Zugunruhe: Helping great people get [good] things done: Zoog.un.roo.ee

Join the Green Revolution with Duct Tape Marketing

In the US, the "green" market place is estimated at $250 million dollars per year--and growing fast. Today's socially and environmentally conscious consumers are ready to pay more for clean, green services and products. Are you ready to serve this new market?

Put Green Duct Tape Marketing to work for your organization. By using Duct Tape Marketing (DTM), you can:

• Attract socially and environmentally conscious  clients, customers, or donors.
• Increase your cash flow
• Differentiate yourself from others in your field to stand out effortlessly

The Ultimate Green Marketing Plan coaching program is taught by Duct Tape Marketing Coach, Tara Robinson, and is delivered by phone and web to small groups of five people each. Tara is the only authorized Duct Tape Marketing Coach in the world who teaches green and socially responsible marketing. That means business owners have the chance to work with a PhD-level conservation biologist who knows how to market to socially and environmentally conscious consumers--considered to be the fastest growing sector of the US market today.

The Zugunruhe Ultimate Green Marketing Plan program covers the entire DTM system from soup to nuts. We start with determining your target market, developing your core marketing message, all the way through creating effective marketing materials, and lead and referral generation. This special offer is a superb value: you get six weeks of personal instruction and hundreds of dollars worth of materials, audio recordings, and workbooks for only $499. To see all the details on this dynamite program, click here.

This special offer ends forever on Dec 31, 2007.

To learn if this program is the right fit for you and enroll today, call 541-738-6339 right now. Or you can attend an informational call on Friday, Jan 4 at 10 am Pacific (1 pm Eastern, Noon Central, 11 am Mountain). Remember, the special priority enrollment price of $499 ends on Dec 31. To qualify for this one-time only offer, you must reserve your space for the info call before midnight on New Year's Eve, 2007 by entering your email in the space below.

How to Make 2008 Your Best Year Ever

Every year, people make resolutions. It’s a popular topic of conversation and a common source of disappointment. The new year starts with hope and optimism and quickly turns into a failed attempt at improvement. This year can be different. This year--2008--can really be your best year ever. Here’s how, in seven simple steps.

1. Choose to pay attention like never before. What one thing in your life would improve dramatically if you only paid attention to it? Your health? A key relationship? A particular aspect of your business? Choose one thing in your life to pay close attention to in 2008.

2. Create a simple and sustainable routine of self-care. Invest a minimum of ten minutes in yourself every day. Yes, every day. Your ten minutes could include a short walk or taking the time to fix and carry your lunch to work. Make that appointment to see your dentist or your doctor. Each and every day in 2008, invest ten very short minutes in taking care of yourself.

3. Focus on loving and receiving love in return. Who is most important to you? Everyday in 2008, focus on one small loving act toward that person. Thank your husband or wife for something. Give your child an extra hug. Say a prayer for your loved one’s well being. And then, receive their love in return. Be alert to how you are loved, actually receive this love into your heart. Do this right now, this very minute and see how it affects you.

4. Choose to nurture the best in someone else. Here’s a challenge for you: pick someone you see often. It can be someone at work, the barista at Starbucks, someone you see more than once a week. Every time you see this person, ask them, “What is going right in your life today?” At first, they’ll give you a funny look and may not have a reply. But if  you keep asking, I guarantee they’ll start finding answers and start focusing on what’s going right for them. This simple practice has the potential to change the world, beginning with you.

5. Commit yourself to acquiring new knowledge or a skill in 2008. Find a book to read that’s outside your field. Subscribe to a new podcast on a subject you’ve always been interested in. Try a class in a new area for you. By learning one new thing or taking on one new skill, you’ll stimulate your mind and rediscover the joy of learning--a gift that keeps on giving year after year.

6. Implement at least one “best practice” in 2008. This is one particular act that you’ll make into a habit. If you want to get more done in general, get a copy of David Allen’s classic book, Getting Things Done. Find one practice that he suggests (like processing email or creating and using an in-box) and implement it rigorously over the coming year. This could change your life and free up tons of your time, so start now.

7.  Create a plan for disciplined investment of your time, energy, and money. Set aside an afternoon (or two) and determine what will yield the highest dividends for you. Now is the time to identify what isn’t worth your time and energy and stop doing it. If you have a bad relationship that is sucking the life out of you, now is the time to stop feeding it with your time and energy. Are you spending money in ways that don’t benefit you? Stop. Determine what causes you support that might benefit more from your attention (i.e., your time) and decide how you want to invest yourself to yield a joyful return. Life is short. If you were to learn you were about to kick the bucket, what would you regret not having done? Make your own personal “bucket list,” and get busy doing those things before it’s too late.

That’s it. That’s the seven steps to a great 2008. Go forth to do good and do well. May peace be with you. May all good things be yours. Happy New Year!

Why do good?

The following is an invited reply I wrote to a post on NextBillion.net. To see Nitin’s post and other comments please visit his blog.
><><><><><><><><>

Hi Nitin,

Thanks for inviting my comments.

I'm not sure about forgetting about the moral imperative altogether, but I certainly believe that social innovation can, and should be, profitable. My experience as a conservation biologist and a business owner tells me that people do things more often when there is a monetary advantage. I have always believed that rainforest will only be conserved when there is a strong economic reason for allowing it to remain in its primary state, for example. (And perhaps global climate change will do that. I don't know.)

My guess is it depends on who you talk to as to how folks will respond. My friends in the NFP realm balk at the idea of profit. My entrepreneurial friends all support doing good and doing well at the same time. For me, doing just one or the other (doing well or doing good but not both) is a false dichotomy. I think we can be moral and kind, generous and professional, open-hearted and savvy, all at once.

I'll end with a "moral" thought. When Jesus sent his disciples out into the world, he told them "be gentle as doves and wily as serpents." As Jesus is the source of my own "moral imperative" to do good and be kind, his words tell me that I, too, can be gentle and wily--both at once. :)

Peace be with you,
Tara

In this Holiday Season...

May you be filled with lovingkindness.
May you be well.
May you be at peace and at ease.
May you dwell in safety and security.
May you be free from anxiety and suffering.
May all good things be yours.

Peace and best wishes to you,
Tara

Update Friday

A few updates you might be interested in:

Zugunruhe added 96 new contacts in December! We’ll round up to an even $100 and divide the dough between our four worthy causes. A huge thanks to all who responded to our invitation. We look forward to getting to know you over the coming year and providing you with tons of great marketing tips and business life info. If you haven’t subscribed yet and want to be part of the fun, we’re continuing our pledge to generosity into the New Year. Just enter your email where it says “subscribe” in the left sidebar to join the fun.

I interviewed Bryan Sims, CEO of Brass Media last month. Now, we see that Brass is headed into the realm of reality TV! Check out the clip on Brass’s blog. If you know anybody in TV who might be interested, please pass the clip on. These folks definitely deserve some love.

Speaking of social responsibility, this video made its way to me today. I’m going right out to buy carbon offsets for all my friends and family as Christmas presents now. See you Monday!

Two roads diverged… [Part V]: what do you WANT?

Over the past month or so, I’ve gotten a ton of catalogs. I rarely look at any of them. I used to spend a lot of time paging through these virtual shopping malls but I stopped because I found myself wanting too many things. All that wanting created a feeling of discontentment inside me. I didn’t like that feeling. So the catalogs go straight into the recycling bin now.

Wanting means lack. Wanting focuses on what is missing. And wanting can create a sort of blindness. People seem to lurch from one desire to another. They find creative and often destructive means of trying to fill their vague longings. This expensive house, that fabulous car. An affair, a drug. Credit card debt. Have another drink! If you don’t know what you want, then the aching want grows and builds and devours everything in its path, without ever being satiated.

Yes, wanting can be dangerous. For that reason, the question of “what do I want” needs some control. Handled gently, however, not gripped too tightly. What’s needed is balanced discernment--neither fleeing nor taking the whole thing too damn seriously.

Thus, answering the question of “what do i WANT?” is one that can be taken while maintaining some motion. One friend of mine told me that she hiked every day for months before her vague yearning defined itself into the business she now owns. She kept moving, but with attention to the longing. Learning what you want may require a similar sort of patience. Not to mention, flexibility. You may find something you think you want and then later learn that you were wrong.

The other thing about wanting is that it’s a preference--a choice--rather than a need. That means that going after what you want can be perceived as a luxury or an act of selfishness. There maybe people who are repelled by what you want for yourself. They may tell you that you shouldn’t want what you want or that you’re being selfish. This can be painful. You’re going to have to decide for yourself if your wanting is strong enough, if your desire is sufficient to get you through the not knowing or not having.

Once you figure out what is wanted, then it becomes a game of keeping the desire to achieve sufficiently nourished but still hungry. Once satiated, wanting provides no more incentive or motivation. Yes, wanting is a difficult concept. It’s kind of like fire. Enough fire keeps you warm. Too much fire burns the house down. No fire means you freeze.

As you face the question of “what do i WANT?” at your two roads diverging, remember that you’re in charge. You can choose your own road. And the only reason you have to have is that you want it.

Marketing Monday: Peekaboo!

Yesterday at church, I was watching a baby. His little eyes were big and round. He cooed and smiled and giggled at the person in the pew in front of me, a person who was probably making googley-eyes back at him. This little baby was having a wonderful time--every person he looked at smiled back at him.

Babies are beautiful. Especially to their parents. But ever see a baby picture and think, “oh, not a pretty kid” while mom or dad is cooing his or her heart out? Well, that’s what it’s like when you coo over your business to potential customers or clients. Your business is beautiful to you. It’s your baby. But nobody loves your baby the way you do. But most businesses don’t seem to know that.

One of the biggest marketing mistakes is to fail to recognize that the customer isn’t going to make googley-eyes at your beautiful business unless your core marketing message is clear. Your business must be distinct--different from those in competition with you--and there has to be a clear reason why folks should want to choose you over someone else. Failure to be distinct is often the result of what John Jantsch calls “copy-cat marketing.”

Copy-cat marketing is a phenomenon you can easily observe for yourself. Crank up your browser and go to your favorite search engine. Type in a few search terms relevant to your own marketing interests. From your search results, choose one link at random. Then as you look at the site, ask yourself the following questions:

• Who is the target market?
• Who is the ideal client or customer?
• What is the core message?

Now look at a second site from your search results--just pick one at random. Ask the three questions again: target market, ideal customer, core message. Now imagine moving text or info from this page to the first site you looked at. Would it look out of place? Would you notice any difference?

We tried this exercise as part of the Duct-Tape U Virtual Study Group last week. If you listen to the podcast, and follow along with your browser, you’ll see that websites for competing businesses can be virtually interchangeable. And completely pointless as marketing materials.

The result of copy-cat marketing isn’t just bland, indistinct marketing materials. It leaves the customer to compare one feature from business to business: price. If you cannot show the customer how you are better and worth more, then guess what? Your prospect will choose a lower priced alternative just about every single time. That might be your competitor or it might be you. If it’s you, then you’re probably not making as much money as you’d like, are you?

Don’t compete on price! Instead, distinguish yourself and the worth of your goods or services with excellent marketing materials that highlight the unique contribution you bring to the world. Then, your experience will be like that of the beautiful baby: People will make googley-eyes at your business from then on. Promise.

Now for this week’s Duct Tape Awards.
A shiny, silver roll of the fine sticky stuff goes to Dayspring. I’ve received several cards this holiday season that were manufactured by Dayspring, a Christian-based greeting card company. Dayspring’s core message is: “Share your heart and God’s love.” This message is consistent across every card. However, it was the prayer of blessing on one that really got my attention. It left me feeling that the folks of Dayspring actually care about me, the recipient. Now that’s distinctive. (As I browsed their website, I took at their humorous ecards--check out “Genesis 1” for a good laugh.

The green duct tape this week goes to Burgerville. Burgerville isn’t your ordinary fast-food chain. For one thing, I am a vegetarian and I stop at Burgerville every chance I get. I’ve been known to drive 20 miles one-way for one of their Oregon strawberry shakes in the springtime, but it’s not just the seasonal food made with local ingredients. It’s their message. Burgerville is green from top to bottom. They use locally produced products, promote sustainable agriculture, and take good care of their employees. Truly distinctive--can you see McD’s or the King making a move to locally produced anything or offering their part-tme employees inexpensive health coverage? Doing good and doing well, Burgerville was recently featured in Inc. And I gotta tell you, the eggnog shakes in December are worth the drive and the extra time on the treadmill! Their message: "Fresh, local, sustainable." shows up everywhere and in everything they do. Delightfully distinctive and green, too!

Two roads diverged… [Part IV]: what do YOU want?

A few days ago, a friend called me to share some sad news. Her youngest son was getting divorced. As parents, my friend and her husband were totally blindsided. As we talked, I thought about my own divorce, many years ago. Back then, I didn’t really think about how what was happening with me affected my parents. Now, watching my friend, I realized how profoundly sad my own parents must have been.

When we go after what we want from our lives, we sometimes forget that our answers affect lots of other people. We’re not in this thing alone. And there’s the rub with dealing with the third question, ‘what do I want?’

The first time I made a huge change in my life, I was perfectly aware that lots of people were affected. After all, I left the country. I left behind co-workers, a soon-to-be ex-husband, and my family. And not too surprisingly, some people (the ones who weren’t shocked into speechlessness) disapproved of my choice quite vocally. Likewise, after my departure from academia, my choice of path didn’t meet with universal approval. There are people from my old department who still don’t speak to me and others who speak but are downright rude.

One thing this experience has taught me is that people’s responses to what I want for myself don’t necessarily have anything to do with me personally. People often tell us lots about themselves from what they deem most important. I’ve heard tenure-track men say, without apology, that their families demand too much of their time. When one of those guys sneers, I know that sneer has nothing to do with me. Not really. He’s sneering at something else--I’m not sure what--but it’s not me because he doesn’t know me.

That said, there are people who do know me very well indeed. Their responses can be very personal. I was lucky. When my two roads diverged, my soul-mate and one-true-love was (and is) totally supportive of me. “Do what will make you happy,” he said, and he meant it. He gave me the profoundly precious gift of time and encouragement. He believed in me even though I had difficulty believing in myself. 

Now you: When you get to the question, what do YOU want?, you may find that your ideas about what you want don’t please people around you. Some of those opinions matter to you and others don’t. It’s going to be up to you to decide how personally you want to take those. You may meet resistance from the people who are most important to you. People who, all things being equal, you want to please. This is probably going to be your biggest challenge.

I’ve had it both ways. I’ve jumped off the proverbial cliff, no going back, hell and be damned what anybody else thought. And someone I loved didn’t like it, told me so, and eventually came to think that I right all along (and you, sweet beloved reader, know exactly who you are). It wasn’t fun to go through that kind of disapproval but we all survived and we still love each other. On the flip side, I’ve made hard decisions and had my most beloved be okay with it and had folks on the outside treat me as if I had contracted some rare and contagious disease.

Yesterday, I had a conversation with someone who told me about how he works quite diligently to protect his own soul. You, too, must decide what is most important to you and your soul as you answer the question, “What do I want?” while never forgetting that your answer is going to make waves. It’s going to be a balancing act. But it can also be a very fun ride.

So far, we’ve tackled three of the four questions:
WHAT do i want? [the outcome, the results]
what DO i want? [present tense, in the moment, right now, not in the past]
what do I want? [me, not someone else]

Next Wednesday (Dec 19, 2007), we’ll tackle question number four:
what do i WANT? [yearn for, not necessarily need; what does my heart desire?]
Let me tell you, it’s the toughest question of them all.

To be continued….

Two roads diverged [Part III]: what DO you want?

It happened again yesterday. I asked one of my coaching clients what he’d like to work on for that session and he said something to the effect of “I’d like to work on figuring out what should I do with the rest of my life. How can I figure that out?” Every time I hear a client say that, my heart drops into my feet. I want to hold my head in my hands, rock back and forth, moaning and saying “I don’t know! I don’t knooooooow.” But I do know. Sort of.

When we left my story of two roads diverged, I regained my sight after my Damascus road moment in the conference room and spent three and a half, caffeine-fueled months writing Genetics for Dummies. When the adrenalin wore off and the book was on its way to the printer, I had to step back. OK, I had written a book. I could now call myself a writer and an author. Whoopee. Now what? Emphasis on the word NOW. what DO i want? [present tense, in the moment, right now, not in the past]

I knew that my past--my experiences, background, education--ought to count for something. I also knew how to write and that writing suited me. So did teaching. I love learning; I love helping people. One of the problems I wrestled with, though, was how all my bag and baggage could create a fulfilling now that would also lead to a pleasant future.

The other thing I struggled with was my identity. I kept asking, “Who in the hell am I now?” I agonized over forms. I’d get to the box for “occupation” and stare at it. I was no longer a professor. Do I put writer? Teacher? Human being? Confused?

Identity is a funny thing. When we’re teens, we often try on lots of hats. Do I want to be a cowboy? Goth? A surfer dude? And then, sometime in our early twenties, we take on an identity. Often, that identity is chosen along with a Major in college. You come out of the process, and someone asks you, “what do you do?” You’ll say, “I’m a …” something. Accountant. Pharmacist. Doctor. Something. And that something becomes your identity. It’s not a hat anymore, that can be easily tried on and taken off. Now, that hat is you.

I had taken off my professorial mortar board. And without it, I had no idea who I was anymore. For a long time, I hedged. I’d try to gauge the situation and then answer the “what do you do?” question with something I thought would be acceptable at the moment. At a faculty dinner, I was a faculty wife. At a writer’s conference, I was an author (big distinction from being just a writer, I learned). On an airplane, I’d guess. One day I was coach. The next flight I might be a writer or an instructor or a person in the witness protection program. But that question, that darn question would not let me alone: what DO i want?

What did I want to be? Who did I want to be? What, in the present moment do I want? The answer, it turned out, was something I’d really known all along. I wanted to be fully present for my life. To really live it. Be immersed and involved and aware. I suddenly didn’t matter about what or do anymore. It was about be. Be mindful. Be grateful. Be present.

Now You: what DO you want? How do you want to be? How do you want to be in the world, with your family, alone in the middle in the night? In the never-ending, always-available present moment, what DO you want?

And once you start to grasp what you it is you DO want, you’ll come up against a new aspect of the question. What is it YOU want? We’re not in this thing alone.

To be continued…

Marketing Monday: Standing out from the crowd

Pick up your local yellow pages. Or thumb through the latest issue of your favorite magazine. Here’s what you’ll see: most businesses within industries look very much the same. That’s because most marketing is done in much the same way from company to company. Take insurance, for example. Insurance companies are selling security, freedom from worry. It’s rare to find differences among insurance companies. You’ll see corporate-looking, bland websites. Corporate-looking, print ads. TV ads that are…bland. There are three notable exceptions: Aflac, Geico, and eSurance.

Aflac has the Duck. The Duck is so much a part of their image, he’s even part of their logo. And their ads are very, very sticky. So much so that I can almost quote parts of their pitch from memory like, “Ask about it at work.” Aflac has used a sticky, funny image to make their services stand out: Aflac provides benefits that will take care of you if something happens and you can’t work. There maybe many such companies, however, I know only one--Aflac.

Geico has taken a different approach. They’ve got one image: the gecko. And a second, offbeat image that includes fake ads (Chatty Cathy dolls talking about insurance, for example) and celebrity filled ads that stop me from muting the TV every time (Peter Frampton jamming on the guitar is my current fave--ok, so I’m old and can remember when he had gorgeous, long blonde hair but I digress). Geico’s pitch is that they’re cheaper than their competition with the tag line, "I saved money by switching to Geico."

And then, there’s eSurance. eSurance has a rather sexy, pink-haired secret agent cartoon spokeswoman (whose name is Erin, by the way). I’m not entirely sure who eSurance’s target market is but Erin has her own blog to communicate with her admirers. Of the three companies, eSurance differentiate itself the best. Why do I think so? Because their ads don’t appeal to me.

Here’s why that’s a stronger approach. eSurance has a target market. They know exactly to whom they are marketing and it ain’t everybody. By clearly defining their target, eSurance has created a image to appeal to this one group. I’m not in eSurance’s target market--if I was, I imagine I’d just love Erin to pieces. eSurance is surprisingly savvy about this. Check out their FAQ on Erin.

What eSurance has figured out, and the others have not, is that it’s ok to be so different that some people simply don’t “get them.” It’s like those blooming Messing with Sasquatch ads. I have no desire whatsoever to eat beef jerky. I really dislike the ads. However those ads appeal very strongly to a particular audience (so I’ve been told by a member of this audience) and the videos are viral.

What all this means for you is two-fold. First, decide to whom you wish to sell. Determine who your target market is. It isn’t everybody. Not matter what you do or what service you provide, you don’t really want to do business with just anybody. Decide which anybodies you want most and focus on them. Second, find a way to stand out as different from your competition. I’m mean visibly different. That means creating a core marketing message that is consistent, memorable, and truly makes you stand out.

Remember, you don’t want to imitate a chameleon--who is a master at blending in. You want to emulate a raucous duck, a talking gecko or a pink-haired girl. You’ll give people a reason to remember you and that's the first step in contacting you over someone else.

And now for this weeks’s Duct Tape awards...

• A small piece of the great sticky stuff goes to Chubb. Chubb’s print ad in a recent issue of Inc. caught my eye. Chubb only gets a piece of duct tape instead of a whole roll because: a) the print ad strikes me as sexist, and b) the rest of their approach is bland. In the print ad, the guy is made to appear to be a victim as the ad implies the woman was a willing part of the “celebration” but then later “shreds him” (as if he didn't know better than to fraternize or some such). It’s good to be different. Being sexist, however, isn’t cool to me. Chubb seems to be heading in a sticky direction, but their core marketing message and approach isn’t consistent across the board.
• A big fat roll of green duct tape goes to eSurance. Erin fights climate change! Erin saves some green! Hidden away on their website is also a very nice section on corporate responsibility. OK, maybe I’m in their target marketing after all!

Before I go--forgive the long post--don’t forget that tomorrow, I’ll be chatting with Duct Tape Marketing founder, John Jantsch. You are invited to join us, click here to get the details sent to your inbox.