Lessons from Mr. Sulu

Posted by Steve Morin on April 25, 2012   |   No Comments

Recently I was reading this article on Mashable about George Takei’s success as a social media superstar. As a George Takei follower (my favorite Facebook page currently) I eagerly read the article and thought how foolish I was for never really examining why I love Takei’s Facebook page. Takei’s sense of humor just speaks to me. I am his audience.

What can marketers, advertisers and businesses learn from Mr. Sulu? Oh, just about…..everything! Knowing your audience will make all the difference in deciding the fate of all your online and traditional marketing efforts.

Similar to the lessons learned from Seth Godin’s book entitled Tribes, Takei’s real world status as a social media celebrity lies in the fact that Takei himself is the leader of a very unique and responsive tribe. Let’s all do the happy dance!

So how do you identify your audience? Here are five tips to put you on the path to gathering up your own tribe.

  1. What identifies you and your audience/tribe?
  2. What do you have to offer to your audience/tribe?
  3. What is my audience/tribe’s background?
  4. What is my audience/tribe looking for? What are their needs?
  5. What is the common bond you share with your audience/tribe?

 

 

Tips for Local Search Optimization

Posted by Steve Morin on January 12, 2012   |   No Comments

As the world of online search has grown over the years to monstrous proportions the need for local optimization of your small business website has never been more important. As a small business, you are constantly waging war against large scale directory type websites that have the link juice and authority to dominate the organic listings rankings. If you are a local dentist, how can you keep up and get your name out there when you are going against these large directories that are optimized and provide content for generic keywords such as “dentist” and/or “dentist office”?

Welcome to the world of local search optimization. One key is beginning your local search efforts by immediately building local profiles in Google Places and Bing Business Portal. Megan Marrs over at Wordstream recently talked about local search optimization and gives out these 11 SEO Tips for Optimizing for Local Search.

The days of people actually excited about getting their newest Yellow Pages book are gone. Finding your business is a lot more than saddling up the money for Yellow Pages. You must be active in the online world now more than ever. Use Megan’s tips and get yourself set up for this generation of searchers.

Survivor: an unmet goal of mine

Posted by Steve Morin on January 9, 2012   |   2 Comments

The deadline is tomorrow. I know what to do. I have done it many other times to no avail. But its ok. This is sort of a rite of passage for my ego. You see…its time for me to apply for Survivor again.

Now first off I must say this is no means a post about my failure to catch the attention of the people that cast for Survivor. No. This is more about why I do it year after year. You might think I am wasting my time, or just plain silly for keeping at it. But that is not in my nature. Nope, I am more like a dumb dog who just keeps walking into the electric fence because he really wants to see and go on the other side.

I was with a friend today, and he said something which I have heard said many different ways. But today it hit me a little different than before.

“You’re dead for a long time, so while you are alive, better get to doing as much as you can.”

Not an original way to say it, but it clicks with me. Since I became a fan of the show, there is just so much more out of life that I want to do. Now this sense of adventure has always been there, its just that I never really looked around and saw an opportunity to do something about it. I guess watching Pearl Islands just triggered it.

I started to run races, become more outgoing, visit places I hadn’t or ever thought I would. I became a part of a funny little community in which I met several people who had the same yearning. It is never the goal to win the million dollar prize on Survivor for me or some of the others. Its the journey. Its doing something that so few will ever do. Its being able to find out what you really are made of. You can mask so much in your everyday life. But when you are cold, hungry, and miss all those things that you think make you…you, I would think then that you would come face to face with you real self.

Maybe that is why I want to go so bad. To me it is a test, a challenge, a rite of passage. Sounds pretty corny and at times I think maybe I have possibly made this shit up in my mind to make it seem more than what it really is. A silly reality show.

But whatever it is. The simple fact remains that I want to do this more than many things in my life. But if I don’t, there are many things that will fill that need of adventure. More obstacle races, maybe a trip somewhere exotic, maybe my adventures just as a dad. Whatever it is, I look forward to it.

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