Does a bear sit in the woods?
How would you know if you weren’t there?
How would anyone know if a bear sits or doesn’t sit in the woods without a trip to the woods?
That’s why traffic matters!
Traffic gets you to the tree in the woods where you can hide and watch the bear sit (or not sit).
You can develop a great strategy and killer content, but if people can’t find your website or presence on new media platforms, none of it matters. You must attract an audience by creating traffic. (New Media Habits, p36)
There are 4 habits that make up the Traffic pillar of success in the New Media Habits book. Subscribe is the first of these habits (first of 13 in the entire book) and is appropriately subtitled:
Drink the Kool-Aid!
In chapter 2 of the book I discuss the difference between new media and traditional media. I point out that traditionally we subscribe to newspapers, magazines, and other forms of media to get information delivered to us directly from one source. However, the new media positions each of us as providers of information to our subscribers; and gives all of us many new sources to subscribe.
Understanding this difference and embracing it is the key to mastering this habit, and is a fundamental reason for me revisiting the New Media Habits book. I feel a responsibility to continue to be a provider of information to my subscribers, and to continually seek out new concepts or sources to subscribe. One such flavor of Kool-Aid I have found worth drinking is:
The Lean Startup!
I first read the book, The Lean Startup by Eric Reis, in the fall of 2013. And to be honest, I do not quite buy into its definition of entrepreneurship nor some of its principles like “entrepreneurs are everywhere” and “entrepreneurship is management”.
I believe solopreneurs and wannapreneurs are everywhere, yet very few are actual entrepreneurs (yet); and I don’t think any amount of “management” will make someone entrepreneurial.
However, I still decided to use it alongside another book, The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber, to compare and contrast core concepts of entrepreneurship in my Introduction to Entrepreneurship course I teach at Midland University. This makes for a very interesting discussion amongst MBA students and guest entrepreneurs that share their experiences in our class.
More recently, I have had the pleasure to listen to Shane Reiser and Scott Bishop speak on more specific topics related to The Lean Startup. Shane presented a workshop on Interviews and Experiments and Scott introduced his adaption of Lean Startup methodology: Lean Startup Marketing. Join their their Meetup Group: The Lean Startup Circle – Omaha.
Both were knowledgeable on the concepts, offered a lot of value to the audience, and provided me with some “ahas” I have been thinking a lot about: Defining Customers and their Problems and Testing Tactics in Marketing.
I have now drunk the Lean Startup Kool-Aid; not as path to entrepreneurship, but as a marketing methodology or process for entrepreneurs, executive directors, and their teams to subscribe to so they can drive more traffic to their “bear sitting in the woods”.
Speaking of a bear sitting in the woods, I mentioned in my last blog I plan to release an e-book as a companion piece to The New Media Habits. I plan to title that e-book:
Lean Media Habits. Clever, right? #punintended
In addition to being a clever use of the word “lean” the title should appeal to subscribers of Lean Startup concepts. As such the e-book will incorporate Lean Startup components (e.g. Learn, Build, Measure) and their application to the New Media Habits.
I’m very excited about this new flavor of Kool-Aid and hope you (Lean Startup Omaha fans) are ready to drink it up.