Marketing and Strategy Consulting
“CHURCH: Stop preaching downloaded sermons from other preachers. If you found it online, so can the congregation. People want to hear your take on God’s Word, not a re-heated sermon from someone else.”
Source: Bigger Fixes Nothing (7 Unexpected Steps Toward Church Health) | Pivot | A Blog by Karl Vaters
Saving these for later… and for clients.
So true.
“Looking forward, we feel this is best seized by taking on new opportunities to fully realize our vision for ebooks. With that, we will be taking steps to sunset the existing Oyster service over the next several months. If you are an Oyster reader you will receive an email personally regarding your account.”
Source: oysterbooks
Hmm… never a good post to make on a Friday night before Halloween… I wonder if it was poor uptake, Amazon Kindle Unlimited, or just market economics of the ebook subscription model?
“With the help of James Jubilee, a former American arms control officer and now a senior science and technology coordinator for health issues in Kazakhstan, Dr. LaPorte tracked down Mr. Dey through the State Department, and his images and documentation quickly convinced them of the earthworks’ authenticity and importance.”
Source: NASA Adds to Evidence of Mysterious Ancient Earthworks
Get to writing, someone. I want to read this book and how humanity is shaken to its roots by startling revelations about our species’ history…
“Our kids, who already face enormous pressure in life, should never be subjected to state-sponsored violence while in school. For this young girl, Spring Valley High School should’ve been a refuge.”
Source: KING: S.C. teen assaulted by deputy is a recent orphan – NY Daily News
“One thing is clear: Giving has changed, says JoAnn Turnquist, president and CEO of the Central Carolina Community Foundation. “People want to feel ownership of how their dollars are being used,” Turnquist says. Previous generations, Turnquist says, “were brought up to give to institutions, organizations that had secured the community’s trust,” she says. “The donors trusted that their dollars would be used appropriately.” “Move forward to 20- and 30-somethings that are tech savvy, get their information differently, from peers and online — they are motivated more by peer influencers,” Turnquist says.”
Source: Flood Shows How Charity Has Changed – Free-Times.com
And churches wonder why “giving” is down among members and supporters? It’s because churches aren’t keeping up with the “how” part of stewardship and giving and being inflexible.
“In our constantly developing world, we have to learn to adapt to change. The fact that we are so dependent on the internet is scary. But the fact that you, as an adult, are struggling to keep up with us and the internet, does not give you the right to say that the way we are learning and growing up and socialising is wrong and we need to go back to how you used to write letters to your friends or call them using the home telephone. Neither way of living and socialising is better, just very different, which I think is the main cause of the older generation not tolerating the use of our phones.”
Source: Dear old people: why should I turn off my phone?
Anecdotally, I’ve always found that it’s the people / teachers / ministers etc who complain the most about “young kids always being on their phones” that leave their phones’ ringers on (at full volume) and have no problem answering a call (after a few rings, of course) and having a very loud conversation despite the context or their situation.
“But Google isn’t just trying to create more Serial fanatics on Android. No, it wants to reach people that have never listened to podcasts. And it wants to broaden its media offerings in the fight with Apple, the frequent go-to platform for media producers.”
Source: Google Brings Podcasting to Play Music Streaming Service, Android | Re/code
I’m excited to see podcasting continue to expand into the “mainstream” of public consumption. Hopefully, NPR doesn’t suck all the air out of the room.
If you’re a business, group, church, school etc… you need to be podcasting. Get in touch if you need help (we’ve set up and continue to manage many podcasts for clients).
And support indie podcasters for a healthy podcasting ecosystem… like the fine folks at Thinking.FM.
“Part of this will entail a shift in advertising to permission-based advertising: asking the consumer whether she wants to see an ad — which would be asking her if she wants to receive information — for a particular brand at the current time. The consumer will have the choice: yes, I’m in the supermarket and I want to see the weekly specials; or no, I’m driving and I only want to receive breaking news that’s relevant to my family. She would no longer be forced to page through or scroll through irrelevant ads to reach what she needs.”
Source: Notification: The Post App World Revealed – Ad Tech Daily
I’ve been doing a ton of work and research in what comes “after” mobile… meaning, what advertising and marketing looks like now that our mobile devices are being used more than our laptops and desktops.
Your iPhone will look dramatically different in a few short years. I don’t mean the physical part. I mean the part you’re interacting with at the level where you once opened an app to check your latest Facebook Like notifications or new emails. There will be little-to-no reliance on that grid of apps that you belovedly call your homescreen.
I’ve been using my iPhone and Android phones this way the last few weeks and it’s been transformative. I could never go back to relying on opening apps from a homescreen to receive, process, or even create information (more on that soon).
Google, Apple, and Facebook all understand that the “future” (as in the next few years) will be dominated by notifications.
Just to think, Twitter had it right with Track all those years ago. Shame they double clutched the ball.
Native / content – advertising / notifications win… adblockers plus notifications plus better ad technology means branding and advertising will conflate. It’s going to be wild. Put on your VR helmets!
Discovery marketing = notifications.
“This story came out of nowhere and had me looking at other resources for answers. First, I didn’t really know that Ezra and Nehemiah were. And now, Nehemiah — a name I couldn’t spell in my notebook without writing out each letter looking at the Bible — and he was speaking to me. I flew through the pages.”
Source: A Catholic reads the Bible, week 22 – CNN.com
Whatever your religion, non-religion, perspective, or theology… go read the books of Ezra and Nehemiah.
People often look at me strangely when I tell them they are two of my favorite things in the Bible, but when I taught Old Testament at the college level we’d always spend way too much time with these books. Both (once the same) are very overlooked yet important for understanding our current situation, the development of Judaism, early Christianity, historical geography, and broader issues of colonialism.
Amanda Palmer did an AMA on the /books subreddit yesterday on the topic of her book The Art of Asking, so the Thinking.FM hosts pulled a Superfriends on Friday night and recorded 90 minutes of thoughtful discussion about Palmer’s tactics and the nature of the artist in an age of self-promotion.
I think it’s an interesting conversation that anyone seeking to go out on a limb and chart your own path (whether as a businessperson, artist, speaker etc) should consider:
“On this special episode of Thinking, Sam is joined by Elisabeth, Thomas, and Merianna (the other Thinking.FM podcasters) for a roundtable / Superfriends discussion of whether or not Amanda F. Palmer is a marketing genius. Along the way, they discuss the right and wrong ways to promote yourself whether you’re an artist, musician, author, professor, or civilian.”
“It feels weird admitting this, too: We as a Buffer marketing team—working on a product that helps people succeed on social media—have yet to figure out how to get things working on Facebook (especially), Twitter, Pinterest, and more.
And that’s super scary to admit.”
Source: We’ve Lost Nearly Half Our Social Referral Traffic in the Last 12 Months
Brutally honest (but incredibly smart) post by the Buffer marketing team. If you don’t know, Buffer is one of the services out there that allows you to easily share your content from one place to another by hooking everything up together. It’s a great service (I use competitor dlvr.it here but I do use Buffer with a few clients).
So often I have these sorts of conversations with existing or potential clients that have to do with the dwindling returns on using Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn to try and get more pageviews back to a site or newsletter.
Part of the problem has to do with the nature of metrics and how things are changing, part has to do with the maturity of social media, and part has to do with the realization of businesses that if you really want to get a vast number of clicks back to your site, you’re going to have to pay for them (organic reach via social is all but dead if you’re not willing to invest in a social media manager or a consultant like me… just saying). Social media has changed and evolved. Social media is not an umbrella. You can’t blast out a post to Twitter and Facebook and wait for the clicks to come.
… and you shouldn’t be waiting for clicks.
“If you simply manage to write in spoken language, you’ll be ahead of 95% of writers. And it’s so easy to do: just don’t let a sentence through unless it’s the way you’d say it to a friend.”
Source: Write Like You Talk by Paul Graham
Elisabeth, Merianna, and Sam talk about the commodity of content and how authors should disseminate that information. They advise authors that they shouldn’t help the rich get richer, but help build their own audience.
The post Thinking Out Loud 87: Own Your Own Content appeared first on Thinking.FM.
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Thomas Whitley and I are really enjoying doing this podcast… we missed last week’s episode and it felt (to me) like a big part of my week wasn’t complete. As I said on another podcast that had me on as a guest today, we don’t really think of Thinking Religion as a podcast as much as it is a conversation we’d be having anyway. Thomas and I are just letting you be voyeuristic and listen to a little snippet of that much longer weekly chat (our chats routinely go 2-3 hours, so this 45 mins or hour of a produced show is one conscious part of that).
It’s probably why we don’t have guests on as well.
Anyway, it’s a good listen (I think):
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Elisabeth and Merianna talk about their upcoming conference and why they continue to work in the field of publishing. They also talk about what makes you an expert and when you can call yourself an expert. Elisabeth reminds them both that: “That’s what we do, make it possible for people to get published.”
The post Thinking Out Loud 86: 10,000 Hours Worth of Expertise appeared first on Thinking.FM.
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What an adventure it’s already been, Merianna! Looking forward to many more with you.
Here’s my sermon from this morning at Emmanuel Baptist Fellowship in Lexington, SC entitled “You Don’t Know How to Serve.”
The basic idea is that Mark 10:35-45 is not about sin or atonement, but about subverting hierarchies.
Why are churches struggling in 2015? Because churches are supporting the systems that Jesus attempted to break down. In that paradigm, churchers aren’t needed, churches are bitter, and churches don’t matter.
More resources on this theological topic from Brothers Kris and Willie:
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Remember, “free speech” doesn’t always align with the user policies on Facebook, Twitter etc. Own your content and your books or learn to live with the trade off of letting the algorithm decide how you vote…
“Censorship that doesn’t look like censorship. It deliberately reduces the spread of information that might otherwise go viral. Vicious. “You can say what you like but no one will hear you. And also, you’ll think no one cared, so you’ll give up trying.” Subtle, deniable, and quite ruthless.”
via Paul Dietric: Adventures in Twitter Censorship (PDF for obvious reasons)
The ability to change our minds is one of the greatest human blessings. To see an issue or a situation, take into account the data presented, be reminded of our past history of decisions, and ultimately come to a conclusion is a wonderful adaptation our mammalian brains have come up with to help us deal with the insanity of existing in this overwhelming universe.
“Some kind of happiness is measured out in miles
What makes you think you’re something special when you smile?”
We often don’t share our ideas, thoughts, dreams, or views because we don’t feel as if we know enough on the topic at hand, or there are people who have already volunteered enough of their own viewpoints to suck all the oxygen out of a conversation. With the rise of social media and perceived online anonymity, it’s easy to throw up our hands in the face of the vapid cacophony and decide not to take part in all of the noise.
Although we are all more than capable of making quality decisions on everything from our lunch to our 401k investments, it’s easier to not engage or just have someone else make the decision for us. That’s human nature. It’s also a sentiment we have to daily engage with and overcome. The universe needs our voices and our views. Speak up.
But do so not with an over abundance of confidence or certainty… or fear.
“Some kind of innocence is measured out in years
You don’t know what it’s like to listen to your fears.”
During the recording sessions for The Beatles’ song Hey Bulldog, Paul McCartney began to bark and howl in a dog like voice as the song reached its climax. John Lennon does what any well minded singer might do, and immediately alters his corresponding lyric from the intended “hey bullfrog” (there was a reference to “bullfrog” at the beginning of the song) to “hey bulldog.” And hence, the name of the song changed as well.
Hey Bulldog is one of those songs in which The Beatles sneak an incredible set of lyrics, base lines, and piano notes (it was written as a piano rocker originally). It appears on the otherwise flippant Yellow Submarine album and as a b-side to Lady Madonna (also a piano rocker), and doesn’t make many Top 10 Beatles Songs lists in 2015. However, the song has amazing staying power and has been covered countless times by everyone from Dave Matthews to Dave Grohl. It’s one of my favorites, as well.
It’s not a *nice* Beatles song. John’s lyrics don’t speak of young and un-requited love, or the need for love. Instead, the menacing guitar from Harrison, grandiose bass line from Paul (Harrison was fond of telling Paul to tone down the bass on the songs he wrote as Paul tended to dominate the melody otherwise), and rambling piano backdrop are matched by Lennon’s lyric structure employing a simple but clever repetition of “Some kind of…” at the start and an eyebrow raising cutdown to finish the phrase.
“Some kind of solitude is measured out in you
You think you know me but you haven’t got a clue.”
Loneliness, solitude, innocence… all get measure out in the listener and John doesn’t hold back. He tells us if we’re lonely, we can talk to him in a passive aggressive manner that runs opposite of the sentiment in a song like Tell Me What You See from Help.
It’s a tongue in cheek challenge to misguided reliance on others and false dependency (in my mind, at least… feel free to argue). Even so, there’s the beauty of the interaction and changing of minds happening in a meta real time sense during the recording sessions.
There’s the obtuse and avant-garde rap battle between John and Paul after the barking. And John changed the title mid-way through the song.
The change of the lyric, and ultimately song title, is an outward expression of the creative genius of The Beatles as well as a beautiful testament to the interplay (on the spot sometimes as here) between John and Paul as musicians, friends, and partners.
We have the same opportunities everyday to influence those around us, and be influenced by those around us (or virtually in the case of online interactions). Every major religious system includes an ethical component for these types of influencing and interactions. We’d do well to follow those guidelines. But speak up.
Sad.
“Christians who are looking a good deal on a gun need look no further than Frontier Firearms. The Kingston, Tennessee liberty-defending establishment began offering 5 percent discounts last week for anyone who says “I’m a Christian” before purchasing a new handgun.”
Source: Guns Are Cheaper At This Tennessee Store If You’re a Christian – The Daily Beast
Will Emmanuel ever be a megachurch? No. It’s not a splashy place that is known for its rock band or stage settings or theatrical services. There’s no “Shine Jesus Shine” here. It’s not “easy” and it gets into your soul in ways that you don’t understand at first. Going to Emmanuel on just Christmas morning and Easter is impossible.
Instead, Emmanuel is a strange and wonderful little church. I use that term deliberately. It’s a group of dedicated people from across socio-economic status, genders, colors, sexual orientations, political perspectives, religious theologies etc and it’s a place that changes who you are and how you think about God (whether you believe in a god or not).
Most of all, it’s a place where people pull up their socks, roll up their sleeves, and get to work doing what needs to be done.
The Apostle Paul would have been proud. I know I am. Now back to work.
“And that’s when Merianna Harrelson’s phone started blowing up. “I had church members calling to say ‘what are we going to do to help?’” said Harrelson, pastor at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Lexington, S.C. “There was one woman who was taking on water at her home, and she was asking how she could help.”’
Source: S.C. churches stepping up to help flood victims | Baptist News Global
“An American professor happened upon a manuscript by one of the Bible’s translators at Cambridge, a discovery that may shed light on how the translators worked.”
Source: Earliest Known Draft of King James Bible Is Found, Scholar Says
Last night at a meeting in Lexington, I had a glass of ice water for first time in two weeks.
We don’t have drinking water available in our home or at the office here in Columbia. We still do have a house with all of our belongings and memories, though. We also have bottled water.
I can’t express how much I now prefer a glass of iced water to a bottle of water.
I started using Twitter in mid 2006, so I’m a little biased… but I still have many expectations and hopes for the platform that I don’t for Facebook, Instagram etc.
Twitter stands(or, it could if it were to become developer friendly again) at the fulcrum point between traditional social networks and the future of online social interaction (messaging platforms) with its following, rather than friending, structure and the ability to send direct messages baked into the architecture.
Now it’s Dorsey’s responsibility to perform a Steve Jobs-esque “second act” in which he returns to the company and rights the ship and steer it away from being perceived or imagined as an “enticing takeover target” …
“The microblogging site’s co-founder and chairman, Jack Dorsey, will replace him temporarily. Although the number of monthly active users topped 300m in the first quarter, growth has been slowing; revenue of $436m, though up 74% year-on-year, was less than expected. Twitter, a relative minnow in today’s tech sea, as the above interactive shows, looks an enticing takeover target.”
Source: Leaving the nest | The Economist
I have this conversation with website build or revamp clients almost daily… It might sound odd for someone who runs a web marketing company to say that website design really doesn’t matter as much as you think it does. But it’s true. Focus on the other aspects of your business and stop worrying whether your site has too much white space.
The expectations of people visiting your site and our collective notions of web design have changed to the extent that “pretty” isn’t necessarily “better” due to the speed of your page and the experience (content) your site offers (particularly on mobile).
Sergio Nouvel has a good write up about this with more salient points:
“This switch from web design to experience design is directly caused by the shift from web pages to digital products, tools, and ecosystems. Web pages are just part of something much bigger: mobile apps, API’s, social media presence, search engine optimization, customer service channels, and physical locations all inform the experience a user has with a brand, product, or service. Pretending that you can run a business or deliver value just by taking care of the web channel is naïve at best and harmful at worst.”
Source: Why Web Design is Dead | UX Magazine
The post Thinking Out Loud 85: Alternate Universes vs. Altered Universes appeared first on Thinking.FM.
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On a personal note, I had my Ordination Council meeting yesterday. It was an intensely personal time, but it was something that I’ve been working towards for a long time.
I can’t go into specifics, but one of the themes I addressed is “why” I’d want to go through this if I weren’t necessarily going to participate in something like parish ministry (or “being a preacher” as we call it here in South Carolina).
That has to do with my long time intention of finally launching Hunger Initiative.
Between the terrible disaster that has affected South Carolina and my hometown of Columbia over the past week, and my ordination process (being formally ordained this Sunday) … it feels like “things have changed” (to channel Bob Dylan).
That doesn’t mean like I’m putting Harrelson Agency aside (certainly not), but it does mean that it’s time to get Hunger Initiative off the ground. I first started talking about this during my days in Connecticut back in December 2001. It’s time and I’ve been putting this off for too long.
You can follow along at Hunger Iniative‘s site or @endhunger on Twitter … snagged that one early 🙂
These are great numbers at the macro level, but this is troubling:
“Corporate profits are at record levels; stock prices have more than doubled.”
vs
“The same Census report showed that the number of people living in poverty went up in 2014 to nearly 46.7 million — which is 6.8 million more than in 2008. The official poverty rate — meaning the percentage of the population living below the official poverty line — was 14.8 percent last year, which is 1.6 percentage points higher than in 2008.”
Source: Obama’s Numbers (October 2015 Update) | FactCheck.org
Elisabeth and Merianna talk about building audience and expanding your market as a solopreneur. They talk about the stresses and joys of owning your business. They also talk about the progress in their own writing projects.
The post Thinking Out Loud 84: Solopreneurs appeared first on Thinking.FM.
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“We estimated that on an average American cell data plan, each megabyte downloaded over a cell network costs about a penny. Visiting the home page of Boston.com every day for a month would cost the equivalent of about $9.50 in data usage just for the ads.”
Source: The Cost of Mobile Ads on 50 News Websites – The New York Times
I’d venture to say that local TV and news sites have even more ads than boston.com and “cost” you more in data downloads each month. There’s a reason local news stations are eager to promote their content on Facebook and why most engagement and comments happen there rather than on their own sites.
If your business, group, or church site is loaded with plugins, images, and unnecessary animations (especially Flash), you’re already likely being penalized by Google in organic searches as your site is not as mobile friendly as it should be.
Keep that in mind when you open your own site on your mobile device.
