Creative / Stylish

The perception is the reality. If the universe exists, it exists inside illusion of your own mind and the minds of others. Marketing is a manipulation of those perception, not products.

[chonghiuyan]

The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he’s always doing both.

James A. Michener

[chonghiuyan]

ATTENTION CONTENT MARKETERS: STOP READING SO MUCH!

As a content marketer, there likely isn’t a day that goes by that you don’t come across an article that offers you a ton of ways to generate ideas to write about. If you feel stuck trying to rise above the noise then these can be very helpful. But many content marketers never really have a shortage of ideas floating around in their head; what they do sometimes have is a shortage of actual writing to show that.

Any smart content marketer, or publisher/editor  creates lists and lists of article topics, topic series, potential interviews, infographics, and more to create. Unfortunately, those lists don’t always seem to translate into actual content.

Do you know why?

Because you’re overwhelmed with content.

You have dozens of RSS feeds, almost as many email newsletters, hundreds of social feeds and a lot of direct email requests. You spend far too much time skimming, Pocketing, reading and making notes, writing ideas, and then what happens? You have time to produce very little.

What does all this reading and lack of writing mean for content marketing?

Reading Can Hinder Content Creation

There is so much great content out there to read. So much information you can use to learn how to do your job as a content marketer better. If you are struggling to find your unique voice among a sea of other content marketing, you get stressed, overwhelmed. You see four different versions of what you have as article number four on your list of things to write, then you see two of article idea ten. Now you’re freaking out, because you think all your ideas are already done.

Stop panicking. Take a deep breath. Here’s what you need to do.

Stop reading.

Yes, all the experts say you have to read, you have to be constantly learning. They aren’t wrong. But what they don’t tell you is that there is a point when you have to just stop reading and starting doing something. Because if you don’t - you’ll never get a word out and your content marketing efforts will tank, big time.

3 Step Content Marketing Process

Here is some advice to keep you on the right track.

1. Have a plan

A content marketing plan that aligns with your digital marketing strategy (and business strategy) will ensure that you know who you want to reach and what information you need to create and share to build relationships with them. Know if you are writing content for lead generation, or content for audience building - they often aren’t the same thing.

2. Create an editorial calendar and stick with it

What days will you publish content, what will the content be about and where will you publish it. How will it be promoted? Have all this clearly identified and stick with it. Of course be prepared to adjust on the fly if something comes up that you absolutely want to write about because it’s timely. The main thing to remember is that if you’ve set a publish date for a piece of content, stick with the publish date at a minimum. Audiences and customers, they like consistency.

3. Set aside at least half your day to simply write

If you have to, shut everything off: your phone, your social network alerts, your Internet if you absolutely can’t refrain from that quick email check. Forget that so and so already wrote about this topic, and just write your own version. Find your voice and your perspective and write, write, write. Once your first draft is done, sit on it for awhile. Write the next piece. Then you edit like a demon and ensure you’ve got your unique perspective, the proper attributions, the right visuals and so on. Believe me, writing is the hardest part when you have so many distractions.

Back on Track? Start Reading Again

When you get your writing back on track you feel great right (many writers attest to this truth). You know you’re producing great effective content. You are tracking the right metrics and see it’s working. If it’s not, you can adjust, but at least you’re writing and seeing results. Feeling better? Then start putting aside an hour a day to read. Learn to be more selective about the content you need to read versus reading everything.

Pick your favorite bloggers, analysts, and news sites and track their content only, create Twitter lists. Follow certain people and companies on LinkedIn. Be open to something or someone new, but know that you have limited time to read, or you’ll find yourself falling back into the trap of always readying, never producing.

A content marketer must always be learning new tactics and approaches, and that means you do have to read. But reading is a small part of the work you need to do. If you feel like you are stuck in an “always reading, never writing” zone, take a minute and ask yourself why. Then put aside the reading for awhile. Lay out your content strategy, develop your editorial calendar and start writing, distraction free. When you feel like you are ready, start reading again, but limit your time, even schedule it so you don’t fall back into old patterns.

And remember, if you spend too much time reading someone else’s great ideas, you’ll never create or share your own.

Repost from Startup Grind: https://www.startupgrind.com/blog/attention-content-marketers-stop-reading-so-much-3/

[chonghiuyan]

[chonghiuyan]

[chonghiuyan]

Let’s make better mistakes tomorrow!

[chonghiuyan]

The Matte Effect: Creating, Writing, And Placing Your Own Story

A colleague of mine and I were recently brainstorming a new-business proposal when she brought up a PR tool I hadn’t used since my days at Burson-Marsteller in the 1980s: the matte story. Little did I know, use of the matte story is as popular as it ever was — maybe even more, given today’s focus on branded content.

For those of you unfamiliar with the term, a matte story is a pre-formatted feature article that print and online editors can use when they want or need additional content for their publications. Brands, companies, and marketers can draft a story for publication using their or their client’s own content in a pre-formatted template. For a fee (generally $1,000 to $7,000, depending on the scope of the project), a matte service such as NAPS, the North American Precis Syndicate, will write, edit, and format the article, then distribute it to thousands of newspapers and websites all over the country.

The result is a lot of mass media coverage. NAPS, for instance, distributes to more than 10,000 media outlets with expected results of 100 to 400 print and 500+ online placements. A lot of the coverage comes from weekly newspapers — but what’s wrong with that? Certainly if you’re trying to reach average consumers, there’s no better place to find them than in a weekly newspaper.

In the old days, NAPS would snail-mail the formatted stories on glossy paper to participating media outlets; editors would choose from among dozens of articles in a given mailing. Today, of course, everything is digital and the process is much simpler. NAPS can also provide customized CDs, camera-ready repro proofs, downloadable files — even radio and video feature releases, with an expected 300+ on-air placements for each radio feature and 100+ on-air placements for each video. They also have an RSS feed and a strong social media presence.

For advice on how best to utilize matte stories, I recently spoke with Dorothy York, CEO of New York-based NAPS.

Q: Who are some of your entertainment clients and what matte releases have you done for them?

A: We have dozens of entertainment clients, including Disney, Dreamworks, Warner Bros., Blu-Ray, Electronic Arts, Netflix, Paramount and Yahoo, to name just a few.

For Disney, we recently distributed a story on the discovery of a lost character from “The Jungle Book,” Rocky the Rhino, and how a new featurette on this character can inspire real-life rhino rescue efforts.

For Dreamworks, we collaborated on a tech piece on the top five reasons to download digital movies, using “How To Train Your Dragon 2” as an example of the films that can be purchased in this cool new way. For Warner Bros., we released a tips piece on summer fun for families, including encouraging your kids to be creative “master builders,” inspired by “The LEGO Movie.”

Q: What advice do you have for entertainment clients looking to use your service?

A: Keep the text snappy, between 200 and 1,000 words. (Also, the longer your piece, the higher the price to distribute it.) Include eye-catching color photos or infographics. And of course, make it newsworthy. Here are some ways to accomplish this:

Expert advice: Include information from a credible source such as a trade association, a university, a reputable expert or a government agency. A Paramount story used the Darren Aronofsky film “Noah” as the jumping-off place for advice on preparing for extreme weather events, with input from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Celebrity: Give your story star appeal by including information about a celebrity as a role model for others. Needless to say, “Noah” star Russell Crowe was featured prominently in Paramount’s matte story.

Problem Solving: Demonstrate how your product or service can help readers solve a problem. A Comcast story spoke to parents concerned about their children backsliding academically over the summer. The piece provided plenty of links to fun (and, yes, educational) online resources from PBS Kids, National Geographic Kids, the National Gallery of Art, and more.

Anniversary: Provide a historical perspective for your product or service as it reaches a milestone and include fun facts, trivia and inspirational anecdotes. Blu-Ray marked its fifth anniversary with a piece describing the “theatrical” experience of watching “Avatar,” “Star Wars” or even “Thelma and Louise” on Blu-Ray technology at home—while pointing out that Blu-Rays now come bundled with a digital copy for watching on the go.

Tips and lists: Readers with shorter attention spans love lists that present info in easy-to-grab bites. Facebook offered “Five Ways to Share Better with Friends Online,” while Yahoo introduced its new Android and iOS app with “four tips to get you started.”

Pitch letters, press releases, and phone calls still have their place, but nothing beats getting your own story in print exactly the way you want it.

[chonghiuyan]

How to use Social Selling at Every Stage of the Buyer’s Journey.

To learn more, go to HubSpot or text me here. Love to exchange your idea of social selling :)

[chonghiuyan]

广告门网站是中国广告传播行业领先在线媒体及产业互动资讯服务平台。为广告传播行业提供专业行业信息，广告人才招聘/培训，广告营销案例推荐等专业服务。致力于将广告主、代理公司、媒体有机结合,

[chonghiuyan]

一个广告人的综艺节目赞助品牌的几点观察_越来越八卦的广告狗_新浪博客,越来越八卦的广告狗,

[chonghiuyan]

What I learn today

Started the agency almost six months, I am thinking to record something I learned everytime here. I guess after you have an idea, you better to find a time to recall it, and record it. Recently I keep asking myself what I want to achieve in my life. What I ready love and enjoy to do. What I am not actually passionate about. When you have an idea of your life goal. For example, I want to get advance study and get rich. I found out I can't think of how to achieve it. What is the small step each day to achieve my goals? I couldn't figure out how to work them out. I realize everyone has their own vision and life goals but many people didn't think of how to achieve it by completing small step by step everyday. It's simple but people didn't realize I not doing in this way. Thus, people complaint, they think the life is unfair, government is unfair, the city environment is worse, but did people think of and work the solutions out hardly before they complaint or do nothing? I haven't yet think of a solution and path how to achieve my goals, but I will keep find it out and work on it slowly. One day, my dream will come true.

[chonghiuyan]

Build the team

Just thinking how to build a compatible team that every team members can contribute their maximum capability and growth in their field respectively. More project and chandelles are coming up, how we capture the opportunities and utlize our strength in these coming months is the key to grow the business for 2015.

[chonghiuyan]

Entrepreneurial mentor

Have been quite a few entrepreneurship and mentoring programs. I realize a problem of many young mentor in the those startup weekend or seed fund programme, they felt they have a successful startup, they knew the way to be succeed, they had experience in startup field, they know more than you do. There is definitely no doubt that they give useful advice and are happy to offer an help when you encounter any problems or questions, I am talking about the attitude matter. I saw countless frown faces when mentor heard of some kind-of stupid ideas or any business plan that doesn't sound logical or feasible. People like to challenge others ideas and always precede self idea is good and always be workable. As a mentor, (especially coaching to those new entrepreneurs and startups) shouldn't we have a more supportive attitude and always ready to help and trying to not put too much sth like "it not gonna work, your idea suck". Don't we learn from the mistakes and learn as fast as possible, learn to make smarter decision and grow the business?

[chonghiuyan]

People make a subconscious judgement about a product within 90 seconds of initially viewing it.

@SIERRASTANTON

[chonghiuyan]

How Instagram Made It

A team makes a cool app. Somehow they made it onto TechCrunch and people start to download it. They have a lot of users now. And things look bright.

Suddenly, less and less people are downloading it. Then they find out that people who downloaded are not using it anymore – or worse – are deleting it! They spend money on ads. They email bloggers and tweet their hearts out. But nothing happens. This is when most apps fail.

So why do the Instagram make it? The secret sauce is simple, yet not many notice it. It comes in two parts.

Part 1 – Instagram is not about making videos. It’s about sharing videos.

Studying Instagram’s user journey, you can see how users’ default choices are to “share” and nothing else.

Want to save it just for yourself? Nope, can’t.

Want to have it somewhere safe? Nope, it’s hosted on servers that can be compromised.

This is how apps make sure that your video is seen by others, gets onto twitter and Facebook. And eventually gets liked. Which leads us to part 2 of the secret sauce.

Part 2 – Instagram teaches you to come back, again and again.

So you have Instagram on your phone. How does the app take you from a person who “just downloaded it” to “using it everyday”. This is where the magic happens. Instagram literally teaches you to keep checking the app! How? Using the simple ideas of behaviorism. Yes, the same way they teach dogs to do tricks. Here is how it worked for dogs, and how it works for humans too. (I’m keeping the psychology background to a minimum).

Doing Tricks Habits For Dogs

Checking App Habit For Humans

Every like on Instagram makes sure that this habit becomes stronger. In Behaviorism this is called “Reinforcement”. And I am not kidding with the dog analogy. You can read more about behaviorism in this awesome book by Karen Pryor. Eventually, with dog training, you can start asking the dog to do tricks without giving it treats. And same for hardcore app users, they don’t need likes to keep coming back and check the app!

What I’ve explained to you in here is also how Facebook, Twitter and other big places on the internet really made it big.

- From: Glance App

https://glanceapp.wordpress.com/

[chonghiuyan]

The Psychology Behind Why we can't stop messaging

Today, There's an app for just about everything. With all the amazing things our smartphones can do, there is one thing that hasn't changed since the phone was first developed. No matter how advanced phones become, they are still communication devices - they connect people together.

Though I can't remember the last time I actually talked to another person live on the phone, I text, email, Tweet, Skype and video message throughout my day.

Clearly, we're social species and these tech solutions help us re-create the tribal connection we seek. However, there are other more hidden reasons why messaging services keep us checking, pecking, and duckface posing.

Though the pattern is found in all sorts of products, successful messaging services are particularly good at deploying the four steps I call, "the Hook," to keep users coming back.

Hook

The Hook is composed of a trigger, action, variable reward, and investment. 

Trigger

A trigger is what cues a habit. Whether in the form of an external trigger that tell users what to do next (such as a "click here" button) or an internal trigger (such as an emotion or routine), a trigger must be present for a habitual hehaviour to occur.

Over time, users form associations with internal triggers so that no external prompting is needed - they come back on their own out of habit. For example, when we're lonely, we check Facebook. When we fear losing a moment, we capture it with Instagram. These situations and emotions don't provide any explicit information for what solution solves our needs, rather we eventually form strong connections with products that scratch our emotional itch.

By passing through the four steps of the Hook, users form associations with internal triggers. However, before habit is formed, companies use external prompts to get users act. For messaging services, the external trigger is clear. Whenever a friend sends a mesage via WhatsApp, for example, you see a notification telling you to open the app to check the message.

Action

Notifications prompt users to act, in this case tapping the app.

The action phase of the Hook is defined as the simples behaviour done in anticipation of a reward. Simply clicking on the app icon opens the messaging app and the message is read.

When the habit forms, users will take this simple action spontaneously to alleviate a feeling, such as the pang of boredom or missing someone special. Opening the app gives the user what they came for - a bit relief obtained in the easiest way possible.

Variable Reward

The next step of the Hook is the variable rewards phase. This is when users get what they came for and yet are left wanting more.

This phase of the Hook utilitzes the classic work of BF Skinner who published his research on intermittent reinforcement.

Skinner found that when rewards were given variably, the action preceding the reward occurred more frequently. When forming a new habit, products that incorporate a bit of mystery have an easier time getting us hooked.

For example, Snapchat, the massively popular messaging app that 77% of American college students say they use every day, incorporates all sorts of variable rewards that spike curiosity and interest. The ease of sending selfies that the sender believes will self-destruct makes sending more, shall we say, "interesting," pics possible. They payoff of opening the app is seeing what's been sent. As is the case with many successful communication services, the variability is the message itself - novelty keeps us tapping.

Investment

The final phase of the Hook prompts the user to put something into the service to increase the likelihood of using the service in the future. For example, when users add friends, set preferences, or create content they want to save, they are storing value in the platform. Storing value in a service increases its worth the more users engage with it, making it better with use.

Investments also increase the likelihood of users returning by getting them to load the next trigger. For example, sending a message prompts someone else to reply. Once you get the reply, a notification appears and you'll likely click through the Hook again.

Through frequent passes through the Hook, user preferences are shaped, tastes are formed, and habits take hold.

By understanding the deeper psychology of what makes us click by knowing what makes us tick, we can build better products and ultimately live better lives.

- From Nirandfar.com http://www.nirandfar.com/2014/12/the-psychology-behind-why-we-cant-stop-messaging.html

[creativemornings]

"Some fonts are like people. They can be attractive, even if they’re not pretty."

Watch the talk

[creativemornings]

"Treat everything like it’s your first project."

— Neal Sales-Griffin. Watch the talk.