Four years ago, I waited anxiously, dressed in my cap and gown, ready to shake Dr. Reneau’s hand and receive my degree. Four years ago, I said goodbye to one chapter of my life and hello to the next uncertain one that was peeking around the corner. Four years ago, I graduated from Louisiana Tech University.

Though I graduated only a short time ago, it’s hard to believe how much things have changed. Just before the end of my time on campus, Tech had just started putting up on-campus apartments. Now it seems as if the damn things are everywhere. Apparently, some new food choices have sprung up since I’ve left (where the hell were you during my days, McAlister’s?). I cannot remember if the nanotechnology building was there before I graduated, but if it was, it wasn’t there long. And now Tech wants to make a great big edition to the south end zone of the football stadium. And Tech is eagerly trying to improve its status among the country’s research universities.

With all that is going on, it is safe to say that Tech is on the move. And after revisiting the school for Homecoming, I feel as if the school is truly focused on its goal and is headed in the right direction.

It’s more than just words; Tech has adopted a brand to facilitate its missions.

In case you are not very familiar with Louisiana Tech University, it is located in Ruston, Louisiana, a town with a population a little over 20,000. Ruston isn’t a big party town, but when I was a student, I didn’t have to look too far to find a little trouble to get into. The campus is unbusy and has a secluded feel to it, and everywhere in town you go, you are reminded that the university is a huge part of the local community.

Louisiana Tech is not LSU, and Ruston is not Baton Rouge. And that’s where Tech has found its brand.

When my wife and I returned to Ruston for homecoming, I saw a slogan that I felt perfectly summed up what makes Tech so great: Your town. Your team. Your gameday.

The slogan reminded me of my own time at Tech, when I routinely saw the athletes on campus or in my classes. My largest class at Tech was made up of 150 students, so it’s pretty easy to spot people, especially the athletes that you see when you go to the sporting events. Ruston really does feel like your town, because as I said earlier, you are constantly reminded that Tech is a big part of the town. And with the athletes so easily accessible, you can’t help feeling a little closer to them, even though they may not be your best friends.

The slogan also reminded me of a conversation I had with a stranger in a courthouse in Pecos, Texas. The gentleman told me that his grandson once attended Tech but then transferred to LSU. When I asked how his grandson liked LSU, the gentleman replied without hesitation, “He’s a number, just like everyone else.” To me, that’s what your town and your team address: you’re not just a number, you’re a part of something; you’re a part of Tech.

With this brand also comes an image.

For some schools, this might not sound like a big deal. But for the longest time, Tech had an identify crisis with its bulldog. In the past, a bulldog on one piece of material may look like Georgia’s bulldog or Gonzaga’s bulldog, but now it seems that Tech has found its bulldog, a consistent and familiar image that is linked to one school, La Tech. La Tech’s “State T” emblem (see the La Tech image below) is already a great image, but now the school has the Bulldog to go along with the school’s image.

Speaking of “La Tech”, I first heard the term when I watched the Bulldogs take on the Miami Hurricanes at Independence Stadium in 2003. During the game one of the commentators referred to my future alma mater as La Tech, and I cringed as the words hit my ear. Fast forward to 2011, and much of Tech’s merchandise brands the school as “La Tech”.

When you think about it, “La Tech” makes sense. It’s short and quick to say, and it fits on merchandise more easily than “Louisiana Tech”. And I personally think that La Tech is better than “LTU”. I myself may still refer to my school as Louisiana Tech, but I get it.

A small school with resources.

I’m not sure if other schools the same size as Tech (with a student body close to 12,000) have as many famous alum and former students as Tech has. Some of these include names such as Terry Bradshaw, Karl Malone, Willie Roaf, Kix Brooks, and Trace Atkins. And that’s not even talking about the ladies who played on the Lady Techsters basketball team during the program’s years of glory, ladies such as Theresa Weatherspoon and Cheryl Ford.

Some of these former students can be seen on the jumbotron at football games, telling fans to get up and cheer. At homecoming, Roaf was seen taking pictures and signing autographs. A few years ago, Karl Malone donated a new floor for the basketball teams as the Thomas Assembly Center. Terry Bradshaw donated his Super Bowl memorabilia for the university to showcase. Sure, historic big-time programs such as Notre Dame, Michigan, and Ohio State have numerous alum who can pull together to support their universities, but to a school like La Tech, these people are much more precious and significant.

And what of the lesser-known masses?

On November 19, my wife, some friends, and I went to see the Bulldogs basketball team play the University of Texas at Arlington Mavericks. And on New Year’s Eve, we plan on going to see the ‘Dawgs take on the SMU Mustangs in Dallas. I hope that Tech will continue to play teams in areas that their alum relocate to and areas that their students come from (markets such as Dallas, Houston, all over Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi). Also, it would be great if the university would consistently play some of the local schools (such as Grambling and University of Louisiana at Monroe) in a variety of sports so that the fun rivalries that these student bodies create can be capitalized upon.

How ‘Bout Them Dawgs!

Anyone who graduates from a school he cares about hopes to see that school progress and improve itself. And I am proud to say that Tech is moving forward while still trying to retain a bit of its history and traditions. Since both my wife and I are graduates of Tech, I’m pretty sure that our future children can attend our alma mater for cheap (although the school won’t be as cheap by the time we’re ready for that).

But I do hope that someday, when we’re touring the campus with our future Bulldogs, we can both smile and say, “Tech wasn’t the same back in our day.”

Do you ever listen to the opposition? The other side, the one who is sure to disagree with everything that you say and stand for? If you don’t, I understand.

It’s so easy to ignore the other side. And you may think that it’s in your best interest to do so. After all, who wants to listen to all of those opposing voices that are sure to bring your vibe down? Besides, if you don’t listen, it’s almost as if nothing’s being said, right? If a tree falls in the woods and no one’s there to hear it…

But if you’re in the business of converting people to your way of thinking, shouldn’t you listen to the opposition? Shouldn’t you know what perceptions you need to combat?

Here’s a personal example…

I work in the oil and gas industry. A while back, I started hearing about all of the hype that the documentary GasLand was getting. All I’m going to say about the film is that, if you hate the oil and gas industry, then GasLand is your wet dream.

But I watched it, because I just had to know what was being said. I had to know what the opposition was throwing out there. Apparently, a lot of other people in similar situations were curious about what the documentary had to say, because I had no problem finding plenty of attempts to debunk the film.

Of course, like any other piece of advice, this can’t be taken to heart and exercised 100% of the time. Sometimes you have to ignore what others say, especially when they are simply negative without offering any constructive criticism. And sometimes you have to accept that you’re just going to have some haters.

But how can you change perception if you don’t know what the perception is? As is the case with many things in life, if you’re seeking to accomplish something, it helps to have a goal or destination in mind.

Photo Credit: Conversant Life

Product/service providers:
Unfortunately, from time to time, you are going to lose customers. While I understand that you owe it to yourself and perhaps even the customer to give things another shot and see if you can salvage the relationship, sometimes you just have to accept that it’s not going to work out. And also, it helps if you don’t spam your former customers away. You may feel that, in the end, you have nothing to lose because either way you’re not gaining a customer back, but if you don’t spam people, at least they won’t be quite so pissed off at you.

This is such a story.

In early May, I became the proud owner of a new 2010 Toyota Venza. Although I had been without a car payment for a year and was getting used to the idea, I justified the purchase by telling myself that I’m in a car far too much (I work out of town Monday through Friday) and that I should be comfortable during my commutes. Also, my 2005 Chevrolet Aveo had nearly 150,000 miles on it, which isn’t too bad, but deep down I was worried that its time may be coming to an end and I wanted to join the grownup world and own a grownup car. So far, I love my new ride and if you’re in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, I recommend that you give Dave Singh at Freeman Toyota a shout. If you need those digits, here they are: 888-438-2019.

If you’ve ever bought a new vehicle, you know how exciting and inconvenient the experience can be. It’s exciting because, well, you own a new vehicle. But it can be inconvenient because you have to sort through your glovebox and throw away the trash and transfer all of the important papers to your new ride. And don’t forget to put your sunglasses in your new car. It took me a couple of weeks to remember that one.

In my old car, the Aveo, I had one of those Sirius Radio receivers — the kind that you can install yourself without having to replace your car’s factory radio. You just stick the magnet on the roof of your car, run the wires through your door, mount the receiver on your dash, and set your car radio’s FM station so that it receives the Sirius signal, and you’re good to go. When I went on my first trip to West Texas — a six-and-a-half-hour adventure — and found myself losing radio stations and unable to find anything interesting when I could get a signal, I decided that it was time to give Sirius a try. However, my new car, the Venza, has XM Radio.

As you may or may not know, Sirius recently acquired XM, so both companies are partners in the satellite radio industry. Well, kinda. When I tried to transfer my Sirius service to my XM radio, I learned that the transition was not as easy as one might hope. The customer service rep notified me that Sirius and XM aren’t exactly on the same system, so I had to cancel my service with Sirius and start a new account with XM. I would be reimbursed what I had paid for my Sirius service, on a pro-rated basis, and I would not be charged for the activation of my car’s XM radio. It’s not a perfect scenario, but in the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t a big deal, so I went ahead and ran with it.

Of course, when I canceled my Sirius service, their own rep tried to get me to keep the service. He explained that I could keep the other radio and put it in another car. Well, if that option were free, I might have taken him up on his offer, but given my limited pocketbook, I politely declined.

Since then, Sirius had continued to call me non-stop. I suppose that this is an effort to get my business back, but when I answer, all I get is silence, as if the call refuses to transfer to the next available rep. They call me every day, numerous times a day, sometimes well into the evening hours. I know that it is Sirius who calls me because one time I accidentally called the number back and got their recorded greeting. Apparently, I’m not the only one who has had this experience and perhaps I should do what David has done.

Seriously, who thought of this method of getting customers back and said to himself, “Hey, I think that’s a good idea!” And worse yet, how could anyone explain this method to someone else and convince him that it’s a good idea? To me, this is a case of forgetting the human side of business. Is this company so focused on numbers that they do not see the problem with continually harassing people — and worse yet, when people answer, all they get is silence! Besides, what do they expect me to do — cancel my XM subscription and return to Sirius? Then I’ll probably have XM doing the same thing to me! Oh yeah, I can’t get Sirius through my car’s factory radio anyway, or I would never have switched my subscription in the first place.

This situation blows my mind and this system feels completely broken. Part of me feels that I should look for an alternative service provider — but oh wait, Sirius now has a monopoly on the satellite radio industry. But that’s a discussion best left for another day.

Has anyone else experienced something similar to this? Does your company do something similar? Should the Sirius/XM executives be kicked in the shin consistently for this behavior? I say yes, but tell me what you think.

This past weekend my father-in-law came to visit, and I thought that it would be a good idea to take him to the Rahr & Sons Brewery in Fort Worth. Even with the renovations that took place after snow caused the roof to collapse last year, not much had changed, other than the price of admission. For $7, you get a mug and three tickets for beer samples. That may sound like a pretty good value (and it is), but the real value came from the experience.

Unfortunately, although I enjoy talking to my father-in-law, I don’t get to do it too often. And it’s not too often that I can think of something that he and I may enjoy doing without bringing my wife along (she is his daughter, after all). But when you spread three mugs of beer out over the period of 2-3 hours, it’s not very hard to find the conversation flowing easily. We talked about a variety of subjects: family, work, whatever. And we had a great time sitting outside and peoplewatching, one of my favorite hobbies of all time.

We ended up skipping the actual tour and continued drinking and carrying on. It was more of “a keg party than a brewery tour”, as my father-in-law called it, anyway. The weather was nice, the event was great, and the price was cheap. What else could you ask for?

As is always the case, Rahr & Sons had some local live musical entertainment. Early in the tour, hardly anyone was paying him any attention. But as we were leaving, he began playing “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey. Although I hate the song, it led to quite a moment. Not only were many brewery tourists now paying attention to the musician, they were singing along. Intoxicated people had their phones out and were recording the moment. There were smiles all around, even on my face, despite the fact that Journey usually sounds about as delightful as fingernails on a chalkboard, in my humble opinion.

It was in that moment that I truly realized what a great marketing idea and opportunity these tours were. I can’t help wondering, how many times will I (and the many others) think about that day the next time that we pop a top on our favorite Rahr & Sons brews? These tours are an opportunity to sell an experience, something that a major brewery like Anheuser-Busch or MillerCoors rarely gets a chance to do. And how often do patrons of Anheuser-Busch or MillerCoors get a chance to see the location where their favorite beers are brewed? If you drink Rahr & Sons, there’s a damn good chance that you live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, which means that the brewery is pretty much in your backyard, or as “backyard” as breweries can get, unless you’re talking about Shiner Beers.

Surely, the reminiscing of moments that these tours create will subconsciously cause someone to reach for a Rahr beer once or twice when he’s at the liquor store. It’s a long-term approach to marketing that can often be hard to pull off, but I think that these guys are on to something.

The tour was made better by the fact that my father-in-law had never tried any of their beers, so it was a completely new experience for him. We tried my three favorite offerings from Rahr: Rahr Blonde, Ugly Pug, and Buffalo Butt. Funny names, I know. But they’re good, trust me.

In college, I had my own fair share of both good and bad drinking moments, but I assure you that this past weekend at Rahr & Sons was a beer-drinking experience like no other.

And I mean that in a good way.

In many ways, this video is a complement to my post Social Media As A Part Of The Whole. I cannot promise that I am saying anything new on this video, but I feel that it is a point that is worth repeating.

Also, reading Seth Godin’s post Texting While Working inspired me to go ahead and post this.

I love Twitter and I love social media, but it is not all that and a bag of chips. Simply getting on social media does not sell your product or services or your personal brand.

And here are just a few reasons why…

The Background To This Post:

When I was in middle school, I fell in love with music. Thanks to the Internet, I was able to find so many bands that interested me who I otherwise would not have gotten the chance to hear (unless I was watching MTV2, before even they stopped playing alternative music). And in northeast Louisiana, the radio stations don’t exactly venture too far out of the “safe”. If you want to hear the same handful of songs by Guns N Roses, Van Halen, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Kansas, well, then, you’ve found your Mecca!

Unfortunately, I don’t listen to music or discover new music as much as I used to. And even when I do find a new band, although I’m all gung-ho and obsessed with them for a while, after a year or two, I might forget to check and see if they’re doing something new. By that point, I’m probably obsessed with another band or maybe life’s just gotten in the way.

After all, is it really our fault that we forget about these guys? Contrary to what your dad might say, there’s just so much good music out there, whether new or old, that we kind of move on and forget. And sometimes our favorite bands go on huge worldwide tours or they decide that their next album is going to be something so awesome, so badass that it changes the face of music for ever and ever and all eternity! And let’s face it, sometimes that can take a couple of years.

The Freakin’ Point Of This Post:

So recently, when I was browsing around the iTunes Store (which I very rarely do), I saw a feature that I thought was genius. What feature could be so awesome, you may ask. Well, I will show you.

No, I’m not talking about “Customer who bought this also bought…” feature. I’m talking about that little thing over there that says “Alert Me”. You can opt to be alerted when something by your favorite band hits the iTunes Store. If you don’t understand the value of that, then you obviously weren’t paying attention earlier in this post!

Now I know what some of you are saying: That feature’s been out for years, Jake. Welcome to 2007. Yeah, I know, I googled it. I never said I was always the first to know these things.

But the point of this post is not to say “Oh my gosh, guys, iTunes has an Alert Me feature!” The point is that there is a whole lot of value in this little feature. Maybe not to you, but I know that there is value to others. And when you listen to Seth Godin, over and over again, saying that marketing is now part of your product or service, this is what he means. Simple features like this are brilliant from a marketing viewpoint. First of all, you’re saving forgetful or neglectful customers from themselves. And in this situation, you’re saving them time. Rather than having to constantly search iTunes or look for the latest album news from their favorite artists, customers can sit back and wait until that alert hits their inbox.

And, of course, it works out great for iTunes because those forgetful or neglectful customers are now aware that their favorite artists have new albums and are more likely to be repeat customers. Just goes to show: You take care of the customer, and you take care of yourself.

The Bad Joke To Wrap Up This Post:

Oh my gosh, guys, I just discovered that you can buy individual songs on iTunes! Okay, I kid.

Here in the States, Thanksgiving just passed. Depending on who you’re talking to, Thanksgiving can mean many things: spending the day with friends and family and stuffing your face; the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade; or maybe even football.

This Thanksgiving, while watching a bit of football, I saw a commercial that caught me off-guard. The commercial was a message from General Motors, thanking tax-payers for assisting the failing company via the bailout. The commercial has a very strong message, with images of people falling yet refusing to stay down. And the commercial says: “We all fall down. Thank you for helping us get back up. – GM”

If you haven’t seen the commercial, here it is:

Is there any doubt that the most effective advertising is the kind that touches people’s hearts and stirs emotion? And I think that was the approach that General Motors was going for with this advertisement. After all, the commercial is a statement about the American spirit: No matter how much we may get knocked down, we get back up; no matter what hard times we may go through, we continue to fight and we find a way to persevere.

Some of the people that I follow on Twitter have already said that they feel that the ad was appropriate, but for some reason, when I saw it, a red flag was raised in my mind. There was something inside me that thought that the topic was better left undiscussed. It’s kind of like when you bring a girl home for the first time and she goes on a rant about how much she hates alcoholics right in front of your boozer uncle. It makes for an awkward situation.

Of course, some may say that Thanksgiving was the perfect day to air this commercial, since it was a “thank you” to the American taxpayer. Undoubtedly, the bailout was a very controversial issue, and people are still arguing whether it was truly effective and whether it was a good idea to go through with the stimulus. Could anything have been accomplished with this ad? Is it going to change the way that anyone feels about bailing out the once failing automaker? Should GM simply say “thank you” by focusing on staying profitable and maximizing dividends for investors?

Or was GM right in saying “thank you”, no matter how much controversy may accompany the issue? Was saying “thank you” simply the right thing to do?

Is there really any question that all of us are products of our environment? I would argue that the real question is to what extent are we influenced by our environment? For example, most American children grow up thinking that the world is Christian. Who knows how old they are when they realize that Christians are actually a minority in the grand scheme of things.

I keep hearing that young people are waiting longer and longer to get married. In my immediate circle of friends and acquaintances, I’m not sure if that’s true. Then again, that may have something to do with the fact that I’ve lived my life in the South. But, when I jump on Brazen Careerist and read some of the blog posts by its members, I feel that maybe there’s something to this theory/fact/claim/whatever you wanna call it.

I remember, as a freshman at Louisiana Tech University, when one of my Texan friends asked me what a parish was. How the hell can anyone not know what a parish is. Everyone knows that a parish is the equivalent of a county in the rest of the United States. There was only one problem with my train of thought: Obviously, not everyone did know that. I took for granted that, because I was taught that in a classroom (wouldn’t it be insane if Louisiana schools didn’t bother to tell kids about parishes), everyone else must be taught that in school, right?

Until my wife became a middle school teacher in Texas, I didn’t realize that Texas had a state pledge of allegiance. My wife said that one day her students asked her about Louisiana’s pledge of allegiance. If Louisiana does have a pledge of allegiance, I never heard it. Her students were baffled when she said she wasn’t sure Louisiana even had a pledge.

Think about how often we hear statistics and discard them because those numbers don’t reflect what we see in our day-to-day lives. When I hear that the majority of Facebook users may not be in the 18-25 age group, I raise an eyebrow. The point is not whether that claim is true; the point is that it can’t be true because that’s not what I experience!

I think this is something fun to think about when you’re marketing to others or simply trying to connect with them.

One day when I was out of town, I stopped by McDonald’s to grab a quick breakfast. When asked by the cashier, I ordered a McGriddle, a large coffee, and a hashbrown. The lady immediately asked me if I’d like to make that a meal deal, which, of course, would be cheaper. I told her that I would indeed like her to make it a meal deal. I mean, who wouldn’t, right? We’re all in the business of getting more bang for our buck.

The more I thought about this, I wondered, was that a stupid question? Now, bear with me. I know everyone says that there is no such thing as a stupid question. And I am in no way implying that the lady herself was stupid.

But come on, might that be a stupid question? She’s offering me the same meal for a cheaper price. I am in no way inconvenienced by this change in the transaction. I do not have to wait any longer. My order is not altered in any way, other than how it is rung up and charged to me.

Can you honestly think that there is ANY reason that I would say no? If there is NO reason that a customer should object to our adding value to a transaction, should we even ask? Or is asking a marketing a tool? Is it a way of communicating an increase in value and making the customer aware that we’re looking out for them?

If that’s the case, maybe it wasn’t such a stupid question after all.

Having read and enjoyed Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith, I decided to try to find some videos of the authors talking more about their philosophies on social media. During the Q&A section of this (50-minute) video, an audience member made a great point. To paraphrase, the audience member made the point that when the Internet was first catching on, the great thing about it was that it was private. People could browse and engage via the Internet while maintaining a level of anonymity. Now, the Internet is becoming more and more transparent. Many of our activities on the Internet are forever — it’s there for all to see, thanks to our friend Google. And it’s no secret that Facebook is doing all that it can to become more open every single day. Think of your interactions on the Web as your “permanent record” now.

After the audience member made up great point, he followed with this question: How do you make people move from that privacy-mindset about the Internet to the open mindset that we’re now moving toward?

Brogan eventually concluded that that’s a tough issue and was unable to give a straight-forward answer to the issue. That’s because you can’t make someone accept it. People don’t like change; some are always going to cling to the way things were.

But they need to accept it. Because the Internet’s opening up, whether we like it or not. There’s no use in talking about whether it’s fair or unfair. This is one of those cases where you’re better off forgetting about “fair” and worrying about what is and what is not.

It is what it is.

I understand the concerns with the open Web. It’s not just about security and identity issues. It’s also about having the freedom to express ourselves without consequences. If someone wants to learn about you, chances are that he’s going to research you through Google, Facebook, or Twitter first. The problem with this transparency is that you never know what will turn someone off. How personal should you be? If someone gets a chance to discover your religious or political views before getting a chance to know you, will he even give you a chance? What if you’re profane or vulgar in an intimate setting but know how to flip the switch over when in a corporate setting? Will someone get the wrong impression about you? By the way, if you think having different personas in these scenarios is simply being two-faced, I’d argue that all of us act differently in different settings with different people. You likely do the same thing; perhaps you’re not aware of it.

As I said, I understand these concerns because they’re some of the same concerns that I have. However, I feel that these fears cause us to be less human. Some of us may tend to hide certain parts of ourselves that we may not hide so much in offline interactions. If I unintentionally say something insensitive or politically incorrect among my friends in an offline setting, word of my slip-up might stop at that group of friends. Or maybe we’ll tell our significant others or some friends outside of the group, but chances are that the whole world won’t be notified. But if I make the same mistake on Facebook or Twitter or somewhere else online, it’s chronicled for all to see, and concrete proof of my slip-up is readily available for distribution.

So we hold back. We reserve. We make sure to conduct ourselves in a corporate-friendly manner, and as a result, we dehumanize ourselves and our networks.

But when the Web opens all of us up to everyone, can that humanity be restored? When everyone is under the same microscope and living under the same fear, can a simple slip-up or differences of philosophy be forgiven and forgotten? Could it teach us to be more tolerant? Or will the open Web only feed our ignorance and prejudices?

This is all just thought with no definite answer. Obviously, I hope that the open Web can add a degree of humanity to our online interactions. But I can’t predict one way or the other.

If there were only one thing that I took away from reading Trust Agents, it would be this: the fundamentals of communication and building trust have not changed. The world of TV, newspaper, and radio advertising that we grew up with were actually quite brief when you look at the history of business and mankind. The best way to build trust now is to get back to basics, to treat people like people and remember that they are people. (Remember, they are not perfect; neither are you).

I’ve accepted that my friends are not perfect offline. Why should I expect them to be perfect online? Why should we expect anyone to be such?

What are your thoughts on this? Could the open Web bring a fundamental shift, or am I just daydreaming?