that canadian girl

Latest adventures…

  • Blogging as part of a marketing role: Give it the time it deserves

    In the corporate world, there are more blogs than ever. Along the lines of 70% of Fortune 500 companies will have at least dipped a little toe in it by this year, according to Wikipedia’s utterly incomplete entry. For a handful of us, it’s an integral part of the job; important internally, important externally, yet so little time allocated as thinking time. That’s frustrated me for a long time.

    Blogging is natural for me, but it still doesn’t come as easily as having a morning dump. Seriously. I realise that my entries are rough and ready; I don’t have Seth Godin‘s conciseness, Chris Brogan‘s punch or Jeremiah Owyang‘s insight (especially with my comparison above, for which I truly apologise) but even with my willingness to keep entries in a natural state – thorns, weeds and crawling critters included – it takes some time to cook up. And unfortunately, I don’t believe most marketing teams generally allocate enough simmering time for even the best in-house blogging god or goddess to write something meaningful.

    I’m a strong believer that in every business there is a story worth telling, a mistake worth owning up to, a success worth sharing. Or just a story. A really honest, truthful story that allows customers, prospects, fan boys and haters to see behind the marketing pitch. A blog is so much more than a home for your latest press release.

    So marketing managers, directors and CEO’s, please remember that beyond the board reports and year-on-year growth charts are human stories which will help your users, current and future, love you more and become true evangelist for your brand, if only you’d open the door and let them in. How good is your relationship with your users? Honest enough to let you see without makeup on Sunday morning?

    and they say that the truth will set you free
    but then so will a lie
    it depends if you’re trying to get to the promised land
    or you’re just trying to get by
    – ani difranco (listen)

  • Sushi & business have more in common than you might think

    A few months ago, we popped by Bluewater shopping centre in Kent to get my MacBook fixed and, being the total sushi addicts that we are, we couldn’t resist the detour by Yo Sushi when lunchtime rolled around. Even though I’d heard their sushi wasn’t so hot, nothing else was even an option.

    While I’d heard many times about their unique conveyor belt concept, I spent most of lunch mesmerised by the masterpiece of focus, efficiency and simplicity before my eyes. Now I’m not here to debate the quality of the food served (though I was quite pleased with it, for shopping centre food) but I wanted to talk about Yo Sushi as a process.

    1. Clear focus

    From the moment you find yourself in the vicinity, your attention is directed to the food. The entire operation is focused on providing a solution to a single problem, and doing it well – it gets food into my belly quickly by allowing self-service. The fresh food moves smoothly around the conveyor belt in a never-ending conga line, getting refilled constantly by the hard-working staff. Instead of fussing over complicated menus, making the clientele wait for a waiter to come take your order, they let you dig right in. Just what you want in a shopping centre.

    This translates into online projects very easily; you need to focus on solving a single problem and doing it well, rather than attempting to offer every single feature to do every newfangled thing everyone else wants to do. In a weird way, it’s letting them hit the kickass threshold quickly!

    2. Simplicity

    The menu is simple, and the dishes are all presented in a very visual way. You can literally match a small plate circulating on the conveyor belt just by looking at the printed menu for something that looks identical.

    Design on location is also very simple. In Bluewater, due to their position, there are no walls to be decorated. The tables, bars and seats are all beige, taupe or brushed silver, with the only splashes of colour provided by the bright plates in circulation. The practical self-service format allows the waiting staff to focus on refilling drinks, clearing the tables and proving hot dishes as required, leaving customers to do 75% of the work themselves.

    How can we learn from this and provide users with self-service? Get Satisfaction is a fantastic example of people-powered support; the community can answer a number of questions amongst itself, taking pressure off small teams. High quality, regularly updated FAQs for the more traditional sites also benefit everyone. But first and foremost, keeping things simple and fuss-free will make for a whole lot less questions!

    3. Efficiency

    The Yo Sushi kitchen works like a well-oiled machine. There’s not a single piece of clutter on the counters where food is made, cooking areas are thought out and positioned in a logical order; from the hot kitchen out of sight to the sushi counters in immediate reach of the conveyor belt.

    Every feature in your product should be there for a reason, not just because the marketing manager’s wife thinks it looks good (unless she’s your target market). Sometimes you have to be ruthless to be efficient.

    Whether you use GTD, some fancy online project management system or a piece of paper and a pencil to create your product roadmap, the key is not to let the tools get in the way of the work at hand. This applies to physical clutter as well as mental clutter, whether in the form of unsettled arguments or unspoken worries.

    So why not sit down with a cup of green tea, take a moment to get some clarity and see where you can simplify your processes to help your users feel as good about using your product as I do after choosing to have sushi instead of a greasy burger meal.

    —-
    As a complete aside, I must tip my hat to taptaptap for the awesome design of their site, entirely centered on sushi.

    [Disclaimer: Yo Sushi did not pay me for this post, but if they so wish, they’re very welcome to send me lots and lots of food vouchers.]

  • Using Your Network to Grow as an Entrepreneur

    Recently, I’ve been thinking long and hard about ways to use the incalculably fantastic network of intelligent, experienced and creative people I’ve met over the past few years; 170 LinkedIn contacts, nearly a thousand Twitter followers, mountains of business cards and an address book that’s as full of passionate people as a TED Talk!

    So when a friend pointed me to the Get Rich Slowly blog earlier, where Marc Hedlund, co-founder and CEO of Wesabe wrote a guest-post, one idea really tickled me.

    Write someone and ask them for help every day
    It’s amazing how well this works. Just make a habit of coming up with one person each day that might be able to help you in some way — with an introduction, an idea, a conversation, anything. If you think of someone you already know, then it’s easy to ask for help, but don’t be bashful about asking people you don’t know for help.

    When you tell people you’re working on starting your own business, many of them will get excited or interested, and be willing to offer a hand. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t hear back — just try someone else the next day. When you’re starting a new business no one knows what you’re up to, so reaching out and asking for help very often can do an enormous amount to get things rolling.

    Simple, no? Take 10 minutes every day to approach someone who has either more experience, or a different view to yours, and ask them a burning question. At first, you might worry you’ll get the cold shoulder – and sometimes you will, the world is full of assholes. But it’s also full of great people with plenty of insight to share.

    Keep a scratchbook – mine’s a pocket moleskine – of all sorts of questions and ideas. Don’t hesitate to approach the big wigs either. You’d be surprised how happy high-profile people can be when you’re modest and honest about your requests.

    Of course, don’t waste their time and ask a question for the sake of asking. Use those few minutes a day wisely and you’ll expand your knowledge, your network and your horizons.

  • Time to pick your favourite SXSW 2009 panels

    SXSW Interactive FTW!!!It’s barely been a few months since I’ve stopped clap-trapping on about how utterly awesome my first SXSW experience was, but yes, I’m already talking about the NEXT South by SouthWest. I realise it isn’t until March 2009 and that I have to wait 215 days before the Interactive festival even begins, but I need your support now.

    During August, future attendees are asked to vote for the panels they’d like to see and the themes they’d like to discuss via the Panel Picker. I’ve been invited by the fabulous Mel Kirk to join a panel called “Clear your ears for instant success”.

    “it’s a well known fact that whilst you’re in a conversation with someone you’re often thinking about what you’re going to say next rather than listening. this can be the same for businesses too. this panel discusses the skills it takes to have effective communication with your users and the benefits that brings.”

    So, just like Mel’s pimped her panels, here I am, pimping away! I would love to take a more active role in SXSW this year, so please go vote for us.

    A few other panels I would love to see and encourage you to vote for:

    Phew 215 days to go… How will I not blow up with excitement before then?

  • Meet Jeff the Screaming Monkey

    The screaming monkey on 12seconds.tv

  • Cory Doctorow talk for Cambridge Business Lectures

    In July, Cory Doctorow gave a talk on the Information Economy here in Cambridge, which was enlightening and very interesting. But so many ideas were being thrown at me all at once, I was looking forward to being able to watch the talk again, at my own pace, and share it around.

    And now, here it is!

    I hope many more clever speakers are invited to speak on issues like this here in Cambridge. Have a look at the Cambridge Business Lectures site for more info and future speakers.

  • I'm in London for Mobile Geeks & Tuttle Club

    As I’ve just mentioned on the Taptu blog, if you’re in London and you like the mobile world, there’s only one place to be this evening: Mobile Geeks of London (and here’s a non-Facebook link!) It’s an informal evening gathering of people who work in mobile or simply enjoy geeking about with phones. Good company, good beer and hopefully good weather.

    It all begins at 6:45pm at the New Oxford Street All-Bar-One, and even though over a hundred people have RSVP’ed as attending, I’m putting money on it that there’ll be at least twice as many phones and mobile devices than people. Yes, we’re geeks. And we love it. 😉

    And then, tomorrow morning, I’ll be heading to Social Media Cafe aka Tuttle Club for a bit. It’s at the Coach & Horses on Greek Street in Soho, so again, if you’re around, why not pop by?

    I’ll be posting updates on Twitter so if you want to meet up, drop me a tweet!

  • It's the little things that make me happy

    The past few weeks have been a bit surreal, with much of my life seemingly happening with the Sky+ fast forward button stuck on 12x speed. Tonight, however, I’m taking a moment to step back and appreciate how many cool little things are happening…

    Little Peps grows up

    Last week, Pepsmedia became Pepsmedia Ltd. Sure, in practice, it’s just a piece of paper and a few quid less in my pocket, but in my mind, it’s the beginning of great things to come. By no means is everything going to change overnight, but I’ve realised how passionate I am about blogging and about giving a step-up to those around me who would benefit from blogs or social media as a tool to promote whatever their passion is. My dad was a high school teacher, and I suppose this is the teacher in me coming out. I love seeing others succeed, like a proud parent wiping a tear during their daughter’s first school play.

    For this reason, I’ve started offering my services more actively as social media consultant. If you or your company need to find your bearings in social media, a week-long crash course or a day spent sprucing up some stunning ideas you’ve had might be the step-up you need.

    Hello?? I’m on the phone!!!

    I’m always surprised anyone still wants to hear me talk, since they usually can’t shut me up, but last week, it’s with great pride that I accepted a spot as speaker at Future of Mobile, a Carsonified conference, in November. I’ll be there alongside some fantastic speakers and fascinating people so if you work in or are interested in mobile, I hope to see you there.

    Gobsmacking stats

    Following last month’s letter in the pond going a bit viral and stepping on PR people’s toes with my open letter to public relations agencies amongst other things, my stats have gone through the roof.

    That canadian girl stats

    A little bird tells me that my Wikio rating isn’t so bad next month either. So whether you’ve just popped your head in for the first time, or have been a long time reader, thank you for being here. 🙂

    Guest writing at Enterprise Nation

    Nothing excites me like talking about watching budding ideas turn into real life projects, and I shared a few thoughts on working with remote teams on Enterprise Nation, a site filled with valuable resources for those planning their first personal business.

    The home office takes shape

    A few weekends ago, we attacked a mountain of build-it-yourself shelves and desks from IKEA, making sense of some of the space we have in the house. To complete my newly refreshed office, I bought a fabulous poster from Tim Walker at the Design Museum Shop, which I thought was just gorgeous! The perfect girly touch now that I’ve kicked Andrew out of the room.

    Four years of marriage

    On July 8th, Andrew and I celebrated 4 years of great times together! I’m blessed to have found such a great life partner, who also makes a great business partner. Every day I think of how lucky I am, and hope we can be as happy as both his parents and mine are after many more years!

    What now?

    Ok, I’m getting unbearably gushy, so I’ll stop here. But one final thought… As a child, I used to think that if you got too happy on the inside, it was possible to explode. I guess I’ll be finding out soon whether you do blow up from enjoying your life too much over the next few weeks, if things continue at this rate. Even the weather’s been playing along these days, what more could a girl ask for!?

  • Like the new look?

    Moving from my old unreliable hosting to the rock-solid ServInt VPS hosting we use for pepsmedia clients felt like moving from a studio flat in some dirty backstreet to a Kensington mansion yesterday. So we thought we’d go the whole hog and give the new pad a fresh lick of paint. (For those who don’t remember the old look, I’ve put a screenshot on Flickr for posterity.)

    I’m pretty pleased with it, hope you like the new style too!

  • Shifting the blog to a new host

    If you see any funny business, please let me know. Otherwise, when you don’t see the big box at the top of the page, you’re seeing the new thatcanadiangirl!