All Categories - Chuck Shoumaker

Chuck Shoumaker

Excuse Me, Do You Mindful?

8/5/2018

Dharma wheel

How can a person be a better manager, just by being more "mindful"? Michael Roach, a former business executive and current Buddhist monk, writes about an ancient Buddhist strategy to be more effective in life, as featured on beliefnet.com. Regardless of its Buddhist roots, mindfulness can remain secular but offer advantages to anyone willing to practice and apply the concepts to help make effective business decisions.

Balancing Business and Buddha
More and more executives and entrepreneurs are bringing the dharma to the art of the deal.

The wise and moral man
Shines like a fire on a hilltop
Who does not hurt the flower.
Such a man makes his pile
As an anthill, gradually
Grown wealthy, he thus
And firmly binds his friends
To himself.
--Singaalovaada Sutra

"Buddhist principles can help cut inventory and reduce supply chain costs." That advice was recently published in an information-technology trade magazine. And while the Buddha might not have had surplus equipment in mind when he advised his followers to reduce their attachments, it is a sign of just how far Buddhist teachings are reaching into the mainstream--even into the dog-eat-dog world of business.

Read more at http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Buddhism/2001/06/Balancing-Business-With-Buddha.aspx?p=1#dFtysloIBqT57Hbu.99

Crisis and the Men Who Loved Her

4/28/2018

Thomas Edison Image credit: Louis Bachrach, Bachrach Studios, restored by Michel Vuijlsteke

I’ve learned that a potentially dire situation should be viewed as a means to learn and should not be seen as the end of the world, no matter what the situation.
This article by Ryan Holiday of Entrepreneur.com does a good job of summing up what sets more successful entrepreneurs apart from their peers. In a nutshell, the message reminds would be entrepreneurs that they are in control of their fate. A potentially disastrous situation can be addressed and dealt with more effectively when a clear, cool head is maintained. Abstract, creative, positive thinking should be used to give the entrepreneur the best shot in learning from the experience and applying the lesson to future challenges, no matter how tough the situation appears.

Turning Crisis into Opportunity: Five ways to Deal With Hardship

Entrepreneurs face obstacles from the moment they wake up in the morning, whether they're trying to satisfy investors, struggling to meet payroll, dealing with unexpected complications or delivering a new product to market.

Of course, not everyone is cut out for these rough seas. But some individuals stand out as being particularly well-suited for dealing with what investor and advisor Ben Horowitz calls the “hard things.”

It’s these entrepreneurs who turn what seems to be an unending stream of difficulty into advantage. They emerge from obstacles stronger and more successful. While others lose their heads (or their shirts), they not only remain calm but seize the offensive and the opportunities. Subjected to such obstacles, these entrepreneurs are transformed much in the way that Andy Grove, former Intel CEO, observed, “Bad companies are destroyed by crisis. Good companies survive them. Great companies are improved by them.”
Read more: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/232848

Lighten up Spock!

2/4/2018

To some people, being "stoic" may describe a person who thinks and acts much like Star Trek's Mr. Spock- who wanders the universe using logic as his only means of relating to what is going on around him. However, this description doesn't fit what being stoic is really all about. Stoicism is an ancient philosophy regarding healthy control of one's thinking and emotions. Originally developed and practiced by the ancient Greeks and Romans, Stoicism is still relevant for our 21st century lives. Studying and applying the original "self help" concepts from Stoicism can be a huge benefit to anyone in a leadership role. Company managers can make better decisions and create better results for their company by following this timeless philosophy. Carrie Sheffield of Forbes gives a very good, brief overview of Stoicism and how to explore more about the subject.

Want An Unconquerable Mind? Try Stoic Philosophy
Members of a brainy movement across the pond are reviving ancient stoic thought and coupling it with modern psychology to strengthen mental resilience. Their ideas hold fascinating promise for business and government leaders tackling global problems in a turbulent, post-recession slump.

Read more at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/carriesheffield/2013/12/01/want-an-unconquerable-mind-try-stoic-philosophy/

How Will We Console Them for Their Loss?

12/23/2017

Infographic featured in Digital Spy's Gaming News, May 22, 2013.

In 2013, Microsoft predicted that sales of next generation consoles would experience growth of 28%. However, Nick Statt of cnet reports that despite the strong and steady growth of console hardware, console video games are experiencing a significant drop in sales. This sales decline can be attributed to many causes. The majority of consumers just want fun, easy and quick to play mobile games that can be accessed with their smartphone or tablet. Consumers can access mobile game apps for free or pay as little as $.99 for the game. Mobile games are easily accessed with the device of choice. Console games cost consumers an average of $60 for the game, not to mention additional fees to participate in additional game functions through Xbox Live or PlayStation Network. Console games are not accessed as easily as mobile apps. Mobile game development typically costs far less than enormous production budgets for console game production. Typically, production costs for console games are so high, their creators do not allocate additional funds towards marketing their title but instead spend all of their resources on development alone. Sadly, consumers who would spend the $60 for a well produced console title aren't aware of the game at all. If money earned from a console title does not account for production costs, it may cause the developer to shut their doors permanently.

Video game industry struggles to grow, a year after new consoles launch After months of subsisting on strong sales of new game hardware, overall game spending plummets in November.

Activision Blizzard's newest installment in the Call of Duty military shooter series, titled Advanced Warfare and featuring actor Kevin Spacey, took the top software spot in November. The video game industry managed to reverse an almost year-long trend in November, but the question now is at what cost?

Nearly every month since Microsoft and Sony launched new game consoles in November 2013, hardware purchases have made up for the fact that players just weren't buying that many new games.

Yet last month the industry flip-flopped. Hardware sales at US retail stores fell 23 percent to $1.01 billion from the same time last year, according to a report from industry researcher NPD Group. Game sales, meanwhile managed to almost break even with a 2 percent decline to $1.09 billion. Year over year, overall retail game spending across hardware, software and accessories dived 11 percent to $2.41 billion.

Read more: http://www.cnet.com/news/video-game-sales-flat-in-october-but-downloads-continue-to-rise/

The Brain Game

9/3/2017

It's interesting to learn that even as our society becomes more tech centric, the human thought process remains basically the same. Innovative marketers are always working to find a better way to understand their target consumer and a process called neuromarketing serves to define how our brains respond to marketing messages. With this in mind, it's important for digital marketers to understand how neuromarketing concepts can be applied to reach their audience most effectively. A recent article in Entrepreneur magazine by author Ann Handley does a great job of defining neuromarketing and its application for successful marketing in the future.

6 Secrets About the Human Brain That Will Make You a Better Marketer
Knowing how the mind processes information and images can help you send the right message.

Knowing how the human mind processes information and images—and putting that knowledge to use—can help you become a more engaging and effective marketer.

Researchers in a new(ish) field of study are trying to figure out how our hard-wired preferences affect the decisions we make. Neuromarketing research is “the systematic collection and interpretation of neurological and neurophysiological insights about individuals using different protocols, allowing researchers to explore nonverbal and unconscious physiological responses to various stimuli for the purposes of market research,” according to the Neuromarketing Science & Business Association.

Put simply, neuromarketing is the study of how our brains respond to marketing and how it affects our behavior—consciously or unconsciously—explains Andy Crestodina, co-founder and strategic director of Chicago web design and development agency Orbit Media Studios, who speaks and writes about the topic.

Follow this link for further reading on this fascinating topic: Neuromarketing

Leggo My Ego!

5/7/2017

There are a few game app developers that are making MOUNTAINS of money from popular titles like Candy Crush Saga, Angry Birds and Clash of Clans. I used to wonder what motivated people to pay real money to buy in-game items such as coins, characters and upgrades on free to play game apps. It turns out that there are very good reasons why people are willing to spend their hard earned money to buy things that are worthless in the real world. An article in the Huffington Post by author Joseph Farrell of BiTE Interactive explains that there is some very serious psychology behind these games and very good reasons why game companies are cashing in.

The Fascinating Psychology Behind Free-To-Play Mobile App Games

If you've ever played a free-to-play game like Candy Crush, Plants vs Zombies 2 or Clash of Clans and defied the "free" part by parting with your cash, don't be ashamed. I've never met anyone who actually buys items on any free-to-play, but then again I've never met anyone who's lost money in Vegas, either.

I'm not ashamed to admit yes... yes I have... bought items in free-to-play games (I've also lost money in Vegas). Trust me, I feel the appropriate amount of shame and self-loathing. But don't judge too harshly. If you haven't spent money on these games, odds are you will pretty soon.

Why? Because these innocently fun and entertaining programs are built on mountains of research of the mind's inner workings. These games know what makes us tick, and they know exactly how to get us to say yes.

Free-to-play games are now everywhere in dozens of varieties. But no matter what the flavor, they all use the same mechanisms to get us to part with money.

To read more, click here.

I'm Analytic Retentive

4/1/2017

Does it seem like everything you do leads to some sort of targeted ad that you have to sit through before you can view your favorite Bully Beatdown repeat on YouTube? Or, when you're buying your dogs their monthly fix of Bully Stix, does it appear that Amazon is somehow aware of your lust for that new set of V-Moda headphones and magically, an ad appears on the page for the very pair you're scrimping money to buy? The cat's out of the bag. You're seeing the results of analytics that have been tracing your every move. Don't panic. All of this data gathering and analysis is meant to help companies help you find products you're really interested in order to BUY THEM! Ok, this is nothing new, you say, and to you I say "bravo"! You're already aware of the power of analytics. But, hold on! There are new trends in analytics that you may not yet be aware of. Marketing Insights writer Marco Vriens writes about four new trends in analytics that are helping to reshape our marketing world.

According to Deloitte’s Analytics Trends 2015 report, there are eight current trends in analytics, some of which I explain below: quadruple down on security, the analytics of things, monetization, bionic brains, the rise of open source, tax analytics, growth of academic programs in data science and analytics, and the quest for more accurate (read: high quality) data. I see implications for marketing for some of these areas, but I see four additional marketplace trends that Deloitte doesn’t discuss, which will not only affect marketing, but other industries as well.

Too Many Chiefs in the Teepee

4/3/2016

Mitt might not be laughing if he realized the guy next to him was the 22nd guy that had to sign off on his latest tweet.

Ideally, social media gives marketers the opportunity to create marketing campaign components that utilize various social media outlets. In particular, Twitter is a social media tool designed to broadcast quick messages to an audience that is interested in the topic being addressed. Typically, users of Twitter are savvy to various types of social media but use this particular outlet to keep up on subject matter that they find relevant by reading quick snippets of information from the source doing the tweeting.

This YouTube video from The Young Turks describes a frustrating issue experienced by Caitlin Checkett, the "digital integration director" for Mitt Romney's 2012 campaign. The video reveals an example of extreme bureaucracy that created a choke hold on the creative process for Romney's staff and prevented those familiar with the medium to send out quick tweets (updates) to followers of the campaign. It's important for marketing management to understand what each social media outlet was created to do. In this case, Twitter= quick informational snippets for followers. In this particular case, the campaign staff members who were unfamiliar with Twitter or its purpose prevented the app from being used effectively.

Related:
Andrew Prokop of Vox.com explains that when Mitt Romney's digital team wanted to send out a tweet during the 2012 campaign, it wasn't easy for them.

A new paper by Daniel Kreiss, an assistant professor at UNC Chapel Hill, finds that late in the campaign, as many as 22 people had to sign off on the language of each tweet from the @MittRomney feed. That's according to Romney's digital integration director Caitlin Checkett, who said:

CHECKETT: "So whether it was a tweet, Facebook post, blog post, photo — anything you could imagine — it had to be sent around to everyone for approval. Towards the end of the campaign that was 22 individuals who had to approve it. ... The digital team unfortunately did not have the opportunity to think of things on their own and post them."

To read more about this disaster: http://www.vox.com/2014/12/5/7340067/mitt-romney-twitter

I Can't Stress This Enough

3/5/2016

As everyone knows, work can be very stressful. However, there is a way to help any business professional keep a less stressful, balanced and happy life. A new book called The Mindful Way Through Stress by Shamash Alindina does an excellent job of relaying techniques to lower stress and anxiety by following the eight week program that is contained in the book. Lori Deschene of Tinybuddha.com gives a quick overview of the book in her article Stop Feeling Frazzled: A Powerful Guide to Reducing Stress and gives readers a good idea why this book is worth checking out.

Stop Feeling Frazzled: A Powerful Guide to Reducing Stress
In my high school yearbook’s class prophecy, it was predicted that I would one day write and star in a one-woman show about my life called “Stress.” I was chronically frazzled—in a constant state of panic about everything I had to do and had already done but may not have done well enough.

I overextended myself, took very little time to nurture my emotional and mental well-being, and frequently felt like I was about to snap.

In fact, I even broke a stress ball once from excessive squeezing. It was made for that, but apparently not with the force in my freakishly strong little hand.

Fortunately, I eventually discovered mindfulness, which was life-changing for me. It helped me step outside of my anxious thoughts so I could respond to life more consciously and calmly.

Read more of Lori's article and find out how to get your hands on this book: http://tinybuddha.com/blog/stop-feeling-frazzled-powerful-guide-reducing-stress-giveaway/

Normally, I Don't Condone Stealing, but...

11/21/2015

Regardless of the size of a business, creating great marketing content is paramount for its success. Staying up to date with the latest trends and tools can make any marketer more knowledgeable and successful. Surprisingly, about 1/3 of content marketers actually have a written strategy for their campaign. Being unaware of new developments in digital content marketing and lacking a thoughtful, documented strategy can spell disaster for a company and the product(s) they are trying to sell. As Ann Handley of Entrepreneur reports, the best strategies don't have to be reinvented to be effective for your company.

Content Marketing Strategies You Can Steal

What’s the profile of a modern, best-in-class content marketer? By modern I mean someone who is using new tools and resources (social media, video and data) in concert with traditional marketing programs. And by best in class I mean someone who is driving real results.

So what does that look like? What might great content marketers know that you don’t? And more important: What can you steal from them in order to replicate their successes at your own company?

MarketingProfs and the Content Marketing Institute wanted to find out. On Oct. 1 we released our fifth annual study, “B2B Content Marketing: 2015 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends—North America,” looking at more than 5,000 marketers in 109 countries. Here are some key points that emerged.

Great content marketers have a documented strategy and follow it closely. Just 35 percent of content marketers actually have a documented strategy (48 percent say they have one, but it’s not documented), according to the study.

Read more about Ann's crafty plan for content marketing theft:
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/239148

Don't let that look on his face fool you.

10/10/2015

Here's a quick video about "The Best" social media apps. There may be marketers out there who may be much like Rip Van Winkle as they discover the huge impact that social media has on our world. Social media is everywhere and applicable to almost anything you can think of. There's probably an app that's targeting you as a user because they offer content that appeals to your interests. Just think about what interests you and Google it. You're bound to come up with an app and content that sounds worthy of checking out.

Slap Happy Pappy

9/16/2014

YouTube Video of Shawn Achor- The Happiness Advantage...

The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work – Shawn Achor
Short Summary:

Part1 – Positive Psychology at Work

we now know that happiness is the precursor to success, not merely the result. And that happiness and optimism actually fuel performance and achievement
in 200 studies on 275,000 people worldwide: happiness leads to success in nearly every domain, including work, health, friendship, sociability, creativity, and energy.

Principle #1: The Happiness Advantage

When we are happy—when our mindset and mood are positive—we are smarter, more motivated, and thus more successful. Happiness is the center, and success revolves around it.
Happiness boosters: meditation, looking forward to something, commit conscious acts of kindness, exercise, Spend money (but NOT on Stuff), exercise a Signature Strength, ..

Read More about Shawn's Book: http://www.amazon.com/Happiness-Advantage-Principles-Psychology-Performance-ebook/dp/B003F3PMYI/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1425316928&sr=1-1&keywords=the+happiness+advantage

Yeoman, Listen to Waccara!

7/7/2014

This article, written by Waccara Yeomans from convinceandconvert.com reminds us of the “human factor” that is kept at the forefront of creative development to ensure successful reach of the message to the intended target audience. There are mere seconds to capture a viewer’s attention and pull them in to spending a bit more time scrutinizing and evaluating the message and determining it’s applicability to their own needs and wants. The messages employed in the product advertising focus on relaying the benefits of the product, ideally to a target who is already interested in the product, so the message does not offend and appear to “push” the target, but rather, the target makes the choice of pulling the information because it is applicable to their needs. The article demonstrates the necessity of applying creative communication to initially capture the viewer’s interest and relevant content that keeps the viewer engaged, regardless of the medium used.

Convince and Convert- Three Trends in Digital Marketing
Let’s face it: Consumers don’t have any idea they are part of a “campaign” when they’re interacting with your brand’s digital marketing creative.
They fluidly move between devices, channels, and screens and expect that their experience should be seamless, engaging, and fun. At every moment, any one person is taking in several bits of information and having to assess where they should pay attention. As a marketer, it becomes challenging to break through, make an impact, resonate, and inspire a customer to give you their attention.

Every year, Oracle-Responsys searches high and low to assemble the best of the best in digital marketing creative examples that stand out from the pack in our “Look Book.”
This year, our criteria focused around innovative execution, smart content, and mobile-awareness. We looked at brand communications that spanned email, mobile, social, display, and the web and collected the designs that we believe embody the highest standard of creative excellence.

Across all 20 examples, we saw the lines blur between creative, marketing, and content.
For example, some brands are using blog content to sell consumer products, while others are taking advantage of having a captive mobile audience to promote their app. The rules for using design to engage your customers are changing fast, so we pulled out three trends that smart marketers are embracing today:

Read more about these trends: http://www.convinceandconvert.com/content-marketing/3-trends-in-digital-marketing-creative/

With a Name Like Heike, it's Got to be Good.

6/12/2014

Icons of popular social media sites

Social media that uses fun and often offbeat methods, as well as quick, clear language invites more users to participate in their campaigns. Heike Young of exacttarget.com communicates the importance of using creative and novel methods to create a true client experience where target consumers can actually participate with the brand in some way. Potential customers may engage with interactive messages and become intimately familiar with the brand. Quick, easy to understand language creates a call to action for potential target customers.

The 30 Most Brilliant Social Media Campaigns of 2014 (So Far)

In 2014, social media campaigns seem to have hit their stride. With so many channels available for brands, from the obvious Facebook and Twitter to the more niche-serving Pinterest and LinkedIn, we're seeing brands do some special things. Take a look at this list of the best campaigns so far this year, organized by channel, and consider what you can learn from the innovative companies behind these initiatives.

For more brilliance click this link:
http://www.exacttarget.com/blog/the-30-most-brilliant-social-media-campaigns-of-2014-so-far/

Big Game Hunting

5/2/2014

by Jhaymesisviphotography

Big mobile game developers such as EA and ActivisionBlizzard are able to follow tried and true marketing programs that cost many thousands of dollars. These expensive mobile game marketing programs create enough of a buzz to capture the interest of their target buyers in order to sell thousands of their mobile game apps. James Kaye explains in his pocketgamer.biz article that smaller mobile game developers are failing to incorporate marketing costs to promote the new games they are launching. It appears that these developers are interested in producing quick game apps that can be developed rather cheaply, tested and then launched. After launch, most of these game developers anticipate immediate sales and quick dollars. They don't take the huge sea of available mobile game apps that are available on iOS and Android platforms. Typically, their cute, quick, fun game is either completely ignored or enjoys a handful of downloads, regardless of the game being offered as a free to play or a paid app. This short-sighted view is costing smaller game developers a great deal of money and many mobile game developers are quickly closing their doors permanently as a result.

Mobile game marketing is broken ... and here's why

Something is rotten in the world of mobile games marketing.

I've been marketing mobile games for several years now, and have felt increasingly uneasy as more and more of the companies that approach us for help with launching their games have developed a skewed view of what app marketing is about.

At a recent event in London I chatted candidly to the owners of two large US-based review sites. Asking them about their own sources of revenue, it became clear that they are simply not seeing the same level of investment today from developers and publishers than before.

Scratch the surface and you get the clear sense that the industry's singular obsession with performance-based advertising is at the expense of what should be at the heart of effective marketing - building an emotional engagement with a brand via brand advertising.

Read more here: http://www.pocketgamer.biz/feature/58394/mobile-game-marketing-is-broken-and-heres-why/

Meditation for Manly Men (and Girlie Girls Too.)

3/13/2014

Real men don't eat quiche, but they can meditate.

Sometimes the fact that I meditate comes up in conversation. Typically, I get one of two possible responses (or no response, just a look that relays the person's feelings on the matter). Most people are curious about meditation and ask questions about it. Some people equate meditation with some bizarre, esoteric lifestyle or beliefs. The rest of the folks practice meditation themselves because of the benefits they get from it. In reality, there's nothing bizarre about meditation and there's no hocus pocus involved. Meditation allows a person to reduce anxiety, focus on something they want to improve about themselves or allow the person to just "be". All it takes is time, but it doesn't have to be much. If meditation is given a chance, it can help the person in positive ways that they probably didn't realize were possible.
This article by Jason Marshall and Brett McKay from artofmanliness.com does a great job of getting to the heart of the matter. It's also great for guys who may not be comfortable or know anything about meditation. However, the ideas contained within certainly can apply to women as well.

A Meditation Primer
When you hear the word “meditation,” you may think of Buddhist monks or Hindu swamis sitting with legs crossed and eyes closed, a New Age pony-tail guy communing with nature in the woods, or wealthy folks sitting in a meditation center in San Francisco.

You likely didn’t think “manly.” And you may not think that meditation has a place in your practical, workaday, red-blooded American life.

But you might change your mind if you give meditation a try. It’s truly a practice that can be useful for any kind of man, whether you’re a granola-loving hippie, a straight-arrow lawyer, or a rough-around-the-edges firefighter. Wherever you are in life, meditation can help bring you closer to becoming the man you want to be.

Read more about "Manly" Mediation: http://www.artofmanliness.com/2011/09/07/a-primer-on-meditation/

Crystal Ballpark Figure

2/3/2014

With so much change taking place with technology and its application for business and marketing, it's nice to have a handle on what new resources are coming up or what methods appear to be the most effective in the present. Dave Chaffey of SmartInsights.com presents an excellent rundown of what current methods are capturing more target audience attention and where digital marketing is headed in 2014 and beyond.

From Marketing Trends for 2014 and into 2015
Each year, I review the latest trends in Digital Marketing to help define digital technologies and marketing techniques which will give options for companies to grow their businesses. In 2013 we reviewed top-level digital marketing trends, asking which trends will give the greatest commercial benefits, this year I drill down to the next level to give more specific practical recommendations to increase effectiveness.

Read More about the Trends: http://www.smartinsights.com/managing-digital-marketing/marketing-innovation/marketing-trends-2014/