TLDR

• Go read “Great by Choice”, it has some amazing ideas not outlined here. “Fire Bullets, then Cannonballs” is a rather great retelling of the idea of the power of prototyping and test markets.

• Especially if you’re a small business, never ignore the power of sustained growth. If you do, you’re really missing out.

• Promotions are great for highlighting something in the news, getting a rapid influx of people or generating buzz.

• Sustained growth’s strength is in its affordability and long-term benefits. Suffers from diminishing returns.

• You can’t afford to compare apples to oranges. Promotions and sustained growth serve different purposes and have their own strengths.

Jim Collin’s latest book, “Great by Choice” is a well-crafted reimagining of some of the fundamentals of good business practices. Collins introduces us to the notion of a “20 mile march” – leading with the strategy of sustained growth over the whims of normal market volatility. That perhaps the turtle does beat the hare in the long term.

But what if this notion should be plied to our trade as well? And how? Whenever I build a new framework for business, be it finance, strategy or social, I create a fictitious mom and pop cupcake company, “Dainty Cakes.” Dainty has just decided to build their first marketing campaign and have gone to two separate marketing companies for support. The only criteria Dainty gives is that they would like it to be on Facebook.

Company A

A recommends a cupcake-palooza event. Company A describes it as a multi-platform social event used to drive cupcake enthusiasts into Dainty’s Facebook page where they will then receive regular brand messaging. The idea is slightly risky due to the nature of the volatile nature of cupcake enthusiast’s acceptance of branding (“advertising just makes cupcakes oh-so-passe”), but company A assures Dainty that most of the time these types of contests yield positive results.

Company B

B recommends an organic growth strategy. Dainty has some pretty popular web assets already that enthusiasts love. Namely an online cupcake builder and a website which publishes baking tips and insider information via a very popular blog. B would rather increase organic traffic by converting the “Read More” part of the blog to go to a Facebook note, build in some open graph integration using Facebook’s new [noun] [verb] system and lastly build a brand voice Dainty can then take to popular forums or Facebook to build brand engagement with enthusiasts.

Which would you go with? Let’s assume the cost of each campaign is the same. Collins notes that one of the successful traits of a “10X” (high growth) company is that they would pick option B – to build a strategy around sustained growth over one big-sexy risk.

The Hidden Nature of Sustained Growth

Good news everyone! Dainty receives a new investor. In the heat of jubilation the CMO approves both ideas from A and B! Victory all around. Both companies are hired. At the end of the month, the numbers come in.

Campaign A is declared victorious and future business goes to them. Wait…what? Companies, especially younger ones like Dainty, tend to think in terms of campaigns. There’s nothing wrong with that, it’s how the marketing industry works, but it leaves a fundamental flaw to be reconciled.

Although based on a broader spectrum, Collin’s idea that sustained growth is more powerful than volatile growth is a powerful one that can apply to the social sphere. Sure, company A would keep launching new (and likely) successful campaigns, but even then they need to spend more money just to keep up with company B’s strategy.

A Hare and a Tortoise

Here is where Collins and I diverge a bit.

The difference between successful modern marketers and unsuccessful ones seems to be multidimensional versus one-dimensional thinking.

Those who focus solely on promotions suffer from a lack of overall growth. When the marketing of a channel stops, so too does its ability to grow. They also put themselves in the hands of those campaigns which can run a spectrum of the most amazing thing in the world to a very epic waste of money.

On the other hand, those who focus solely on sustained growth soon suffer from the notion of diminishing returns. Eventually you run out of optimizations you can make or usability paths. Every additional dollar you pump into optimization is worth slightly less than the one before it. Bursty volatile campaigns also play off of, boost and synergize with other new endeavors that may need more focus in the press in a short period of time.

Jim Bruno breaks systems, particularly in marketing, for a living. He’s also the biggest geek in the world.

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It’s hard to believe that it’s already been 10 months since I became the Social Media Manager at Carnival Cruise Lines. This year has gone by faster than any other I can remember, and it’s also been one of, if not, the most memorable.

I’ve experienced so many new things (visiting Europe for the first time being my absolute favorite), have had the privilege of working with and learning from so many smart and talented people on an every day basis, and most of all I’ve continued to challenge myself like never before.

Throughout all of these new experiences, I’ve learned a lot about business, life, and everything in between. I’m hoping to share a lot of these “lessons” throughout future blog posts, but for now, here are 10 I’ve learned (and some re-learned) over the last 10 months (in no particular order):

  1. If you want something bad enough, fight for it. But you better be sure the juice is worth the squeeze.
  2. Positivity is contagious. Negativity is deadly.
  3. Bacon goes good with everything, especially dessert. :-)
  4. Learn to trust your gut… 99.9% of the time it’s right.
  5. NEVER SETTLE.
  6. If you want to be successful, prioritization in KEY.
  7. Talk is cheap and promises are just words. Don’t believe anything until it’s done.
  8. Life is way too short to hold a grudge. People make mistakes. While it may be hard to forget, learn to forgive. You’ll be surprised at how much better it will make you feel.
  9. It’s important to disconnect from time to time and spend quality time with those you love. You’re work isn’t going anywhere, but the people close to you might, if you always put them second.
  10. No matter what, always be yourself. People can spot a fake in a second (this applies to businesses/brands too).
So what about you? Anything enlightening you’ve learned over the last year or so that’s impacted the way you think about business and life?

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Instead of making this a long, drawn out intro filled with personal recollections, funny anecdotes, or a bunch of stuff most of you could care less about, I figured I would just get to the point.

For those of you that haven’t heard yet, last week I resigned as Social Media Manager at Clickbooth.

Now before you jump to conclusions and start assuming that it must have had something to do with the company, it’s stability in the industry, or whatever else may have popped into your head once you read that, let me stop you right there and say that this decision had nothing to do with Clickbooth.

First off, Clickbooth isn’t going anywhere. They are THE leader in the performance marketing industry and will be for a long long time (IMHO). In fact, the stuff CB is currently working on and should be releasing some time in the near future is truly mind blowing and is definitely a game changer to say the least. (And since I don’t work there anymore, I have no bias or reason to make it up. They really are doing some amazing things over there and trust me, you’ll know it when you see it.)

In addition to their constant innovation, they are truly a stand up company who have always done things the right way (regardless of criticism), and have proven their integrity time and time again (which is one of the main reasons they are so successful today and also why I have so much respect for John and the whole company).

I also think it’s important to note that I left Clickbooth with no hard feelings or bad blood at all. In fact, I am proud to call each and every person at CB a close friend of mine and even more so…family for life. They are some of the brightest people I’ve ever had the privilege of working with, have huge hearts, and I truly love each and every one of them. To be honest, saying goodbye to a lot of the people over there was one of the hardest things I’ve had to do in a very long time…

So I know what you’re probably thinking. if Clickbooth is all fine and dandy, why did I leave?

Well some of it had to do with personal reasons and me wanting to live closer to my family, but the biggest and most important reason had to do with me listening to my heart and knowing deep down inside that it was time for a change and that I needed a new challenge. And with a phenomenal team and a functional strategy and plan now in place at CB, it was the right time for me to take on this new challenge.

Now from all the AIMs and emails I’ve received over the last week or so, I know many of you have been wondering where I decided to take the next step in my career.

Well….I am happy to say that I am back home in Ft. Lauderdale, FL (living near my family and close friends) and I’m very proud to be working for a company/brand that I’ve loved and respected for as long as I can remember. Not only that, but the minute I walked through their door, I immediately felt right at home and knew instantly that this was where I was supposed to be. (It also didn’t hurt that the owner also happened to own my favorite NBA team as well ;-) )

With that said, (if you haven’t guessed it yet) I am excited to announce that I am now the Social Media Manager for Carnival Cruise Lines.

I can’t even begin to explain how great the team is over at Carnival and how excited I am to be a part of such a 1st class organization. These guys are some of the smartest, most creative, and nicest people I’ve ever met and there’s only one way to describe the working environment over here – FUN! (go figure ;-) )

I truly believe that everything happens for a reason, and that everything I’ve done over the last 5-6 years has brought me to this point, and I honestly couldn’t be happier.

In addition to this new role, I am now able to devote A LOT more time to this blog, something I’ve been wanting to do since forever and I can’t tell you how happy I am about it. I have so many ideas for posts, different types of content, and tons of stuff I can’t wait to try out and I look forward to sharing the process with all of you every step of the way.

Now before I go, I just want to mention how grateful I am for all the friendships I’ve built in the affiliate marketing industry over the last two years. I consider every single one of you as family and I want you to know that if you ever need ANYTHING, feel free to hit me up anytime. I am and will ALWAYS be here for you guys, no matter where I am or what I’m doing. :-)

Thanks again for all the continued support you all have given me over the last few years; it means more to me than you’ll ever know.

Oh…and in case you were wondering, yes, I will be at ASW 11 and as far as I know, will still be speaking with my buddies John Chow, Murray Newlands, Jonathan Volk, and Greg Rollett on “Dominating Your Niche With Blogger Outreach”. This is going to be a really fun and informative panel and I look forward to seeing you all there!

Til next time,

Eric

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While I was at BlogWorld 2009, I had the chance to meet up with Ted Murphy, CEO of IZEA, and talk about their newest product, Sponzai.

Watch below to learn more about the new service and how you as a blogger can start making some additional income with sponsored guest posts.



What are your thoughts on Sponzai? Is it a service you would consider using as a blogger? Why or why not?

If you’ve already used the service, please share your stories below so that others can benefit from your experiences. :-)

While I haven’t used Sponzai just yet, I will definitely be looking into it a lot more over the next few weeks and plan on doing an in depth review on it soon.

For more info on Sponzai, you can check out their website here. You can also follow Ted Murphy on twitter here.

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