Breaking Through Growth Barriers

How do you motivate employees to embrace change and take on new challenges? Check out this great video from Ink from Chase and Inc. Magazine who have partnered on a mission to help small business owners break through growth barriers.  

Not only can you harness the resources you already have, but you just might make them happier and help them grow. 

Lan-what? The Purple Goldfish Project #1

As many of you know, I co-hosted a video podcast with Stan Phelps called The Purple Goldfish Project. I have always been passionate about great client relationships and exciting marketing, so it was a no-brainer and an honor to get on board with it.

The goal of the project was to gather 1001 examples of marketing lagniappe. The little something extra a business does to surprise and delight you. That way of going above and beyond that inspires loyalty and word of mouth.

The project was a success and Stan has even published a book called What's Your Purple Goldfish? How to Win Customers and Influence Word of Mouth. It was an amazing experience to be a part of this grassroots effort. Imagine... over 1000 user submitted entries with proven examples of successful tactics for better marketing, customer service and sales. I certainly learned a lot and met a lot of great people along the way.

I have decided to post the episodes of the podcast here so you can catch up and find out just what a Purple Goldfish is, and how you can make your business into one. Hint... it starts by thinking outside the bowl.

You can find Stan's blog here. The project lives on, and you can learn about the next phase: The Green Goldfish Project.

Think Outside the Bowl

Here's a link to my review of the book: “What’s Your Purple Goldfish?” over at marketinglagniappe.com. It's free on the Kindle for another few days and available in paperback.

And did you know there is a Purple Goldfish Jingle? Here's the winner of the jingle contest we held a while back. It's catchy. I bet you'll find yourself singing it to yourself in the car later.

Creating a Purple Buzz

Yesterday was a marathon day. My video podcast partner's book, What's Your Purple Goldfish?, was released and we spent the day promoting it and celebrating the fruits of the past couple of years. Seeing this book in print was such a great feeling.

One of the things you learn quickly in social media is that you can't just put stuff out there and wait for people to come to you. You have to go find your audience and engage with them where they live online. For us, that was Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Amazon, blogs and even some emailing and good old fashioned telephone calls. If you want to start a buzz, you gotta poke the hive.

We ended the day with a live, online chat moderated by our friend, social media strategist Susan Borst. It was fascinating to see the variety of people that logged into the chat room. There were a couple of long time friends and followers of the Purple Goldfish Project and there were a few people that had just discovered us that day... thanks to the buzz. They had no idea what a Purple Goldfish was or how to even pronounce "Lagniappe." (Lan-yap.)

It was amazing to see one person, who practically stumbled upon us, follow the conversation, ask questions and at the end of the session proclaim that her next move was going to be to buy the book.

This social media stuff works. It's not a magic bullet and it takes a lot of dedication, time and imagination. But when it starts to click, what can happen can be amazing.

I "Like" The Purple Goldfish

What a day!

The Purple Goldfish book was released today. Author Stan Phelps and I celebrated with lunch at Five Guys Burgers and Fries, one of the original Purple Goldfish. One of the great things about this book and the Purple Goldfish Project is that we gathered 1001 examples of marketing lagniappe from a grassroots campaign using our blog, video podcast and other means to spread the word.



And the bigger news is that to offer a little something extra, just like a good Purple Goldfish would do, Stan is offering the book for free on the Kindle for five days.

Here's a shot of me piloting the social media command center for the launch of "What’s Your Purple Goldfish?" Spreading the word about the new book and connecting with people from all over the place. It really is an amazing world we live in.



Now that the book is out, we are busy connecting with people on Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms. (There's even an online chat tonight.) Gotta run!

PS- If you read the book, let me know what you think.

Long and Purple Road

When we started the Purple Goldfish Project podcast & blog, the goal was two-fold... to gather 1001 examples of Marketing Lagniappe and to eventually see a book come out of the effort. Well, I am happy to report that we reached 1001 this week, AND Stan Phelps is releasing the book as well. Here's a peek:

What's Your Purple Goldfish? Book Sneak Preview

View more presentations from Stan Phelps

New Purple Goldfish Podcast: Episode 37

A new video podcast is available over at Marketing Lagniappe:

Exploring the concept of a ‘Gift Economy’: http://bit.ly/lf0u0t

My Top 5 on Cinco de Mayo

Here 's a link to my latest post over at the Purple Goldfish Project. We are up to 800 entries in our quest for 1001 examples of companies that go above and beyond.

Click here to check it out.
A Few Good Fish