Envied might be too light of a word.  I was full-on jealous.  I wanted it.  I wanted the media to notice the amazingness that was JibberJobber. Life-changing.  Made the old invention of sliced-bread stale and moldy.  My new thing was so very awesome.

I was perplexed that media wouldn’t talk about.  Local media, national, etc.  No one would talk about JibberJobber.  Even when unemployment went up, no one would talk about it.

Well, traditional media wouldn’t talk about it.  I had many blog interviews, podcasts, blogtalkradio, etc.  But I had people say “until I read about it in the Wall Street Journal or New York Times, I don’t care.”

I just didn’t understand.

And then I started to piece the puzzle together.

Traditional media has an agenda.  They write what the *think* you want to read.  They sensationalize.  They dramatize.  It’s not about NEWS, or what’s newsworthy.  It’s about rankings, revenue, ads and your eyeballs.

Why write about a job website they can write about serious issues, like Lindsey Lohan?

After all, that’s what we want to consume, isn’t it?  That’s what sells papers and magazines.  Michael Jackson’s death.  Princess Diana’s death.  That is what we buy.

There’s another part of the equation, though.  What gets printed has a lot to do with the PR firm.  I knew PR firms would charge from a few thousand to ten+ thousand PER MONTH to get stuff in print, or on the TV.  I didn’t have that type of money.

Here’s a MUST read article for any entrepreneur to better understand PR a bit: What some PR firms aren’t telling their clients

I’d like to focus on the last point: PR rarely drives sales.

After my LinkedIn book came out I had a choice experience. US News and World Report wrote a FULL PAGE article on me (that was in their print magazine).  They had a photographer drive out to meet me at a conference I was speaking at.  I was an almost-celebrity. I felt that finally, media was recognizing what I was doing. It was flattering, fun, awesome.

I did not see an increase in book sales or JibberJobber signups.  I saw no measurable increase in anything in my business (I got one speaking gig out of it, which is great….).  For a full-page article I expected much, much more.

And I got nothing.

Except the chance to say I was in that magazine.

My point?  Be careful where you spend your money.  You can spend A LOT on PR.  And that PR might not result in anything more than bragging rights.

Someone tell me I’m wrong.

To me it means “the place my wife doesn’t want to go.”

That says a lot, doesn’t it?

Check out this TechCrunch post: The Entire $1.65B Acquisition Of YouTube Took A Week, Was Negotiated At Denny’s

I’m guessing that was the largest business transaction that was negotiated at a Denny’s restaurant (happy to be corrected on that one). What a moment of pride, right?

But…..

Steven Chen YouTube founder and super-rich guy, said, about deciding where to have these secret negotiation meetings:

“We didn’t want to meet at offices, so we were like, ‘Where’s a place that none of us would go?’”

Ouch. Probably need to scratch that one off the Denny’s Accomplishments brag sheet.

“I appreciated your presentation, your tips and your enthusiasm. I used Jibber Jobber during my 7 month job search. It is an excellent tool and I enjoyed using it.”

Awesome!

Then, she said:

“I started a new job on October 3.”

Uh oh. This is usually where they say “I’m good now – see ya later!”  I’m thrilled when my users get a job, whether they use JibberJobber or not, but I dislike how so many put their career management on hold while they have a job

But Colena GOT IT.  Instead of breaking up with JibberJobber she wrote:

“Having attended your presentation, I now have a reason to continue using the tool even though my job search has ended.”

Let’s go back to the title of this post: Branding and understanding.

I want people to use JibberJobber to help them navigate (organize and manage) their job search.

However, many people somehow miss the idea that once they land a job, they could be unemployed fairly quickly, and they need to do stuff, like grow and nurture their network, and work on their personal brand.

The JibberJobber brand clearly conveys that JibberJobber is a tool for job seekers.

Does it stop there?

For many people, it does.

The understanding of JibberJobber is that it is for active job seekers.

But there are others who use JibberJobber as a relationship management tool:

• happily employed professionals who know they need to be ready for a transition, even if the writing isn’t on the wall
• unhappily employed professionals who are worried about a pending transition
• freelancers and contractors who might have a day job, but also have outside clients they need to keep organized
• Authors who are interested in self-marketing (since the publishing companies don’t do it for them), and recognize the value of a relationship management tool
• Small business owners, like myself, as well as professional speakers (like myself!)
• Songwriters, who recognize that getting a hit song depends on your ability to network, as well as your talent,
• and many others…

Job seekers see one facet of the brand, and they understand some of the potential, thinking they understand all of the potential.

This is a HUGE issue for all companies… companies who have clients who don’t “get” what they do.

This is a HUGE issue for job seekers, who have branding issues.

How do YOU help your clients/audience understand your brand, your offerings, and your value?

This question can help your job search end faster, or help your company grow bigger.

Ignore it at your own risk.

I came across an excellent must-read post for anyone who thinks they want to do freemium, written by John Greathouse, who was involved in the precursor (?) to GoToWebinar  (BuddyHelp). I can’t find much info on BuddyHelp… but hey, that was internet eons ago.

Anyway, John writes How To Make Freemium Customers Generate Revenue For Your Startup. Go read it, as he seems to have identified a lot of pitfalls that you can avoid.

Why?

Because the current one isn’t communicating what I want it to communicate.

Here’s the old one, from this morning:

Any guesses on what each number means?  I’ll list them below, but here’s the new signature:

Here’s what each number is for:

1. This is a special string of characters I chose to tell JibberJobber to not make anything below it a log entry.  I could change it, and probably will, but this is a very important line, even though it really means nothing to anyone.
2. I think it’s important to put LinkedIn DVD, instead of just DVD.
3. I moved this description behind the link, to be consistent with the other lines.
4. I decided to take this off… my Twitter followers hasn’t necessarily grown, and if you really want to find me you can search for me.  We’ll see if I flop back on this one.
5. I took the JibberJobber mobile link out… I think there are more important things to communicate…. like the new line for my LinkedIn book!

Luckily I can change things as often as I want… make changes for yourself… if you hate it, you aren’t locked into anything!

Here are other posts one when I changed my signatures:

Today I (tearfully) retire my email signature
A new email signature

Color Scheme Designer: This helps you see what colors go good with one another… very cool tool.

Flaming Text – Free Logo Designs: Put in the word, change some settings, and it gives you text with different visual characteristics.  Super cool.

Choosing Color Combinations: blog post that is excellent, from Veerle’s blog.

I’ve talked a lot about being “concise,” but I’m not sure people know what that means.

So, here’s another way of saying it: GIVE THE SAME MESSAGE, BUT MAKE IT SHORTER.

In the spirit of keeping short, I’ll end with this: go read the post.  This applies to anyone who communicates (written, oral, body language, etc. :p).

It took way to long to get it (I think I finally got it in January (((((), but it was cool, for about a week or two.

Then we got a white dot on the screen.

Then we got a few more white dots on the screen.

Then the screen started filling with white dots….

Now, in July, check out what our screen looks like:

Today I finally got in touch with the warranty company… I’m really hoping there is a “happily ever after” to this story… we’ll see how it goes!

Oh my gosh – BRILLIANT!

If N… you can stop reading

If Y… do you have a favicon?

What, you ask, is a favicon?  It is a little tiny icon that goes in the tab of the browser… look at this:

These are *some* of the tabs I have open right now… do you recognize any of the sites I am on?

1. gmail, always in the first place
2. a blog post that is hosted on blogger… something I liked and will blog about later.
3. the third tab I’m on. Because I’m on this tab the favicon doesn’t show up.
4. Looky looky…!  A blank page.  This is a BUSINESS’ S website… with NO favicon.  See how it sticks out like a sore thumb?  I can’t tell what it is until I click on it.  IF YOU HAVE A WEBSITE, DO A FAVICON!  IT IS EASY!
5. Twitter… for a person I’m trying to network into.
6. Google Calendar.
7. VJC – my competition – they have a great blog post that I’m reading.
8. blank page … I don’t know, and THEY miss a branding opportunity!
9. Some association page.
10. Southwest airlines as I get ready for some trips.
11. KSL – local news.
12. Twitter – another person I’m trying to network into.
13. Huffington Post article about unemployment.
14. blank page – I don’t know!
15. Job-Hunt.org post on avoiding job boards that I need to read.
16. A google search.

If YOUR page was open, would I see a blank page or a nice little favicon?

Here’s a search on favicon to help you get started.  This can really take just a few minutes to do.