Branding yourself as a social media expert ... really?

Just finished reading an online piece entitled, "6 Reasons You Shouldn't Brand Yourself A Social Media Expert."

I'll be honest, I thought it was mostly a waste of my time. Here is the only reason you'll ever need about why you should never brand yourself anything:

• Branding is about how other people perceive you not about how you perceive yourself.

Marketing and ad people like to forget that simple fact. Sure, we can increase awareness of changes, drive offers, etc. But at the end of the day, branding is about the cow, and not the iron. If the cow is thin, listless, and looks like it's about to die, no one will want to turn it into steak.

If you want people to think of you as a social media expert, BE a social media expert. Simply calling yourself an expert makes you look like a complete fuckwit, even if you are the smartest guy on the planet.

The human condition

Regardless of where I'm plying my trade these days, I continue to hear a phrase (or worse, read it as part of a creative brief—and there is nothing brief about a piece of paper that contains trite, extraneous words) that is certain to make my blood boil from the utterance of the very first syllable.

"In the current economic times, people want ..."

It's usually followed by a word that is completely overwrought and devalued like "value" or "respect" or "bargain."

Damn, marketing and advertising people are awfully stupid sometimes.

Do the people who utter and write this phrase day after day think that for one moment people never wanted value, respect or bargains before the global economy sank into the abyss? Are they so deluded by the grandeur of whatever it is they're trying to sell that they just can't bring themselves to step into the shoes of the end-user for one minute and ask, "What about this product/service/company could make life better for the end-user? And how do we convince them we have it?"

The human condition hasn't changed in thousands of years, and it won't change in thousands to come. "The current economic crisis ..." doesn't alter the fact that evolution is an incremental process. Even if it doesn't make this quarter's P&L look very pretty.

Agency Names

Seems like time to take Leo's name down. I don't think he's the only one, either.

Maps

I usually like maps. They trigger a sense of wanderlust and adventure when I look at them.

This map, however, about job gains/losses in the U.S. doesn't have that affect. It just scares the shit out of me.

I've had an epiphany

So I've been up since 1a.m. working on freelance copy, and thinking to myself, "I'd rather spend the day with TheKiddo™ than laboring through what lies ahead."

Of course the next thought was, "What would we do bumming around BigD for a day"? That's when it hit me.

There are no good resources (or none that I've found anyway) for DFW-focused tips, advice, reviews geared to fathers.

That's my calling. That's my passion. That's my "Why."

I need to sit down and think it through from a strategic communications point of view. But I know that I'll be starting a blog in the near future to get it rolling. And revising my Twitter feed to focus less on ad stuff and more on daddy stuff and local reviews.

I've a feeling life is about to get very interesting.

What I believe about advertising-a beginning

• 80% of group brainstorms are a complete waste of time.

• Copywriting and art direction are not collaborative tasks.

• Committees are the dark alley into which good ideas are lured, mugged and robbed of their effectiveness.

• Good ideas need to be media agnostic or they're not good enough.

• It's a hell of a lot of fun to get paid to be creative. It's the pressure to generate results that drives everyone nuts.

Paper trails are a good thing

I know there's an aversion to printing everything. Save trees. Save the planet. Be eco-friendly. All of that.

I agree. We use and waste far too much paper.

That does not mean, however, that we shouldn't document everything we do in/for business. Lack of documentation leads to lack of accountability and very sloppy work habits. And it also leads to a lot of duplication of efforts because no one can share quickly or non-verbally what the hell is happening.

So please. Document the requests. Document the changes. Document the approval. I don't care if you print it. Just be sure to save it someplace that can be easily accessed.