This month Infoworld reminded me of an experiment held by “Proctor and Gamble that provided 100 people with a box of Tide detergent and a video camera and asked them to film how they and their family clean their clothes. P&G believes this kind of advertising builds a personal relationship with the consumer and creates brand loyalty.”

Advertisers, especially today as the consumer gains more control over marketing, are trying to do anything to build loyalty in the consumer world. They are incorporating more authentic messaging, and allowing the consumer to create the marketing materials, as in the case of new social network socialDragon, where users can upload and tag videos of stuff, white water rafting for example, and advertisers can search this “real” content for parts to use in their advertising campaigns.

User generated content, while still being obviously in its infancy and therefore not matured, is rapidly increasing in value; whether this is an accurate representation of the value of socially created content is yet to be seen - I see a bright future for social media however, that’s for sure. And I also have to say I am quite pleased to hear all the emphasis placed on the consumer, authenticity and loyalty.

The reason band loyalty is important, the most widely coveted attribute by marketers and people everywhere, really, is because the purest form of brand loyalty, and the thing the most loyal people do, is make personal recommendations to others, to spread messages, stories and advertising, through word of mouth. Loyalty is what drives people to make recommendations. It can be easily argued that recommendations are what drive the success of virtually anything within the economy.

Loyalty is the life-force of the economy.

If the driving force of loyalty could be summed up in one word, I’d say that word would have to be satisfaction. Satisfaction really means that you got exactly, or more than, what you expected from something. When expectations are not met then you are obviously not satisfied, and when you not satisfied, well, why would you be loyal to that thing?

Always remember the importance of managing expectations, in life and in business.

It’s not about trying to give people what they want, it’s about making sure they know what they are going to get.

Syncrestistic:

“The attempted reconciliation or union of different or opposing principles, practices, or parties…” via.

“Consists of the attempt to reconcile disparate or contradictory beliefs, often while melding practices of various schools of thought.” via.

Holistic approaches to marketing and business need to be applied practices to succeed today. Politics is on the band wagon and we all know eastern and homeopathic health buff’s have understood “the whole picture” and how it relates to living healthily for a very long time.

This “whole picture” mentality can do great things for your business, however, the whole picture may be bigger than you think.

Consider the word “Syncrestistic” during thoughts on future direction for your business or marketing efforts. “Union of different principles or practices” means thinking outside of your particular realm of business or marketing and into other areas of your life. Ask yourself what other schools of thought, what other principles or practices can you apply to be greater?

This may include painting, studying quantum physics, spirituality, gardening, camping… whatever it may be, it can probably add more value to your business and marketing efforts than you thought. For example, while camping, you must be efficient, pack light, focus, stay calm, enjoy being calm, think ahead, be prepared, etc… See how you can apply these principles to business and marketing? I thought so.

Apply syncrestism by spend time honing skills that may not be so obviously related to business and marketing, and asking yourself how you can apply it to other areas of your life.

What types of “non-business” and “non-marketing” things do you do? What does it take to do them well, and how can you apply the principles to your business and marketing efforts?

Today I rediscovered a software development business called Jackson Fish Market and am happy to find more and more people who share my views on how to approach business, and successfully operate one today.

Many companies, as Hillel points out, are built on a foundation of hopes to flip, or hopes to attract a large and loyal enough audience to generate revenue through advertising. The math he points out is simple, yet something few people think about. I spend my days immersed in marketing so math and data is always top of mind, however, not many think about the seriously ginormous amount of traffic it takes to create a healthy business based on advertising revenue alone.

The truth is, companies who are in business simply to flip or generate advertising revenue have very high chances of failure.

They have a high chance of failure mainly due to a shared mindset that everyone will retire. We all talk about the importance of commitment and passion in the workplace, but the reality is most people are looking forward to retiring, or the company their with selling.

Today, Hillel admits he never wants to stop working. He works because he loves it. This is exactly what my definition of a Geek is. He also shares my view on living the life you want now. This is also a part of a philosophy of being what I call a “Nomad”.

He states, “I don’t want to stop working. Ever. I couldn’t find the study I thought I read that showed that people with a place to go every day lived longer. But even if that was disproven I’d still want to work forever. It’s who I am. It’s how I want to spend my time. I don’t want to wait until I’m in my fifties, sixties, to spend extended time with my family, doing what i want, traveling the world, etc. To me the time to have those experiences is now. This is not a statement that having those experiences later in life is without value. It’s more that I don’t know why I should have to wait. I want to have those experiences now and later.”

I’m glad I rediscovered Jackson Fish Market. Hillel and I think *a lot* alike. We’ll have to get together sometime and revel in our similarities. I have a feeling Walter is just as cool :).

In summary the best way to create a successful company is to hire geeks and keep them happy by compensating them well. Focusing on how to increase your profit per employee and overall level of happiness (which leads to increased productivity, communication and everything else you need to run a successful group), is a much better way of creating a successful company today, than operating to flip.

The idea geeks are whiny punk kids are merely people thinking today’s whiny punk kids are geeks, and this is simply not true.

There has been a lot of heated debate on digg and reddit regarding the article I wrote, A Note To Employers: 8 Things Intelligent People, Geeks and Nerds Need To Work Happily.

This debate has really made me realize that geeks may be slightly misjudged.

We have been accused of being:
Introverted socially inept loosers
Prim Donna elitist as*holes
Whiny babies who want to be treated special

First, my goal in writing the piece was to communicate something I think about a lot. People, in general, should be happy at their jobs.

Lets do something to help add some clarity to this situation. I normally do not like doing this, buy lets divide the world up into two groups (I know, I know), with a whole lot of gray area in between that will hold the majority of the people. Lets label these two groups, “people who do what they love” and “people who do something because its a job and they do not really care too much what it is as long as they are paid enough to get by.”

I know, broad generalizations are playing with fire, but for simplicities sake lets just discuss these two groups and all the gray area in between.

“People who do what they love”
These people love what they do so much, it’s just that: it’s what they do. Some do other things, some don’t, but they all love it so much it’s almost impossible to describe. You know who I’m talking about: doctors who live at the hospital and spend every waking moment they are not saving lives learning how they can save more lives; the piano player who has stub fingers and barely weighs 100 pounds because she sits at their piano all day; the golfer who plays everyday and still smiles every time he takes a swing; the computer geek who will work 5 nights straight until he finds a bug before giving up; the news geek who reads 350 articles a day… These people can love more than one thing to this degree, although this is very rare.

Ok, now all the way on the other side of the spectrum, past all the gray area, are “people who do something because its a job and don’t really care too much what it is as long as they are paid enough to get by.” A lot of these people have great work ethics, a lot work sun up till sun down, just like their father and grandfather, of course some don’t, but they all work for one reason (ok, mostly one): to go home after work and do something else. To watch TV and relax, to go for walks or work out, to read a book, to be with family, to… well “live life.”

A “geek” is someone who lives so much in the “does what they love” category it’s almost scary. They eat, breathe and live it, because they love it. They absorb everything in thier area of expertise and strive to innovate and make things better. To quote a commenter on my last post, “They’re a weird, irreverent, eclectic bunch… but they do make the modern world tick.” I do not even have to list names of intellectual giants like Plato, Da Vinci, Gandhi, Franklin or modern day business giants like Gates, Jobs, Brin and Paige, for you to understand the type of person I am talking about. These people were geeks, through and through.

Now, I am not saying that every computer geek is in the running with these greats, however, geeks are the type of people that lean toward this extreme. They love what they do so much its their life, and they love it this way. They work extremely hard, not because they have to, but because they want to.

In the business world, people that lean in this direction tend to be some of your best employees and most valuable assets. They do whatever they have to do to get the job done.

These people have always been the most valuable asset, long before computers.

With this logic, there is such a thing as a “Customer Service Geek,” “Sales Geek” or even (maybe) a “Janitorial Geek.” There are also computer guys that are non-geeks and so forth.

Also to note, this is not to say geeks cannot detach from what they do. On the contrary, really talented geeks I know are able to detach from what they do and relax, be with family and otherwise do things that are part of what many call “a normal life.” Most talented geeks I know are also really into socializing; maybe they prefer to socialize with people of equal passion and drive to excel, but they seem to be handling socializing and the real world just fine.

Now that “Geek” has been more accurately defined (at least for this purpose), I’ll summarize why it is important for geeks to be happy in the work force (see the debate at digg and reddit to hear what others had to say).

Being that geeks are your most valuable team members, they work when they have to, are always learning and trying to innovate - they are generally happier people (because they are doing what they love). It also means you should do whatever it takes to make these people happy, within reason of course. People have to be present during some meetings, its just the way it is; people who speak on the phone with customers during business hours will have to be available on the phone during business hours. Each circumstance is unique, there is always a specific need you have of an employee (sometimes it changes, and you’ll find happy team members willing to help out in other areas, especially if is a start up or just a small team). This need is communicated to them when you hire them.

Geeks should ask for what they need to be happy at work. Employers should be willing to compromise in any reasonable area, and in fact, the more they compromise, the more everyone wins (happier employees equals higher productivity).

Something employers today need to keep in mind (and yes, great employers today already do this), is that in the technological world we live in, much more is possible than what used to be. There are tools in place to communicate and collaborate with that make virtual offices not only possible but successful. Video and voice conferencing applications like skype, web based project management tools like basecamp, presentation tools like webex and online collaboration vehicles like thinkature make virtual meetings, team management and collaboration possible and effective.

Employers and employees should not follow arbitrary rules set a long time ago, and instead, question each situation to figure out what is best for your employee’s.

To close, I think about how a lot of the working world is not happy with their job. I think about the passionate people who are damn good at what they do, yet are unappreciated.

I would like to recommend to these people that they strive to be happy, find a new job if they do not like their current one, and be willing to stand up for what they need to be happy.

Would you rather live the life you want all the time or only part of it?

And again, as a reminder to employers:
#1. Let them work when they want
#2. Let them work where they want
#3. Let them control their lighting
#4. Let them wear headphones
#5. Do not expect them to wear a suit
#6. Do not make them participate in company events (unless you are sure it is geek-friendly)
#7. Do not hold a lot of arbitrary meetings that could have otherwise been handled through email or IM
#8. Do not make them do anything other than work

Its nice to be on the homepage of LCSV4, even if just for a few moments. You can check out all my art here on my portfolio page.

To do business or advertise in today’s digital world you must live it. Just as Babs Rangaiah, director of media and entertainment at Unilever USA is trying to convey when he says, “Planners have got to have a better sense of the entire media landscape.” Via Advertising Age.

Not only must you loose the silos but you must live the way the digital world lives to advertise in it.

You must understand how the digital world thinks, where they spend their time. Or at least be able to really try and think like someone else. Where would you spend your time if you were their age, and in their shoes? Would you frequent myspace and spend all day downloading torrents or be reading blogs like lifehacker, techcrunch, adfreak, adage, searchengineland, clickz, stuntdubl, searchreturn, alistapart, marketingpilgrim, seomoz, seoblackhat, graywolf, copyblogger, nickwilson, shoemoney, seobook, mashable, micropersuasion, coolhunting, fecalface and (well just check out the blogroll on the side of this page, you get the idea), tagging and bookmarking links to your del.icio.us account as you read them through your normal day’s rss and link-surfing trip? Or would you spend all your time cruising sites like fark and digg? Or maybe you’d be reading work-at-home mom blogs and forums?

Where would you be?

Still, today marketing alone is not enough, knowing where your audience is isn’t going to cut it. Innovation and creativity are what make all the difference. Are you solving a problem in a better way than everyone else? Are you using your imagination in the best possible way to add value to your business, further satisfy your customers and even create new demands? Asking the right questions is usually the best way to start.

I use the terms “Modern Business” and “New Media” often to discuss those things that are at the forefront of today’s business and media world.

I do this because Business and Media to me are based on important principles discovered by great people throughout our history, however, if you combine this with rapid advancements in technology, an ever changing marketplace and human psyche - something new is created. This includes modern shifts in business inner workings and function including the informational revolution, the growth of the virtual office, the “trickle up” theory of leadership and management and the creation of virtual shopping , education and social interaction possibilities.

Value has become increasingly important. Actual cost has become less important as consumers prefer integrity, environmental soundess, purpose, helpfulness, style and probably most demandingly, efficiency. All of these things and other factors participate in creating value.

Modern Business is a label I use for a philosophy that basically means “doing *everything* one can *today* to create value and loyalty in the marketplace.”

“New Media” consists of things like Social Media, Social Bookmarking, Social Networking, the rapidly growing world of user generated content such as videos and blogs. New Media is the media of today.

In my mind, Modern Businessman are the Renaissance Men of today’s business world. We follow New Media and study Old Media. We consume as much information as our brains will allow. We work in a virtual and physical world. We are analytical scientists and creative artists.

We are the leaders of our markets.