Janet Lee Johnson | The Art of Marketing

At this time of year, I always take time to reflect. Not on specifics, necessarily, but on themes. Certain themes follow me through the months, years and decades of my life. Some themes are just beginning, some are chronic. I suspect my “terminal” themes will continue to dog me as long as I reflect on them, as opposed to work on them.

And at this time of year, I always pick a few things to work on. Most I never share. (Is that for protection? In case I’m not successful?)

A couple I will admit to:

• I’d like to write more. Back here. Which shouldn’t be too hard. The bar in 2009 is pretty low.I have to admit, I have enjoyed Twitter - the fast break, no guilt posting option that keeps me lightly engaged in the social web - no matter my time and attention options in the moment. But I miss writing what’s going on in my mind. Really exploring and sharing thoughts as I used to.
• I’d like to find and foster my unique talent. Everyone has one. I used to think my unique talent was painting/drawing/illustrating. I’m not convinced that drawing’s the unique talent I’m willing to foster at this point in my life. My few and feeble attempts over the past few years have been lackluster. Perhaps it’s because I’ve not spent the time exploring my drawings… explorations are critically important when it comes to creativity - in writing and drawing.
• I’d like to continue teaching, speaking, and helping educate. I’ve only given a few presentations since I took my full-time gig in education; but they continue to energize me. I’ll be interested in exploring new educational themes for 2010 - especially since my previous area of expertise, that of social media, seems to be (finally) not mysterious any more.

And, as always, sharing these thoughts publicly - narcissistic? perhaps - can be effective in giving me insight. Perhaps a theme that dogs me is exploration. It’s delightfully woven through my chronic and burgeoning themes, whether I consciously work them or not.

Upon public reflection then, I look forward to a Year of Explorations in 2010.  I’m willing to share that with anyone and everyone.

What is driving the themes of your future? Are you willing to share?

I have a new job. A full-time, back-into-the-corporate-world new job. And I’m very excited about it.

When I was young, and I imagined my life’s trajectory, I always saw myself teaching once I hit my 50’s. Which surprised me… since I had no plans to become an educator. But today I’m getting closer to that imaginary scenario than I ever thought possible.

I’ve been working at KC Distance Learning for five months, full time. And I’m going “back in” to run marketing for the organization. My long-term stint there is why I’ve gone “dark” here and in many other social media venues since June, causing some to forget me, and some to wonder whether I’ve forgotten them… (I can assure you, I haven’t!)

I’ve been focused. On a new market, education, which is ripe for change.

When I started there, I was shocked to learn that 30% of high school kids across the country drop out. Last spring, congress heard testimony that nationwide:

• 7,000 students drop out every day
• 2,000 US high schools produce more than half of all dropouts
• In the 50 largest cities, only 53 percent of students graduate on time

Why? I’m sure there are 7,000 unique reasons kids drop out every day. But something has to be done.

What’s KCDL doing about it? We are helping school districts deliver middle school and high school classes online through our iQ Academy and Aventa Learning brands. We power a private, online middle and high school experience for kids in the US and in scores of countries around the world with Keystone National School.

Technology is a natural tool to help revolutionize education. Kids in rural areas can take world-class courses in Mandarin, and Flash programming, for example, using an online delivery platform and subject-and state-certified teachers. Adjudicated kids can continue their courseware while serving their terms.

But technology isn’t enough. People from many different disciplines are taking the opportunity to change the way kids learn, as private organizations attack this very public problem.

So, dear readers, I plan to continue to post and tweet. And know that my new focus on education is highly likely to be reflected here.

And maybe we’ll all learn something new.

I’ve not really done any links posts before, but I thought I’d give one a try this morning. Hey, it’s Monday, I’m being active on Twitter, and I’m not quite ready to get serious on my blog for the week. I’ll give this a shot and see whether people like it or not.

• Most inspirational: Photos from the Hubble Spacecraft of our galaxy (via Daily Beast)
• Most useful: A tie between a primer on hashtags (via Mashable) and a list of Rachel Levy’s top favorite Twitter tools.

…And, in support of “throwing sheep,” (thank you @missrogue and your HorsePigCow blog!):

• Most fun: WolframAlpha says I was born on a Friday, 19057 days ago. On Saturday, Dec. 11, 2011 I will be 20,000 days old.

This is a note I’m sending to my valued friends and family. I think it’s a great representation of what I’m doing in 2009 that’s different for me.

1. I’m repackaging my services to be extremely relevant to what brings me most joy and defines my best work
2. I’m asking (at the ripe old age of a Baby Boomer in full swing) for what I want (that’s very hard for me to do)
3. I’m asking my friends to help me realize my dreams of doing great work

As you read this note, think about how you might do something similar - need to refresh your services? Want to be more relevant in today’s markets?

I’m a firm believer that people love to help each other out, which is one reason I spend a good piece of every week networking with others, and in communicating in the social media realm… So here’s my note, in case it prompts some thoughts for you and your brand. And in the spirit of walking the talk… It’ll be interesting to see who ‘gets’ both the email and the blog post.

:::::::::

January 2009 - the sands of change are moving underfoot. The questions for many of us are: How will we keep our hopes and energy high, and how will we play a part in creating positive change?

I’ve decided to focus on enabling businesspeople to use social media.  I’m writing today to both encourage you to join the conversation, and to ask for your support in growing my business.

Here’s the context as I see it:

• Much of the world is shifting from defensiveness to diplomacy. Listening and learning are increasingly valued as organizational practices.
• People are turning to each other for information, transformative and sustainable ideas, products and support. Word Of Mouth is increasingly important in consumer and B2B decision processes.
• Technology is facilitating these connections largely without regard to geographic boundaries. And communities – like synapses – are forming around ideas, causes and concerns.

I’m focusing my work on businesses – from PR and advertising firms to product and service organizations – being in shape to safely enter online conversations online using social media tools and practices.

In a time when marketing budgets are being slashed to save jobs, social media is becoming an increasingly viable communications option.  What companies need in order to get desired results are: education, preparation and tools. Social media tools are relatively free, and measurable benefits await those who learn how to strategically implement a social media plan.

I’m ready and able to ensure that strategy, training, tool selection and launch of social media marketing fit each business like a glove. Most organizations can get the job done in 90 days. As you think social media, I would appreciate it if you thought of me.

I’d love to speak with you or your trusted partners and colleagues about what works and what doesn’t, and share some of my recent experiences. Of course, you can find some of this on my blog at www.janetleejohnson.com.

Want to jump in? I’ll call soon…

Cheers,

Janet

Inspired (in part) by a post on ReadWriteWeb on how enterprise RSS is dead (really Marshall?), I thought I’d show how I use RSS every day. I think RSS is a critical business tool - especially for marketers - and it’s a free tool that can save time, increase your awareness and improve your productivity.

What’s RSS?

There’s a great 3-minute video called RSS in Plain English by Lee Lefevre of Common Craft on YouTube: http://smub.it/janet/rss. Watch it first, then pop back to me.

See you in a few.

Welcome back - wasn’t that a great, simple explanation?

So to me, RSS is about two things:

1. Subscribing - like my own custom magazine subscription, subscribing to RSS feeds is basically a way to have news and blog posts that you’re interested in come to you, vs. going out and searching for them.

For example, I like to read my friends’ blogs, and keep up with my clients’ blogs. I set up subscriptions every time someone announces they’re blogging, and every time I get a new client who blogs. I also like to read top technology and marketers’ blogs. So every time I find another interesting one, I subscribe to it.

To subscribe, you generally just right click on the RSS Feed button, which looks like this:

Copy the URL that’s there, and paste it into your RSS reader. Since every reader is different, I’ll show mine here - Attensa - where you click on the Add Feed button, and paste the URL.

Immediately your reader will start ‘listening’ to the web for you. I can read all of my subscriptions all in one place, my RSS feed reader. It looks like this: (Click on the thumbnail to get the full picture!)

2. Search - like an indefatigable watchdog, “persistent searches” alert when subjects I’m interested in (like my clients’ products, brands and names) are talked about online.

I set up searches in my RSS feed reader for every new client that I have. That way, if there’s something being said that I need to be aware of, I’ll know, and be able to either respond to it, or let my client know about it. I also keep a persistent search on my own name. I think it’s important to have early knowledge of anything being said about important topics and brands, and it’s incredibly easy to use RSS to do all the work for me.

To use RSS, you need an RSS reader, and there are tons of them on the market, tools from Yahoo!, Google, Portland’s Attensa and NewsGator… a list of RSS readers is here: http://smub.it/janet/rsslist.

Regardless of what you use, start experimenting with RSS. Start by doing what I do -

• Subscribe to your favorite blogs - read them from one place at one time…
• Set up persistent searches for yourself, your brand, your product names, or your clients’ brands.
• Set up persistent searches for keywords of interest to you - I keep my antenna looking out for “health 2.0″ and others.