by Karen D. Swim

Frank Martin wrote a post yesterday on product packaging. A German company did a study comparing product packaging to the actual contents and the results were eye opening. If you have ever purchased something that did not quite look like the pretty picture on the box, this study shows that all too often what you see is not what you get.

Product packaging can be seen as truth (or not) in advertising. It applies to both products and services. It is possible to deceive the consumer with flashy glossy packaging that hides the poor quality behind the slick marketing.

Have you ever read a well written compelling ad that inspired you to buy a course, an ebook, or some other gidget, widget or expertise? The marketing message spoke to your head and heart and you couldn’t whip out that credit card fast enough. Then you tore off the shiny package and you were disappointed by the contents. Yep, been there too.

Great advertising and lousy services can get you lots of one time sales, but they won’t build a long tern following of customers who trust you. Be true to yourself and your customers and the rewards will be undisputable.

Photo Credit: TW Collins, Flickr

By Karen D. Swim

I have a strange relationship with numbers. I love the logic of numbers and can get infinitely lost in statistics and measurements. I also have an obsessive streak so numbers that tell an unflattering story can send me into a tailspin.

When you do business on the internet numbers play an important role in your business – page rankings, visitor stats, product sales, number of subscribers, traffic, conversions, etc. You can become lost tracking and measuring those numbers to unravel the answer to the question of “How am I doing?”

However, an over reliance on numbers can harm the way you do business and may even hinder your growth.
I used to weigh myself every day. The numbers were either a comfort or a curse, but they were black and white and required no interpretation. I became fixated on my daily obsession, the numbers the measurement of my ongoing efforts to remain fit and healthy.

As I progressed on my fitness journey, I decided to run a marathon. I had never been a runner and was not sure I even knew how, nevertheless I had made my decision. Numbers played a new role, pacing per mile, negative splits, mileage, finish times and more. I kept track of all my new numbers with charts, graphs, running logs and a runner’s watch.

Numbers also played heavily in my work life. I worked in sales and numbers meant everything. Quotas, profitability, rankings, and commissions were all part of the numbers game. I ran so many excel spreadsheets that I soon began to dream in grids and equations.

In every area of my life, I could measure my efforts by the numbers. Had I worked hard enough? Was I making smart choices? The numbers would tell me, or so I thought.
I have learned that the numbers provide data but the data is only one part of the story. Your finish time in a race is a snapshot of the ending but does not represent the journey that got you there, nor the next phase that lies ahead. I am learning to relax and trust my instincts sometimes in defiance of the number.

As a blogger I could drive myself insane with statistics. Who’s reading, how many are reading, who dropped off and why? Yet, if I am driven by numbers will I miss the opportunity to take risks and in doing so grow as a writer? Will I be so concerned with “image” that I will not allow my true voice to be heard?

Not every blog post will be a masterpiece. In fact, most will be ho-hum, some will be absolute garbage and once in awhile I will pen the near perfect piece. I cannot however, get to the great piece without simply writing and giving myself permission to fail.

In writing, running and life I am learning to enjoy each step that I take. I still review numbers and I continue to challenge myself to beat them but I no longer allow those numbers to hold power over me. I am quite happy to take one step at a time and focus on giving that step all that I have in that moment.

What about you? What role do the numbers play in your life?

Photo Credit: Brave Heart at Flickr

By Karen D. Swim

Last week I found myself thinking about expertise. My thoughts began with my frustration with self-proclaimed experts who are effective marketers that simply package old ideas with flashy packaging and high price tags. However, as often happens my internal questions often converge with the external world to provide me with not only answers but also more questions.

As I was grappling with the question of expertise, someone in my LinkedIn network posted a question asking, “How do you know when you are an expert?” It was a different perspective but one that aligned with my own thoughts during the week. I read the answers and while many were interesting and thought provoking, none seemed to satisfy by increasing need to know “Who is an Expert?”

The answer that brought the greatest amount of satisfaction appeared on, of all places, my daily Freakonomics calendar “When someone is very good at a given thing, what is it that actually makes him good? According to K. Anders Ericsson a psychology professor who studies expert performance, what we think of as ‘talent’ is vastly overrated. It is ‘deliberate practice,’ Ericsson argues, that is the real key.”

Ericsson’s book Toward A General Theory of Expertise: Prospects and Limits offers a fascinating insight into expertise. Ericsson writes, “Expert performance is primarily a reflection of acquired skill resulting from the accumulation of domain-specific knowledge and methods during many years of training and practice rather than special innate talent. Confronted with universal limits of human information processing concerning memory capacity and speed of processing, expert performers are found to be able to acquire similar types of skills to circumvent these limits.”

Experts are able to perform at higher levels. While that may have some element of innate talent, the deliberate practice is what elevates them from merely talented to expert. I would add that passion is likely the driving force that leads to deliberate practice.

In marketing, we may be quick to use the “expert” label. After all, billing someone as the “industry’s leading expert” sounds better than “cool guy or girl who knows a lot.” However, I would argue that you do not have to be an expert to be successful or even credible to your audience.

We have become enamored with expert status. The internet has certainly leveled the playing field by making information accessible to everyone. When you do a thing enough times in cyberspace you’re elevated to “expert.”

I would rather purchase services from someone who was passionately pursuing excellence in their profession than someone who simply labeled himself or herself an expert because it sounds good in marketing copy.

The passionate pursuit of excellence… hmm sounds suspiciously like the “deliberate practice” that Ericsson writes about in his discussion of expertise. My search was borne out of frustration but the journey to the truth was enlightening. From now on, I will measure an expert by their actions and not their words. What about you? Are you an expert in your niche? Do you desire to be? What is your standard for measuring expertise? I am interested in hearing your perspective.

I always enjoy Online Spin but this post (click read more below for full post) really resonated with me. I have written on the topic of authenticity in the past and I am passionate about spreading the message. Shifting our thinking from “what can I get” to “what can I give” has the power to transform the way we do business. Stop for a moment and consider how would your marketing message change if your sole goal was to give something to your customers with nothing to be gained in return? One of the reasons that “sales” has such negative connotations is because it is viewed as a one way attempt to manipulate you into a purchase decision. Authentic sales is creating a relationship, uncovering needs and providing solutions. If you’re in business you obviously beleive that you have something valuable to offer. Why not market from that perspective? What do you have to give and why it is important?

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