Have you ever noticed how when you share a story with someone, it becomes their story too?

There is something validating when we can say, “Oh yeah, that happened to…” me, my friend, my brother, my dog, whomever… It’s a concrete way of showing that we can relate to what the other person is saying. And it can be really exciting to be the first person to share a story within your circle.

This idea was highlighted for me tonight. My wallet was stolen this afternoon. That’s a pretty simple statement, but the narrative of the events unfolding and the aftermath of it all is quite complicated. The story isn’t even complete yet. I have shared it with my immediate family, and then (somewhat without thinking) I posted it on Facebook.

As I lay awake in bed, unable to sleep, I realized that I am already tired of the story and regretted the Facebook post. I don’t know that I want to keep hashing it out with every person I know, because it’s tiring to keep reliving the experience. But, I know that the story will spread throughout my network, even though I don’t know that I necessarily want it to.

But, my story has become their story. And they can do whatever they want with it, because it’s theirs now. I’m sure you’ll hear a sightly different version, depending on who you ask.

And, yes, I realize that I’m sharing it with even more people by writing about it here.

Here’s what I’m trying to understand — what makes us want to share and spread some stories and not others?

We hear and read about tons of different things every day. What makes it something that we just can’t wait to tell someone else about?

It’s extreme.
Really good news and really bad news seem to spread quickly.

It’s out-of-the-ordinary.
It’s something that shakes up your community. Something new and different.

These ideas are probably pretty obvious. But — how can you make the stories you want people to talk about spread like wildfire? Like, your new product launch? Or your upcoming seminar?

People naturally share stories. They want to share cool, exciting, different stuff with their friends and family. But, if my business is offering the same ho-hum stuff as everyone else…why should I expect people to talk about it?

Going forward with my own business, I plan to spend more time developing my offerings and my brand into something more out-of-the-ordinary. Something easy to talk about and easy to share. Can everyone in my network tell the story of the services I offer as easily as they can tell the story of how my wallet got stolen during a client meeting at Panera?

It’s something to consider as you plan your next marketing campaign. I know that I’m keeping it in mind for mine.

“Ugh, I just don’t care about what you had for breakfast!!”

Have you ever heard anyone say something like that about Facebook or Twitter? I know a sizable group of people who cannot understand the “me, me, me” aspect of social media. They don’t want to jump on Twitter or Facebook, because they don’t feel they have anything to say that would matter to their audience of friends and acquaintances.

They recognize that it can be really rude and self-absorbed to do nothing but talk about yourself, when your audience isn’t interested in hearing about your latest snack or TV obsession or how much you drank last night. But, many people make the same sort of mistakes on the homepage of their business website.

“We’ve worked with these great companies! We are awesome! Buy from us!” We, we, we!

You at least know the people on Facebook that you’re bragging to, but on a homepage, you’re bragging to total strangers. Think about what’s important to you when you visit a new site. You are trying to decide (quickly) if this company offers what you’re looking to buy. Do they look trustworthy? Can you quickly find what you’re looking for? If they past the initial sniff test, do you know where you should go next?

What you think is the most important thing to tell your customers on your homepage may not be the same information that they think is most important. Try to imagine your ideal customer, and think about what they want to know. If you can design your web presence around the needs of your ideal customer, you will be far more successful than designing it around your own needs and personal preferences.

Remember, it’s not about you.

Recommended reading:
Rethink Your Web Presence by Chris Brogan

7 ways your homepage is like a first date by Lisa Barone on Outspoken Media

I (temporarily) fell off the blogging wagon, but I’m hopping right back on. For now, I am committing to a Tuesday + Friday publishing schedule, with a goal of increasing it to three times per week later on.

What have I been up to?

The short answer: reading, learning and brainstorming (and client work, of course).

The longer answer: I have been spending a lot of time focusing and redefining my business. This journey began about 8 months ago at the Creative Freelancer Conference. At the end of the conference, we each wrote down “Things I’m committed to doing for my business in the next six months” on a card. The conference leaders would mail us the cards in about six months, as a friendly reminder of our goals.

I received mine in the mail about a week ago:

Guess what? I am working from my own office, which I absolutely love. I have spent the last six months developing a marketing strategy. My website and resume are current, sans one recent project. I (obviously) started a blog, and I am putting the finishing touches on my e-newsletter. (I’m working on the sign-up form for the newsletter, but you can also email me to get on the list.)

Looking at this list gave me a huge boost of confidence, because when I wrote those goals, I thought I might accomplish two of them, at most.

In the weeks ahead, I’ll talk more about how I’ve made it this far (it involves a lot of reading and asking for help) and where I’m headed next (including new services!). I’m really excited to share my new goals with you.

One thing that has been instrumental in developing these new goals is my Empire Building Kit series from Chris Guillebeau. Days 1 through 41 of the 365-day EBK course have seriously rocked my socks. I wanted to mention the EBK today because it goes on sale tomorrow for another 24-hour launch, which is the first time it’s been available for sale since I bought it. If you have your own small business, or are interested in starting one, I highly recommend checking it out. I’ll talk more about what I learned from it tomorrow.  Feel free to comment or email me with questions too.

Thanks for sticking around through the post drought. I really appreciate it.

How many magnets are on your refrigerator right now? Did you buy them yourself, or are they from businesses? I’d bet at least half are from businesses.

Did you know:

95 million homes have at least one fridge which they open an average of 20 times per day. (That’s 7,300 hits a year.)

My parents have magnets on their fridge that have been there for at least 10 years.

I think that as long as your magnet:

(1) is aesthetically pleasing,

(2) has useful information (like your services + contact info), and

(3) is strong enough to hold a paper or two -

the likelihood of it remaining up there for awhile is pretty high. (I have no science to back this up, it’s just based on my experience.)

I’d recommend considering a refrigerator magnet for your next promotional item giveaway. I personally love the ones with the little clip to hold papers. They’re so sturdy.

Thanks to Lee Silber and his book, Self-Promotion for the Creative Person: Get the Word Out About Who You Are and What You Do for this fun fact.

Feeling kind of cranky? Maybe even a little bitter? Yeah, I was too. It’s Monday, it’s cold and dreary in Chicago, I have jet lag from my trip to LA and I didn’t have any caffeine today. And then I did this one quick thing, and I felt a lot better.

Stop whatever you’re doing right now, go over to LinkedIn or Biznik and write someone a recommendation.

I mean it. Right now.

Scroll through your list of contacts and pick one person that you think does something awesome — it could be a client, a former co-worker, a professor — anyone. Take a few minutes (it really won’t take more than 15 minutes) and write a few sentences about them.

When you are done, I guarantee that you will feel awesome. Better than when that first sip of coffee starts kicking in on Monday morning. I can also guarantee that the person you just wrote about will feel awesome when they read it. It is a genuine, unexpected display of appreciation. Who knows, they may even feel inclined to write a bit of praise on your profile. Even if they don’t, I think writing recommendations looks great to prospective employers or clients — who wouldn’t want to work with someone that openly applauds and recognizes the work of others?

I know that you’re busy. I’m busy too. (As a side note, you might want to check out Chris Guillebeau’s article: “I’ve just been so busy lately.”) But, being busy isn’t an excuse not to acknowledge and thank the people who have positively impacted our lives — AND both LinkedIn and Biznik make it incredibly simple to display that positive message to the public.

Now, go for it!

Photo by: http://mudstencils.com/share-street/

/ CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

I’ve always thought there is something really beautiful about graffiti and street art, but I can’t condone the defacing of public property. (Chicago’s taxes are already way too high.)

This morning, I learned about mud stencils (from Kirk Roberts via the Kernspiracy mailing list) which could be a very unique, eco-friendly way to spread your marketing message. The darkness of the mud feels like black spray paint, and offers more opportunities for high-contrast, eye-catching messaging than sidewalk chalk. Chalk messages were really big on my college campus … I’m curious to see if mud stencils catch on.

Once Chicago thaws out in the spring, I’m really curious to try out this new technique. It’s pretty straightforward: all you need is a stencil cut out of mylar (the same material used for overhead transparency sheets), a sponge or roller, some tape, a bucket, dirt, and water. Draw your design (or print it out) and place a piece of mylar over it. Using an X-acto knife, cut out your stencil. Mix up your batch of mud until it has the consistency of peanut butter (if it is too runny, your design will bleed).  Tape your stencil to a sidewalk or wall and apply the mud using a sponge or roller. Remove the stencil… bam. Marketing with mud.

More inspiration here:

• Mud Stencils
• other Mud Stencils
• Mud Stencils in Chicago
• InHabitat

Would you consider commissioning mud stencils for your next project?