Pick up your cell phone. Right now. Look up the last person you called. Call them back. I want you to ask one simple question. I want you to ask them what the last thing you said to them was.

Whatever they tell you, write it down. On a single sheet of paper. In really big letters. Make sure you get it right. It might be the most important thing you ever write.

Now hang it where you’ll be forced to read it every day. By your desk, next to your computer, on the back of the toilet — somewhere you’re going to see it every day for the foreseeable future.

That sentence is how somebody remembers you. It’s the most recent impression they have of your character, who you are as a human being, as a businessperson, as an employee, as a parent, as a member of the PTA, and so on. It’s how you left the stage. It’s the parting shot, the climax of the scene that began and ended with the phone call. It’s now a part of who you are to someone else.

Heavy, I know. Stay with me.

You Are a Magician

Long-distance communication, whether by phone, email, Skype or CB radio, is magic. Don’t believe me? What if I told you that as I write this, I’m sitting in my suburban living room on a couch that is covered in a retro-looking red-and-gray plaid uphostery, running shoes crossed and propped up on a well-loved coffee table, typing on a laptop I bought at Wal-Mart while my son snores rather loudly in the adjacent bedroom. Can you see my living room? Do you have a rough idea as to how I look? We’ve never met, have we? And yet you can see me here, as I write this, can’t you?

That’s magic, baby.

You and I are fortunate in that we have the ability to move people with our words. We have the ability to inspire thoughts, to impress upon others sentiments, feelings and inclinations. Ours is a gift that few possess, and fewer know they possess it. And every interaction that we have with another human being, no matter the medium, is an opportunity to make an impression.

Think about that. The ancients believed that spells could be cast by putting together the right combination of syllables, as though there was some spiritual life force that could be tapped by speaking the secret password. That’s a bit dramatic, of course. But you do have the power to make someone think something that they weren’t thinking before. And it has nothing to do with psychic abilities or whatever Leonardo DiCaprio did in Inception. It’s just a matter of using the right words to paint a picture.

What Do You Say About You?

Look at the big sentence on your sheet of paper. Have you figured out what kind of impression that left? Oh, but you didn’t know I was watching you; so how could I expect this particular example to be indicative of how you portray yourself? Well, I suppose I don’t. But if every interaction is an opportunity to create an impression, then every time you fail to do so is a missed opportunity. That means there’s room for improvement.

How can you make the sentence on that piece of paper better? What could you have said instead that would have contained the same information and created a better picture of who you are? Swap some words around. Replace some things. Start over from scratch if you have to. Figure out how to make your sentence better. Now make those edits on your big piece of paper. Yes, cross things out, use carrots, draw big swooping arrows. It doesn’t have to be neat. But the end result has to be more impressive than the original.

Now, then. Every day I want you to read that new sentence to yourself. Before every conversation you have. And I want you to remember that the very next words you say have the power to leave an impression, and that impression is entirely in your control. The words you choose matter.

You are always on. Always.

What do you say?

Two big items in the news today. At least, the news as it relates to me. And this is my blog, so I get to talk about it here. Them’s the rules. (Smiley face.)

1000 Dollars for 1000 Tweets

First, I want to say thank you to everyone who has participated so far in the 1000 Dollars for 1000 Tweets promotion. I got some awesome responses, and almost everyone asked that their dollars be donated to charity. I haven’t run the numbers yet, but on behalf of everyone at the National Brain Tumor Association, I want to say thank you.

For those of you who requested your dollars, I will have them all in the mail on Monday morning, along with a quick little letter saying thanks. Keep an eye out for it. Thanks again!

What’s that you say? You haven’t heard of the 1000 Dollars for 1000 Tweets promotion? Well, you must not be following me on Twitter or Facebook. But that’s okay. There’s still time. (Read more here.)

No More “Hire Matt” Section

Now the more bittersweet news. You might have noticed that I took down the “Hire Matt” section of this site. People are asking why I did that, and I suppose it’s time I came out and broke the news.

As of today, I’m officially spoken for.

Yup, it’s true. I got snapped up. My new full-time employer is a little company called Digitas. You might have heard of them; they’re the largest digital marketing agency in the world. I’ll be working as the community manager for one of their largest clients. From what I gather, I’m going to be the first community manager that Digitas has ever hired. That one sentence says a lot about where the profession of marketing is heading: a multi-national ad agency with its roots in direct marketing is hiring people to manage the everyday online social interactions of its clients. (Which is not to say that Digitas hasn’t been involved in social media up until now — they have, and how — but now they’re hiring people specifically for that reason. It’s awesome!) Worlds are colliding, friends, but instead of one or the other breaking apart, it looks like they’re fusing. How freaking awesome is that?

So that’s the sweet. Here comes the bitter.

I’m going to have to end my consulting contracts for the time being. That’s right: I’m moving out of chaotically beautiful world of freelance marketing. So I have to bid a fond farewell to all of the clients with whom I have worked over the past several months. It kind of sucks. I really enjoyed working with all of my clients — I genuinely had fun helping them create processes and strategies that turned their businesses into hubs of information. These clients are at the forefront of a new and exciting shift in the way that businesses communicate with each other and the rest of the world, and I will do everything in my power to make sure that they have the tools they need to continue down the path we have forged.

To my former clients, I want to say thank you for the opportunity to work with you. My door is always open.

Photo credit: MLHS

I wrote my Boogie Man post yesterday, and I have to say that I feel pretty good about it. Sure, the language was a little stronger than is politically correct, but then again you probably don’t come here for PC drivel. You can read the post here, if you like.

More than catharsis, the post yesterday enabled me to pick the brain of a relatively popular marketing blogger. Stanford Smith, whose blog inspired yesterday’s post, weighed in with a substantial comment. Among his suggestions was the following:

Why does this get under your skin? Talk about how you plan to build a business around YOUR audience in a new or different way. I’m sure Chris would love to see how his example has inspired different monetization strategies.

So that’s what I’m going to do.

The Problem with Brogan-Style Blogging

In case you missed yesterday’s post, here’s the problem as I see it with blogs whose approaches are similar to Chris Brogan’s. (And it’s worth noting that I’m not saying that this is a bad approach to blogging. I’m only pointing out differences in our marketing philosophies.)

Brogan-style blogging hooks you with good ideas. It develops a rhythm wherein you come to the blog expecting good ideas. And then those ideas somehow evolve into something proprietary and closed-source that requires a buy-in.

Nothing wrong here, except that the buy-in usually involves having someone take you step-by-step through the marketing/PR/advertising/customer service arenas, ultimately arriving at a handful of conclusions you could have reached yourself if you had just talked it out with your coworkers over lunch.

I’m all for the open exchange of information. I love going to conferences with big table discussions. I love reading online forums and blogs that encourage lively chatter. But anything that runs contrary to the free exchange of ideas — those who would charge for the venue or, worse, the ideas themselves, for example — starts off in the red, in my mind.

Why We Need an Alternative

I don’t expect to be paid for having ideas. I don’t expect to receive payment because people read or even like my ideas. To think that those ideas are mine to be paid for is absurd — my ideas are the product of the ideas of a litany of authors, whose ideas were amalgamations of other ideas, and so on. Learning these makes me better at what I do; but it’s what I do that deserves payment.

Now, if it happens that my analysis of a particular idea reaches someone who is so impressed that she wants to call me and discuss this idea further, so be it. And if I can convince her that her company has work that needs to be done, and that I’m both qualified and affordable, go me. But to this point, I have no right to expect that anything I’ve done is worth a red cent. And that is true even if — even if – something I’ve said causes someone to perform some action that makes money for a third party.

If you take Brogan’s style to the extreme — if everyone blogged like him — then we’d be stuck in a world where honest commentary and profit-driven review are so intertwined as to be indistinguishable. If, on the other hand, we removed affiliate promotion from the blogs of thought leaders, we’d know exactly what we were getting (in theory). I know which world I’d rather live in.

An Alternative to Brogan-Style Blogging

Brogan talks about the art of asking for the sale. In his case, asking for the sale often means clicking a link to buy something he didn’t create — a book on Amazon, a camera, a suitcase, a WordPress theme, what have you. What if, instead of asking us to buy things, a blogger was forced to sell only his own talents? Do you think he would spend more time vetting his ideas? Developing his theories? Implementing strategies and guaging their effects? I think he would.

Instead of blogging on the freemium model — giving away small or general ideas for free and charging an “upgrade” fee for the big or specific ideas — why not promote the free exchange of all ideas and charge only for their implementation?

You might have guessed it, but I’m a big fan of doing things. When a client hires me to consult on SEO, I don’t just present them with ideas. I actually do the optimizing. When they hire me for social media management, I don’t just walk in and train people on the finer points of being social. I actually log hours at the keyboard representing the brand. I tell clients that I’m not a consultant; I’m a marketer. I do marketing.

And that’s the alternative that I propose. I propose that bloggers stop thinking about ways to improve their revenue stream today, and start thinking about how to improve their trade forever. It’s time marketing bloggers stepped out from behind the pulpit and sat down with their fellow marketers. It’s time they started sharing ideas. It’s time they focused on doing marketing, not just talking about marketing because it’s what marketers are reading.

And I’ll start this rehab with myself. Hello, my name is Matt. I’m addicted to “New Marketing”. I’ve been clean and sober for one day.

Who are you?

Image credit: framesmedia | Dan