On 12th July I travelled to the big smoke, London, to attend an event by Adobe to find out about a new product they were launching. More importantly, to listen to someone I had seen before in London, at Stamford Bridge for iStrategy 2012. His name is Brian Solis, and he was the opening key note speaker at iStrategy. He blew me away on day one. Brian looks at how people use Social Media and Brands and analyses it.
When I saw Brian’s name as a speaker on the invite from Adobe I had to book my place there and then. The first 100 people would get a signed copy of his new book that he was going to be promoting, so the event was a double launch.
The launch of his book “The Future of Business” was to be held at The Mayfair Hotel – another reason to attend!.
A few colleagues asked me why I would travel all that way for a few hours and a book launch. “Is it really worth going all that way?”, and the simple answer to this question was, “Yes!”.
At iStrategy Brian asked the audience the question of “Why do you do what you do?” which was a turning point in Social Media when brands and businesses understood more about their why. So when I was invited to see Brian speak again, I had no hesitation in registering bearing in mind that I would need to get up for 4am to get the train to London and be there on time for 9am.
So why was I going?
To see Brian Solis speak again and to hear about the Future of Business
To get inspired by a leader in my industry
To meet like minded people
For an experience – I had never been to the Mayfair Hotel before
And to ask Brian for an interview! – If you don’t ask…
I got all 5 plus more…
#1: Brian Solis was fabulous and didn’t disappoint. I could listen to him all day talk about social, people, business and brands. My favourite thing Brian said during the presentation was “Most marketers are in marketing because they don’t like maths, which is why R.O.I is a touchy subject!”
#2: Everything he said hit the nail on the head as you would expect, especially the ego-system where we expect people to be interested in absolutely everything we do every day
#3: I met two new people and we even went for lunch afterwards and spoke about Social, Digital and everything Internet. We followed each other and in fact still speak on Twitter every week! Lovely people!
#4: The hotel was beautiful, in fact stunning!
#5: I asked Brian if it was OK for an interview whilst he was signing my book and he said yes! I just needed to wait until everyone else had been sorted out
So, was it worth going? Yes is the simple answer. It was a very successful and inspiring day! Sometimes you have to do things because they feel right or just because you want to; you just never know where your choices will lead!
On Monday this week I got a fantastic opportunity to interview the founder and chairman of BNI (Business Network International), Dr.Ivan Misner.
He is called the “Father of Modern Networking,” Dr. Misner is one of the world’s leading experts in business networking and referral marketing.
Why?
The reason for the interview was to find out how successful business men and women like Dr.Ivan Misner promote themselves and what they think of Marketing.
I get asked questions everyday about Marketing. For example; What should I do? It is expensive, there’s no point…, I’m not sure what to do…, What do you think I should do to promote the company?… The answer will be different for every business and business owner.
A lot of business owner struggle with marketing not realising that is a necessary activity for all businesses. So, I want to help them in a different way.
How?
I thought the best way to help my clients and other business owners to understand about Marketing is by interviewing people who have been there and done it. I will be interviewing different people in different ways and sharing their thoughts with you.
Where?
This interview took place via Skype, between Liverpool (UK) and California (USA).
Yesterday Koogar interviewed Dr.Ivan Misner to find out what he thinks about Marketing.
At the beginning of 2011, Koogar took a look at the new years marketing plan. One thing I took from last year (2010) and previous years in business is that there are a lot of people in business who are unsure of what marketing is and are also scared to put themselves out there, even though they are in business to make money.
I regularly attend Marketing Seminars to see what others are up to and how they go about promoting themselves as times are changing, marketing is changing and its happening quickly.
I decided to ask people who have been there and done it… I decided at the beginning of 2011 that I’m going to interview a range of successful business owners and ask them “what their take is on Marketing“, to see if they could give us an insight into what has helped them build their empire(s), and also see if they can give us some hints and tips along the way.
The interview has been recorded and will be uploaded for you to listen to and will also be transcribed giving you some of the websites and links Dr.Ivan Misner has recommended we take a look at.
If you not currently in BNI and are looking for a new marketing stream for your business, I can obviously recommend it.
Share your stories about BNI and how it has helped you and keep an eye on our website for the full interview.
Jonathan interviewed Amanda Daniels, the founder of Koogar. Please read on to see what he found out!
Amanda Daniels owns and works for Koogar, which is a digital marketing company which specializes in website design and developement. Amanda works with her partner Andy, currently from a home office and the company has been running full time for 9 months, but in total 3 years.
Before Amanda set up her own business, she was a web designer of 7 years, this involved her being part of a team where she was produced insurance websites, working with big clients such as HSBC. Amanda felt that she was starting to lose some of her design and creative skills as these websites had to have strict structures, therefore decided to move away from this and set up her own company to retrieve some of these skills.
Amanda wanted to help other businesses as she felt that companies were getting over charged for websites. Amanda felt that as she had experience working for big companies that she would be able to provide better websites for businesses cost effectively. Amanda prides her self on presentation as she feels that this is key to what she does. (more…)
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On 12th July I travelled to the big smoke, London, to attend an event by Adobe to find out about a new product they were launching. More importantly, to listen to someone I had seen before in London, at Stamford Bridge for iStrategy 2012. His name is Brian Solis, and he was the opening key note speaker at iStrategy. He blew me away on day one. Brian looks at how people use Social Media and Brands and analyses it.
On Monday this week I got a fantastic opportunity to interview the founder and chairman of