Adam Schultz

A few weeks back I complained about not having anything to stand for or a movement to really get behind and make my own. I have plenty of ideas and many opportunities that would most likely lead somewhere if I only just committed to something.

Well talk is cheap, time is money and I don’t feel like wasting talk or time anymore.

I have narrowed it down to 2 finalists.

I have 2 core concepts that have been dancing in my head for way to long and I am prepared to move forward on either of them. GiveAndGo.org and LocalCasters.com.

These are 2 completely different ideas with the core linking concept that they are social media projects which require a large community of participants where all are compensated for their involvement in one way ore another.

GiveAndGo.org

The GiveAndGo.org concept was born of perspiration and inspiration. Keith Cassell of Cassell Design (I sublease space in his office in Durham) was telling me about a web page he has setup to track the progress of an incremental cross country bike ride he was doing to raise $ for a good cause. At the end of it all, he had traversed the equivalent of a cross country trip without ever leaving Durham and the surrounding areas. He also managed to raise a nice stack of cash for a good cause.

It got me thinking, we could absolutely create a system to allow people to raise $ for charities through goal based physical action. If I wanted to get sponsors to give me $1 for every game of ultimate Frisbee I played over the net year to raise $ for Urban Ministries of Durham. I would be able to set it all up at GiveAndGo.org.

We would handle all the cash and would create a system that would help them track progress, raise awareness, find sponsors and whatever else we can do help them in their journey. Keith and I talked more over the following 6 months and we already have a preliminary business plan in place. Now we need to polish the idea and get our proposal into circulation for investment.

LocalCasters.com:

If you couldn’t guess by the URL, would be a local media outlet for Indie producers who want to cover the happenings of their favorite haunts. We would allow them to upload video, pics, text from their cell phones in order to have the most timely content available on local happenings. Yahoo and CNN are already doing things on a national level to this effect but I have yet to see a craigslist for local, user generated, journalistic media. Revenue would come from 2 sources and would be shared with the producers based on % of overall page views of their content and our total revenues for a given time period. There are other details of this project that are already worked which will remain under wraps for now.

I figure we will need to launch in one market and partner with local media outlets for phase 1 in order to prove the concept before moving the top us metro markets. (and then the ENTIRE WORLD, muahaha, muahahahahah, muaahahahahahahaahaah… sorry.)

What I need to get started on these concepts:
A business plan writer
A lead developer

What I will need in 4 months:
Angel funding (or charity sponsorship for GiveAndGo.org)
A business developer
A site editor

What I have to offer:
A Winning concept, guidance, leadership, and, of course, the almighty equity.

About 6 months ago I made the move over to an Intel Mac from my PC. I couldn’t be more happy about it. I love my mac and it has preformed for me with no questions asked.

The only Microsuck thing that I still used on a regular basis was Entourage. It’s the mac version of outlook. The funny thing, is that Entourage was the only program on my Mac that had performance issues. It would cause the computer to freeze up on occasion as well as not allow it to shut down because of a 5 minute long spam deletion process.

Well, I am finally rid of that final vestige of Microsoft oppression.

How did I do it you might be wondering.

I switched over to Gmail and Google Calendar. I was already using Google docs for my word processing.

In the immortal words of Darth Vader, “Soon the transformation will be complete.”

Now the only product I still use is excel. Sometime next week I am going to dig into open office and rid myself of that vex as well.

I wonder how long it will take for Google to loose it’s appeal and become the next dark lord or computing environments?

This post started as my third comment in a string on a post over at MarketingHipster.com sparked by news that fans pulled all kinds of stunts including sending 45000 pounds of peanuts to CBS offices to bring a TV show back on the air.

Cord was pissed that people would raise that much ruckus and mobilize so well for a friggin TV show rather than putting that time and money into something more meaningful. He was totally on point.

I was commenting my outrage there for a while but my latest comment was to big for that little comment window.

Where is the political action campaign where we send 45000 pounds of cow shit to the white house to give back some of the BS he has given us over the past 7 years? I don’t think Move-On.org would ever send out a bulletin asking users to do that.

(Actually, that’s not a bad idea. Anyone want in?)

As marketers, we need to find a way to rally people around something that both reactivates this nerve that has gone numb and their need to pay attention to online entertainment.

Here are my first 4 Ideas
Find a way to create an online reality TV show that follows an activist group trying to raise awareness and make change in the country on issues ranging from homelessness to ousting Bush.
Try to get one of us (net brights) to run for political office where the entire campaign and then the whole time in office is transparently published and openly discussed on a day to day basis allowing the community to see and interact with the day to day political challenges.
Create an online network where all we do is create shows and interactive environs supporting this kind of programing utilizing net distribution like Joost, YouTube, Democracy instead of traditional broadcast.
Mobilize a community that will somehow deliver cow manure as close to the White House as they can safely get without getting arrested or thrown into Git-mo for a chemical attack on Our Nations Capital. “We are just fertilizing the lawn man, where is the law against that.”

(I am sure that idea 4 will get me on some no fly lists or at least a secret service entry in my log files)

Now what?

If anyone wants to help me with some of these ideas, I would love to put together a little squad under the Bold Actions banner to see what we can accomplish. Let me know if you are interested.

Be sure to comment your ideas, what do you think we can do to make a difference?

How can we stand up and fight for something meaningful.

UPDATE - 06-12-07 - After further consideration on idea 4 and a log file entry form the US Postal Service, sending fertilizer in the us mail might actually be illegal. So instead, I’m thinking little plastic poo. We could attach little messages to it. We might even be able to get a novelties company to donate the poo to our cause.

Dear Move-On.org,

I am writing to you as someone who just received a message from you to call my local representatives about upcoming energy legislation so that it won’t include subsidies to support the coal industry by subsidizing liquefied coal.

You made a well informed point about how it is being presented under the guise of doing something good for the environment while actually supporting higher greenhouse gas output. You ,furthermore, stated that it would be with money that should be and was not going to subsidize renewable energy.

Be that as it may, I felt more compelled to write this letter to you about your failure to get me to act than to actually make the calls to my representatives in the Senate.

“Why not?” You might be asking your self.

You made a greatly motivational case to get me angry, you even gave me a reason to act. I went so far as clicking on the link to make the calls to my Senators.

But, you didn’t close the deal for some reason.

Adam Schultz

So what happened? Why did I lose my urge to act?

I got to this page (above) and thought to myself,

OK, so I have to call these people and talk to them about the fact that I don’t agree with this thing that I just learned about.

But, I don’t know a whole lot about it.

I might have to talk to someone.

What do I say to them.

I can just leave a message about it.

Then, what if they call me back.

How long is this going to take.

Do I know enough to talk to a senator about this.

How long is this going to take.

I should be working.

What would I say anyway.

And then they lost me.

I started to think about how interesting the exchange I just had with myself was. Then I cared more about blogging this concept and exploring what went wrong than with taking the action.

How many other people were thinking the same thing I was?

What would it have taken for me (and and the rest of us) to act as requested rather than get distracted and not?

So what would it have taken?

I really don’t know. It’s the kind of thing that once you start to measure it or try to figure it out after the fact, you most likely get it wrong. You know, like Blink.

But that won’t stop me from trying.

The email worked. I felt like I needed to act. The button told me to “click here”, so I clicked. I think it was the landing page that failed them in this case. I think that if they would have assured me that the time commitment would be very low, given me a brief script and supplied me with some follow up links.

The crazy thing is that they have done all of that before and I did it, I acted, I made some phone calls and tracked my progress, the whole 9. Did they just get lazy or did they have a reason for doing it this way?

I’m sure that I am but a small part of their core action taking group and I would imagine that they have studied what works for maximum affect for the group as a whole.

But what if that is the problem? The whole group.

Another idea for consideration,

It would appear to me that they have 3 types of people on their mail list.

1. People who have never acted
2. People who have ever taken action
3. People who often take action

I haver never seen a change in the format of their emails since I first joined a couple of years ago. Even after my first click and call, I still get the same stuff.

It would make sense to me that people at different phases need different messaging.

For me, they know I will act. I care less about the details of the issue at hand and more about doing something to help make change, anything to help make change. If they were able to target that, I would un-undoubtedly be more valuable to them.

How many people do they have on their list that they could get more value out of by being smarter about the way they ask and how they craft their message?

What do you think?

Did you get this email?

Did you act?

What would it have taken to get you to do so?

I received a MySpace message this morning that sent me on a side track. After writing that post, I found myself asking a bigger question.

I am constantly trying to ride the line in my head for my love of marketing and my hate of being marketed to.

So, where do we draw the line? At what point does grey become black?

Currently, If I feel like if I am adding actual value and I feel like there is a good chance that the people I am marketing to will find some real value in the offer we are giving them or the channel in which we are doing it, it’s not spam.

With pull marketing, most of your efforts are demand based - PPC, SEO, Banners and the like. They are all passively offering a thing or an answer based on a particular interest and require action on behalf of the user to go into play.

Knowing when you cross the line in this world is all about expectation. If you tell them they will get A by clicking here, don’t give them B, S or both when they show up to your url.

Push marketing, however, is a different beast all together. You are infiltrating the home, in-box, profile or community of prospective customers. So you still have the A - B thing to deal with but you are also un-invited.

When un-invited, how do you separate your message from spam.

Is it possible? Can you be intelligent enough about who, how and why you direct market to someone that you are not considered spam?

Can you send something meaty in a spammy way that’s not considered spam?

Does it matter?

I received an email this morning from a company I have talked to on a couple of occasions about how we might be able to work together. After writing my response I thought it prudent to post the exchange for others.

Subject: SEO Pricing

Adam,

Hope everything’s going well, how is your new consulting business going? I have several clients interested in SEO and I have traditionally just managed them with another firm in Ohio, but I wanted to see what your prices would be to manage some SEO. I think I could bring you a couple of accounts, they would be very strict on seeing results, and they would probably want to optimize for 10 keywords. Do you do this? If so, what’s your pricing?

Thanks,

(Removed)

My Response

Subject: Re: SEO Pricing

I traditionally don’t work that way.

People who want to see results on 10 keywords don’t tend to understand online marketing. Additionally, they view SEO as a single marketing channel that you throw money at for results rather than realizing that search rankings are just one part of what should be a multi-channel strategy that focuses on listening to customers, building relationships and doing everything in their power to bring value to their marketplace wherever and whenever it wants it.

I try not to focus solely on rankings. I help improve companies and marketing campaigns. The rankings tend to follow when those other things are taken care of.

That being said, I am more than willing to talk to anyone you think could benefit form a conversation with me.

Just know not to expect anything like “30 pages a month of optimized copy and keywords, with monthly search engine submissions. Top 10 ranking positions GUARANTEED!”.

Adam Schultz

This is less about this person not getting what online marketing in today’s online marketplace looks like and more a comment about what SEO was and what it should be.

Should I have handled my response differently?

What would you have done?

Here is an email message I received in MySpace today from an Adult Dating Site that I will not privilege with a link. It was from a profile with the name Heather and no pic of who’s only friend was Tom. If you are in MySpace ever, you know the profile.

Hey Schultzie

How’s it goin? Im Heather and I just moved to the DURHAM area and I wanna meet a nice guy around here :-). I moved here to DURHAM a couple of weeks ago for work and now that I’m here I have nobody to hang out with! I read your profile… You’re cute and I liked what you had to say :-).

I’m just graduated college and I’m lookin for a guy who is a little bit older or more mature than me. You say you’re 28 and you’re cute so I guess you’re qualified

My friend Kim from back home suggested I tried using myspace to meet people in my area. I just signed up and my profile sux hehe. I do have a I put up a dating page at

My dating profile - more pictures (Link to sign up page on adult dating site)

… I have alot of photos and stuff up if you wanna see me. My user name is “summerfun2″. Its free to sign up.

I left you a personal msg on my homepage and I took a new pic for you today. Come check me out when you have a chance, k?

Lookin forward to seeyin ya,

Heather

So… I am impressed.

Not by her casual use of LOL, that she thinks I’m cute (though I am) or that she seems to be promiscuously bubbly with a screen name like “summerfun”. It’s the fact that whatever affiliate is running this latest spam campaign is actually using some smarts rather then just brute force that intrigues me.

First off, lets move past the fact that spam sucks and everyone hates it and try to focus on the marketing opportunity presented.

As far as MySpace spam goes, this was by far the most personal. They mined my readily available profile information to create a message that spoke to my age, name, and location. Now, they didn’t seem to care that I was married or that I had a kid. I guess on adult dating sites, all bets are off.

So why am I writing about spam. Mainly because in my opinion, the difference between using these tactics in a spammy way compared to using them to drive a targeted, community driven, value added social media campaign is fairly thin.

IMHO, If you can create a highly targeted, personalized and valuable message to the people in a community, you can go from spam to direct marketing fairly quickly.

For instance, if I had the tool being used above, and I had a poster website, I would scrape the top movies and top favorite bands on a profile and offer everyone who added my profile to their top friends a free (your fav movie or band here) poster when they spend $??.?? on my site or if they also sign up for my newsletter.

This could be especially successful for indie bands who may not have that much schtuff available in mainstream outlets.

Of course we would include their name and other creepily personal information.

Which brings me to another point.

Here is a simple update to my previous post from 6 months ago as to why KeywordRanking / Websourced / MarketSmart Interactive failed as a company.

Enjoy.

Need I say more?

As an online marketing consultant, I get to help a lot of different people do some pretty amazing things.

These are all entrepreneurs with great vision who bring real value to their respective marketplaces in one way or another. This is mainly because if they didn’t have that, I wouldn’t work with them.

That being said, I have this creeping, slowly filling my consciousness, kind of urge to hyper focus on one thing and become IT. Find that one thing and make it mine. Put all my eggs into that basket, become the go to expert in the space and create a brand by the people for the people in that space.

Ideally, it would accomplish 3 major goals.

1. Make the world a better place to live for my children (only have one so far).
2. Be socially and environmentally supportive.
3. Make me enough money that I can step out, keep my bills paid and devote the rest of my time supporting or creating non-profit organizations to do additional good in the world.

The Plan is this.

1. Find the market or product that I want to “become”.
2. Create a new company or buy a company presently in the space.
3. Market the hell out of it and stick to my core principles.

I know it sounds hokey, I know I’m naive, but so far in life I have been able to accomplish my goals one step at a time once i recognize what it is that i want to achieve.

Here is where i need some help.

I need some people who share this desire and want to be a part of something special.

People who excel in their space but who are ready to attach them selves to something meaningful and personal.

In order to begin this process, I can think of 2 Individuals I would like to bring on board right now.

1. A Business Planing Specialist - This person would be able to help us create plans and practice due diligence on our ideas to help weed out bad opportunities and allow the cream to rise to the top.

2. An Operational Mastermind - I am a good strategist, motivator and sales person. However, I need assistance organizationally to pull off something of this magnitude. I would need a manager to help keep deadlines tight, create and implement support systems and help to keep things scalable as we move forward.

Now this may be one person to do all of this initially or I may need to find a couple of people to pull it off but I do want to find these people and soon. Initially, the engagement would involve at least a weekly commitment and would involve no cash.

Growing up, my older brother used to tell me “You will always miss 100% of the shots you don’t take” (pretty popular motivational phrase). I’m ready to take some shots and I’m looking for some people to join me.

If you are interested, or know of someone who is, drop me a line and let’s talk.