Leighton Ventures

There are tens of thousands of businesses making many millions a year in profits that still haven’t ever heard of twitter, blogs or facebook. Are they all wrong? Have they missed out or is the joke really on us? They do business through personal relationships, by delivering great customer service and it’s working for them. They’re more successful than most of those businesses who spend hours pontificating about how others lose out by missing social media and the latest wave. And yet they’re doing business. Great business. Not writing about it. Doing it.
I’m continually amazed by the number of people on Twitter and on blogs, and the growth of people (and brands) on facebook. But I’m also amazed by how so many of us are spending our time. The echo chamber we’re building is getting larger and louder. More megaphones don’t equal a better dialogue. We’ve become slaves to our mobile devices and the
glow of our screens. It used to be much more simple and, somewhere, simple turned into slow.

We walk the streets with our heads down staring into 3-inch screens while the world whisks by doing the same. And yet we’re convinced we are more connected to each other than ever before. Multi-tasking has become a badge of honor. I want to know why.

I don’t have all the answers to these questions but I find myself thinking about them more and more. In between tweets, blog posts and facebook updates.
Howard Mann is a speaker, entrepreneur and the author of Your Business Brickyard.

Download the entire ebook.

People often ask me what I read online and what resources do I seek out of all the information on the web. Well, here are the links on my iGoogle for your reference.

1. The Blog of Timothy Ferrriss
2. Zen Habits
3. Freelance Switch
4. Killer Startups
5. Go2Web20
6. Master of 500 Hats (one of the more interesting reads)
7. Quick Sprout
8. ChangeThis
9. Shoemoney (starting to get diluted)
10. Duct  Tape Marketing
    

Your full line-up of digital and interactive marketing conferences in 2010.

Check out Jimmy Hendricks’ stab at the list.

Written by Seth Godin

Click here to download the PDF.

“Years ago, when you were about four years old, the system set out to persuade you of something that isn’t true.

Not just persuade, but drill, practice, reinforce, and yes, brainwash.

The mission: to teach you that you’re average. That compliant work is the best way to a reliable living. That creating average stuff for average people, again and again, is a safe and easy way to get what you want.

Step out of line and the system would nudge (or push) you back to the center. Show signs of real creativity, originality or even genius, and well-meaning parents, teachers and authority figures would eagerly line up to get you back in line.

Our culture needed compliant workers, people who would contribute without complaint, and we set out to create as many of them as we could.

And so generations of students turned into generations of cogs, factory workers in search of a sinecure. We were brainwashed into fitting in, and then discovered that the economy wanted people who stood out instead.

When exactly were we brainwashed into believing that the best way to earn a living is to have a job?

I think each one of us needs to start with that.”

Below is MPL’s Big List of 2010 Predictions:

1. Social Media will become diluted. Many social media users (twitter, facebook, etc.) are already getting fatigued and I think we’ll see much less buzz in 2010 as revenue numbers are confusing and elusive.
2. Tiger Woods will win 2 major golf tournaments in 2010. I predict the British Open and the PGA.
3. Small businesses will get more creative with their marketing at a cost to guarantee results – see #10 below.
4. Identity security will become the next big scare that the government creates hysteria for.
5. Another year will go by without healthcare and education reform. It’s just a no brainer.
6. The stock market will have a slow upturn throughout the entire 2010 year. No major peaks or valleys.
7. People will continue to believe everything the read and hear. It’s just easier to put your head down and get fed than to think for yourself.
8. Chevy will go out of business.
9. There will be another Enron and accounting firm issue.
10. Online marketing companies will go big in 2010 as small business continue to try to understand the e-marketing space and how they can actually get a return compared to traditional yellowpage advertising.

Like gambling and the stock market, the majority of the time people you just meet or even your friends/family will tell you how they hit it big and how much they won. Rarely do you ever hear about the losses or the failures. The same holds true with small businesses. Well, 2009 was a reality check year for small businesses. Many maneuvers had to be made to sustain their companies, pay their bills, and just make enough revenue to hold on until the next big swing.

This is a good read about “7 Businesses That Did Not Survive 2009″. I recommend all small businesses read this article and pay special attention to “What Went Wrong” and “Looking Back”.

7 Businesses That Did Not Survive

I think people that fail the most and are willing to work through “what went wrong” and understand the “lessons learned” will be far more prosperous and successful. I imagine that these entrepreneurs will pick up the pieces and create another revenue stream.

If your small business needs some marketing help to build the top line in 2010, give me a call.

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Simply the coolest way to search photos and videos. Download the Firefox Add-on.

Check out the screen shot!

Selling vs. Effective Marketing

Confusion on this issue will always exist. That’s why so many companies have marketing departments and sales departments.

The only reason you need both is because the marketing department is doing such a lousy job differentiating the business and products, the sales department has to hit the streets and do the educating for them. That’s why selling can be such a tough job.

Source: Duct Tape Marketing, John Jantsch

Au contraire to Neil Patel’s post Want to be successful? Learn how to sell!, I believe effective marketing is much more valuable to an individual and business’ success. Neil’s post outlines some of the characteristics of a great sales person. All of which I would consider short term success, besides customers become warn out from a sales person’s antics. You should simply just need closers.

Indeed sales are always being made and persistence does pay off, but launching, testing, monitoring, and tweaking effective marketing tactics is much more fruitful to companies and the sales are just the results from your marketing efforts. This includes all of the following benefits of an effective marketing program: product / service communication, good customer service, happy customers, empowered referral sources, and challenged employees.

Nowadays, companies should focus on precise marketing strategies and tactics to implement and test. Yes, that sounds obvious. However, there is no better time than now to start planting marketing seeds and capture market share.

If your marketing department isn’t clever and effective, don’t bring in sales people or business developers for a short term solution to drum up some business. Look to hire a more creative marketing person that can more effectively market your business, products, and services. Marketing can turn your pipeline into a never ending “closing machine”.

Are “good times” gone? Did someone really turn the light off at the end of the tunnel?

Here’s the Sequoia Capital presentation outlining what went wrong and what’s going to happen for startups and venture-backed companies.

What are your thoughts on the Sequoia presentation?

I don’t think the light is turned off at the end of the tunnel. I think it shines as bright as ever for some.

In fact, I think now is the time for you and your company to roll up your sleeves and get the marketing going. Marketers, This is Your Time to Innovate and Lead, Not Hunker Down gives you an “optimist’s” perspective of proactive marketing and drowning the fear factor.

Over the next 6-10 months, marketers should be thinking about low-cost, high-impact marketing strategies. Focus on driving revenue and building / keeping a flat revenue line this year and your company will be considered a winner in these economic times.

Realizing that there are a lot of books out there to read, some interesting, and even better some are actually useful. I compiled my current library of recommended books to help you skip past some of the useless, over-marketed books.

Leighton Ventures Book Library

Right now I am reading Click by Bill Tancer. As I find interesting snippets of information, I will share them with you.