Viral marketing for everyone

We need to go viral, and you can help us immensely by spreading the word in your own community. Whether it's your entire list or just your best friends, that's how every example of Internet wildfire starts.

Talk about Smart People in your own blog. Lift a little from one of your favorite stories so far and talk about it. And always direct your readers to www.smartpeoplemagazine.com

And please understand, we are not must asking you to be our salesman! We are building an interactive community around the magazine and the most important feature of that right now is the feedback channels we are setting up to make Smart People magazine truly new media. We have eight Smart People musclepersons (men and women) hosting groups in some of the major social networks to encourage 'prosumers' -- people who want to be involved in the development of the product -- becoming engaged in this great project, not just by becoming subscribers, but by having a hand in the content and direction of the magazine.

Please let your friends in Facebook, Myspace, Linkedin, Twitter, Xing and Ning know you've seen an advance copy of the magazine (in the mixxt files) and it's a must see! And send them to the Smart People magazine discussion group in that network.

There's lots more to share with you now, but for the moment, we need to just put some muscle into spreading the word about the launch. Be sure to tell all your friends it's free, it's different, and it's going to change the way publishing and knowledging works.

Thanks a million.

Jerry

edited on 27/05/2009 by Jerry Ash

Nag, nag.

Have you seen the May issue yet?

It's been available since ... well ... May 15. If you haven't seen it then you haven't tried. If you tried and couldn't access most of the stories, that means you haven't subscribed.

If people in this workspace haven't subscribe, I'd say Smart People has an internal problem!

Those who have contributed materially to the development and launch of the magazine have received free subscriptions. If anyone feels they have been missed, please let me know. Otherwise, your first material contribution will be your subscription -- $25 now, but the half price opportunity grows short. It will be $50 soon.

If you just don't want to subscribe, then you have valuable information we need to know. Like, why do you think the magazine isn't worth $2.50 per issue? You were excited when you joined our pioneering pack. How did we lose that enthusiasm?

Maybe you're just not paying attention to Smart People mixxt messages any more? That also tells us something, doesn't it?

And while I'm nagging, where are those volunteers who said they could contribute marketing to Smart People? Wee need some! I've sent them some personal messages through mixxed. Got one fantastic response from Amit Anand in India. I'll talk about that in another message. But outside of that, zip. What does that tell us.

These are not unanticipated problems, but they are of considerable concern. We don't expect people to just come to Smart People because we published it. But we do worry about the original fans of the idea. There's something to be learned from it -- and that, in itself, is a contribution.

Speak to me!

Jerry

edited on 27/05/2009 by Jerry Ash

Marketing in India

On a happier note, Amit Ahnand has volunteered to become the Smart People marketing leader in India, making it a project for his college class. Here's his original idea which I'm asking all of you (especially the silent marketing people) to think about and advise before Amit and I embark on a marketing plan:

-----

Amit wrote:

I have a great IDEA below

Presently i am working in a Business School in Bangalore, India as Assistant Director and Faculty. The only weapons i have with me are MBA students who could take up your challenge of doing mass mailing and circulating using Technology and Internet. I have a plan to give the marketing and sales of Smart People Magazine to my students as part of their academic Internship. I shall supervise and

The corporate Database will be given to my selected students who will do Internship under me. This can also be a smart work of marketing and sales ( i can say e-Marketing) and at the end after the sales and marketing we might and we hope to see some subscription done.

Jerry to be more specific i have many students who respect my words and will take up this challenge.

First thing, they will collect the databases of emails of all the corporates/company/CEO's/CTO etc. completely in india.

Second, Once the database is been collected, i would request you to give a content that has to be done by mail promotion.

Third, Postings of Smart people Magazine subscription and content on Free web Forums and there are nearly 400 such websites. after the postings we would give the links to you in the report where ever it has been posted.

Fourth, Any response and queries will be directed to the concerned person handling Subscription of smart people magazine.

Fifth, New ways of promoting using web, media, technology will also be updated to you on regular basis.

Sixth, a report would be generated and articles will be written based on the finding and observations during this marketing and sales effort.

More Importantly this will be done at FREE of COST ( we have Free Internet for 15 hours a day except on Sundays)

This Project will start from October 1st 2009 to January 1st 2010 ( aggressively and Fiercely)
I Will supervise completely and get the job done. This will happen completely using Internet and Web Forums.

This will be an unique idea and great exposure to students as well.

This Project will start Immediately from Tomorrow ( contributing 3-4 Hours of work by students) if you say Yes to this Idea which will go on Till January 2010.

The only thing required for this is a Certificate for the students who do this Job signed by you on your letterhead.

-----

Amit needs to get his students started on the planning now. I'm ready to work with him on that, but Smart People is supposed to be a collaborative effort and I know there are many of you who are smarter than I (even in collaboration with Amit) about marketing. And all of you probably have ideas we won't think of.l

So, I need your help: 1. Input now, and 2. analysis of our plan later.

Please do this for us. Asap.

Jerry

Marketing message #3

This is another one of my famous long emails -- so I hasten to explain. I am bumbling through marketing the best I can. I share with you what I'm doing in the hope that you will be aware of what I'm saying and help me do it better.

-----

I was very pleased to see the great reactions among you regarding my idea of marketing group subscriptions to companies and organizations at a fraction of the normal individual subscription price.

I mentioned this elsewhere. During the APQC meeting in Houston I was asked to write on the back of my Smart People business card one issue I was most interested in. I wrote:

"Helping people think of themselves as knowledge workers."

Boris -- who is more than a techie -- asked a good question: "I thought our slogan was 'Digital generations bringing knowledge to life'?" (I'm thinking of changing it to "Digital people", btw. Well, that's the over all theme, but I thought for the APQC corporate audience I needed to connect SP to the corporate cause -- helping people think of themselves as knowledge workers. In Houston, that was my most pressing issue.

Then I received a nice message from a major player in management (not just KM) consulting who wrote this:

"Hi Jerry, Hope you are well. It's been a long time. Very cool new venture with SP mag - good luck - tell me how I can help."

Now, this guy is in my 3,000 person contact file, but not a close friend ... so, I was thrilled. A marketing opportunity of the highest order. So I wrote this:

-----

[salutation]

Your note made my day. I've lost touch with the [organization] ever since [name] switched parties but I have not forgotten the many kindnesses granted me by [organization]i over the years.

And yes, you can help me in a big way! It might even be mutually beneficial. Chief among our marketing goals is to get Smart People magazine on the desktops of thousands of employees of knowledge-driven companies worldwide. We are taking the knowledge factor mainstream. You are in a position to help us make that happen.

The main purpose of Smart People—the magazine and the community we are developing— is to help ordinary smart people think of themselves as knowledge workers. At the APQC KM Conference a week ago I was reminded once again that organizations are spending millions of dollars creating architectures and processes to manage human knowledge but still not enough attention is being given to the people who will populate those systems.

For 15 years I’ve also observed that one of the roadblocks to effective knowledge management has been the need to change cultures—both of the organizations and the people they employ. We’ve made some progress on changing organizational culture, but we have only limited success in motivating people to share their knowledge and freely collaborate at work.

At the same time, in the past two years the social networking phenomenon has shown us that people naturally want to share even if they are slow to do it in the workplace. Some dismiss the social networks as mindless chat, but beneath all that there is some serious, self-driven business going on. One example is the shift from job boards to online networking as the primary vehicle for job search. People are now quite aware of the power of Web 2.0.

I’ve been championing knowledge management for the past 15 years on the corporate end, but last year I transferred ownership of the Association of Knowledgework to a new owner and my last issue as managing editor of Inside Knowledge magazine was published in February of this year. By April I had published the first issue of Smart People magazine. My migration to the ‘other end’ of KM was complete.

That you were impressed with the magazine matters a great deal to me. I’ll share that with the five professionals who have committed a year to this project on a contingency fee basis, as well as the eight volunteers who are spearheading viral marketing among the several social networks.

Here’s how you can play a vital role in this effort:

We believe the magazine would be a tremendous tool for companies with KM programs. They could distribute it to their entire workforces as a means of motivating the transfer of some of that knowledge sharing, networking and collaboration energy from the outside in. The magazine is designed to appeal to the ‘digitals’ (people doing stuff online). Eighty percent of the stories are about the use of knowledge outside the workplace, but connected in some way as lessons learned in living, learning, choosing, creating that also apply inside the workplace as well. Twenty percent deals explicitly with working. This is the holistic approach we are using to connect knowledge at work to knowledge wherever it is used and we believe it is a huge part of life.

Individual subscriptions are priced at $50 for 10 issues. Group subscriptions could be sold at much less. For example, a company could distribute it to the desktops of 40,000 employees at a cost of only $2 per subscription. We could change the cover to indicate that the magazine is a benefit of the company’s alliance with Smart People. And, we are planning on a network of alliances in the Smart People Community being developed by leading virtual reality pioneers including the original owner of Second Life.

T help, you could become a part of the Smart People team of volunteers. At the least, you and your associates could open doors for us that would allow us the opportunity to talk to key decision makers about a Smart People alliance and the distribution of the magazine under the company logo. At best, you could recommend it.

Tom, I know this has been a long email … and if you’re still reading it, you must be interested. And if you are, let’s talk. We are past the dreaming-planning stages, but we are still flexible. Maybe you have better ideas and we have the interest to listen. We may be a business venture, but we are driven by the same passion that has kept me involved in KM for the past 15 years. Our mission is, and has always been about advocacy and enablement.

Jerry

P.S. I've attached a PDF of the May issue. We think it's an improvement over the premiere edition.

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So there's my pitch. But I'm operating solo. The Smart People Reps group has been learning, collaborating with each other. But those are just the ones contributing muscle. There are great minds in the larger work group and that's why I share this with everyone. In the absence of a marketing leader, we need to huddle and execute together.

I know this will happen!

Jerry

edited on 27/05/2009 by Jerry Ash

Reluctant neophyte.

A SP mixxt member wrote:

... one of the things that I am having
> issues with is finding out where I can contribute (or maybe it is just
> building the courage to jump in).
>
> I am a neophyte with regards to KM, passionate about it but no formal
> training and very little success in my large corporation where I don't
> have the business savvy or "political" reputation to get much
> done especially in this economic reality we are facing lately.
>
> Maybe we could have something somewhere to help those like me who have the
> passion but are lost because we aren't as far along on the path as
> most of the people I hear on the SP forums.

I wrote:

I love your message!

What better representative of Smart People magazine could we have than one for whom the magazine was designed -- a smart person who wants to know more about using her smarts for self improvement.

People like that have been put off by the complexity and mystery of as long as there has been a formal KM movement. And that's why KM isn't working as good as it should! You will learn much from our plain language approach that connects knowledge work to real life experience.

There are millions of others just like you ... and to connect with one is truly gratifying to me. To reach our goal, we will need to make many connections like this -- one connection at a time.

So, how many others do you know who may be just like you? And, how many of them could find personal value by learning about the power of using knowledge as explained by Smart People magazine?

You could help the magazine, and lots of people you know by becoming an active Smart People champion. Recommend us, send us leads with contact information, and if you are actively involved in a social network like Facebook, or want to join a social network, then become an official Smart People Representative like the eight we now have, co-hosting SP Groups in several of the leading social networks.

Or, if that doesn't suit you, then why not be creative? How would YOU like to help Smart People spread the word?

Forgive me if my first suggestion is 'too commercial'. It's just that this one element of our campaign is the most critical. And, it' not about the money; it's about the mission. If you say 'no', then we'll try something else.

More than nice messages, though, I love a volunteer! Smart People is a collaborative enterprise, and as good an example as you'll ever find of a knowledge-driven organization fueled by smarts (intellectual capital). How's that for plain language?

I look forward to hearing from you soon. Hope we soon work together!

Jerry Ash
First volunteer
Publisher, Smart People magazine