in an instant
* Can focus completely on the ball, yet remain conscious of everything around them
* Often started to play without the benefit of training, equipment or specific skills

And the same goes for great social media marketers.

Footballers visit http://www.soccer-training-info.com/soccer_strategy_tactics.asp because they want to teach themselves how to “bend it like Beckham.” Might it help us look differently at social media success, too?

Here’s hoping that some day you’ll play social media as well as the pros play football.

Republished with author's permission from original post by 3wordstosuccess.

Only a few years ago, most of us believed our professional and corporate worlds were here to stay; institutions were permanent and immutable.

Back then a few overachievers could gain market traction by introducing revised versions of last year’s applications as “new paradigms,” or by promoting their disruptive technology. But our safety nets and systems were so securely in place, marketers could focus on traditional niches, and keep tweaking their tested techniques.

The good old days.

Today’s successful entrepreneurs go to sleep with iPads on their stomachs. Restaurant chains extend their digital glad-hands straight into our pockets. Each of us is a solo market niche, living in a permanent state of self-education and preparing ourselves to become tomorrow’s persona.

Yet most companies continue trying to guide consumer crowds into their dusty corrals. That’s because it’s easier to market to ghosts and fond memories than to moving targets like you and me.

New studies conclude that technology promotes fractured thinking and lack of focus. A generation of chronic multitaskers, experts tell us, loves to lap up “irrelevant” information even when we’re offline.

Republished with author's permission from original post by 3wordstosuccess.

Great marketers and advertisers build memorable conversations with audiences. Their messages and images connect us to people, narratives and solutions . . . then hopefully to their product or service.. .

They probably don’t realize that a great artist’s technique was doing the same thing centuries ago.

Scientists studying Rembrandt’s “eye guiding” technique and skillful use of “lost and found edges” believe they’ve decoded the magic of his art.

His most famous portraits naturally guide our gaze to the subject’s carefully painted eyes. That gives viewers a calming, memorable sense of personal connection.

For the study, scientists followed the eye movements of volunteers as they looked at new photo portraits that copied Rembrandt’s technique.

“When viewing the Rembrandt-like portraits, viewers fixated on the detailed eye faster and stayed there for longer periods of time, resulting in calmer eye movements,” UBC researcher Steve DiPaola reported

Republished with author's permission from original post by 3wordstosuccess.

Not having enough time to take care of business isn’t your biggest problem. Neither is a lack of authority or decision making power.

The real issue is a lack of reliable results. Get your “results yesterday.” This quick payoff will be your reward for what you’re doing right, or how you’re getting it done. Don’t look now, but the faster our wired world moves the longer it takes other businesses to get their payoffs.

Few business people realize how simple it can be to achieve great results–not always easy, but simple. First identify and cultivate your business’ key moving parts. Then put them into positive motion with a simple process that’s built around easily acquired and proven business development tools. A process already being used by businesses like yours.

Stop reinventing the wheel. Discover and tap into the remarkable results your employees, team members, customers and stakeholders have already achieved. With this process in place, make good things happen:

Republished with author's permission from original post by 3wordstosuccess.

[Note: I offer various services at a site called fiver.com because I like to--certainly not for big bucks. Last weekend a mother/housewife asked me to critique her blog. Here's what happened next, starting with my critique. Maybe my advice will help a few other writers, too]

Dear ___,

To be perfectly honest, I agree with your family and friends. Before the end of the first paragraph I recognized a born writer, with a genuine gift for crafting snappy, friendly, giddyup observations. I also like your imaginative POV: talking to intangibles, or sitting in your urine. This is good stuff, young lady. Do yourself a favor and keep writing. Do the rest of us a favor and do more of it.

To write really well means writing a lot, and making each reader feel close to you. The second one you’ve got covered. Here are a couple of signs that you don’t write as much as you should:

1) Long paragraphs and sentences. Find the old book on readability by Dr. Rudolph Flesch. His advice about writing short words and short paragraphs has never been as valuable as in the age of blogs. If you write more you’ll gravitate away from long-longs, but his book is a good shortcut.

Republished with author's permission from original post by 3wordstosuccess.