Category: consulting

Gary Vaynerchuk: Treat Your Business Like a Second Child

[This content was originally posted by Gary Vaynerchuk on Linkedin 4/9/13. Gary is a social media pioneer and the co-founder and CEO of Vaynermedia. You can follow him on Twitter at @Garyvee and find him on Facebook at facebook.com/gary]

So, knowing that I have a lot of young fans, this may not resonate, but for all of you “older peeps” like me that are lucky enough to have two children…

Something interesting happened the other day. We had some great friends over, Erin and François. They have three children, and Erin was getting their middle child ready. Their third child was laying on the ground, legs flailing in the air, and I got thinking about how Lizzie and I are handling Xander compared to Misha, and I realized “My God…”

I asked Erin, “Would you ever let Sebastian (middle child) lay like that?”
She was like, “Absolutely not!”

You start realizing a very common joke around people that have young children is how differently you act with the second child than you do with the first.

With the first one, you micromanage. Everything is video-taped; its first fart, its sixth day, “it’s six days and three weeks after the first time it ever sneezed on a Tuesday!” I mean everything is focused on, everything is micromanaged, everything is over-thought.

I’ve been paying attention to a lot of people running businesses, and from corporate America that wants every little ROI tight, to entrepreneurs who have never been through it before – thus are micromanaging dumb shit that doesn’t actually matter, it’s very obvious to me that the best piece of advice I can give at this moment is this:
Treat your business like a second child.

Nothing is perfect. Nothing in business is black and white. All the magic is in the grey. Have patience. Nothing is the worst thing that ever happened, and nothing is the best thing that ever happened.

Celebrating the way you raised money is just the beginning. Being devastated thinking it’s over when you lost the deal isn’t the true reality. It’s always somewhere in the middle. And if you understand how to raise a second child, and realize the difference between “Little Timmy’s eating dirt, and that’s ok”, but you would have NEVER let big sister Janet do that, that is the same way that I think you need to look at your business.

Nothing is the end of the world, and nothing is the greatest thing of all time. Embracing the chaos, the nimbleness, the things that you can’t control, is the complete definition of a leader that’s going to be able to navigate through the chaotic, never-predictable business world.

So relax. Grab a coffee. Take a shot of vodka. It’s all going to be ok. Treat your business like a second child.

[image from Creative Commons by Chiara]

Radar in Washington D.C. with the SDPA

Radar’s team was in Washington D.C. with the SDPA for their 2011 Summer Conference. Radar’s team filmed interviews, recorded audio & video podcasts for Dermcast.tv and followed the PAs as they participated in the first ever Capitol Hill Day. You can watch highlights here. PAs and dermatologists met with senators and congressmen to discuss pertinent issues pertaining to dermatology.

D.C. was the sixth event Radar’s team has filmed for Dermcast.tv. Next is Orlando, Florida in November 2011.

South by Southwest (SXSW)

Radar is honored to be involved with this year’s Beacon Lounge (aka: “the Lounge with a Conscience”) at the Convention Center where WhatGives.com is producing & streaming a half-hour webcast hosted by Mark Horvath from InvisiblePeople.tv (with special thanks to Portnoy Media Group). The multicam webcast will air on Saturday March 13th, Sunday March 14th & Monday March 15th at 10:30 AM CT. The webcasts feature some amazing people in the social media for social good world and topics include social media’s impact on efforts to increase support for charities and causes around the world.

You can click here for a complete schedule. Mark’s guests include Jeff Pulver from the 140 character conference; Chris Brogan of Trust Agents and Social Media 101 fame; Kari Saratovsky from the Case Foundation; Terry Storch and Tony Steward from LifeChurch.tv; Beth Kanter, nonprofit social media strategist; and Chris Noble, Founder and CEO of Causemedia Group.

 

To help us get the word out there, please use the following hashtags: #whatgives and #refreshGary (more info on that here, thanks to Kevin Hendricks).

If you have no idea what SXSW is, then keep reading:

There’s no doubt South by Southwest is a major event: SXSW is the highest revenue-producing special event for the Austin economy, with an estimated economic impact of at least $110 million in 2008. With more than 1,400 performers playing in more than 80 venues around Austin over four days, SXSW Music is really why people come here. But over the years, SXSW Film has become one of the world’s premiere film festivals while SXSW Interactive has attracted a strong following among web creators and entrepreneurs. SXSW Interactive’s focus on emerging technology has earned the festival a reputation as a breeding ground for new ideas and creative technologies. Twitter launched at SXSW Interactive in 2007.

EnviroSolve Has Radar On Their Mine

The EnviroSolve Corporation has tapped Radar to produce a 30-minute safety training video for the former Anaconda Copper Mine site in Yerington, Nevada which is going through a multi-million dollar cleanup.

The Yerington Site has more potential pitfalls than Raiders of the Lost Ark so it’s critical that all visitors to the mine go through some training before spending any amount of time on the site. The 30-minute training video will be available on the Radar website upon its completion in May. For more information on the site cleanup, click here.

Recruitment Video for Universal Studios Hollywood

The Human Resources department at Universal Studios Hollywood has tapped Radar to produce its 2009 Recruitment Video. The video will be featured on USH’s job recruiting website and will loop in the staffing lobby. Radar’s team is developing the script, filming in and around the theme park and CityWalk and editing the Hi-Def video which will be posted online in February. Here are some non-color corrected images from the employee interviews.

5 Tips For Using New Media in 2009

For those of you who have told us you’re wanting to utilize “new media” in 2009, this is for you. Here are FIVE tips for using new media for your company or organization this year:

1. Start using social media sites like Facebook & Twitter

New media means bringing your brand to where your users/customers hang out. So if your users spend most of there time on Facebook, you should have a Facebook group or page setup. It’s free and easy and there’s no reason why you can’t set this up right now. Twitter is another great example of how brands are connecting with their customers in an easy & free way (see Starbucks, CNN, Zappos, etc…). Start building your social equity (you’ll soon learn that it’s worth more than your financial equity). Want more on this? Watch this. And if you don’t like Gary, you’re not allowed to complain until you get 92 comments on a single post.

2. Blogging is good. Videos are better.

Don’t just have someone in your office type up a bunch of stuff (ie: cut & pasted press releases, links, memos, thoughts on this or that, etc…). A bulletin board blog is boring and so 2008! Buy a $200 Flip HD camera and start shooting little videos to post on your website or blog (then link it up on Twitter, Facebook & Vimeo and let others embed it on their sites. Make it viral!). Interview your CTO talking about some of the upcoming products that will revolutionize your industry. If you’re worried about competitors “stealing” your ideas, keep it vague. Have an expert within your organization (say your CEO or COO or SVP of Marketing) talk about trends, themes or challenges facing your industry today, how they got to be the CEO, funny stories along the way, what’s next. What plans do you have to keep your company “more green”? Or what are you doing to stabilize your company through these tough economic times? How do you plan to stay innovative this year? There’s a 100 questions you can answer with a short 20-30 second video (I suggest keeping them under 3 minutes). If you only did a video a week you’d have 52 videos! Not bad. Listen to the comments. Respond to them. Reshoot accordingly. Re-post quickly. If people want more of a specific topic or want you to answer a specific question, go for it. People want to watch your company vs. read about it. And don’t be afraid to post videos of your customers. Let them be a part of the organization too. Have them sign a standard release form if your legal team gasps at the idea (which they will).

3. Engage your audience

Give them what they want. If your customers want to see more before & after videos, post them online. Examples of how to do something. How to use your products. Features & benefits they never even thought about. Highlights from a recent event. A promo video for an upcoming event. A day-in-the-life-of a [fill in the blank] to show the “real” side of what it’s like to [fill in the blank]. Give your viewers creative ideas & solutions so they’ll keep coming back for more (Williams-Sonoma does this really well with both their online recipes and how-to videos). And for the love of God, please RSS your website. Don’t know what that is? Click here. Have your fans shoot their own videos and submit them for a 6-month contest. The winner gets a new (fill in the blank) and also gets featured on your website in the Summer. Make it last 1 year or do 1 every 6 months to give your staff a break (also a great way to build anticipation for the next one). Remember, these don’t cost much – they’re affordable branded entertainment.

4. Go mobile

This isn’t the technology of tomorrow. It’s happening today. Companies like Amazon.com and SnapTell have already launched their mobile apps for users to connect with their brand while on the go. Truth be told, I did about 75% of my Christmas shopping for 2008 from my iPhone using the Amazon mobile app. What inexpensive app can you create to help connect users with your brand or products? Maybe it’s your entire catalogue of products or a free estimate calculator or featured videos from #2 that are only available on the app. Or keep it simple and make it a “lite” version of your website so viewers can see pricing, products, locate your stores, etc… Remember: 27 loyal brand evangelists are 1,000% more effective than a million people who drive by one of your billboards. Viral = strategic > ad noise.

5. Build your database

When people visit your site, get them to register. Make it easy for them to sign up and DO NOT SPAM them. Use it to build your database. Use it for strategic partnerships. But don’t use it to blast out weekly or even monthly emails to your followers (unless they want that – giving your customers or loyal followers options is probably point #6 but we’d say keep it to 5). SPAM’d followers will opt out of your list, guaranteed. Be smart about it but most of all, DO IT!

If you’ve read 1-5 and you’re now saying, “Well, yeah. Duh!” Chances are you’re already using new media to build your brand and connect with your base. Good job! Keep it up and we’ll compare notes. Next month I’ll share some best practices from our clients who are now starting to see the benefits of using new media in 2008.

[image from Creative Commons by Michael(tm) Smith]

Welcome to dermcast.tv

Dermcast.tv launched last week and is already receiving positive feedback from users who are calling it the “YouTube” for dermatology PA’s. The site, created by Radar, in association with the SDPA, is the only online media resource of its kind for physician assistants. As of today, the site features a few interviews with SDPA board members and founders, expert insight from well-known & experienced PA’s and man-on-the-street interviews with attendees of the 6th annual Fall conference in Tampa. With future updates, the site will feature PowerPoints from breakout sessions and keynotes as well as a library of podcasts from industry events and conferences.

Click here to see the podcast on iTunes.

Click here to visit dermcast.tv and click here to visit the SDPA.

Looking Back: Top Video Content Websites of 2006

As mentioned in Cynopsis Digital, here are the top sites adults used to view video content online in 2006, from Piper Jaffray. The numbers represent the percentage of respondents who said they viewed video on these sites:

YouTube 43.5%
TV Network Sites 41%
Google Video 26.5%
MSN Video 24.5%
Yahoo! Video 22%
MySpace 16.5%
AOL 13.5%
Other 17.5%

[image used with permission from Creative Commons by Johan Larsson]

Not Sure About This: Commercial Pop-Ups on Online Videos?

ABC recently told media buyers it is considering inserting commercials directly into its online programming. For instance, commercials would pop out of televisions, cell phones and print ads appearing within episodes of shows such as Ugly Betty and According to Jim, then expand to run in full-screen mode.

We’re not sure we’re ready for this. What do you think?

[image used with permission from Creative Commons by Tom Newby]

Lucifer the Movie

RG Entertainment has tapped Radar Creative to create a website, DVD and movie poster for Lucifer, a movie being produced & directed by Ray Griggs of RG Entertainment.

Some of Hollywood’s top “A List” players collaborated on the movie trailer including cinematographer Russell Carpenter, a well-known film scoring orchestra, Cafe FX and ADI. Griggs plans on shopping the DVD trailer around town in order to raise the necessary financing needed to film the feature length movie.

 

Visual Trends: “Zoom-to-Reveal”

“Zoom-to-reveal” design (or ZTR as I’ll refer to it in this blog) is becoming more and more of a trend in the design world.

A few years ago, websites like Mapquest and Google maps introduced us to an old concept: zooming in to reveal more. You might be familiar with the work of Charles Eams and his Orders of Magnitude, but this concept of zooming in to reveal more information as it relates to the Information Age and not the Scientific World, is a newer concept. Let me explain.

With Google Maps, we can choose what information we want to see and on what level. You can choose Earth, continent, country, state, county, city, highway, road, sidewalk, ant… you get the idea. Stay at a higher elevation if you’re wanting to know where a person’s home is in relationship to the freeway; zoom in closer if you want to see where a person’s home is in relationship to the street (ie: end of the cul-de-sac, before the right turn, etc…).

So now companies are using this mentality with designing their sites. Stay at a higher elevation if you’re wanting to know where this company is in relationship to the industry (how do they compare with the other guys?); zoom in closer if you want to see where this company is in relationship to its clients (who are they working with?); zoom in even closer if you want to see where this company is in relationship to specific projects it’s producing (why are they different/better/smarter?).

The best example of this is Leo Burnett’s website: a creative ad agency in Canada. As you’ll see (after you’ve spent three hours of your life playing with their website), they apply this technique to their world quite brilliantly.

Another example I can’t cut & paste here is what TBS (a TV network in the U.S.) is doing with their graphics packages.

We found this website (browsegoods.com) — again, a perfect example of how ZTR is being used effectively in the design world.

What do you think? Is this just a fad or a new way of communicating in a visual world?

[image used with permission from Creative Commons by Yogesh Mhatre]

Radar in Uganda

RADAR’s team will depart for Uganda today. They’ll join up with several people from Children’s Hunger Fund and Africa Renewal Ministries in order to upgrade a video editing system that was installed in 2004. New cameras and equipment as well as new software and tools will be made available to the eight person video team.

Africa Renewal Ministries (or ARM) produces educational DVD’s for faith-based operations throughout Uganda and East Africa. ARM’s main focus is food distribution to children and families who need it most. In addition to equipment upgrades and software installation, the RADAR team will be filming several interviews for multiple non-profit organizations.

SDPA Calls on Radar…Again

The Society of Dermatology Physician Assistants (SDPA) has once again tapped RADAR for creative services on both internal & external communication pieces for 2006. The multi-phased account will encompass identity packages, direct mail, newsletters and pitch pieces for the San Antonio-based organization. For now, RADAR will deliver concepts for new letterhead, envelopes and business cards. RADAR recently designed & produced the new website for SDPA (dermPA.org) which has been a huge win for the organization since its launch back in November of last year.